Proper weight loss begins with setting a specific goal and creating motivation. In addition, you must undergo a medical examination to check your hormonal levels and the functioning of each organ. This will allow you to create a suitable diet and speed up your metabolism as much as possible. It is possible that the doctor will prescribe some kind of therapy if diseases that cause obesity are detected. A self-selected diet rarely turns out to be ideal and is completed without negative consequences.
Have you decided to lose weight without outside help? Then read this article carefully - here you will find answers to all your questions, except those related to medicine. What influences the appearance of excess weight? Poor nutrition, passive lifestyle, bad habits, stress and lack of sleep. Start living differently and you will start losing weight!
Motivation to lose weight
Its significance is simply immense, since without incentive you will not be able to lose weight: you will often break down, which will reduce all efforts to zero. A serious motivation for losing weight is a "slim" old photo, an upcoming event, or significant changes in life. Once you have decided on your goal, set a time frame within which you can lose weight. This should not be an abstract period of time, but an adequately calculated period during which you can get rid of extra pounds.
To do this, be sure to calculate your ideal weight, estimate how many extra calories you can "burn" in a week/month. This is the only way you can understand how long it may take to lose weight. The severity of the diet also depends on the duration - in this process everything is interconnected. Be sure to visualize your goal and surround yourself with reminders of what you are striving for. Mark your progress on the calendar on the way to the cherished date. Be sure to get a scale that will certainly stimulate you if you do not break the rules of your new diet.
Calculation of daily caloric intake
Before you think about where to start losing weight, start a food diary and track your food for a week or two. Then carry out an analysis by calculating the daily number of calories consumed, as well as the ratio of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Now it’s worth finding out how much food your body requires, if you don’t take into account your wishes. The Internet is full of formulas that will help you find out this figure. Remember 2 things:
- You must find out how many calories your body spends to maintain its vital functions;
- You must calculate your daily requirement, taking into account your energy expenditure for work, cleaning, training, etc.
To lose weight, you must reduce the calorie content of your diet by 200-300 kcal weekly - this is the only way the body will calmly adjust and not perceive it as a strict diet. Remember: you need to consume no less calories per day than your body spends on its vital functions and your activity. That is, if you found out that to maintain the functioning of all systems in the body you need to consume 1200 kcal, and at work and at home you spend another 600 kcal, then 1800 kcal is the minimum that your diet should not go beyond.
With improper nutrition, a person absorbs 2000 or more kcal per day, while most of the diet consists of harmful fats and easily digestible carbohydrates, which leads to obesity, and muscles and skin suffer. In addition to monitoring your calorie intake, you also need to be smart about the amount of protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats you eat. The correct ratio of these components is 1: 4: 1, but this ratio is ideal only for the average person, that is, not trying to build muscle mass or consuming fat burners.
Reducing the caloric content of the diet and changing its nutritional value is not everything. Very often, when asked where to start losing weight properly, the answer is that you need to drink more water, and this is true. Drink at least 2 liters of water per day, not in one gulp, but in small sips and regularly. You can add a slice of fresh lemon to it - this will speed up the process of removing toxins from the body. Taken together, these measures will lead to improved metabolism, cleansing of the body and, as a result, weight loss.
How to cook and eat while losing weight?
Before you decide where to start your weight loss process, consider whether you can follow these conditions:
- Try to reduce your appetite, which provokes you to consume much more than you actually need. To do this, throw out all sweets and other unhealthy snacks from the house. Fill your plate and bag with fruits and snacks that will satisfy small sudden hunger. Main meals should be every 4 hours, and between them nutritious snacks: nuts, salad, vegetable sandwich;
- Start breakfast! Breakfast should make up at least 30% of your daily diet so you won't be too hungry in the evening. In the morning, food should be nutritious and contain the bulk of carbohydrates, and in the afternoon and evening it should be proteins and vegetables, fruits;
- Do not eat at night - the last meal is 3 hours before the night's rest. This will relieve you of heaviness in the stomach and extra pounds, and make you sleep better;
- Eat slowly and chew thoroughly. Delicious food with spices will help you with this, which you will chew just like chewing gum - until you squeeze out all the juice from it;
- Food should not be fried or deep-fried. Use a grill or slow cooker to create varied yet healthy and nutritious meals. You can add flavor with a variety of spices and homemade low-fat sauces;
- Try to buy quality products, so carefully study the labels on all products;
- Periodically arrange fasting days for yourself - this will speed up the process of losing weight and cleansing the body, and also improve your psycho-emotional state - tested!
