As always, with healthy habits, I also talk about losing weight from experience. I only write about healthy habits that I am convinced of and exemplify myself.
Millions of people want to lose weight, but hardly anyone can do it in the long run. