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Introduction
Are you trying to lose weight without getting overwhelmed and obsessed with every calorie you eat? It may sound impossible, but there are simple changes you can make to your lifestyle that will help you reach your weight loss goals without the hassle of counting calories or spending hours at the gym.
This post will discuss how to lose weight in a healthy and sustainable way, guide you through simple lifestyle changes, tricks, and tips that you can use to reach your goals.
With this information, you can make long-lasting changes to your lifestyle that will help you reach your desired weight without obsessively counting calories or dedicating your entire life to the gym.
Small Habits Make The Biggest Difference
Before reading the rest of this post, I think it’s important to focus on habits quickly – so that you can take the advice and realistically implement it into your lifestyle.
Small habits can have the biggest impact on our lives. Making small changes in our daily routine is the key to achieving long-term goals.
Losing weight will (and should!) take some time – especially if you have a larger amount to lose, and if you’re in an all-or nothing, trying to completely overhaul your lifestyle overnight may work for a few days, or even a few weeks, but if it’s not something that is completely natural to you and you have to actively force yourself to do everyday, you are likely to burn-out.
To lose pounds more effectively, it’s much better in the long-term to take baby steps, focus on small habit changes and try to incorporate these habits into your lifestyle by introducing no more than 3 at a time. Habit changes need to be practiced consistently for a certain amount of days in order for them to start feeling natural to you (Research has shown it takes an average of 66 days for a new behaviour to become automatic, but can take between 18 to 254 days)
Action Step
After reading the below tips, think about how you can break these down into habits that will contribute to your goal. i.e. if you want to increase the amount of movement you do in a day, you can start with making sure to get up from your desk and move around more often, or start taking the stairs instead of the lift.
Write down what your goal is, write the habits that are either helping or hindering you from reaching this goal, and then choose 1-3 of those habits that you want to work on, break these down into the smallest steps possible if you need to.
Increase Your Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)
Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) refers to the energy (calories) your body expends on activities that aren’t considered “formal” exercise. This includes activities like walking to work, taking the stairs, doing chores around the house, or even just standing rather than sitting.
NEAT is one of the 4 elements that make up your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure), along with:
- BMR (basal metabolic rate): The number of calories your body burns just keeping you alive (this makes up the majority of calories burned daily (around 60%)
- TEF (Thermic Affect of Food): Energy used chewing food, digestion & absorption (makes up around 6% of TDEE)
- EEE: Exercise Energy Expenditure: Calories burned from intentional exercise (around 12% of TDEE)
NEAT actually accounts for around 22% of the calories you burn – the 2nd largest contributor after BMR, and by increasing the amount of movement you incorporate into your daily life, you could increase your TDEE significantly without having to start an intense workout regime. Not to mention the numerous other health benefits that come with being less sedentary, including:
- Lower risk of cardiovascular disease
- Reduces your risk for certain cancers
- Reduce aches and pains in joints and muscles
Habit Change Ideas:
- Take the stairs instead of the lift
- Walk/cycle where you can instead of driving
- Set timers to move from your desk every hour (or as often as possible) – a fitness tracker could help with this.
- Tidy up around the house throughout the day (you can do this when your timer reminds you to move)
- Get off the bus a stop earlier
- Park your car further away
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Make Exercise A Part Of Your Life
So we’ve already covered increasing daily movement, but how do you incorporate intentional exercise into your life and keep it consistent? Exercise is hugely important to your health and shouldn’t just be done to lose weight, and that’s the first thing to change – your mindset.
If the only reason you are doing a particular exercise is because it will help you lose weight, and you absolutely hate it – it’s going to be much harder to stick to.
When it comes to choosing an exercise you want to be a part of your lifestyle, it should meet either or both of the below criteria:
- You enjoy it
- It’s a challenge with a goal you can realistically reach (not weight loss!) i.e. being able to do a push-up, complete a 5K etc.
Regular physical activity should be a positive addition to your life, and never a punishment, a way to earn food or only used to burn extra calories. Keep trying new exercises and active hobbies until you find something you love, you don’t have to stick to any one type of exercise – you just to stick to the habit of movement.
And by setting yourself fitness challenges, and keeping track of your progress, you will be encouraged to stay consistent in order to reach your goal. Keep track of the milestones along the way, and celebrate each one!
Examples:
Fun Exercises: (Obviously what is enjoyable to some, might not be for others!)
- Paddleboarding
- Dancing
- Hiking
- Team Sports
Fitness challenges:
- Be able to do a pull-up
- Complete Couch to 5K
- Be able to walk 10 miles
To make a habit of exercise, you can start small by saying you will commit to at least 10 minutes a day of active exercise.
The 80/20 Approach To Food
Avoid fad diets at all costs. Fad diets are designed for rapid but completely unsustainable weight loss, and are only designed to work short-term.
When considering any diet, it’s important to ask yourself if it’s something that you can realistically maintain. A good question to ask yourself is if it has an end date, a diet with an end date might offer quick results, but it won’t give you the knowledge or tools to maintain the weight loss, and will only keep you focused on weight loss while following them.
Sustainable diets should be something you carry on with for, well, the rest of your life really. Focusing on eating healthier, nutritious foods and make sure you’re consuming enough calories to get the necessary vitamins and minerals from your diet.
A great way to make sure you have a balanced diet is to follow the 80/20 approach to eating. The 80/20 approach is simple – eat whole, nutritious foods 80% of the time and reserve the high sugar/highly processed foods for the other 20%.
This is a long-term and sustainable diet that you can carry on with after you have reached your weight loss goal.
Put extra focus on increasing satiety of meals – Increase fibre and protein at each meal as both will keep you fuller for longer, as well as bulking out meals with low-calorie high volume foods (volume eating).
Restricting foods will usually only results in you wanting them more, so allow yourself treats you love, just enjoy them in moderation.
Habit Change Ideas:
- Eat at least one fruit or/and vegetable each day
- Meal plan
- Turn the TV off and put phones away when eating
- Choose whole foods first
- Drink more water
- Keep unhealthy snacks out of sight
Conclusion
The path to a healthier lifestyle is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. What works for one person may not work for another, but by taking small steps every day, you can achieve the goal of weight loss without having to think about it.
The key is to cultivate a set of positive habits and establish an environment that promotes healthy living. With consistency and discipline, your efforts will soon become second nature and will establish a healthy new lifestyle that you can maintain over the long term.
So, let’s get started—it’s time to take back control of your health!