- When pouring yourself a portion of food, put one spoon back. You can also use small plates - so visually the amount of food looks large, but you eat little;
- Your nutritional method should take into account your wishes - this is the key to a good result. Violence against yourself will not lead to anything good, so look for compromises. For example, you cannot live without pizza. To do this, learn to cook it yourself - this will already make it more healthy, and secondly, on the eve of eating it, limit yourself a little, which will allow you not to go beyond the allowed daily calorie intake;
- Make a menu for the week ahead so you don’t have to worry about cooking during the week. This will make the transition to a new diet much easier.
Do not try to lose weight on a ready-made diet, as most of them are not universal and are harmful to many people. For example, a low-calorie diet, in addition to rapid weight loss, can aggravate chronic diseases and provoke weight gain after its end. A low-fat diet leads to overwork and deterioration of appearance, and vegetarianism is not ideal for our climate, as it causes excessive stress on the heart.
What you can and cannot eat while losing weight
The list of healthy products is known to every person - these are fresh vegetables and fruits, cereals, pasta and wholemeal bread, lean meat and some offal, fermented milk products. Where to start losing weight at home? – from the refusal of the following "harmful things":
- Flour products, yeast sweets and various types of dough;
- Fried food;
- Potato;
- Sausages and semi-finished products;
- Mayonnaise and store-bought sauces;
- Chips, crackers;
- Fast food;
- Sweet, carbonated, alcohol-containing drinks.
Replace sweets with raw food desserts, sweet drinks with carob, herbal teas and natural coffee. Fast food can easily be replaced with pita bread with vegetables, boiled chicken and low-calorie sauce; pizza can be simply prepared at home and included the "right" ingredients. Here are the main meals: various types of fish, dietary meat, vegetable soups, nutritious salads, and all this with homemade sauces and a variety of spices.
Sports and cosmetology for weight loss
Usually, when asked where to start losing weight for a woman or a man, they answer that the first thing you need to do is sign up for a gym or at least start doing squats and doing abs at home. However, fitness is just a complement to proper nutrition, healthy sleep and maintaining water balance in the body. Cardio exercises, such as running, jumping rope, cycling, swimming, and dancing, will help you lose weight. Strength training is aimed not only at fat burning, but also at tightening muscles and skin. Start exercising for at least 20 minutes 3 times a week, increasing this time to 40 minutes and the frequency to 5-7 sessions.
It is best to train in the morning, when fresh energy has not yet entered the body with breakfast and it needs to produce its own, using fat deposits for this. In addition, sport helps speed up metabolism, cleanse the body, improve health and mood, which will definitely have a positive effect on the process of losing weight. If you want to start exercising at home, there are various "Where to start losing weight" programs, in which experienced instructors tell you what you should pay attention to during your first workouts and how to generally get yourself into normal physical shape in order to increase the intensity of your workouts.
Take care of your body from the outside by doing various body wraps, visiting massage rooms and preparing scrubs. For example, a honey massage helps remove excess volume and cleanses the skin. Vacuum roller massage or rubbing with cups works great against cellulite. Scrubs help cleanse the skin, and wraps tighten it. By interacting with your body through the skin, you improve blood and lymph flow, break down cellulite - stimulate the release of excess fluid and the breakdown of fat cells.
The combination of these recommendations will help you:
- Speed up your metabolism;
- Cleanse the body;
- Become a healthier and more beautiful person;
- Of course, lose a lot of weight;
- Become cheerful and active.
We wish you to achieve your goal!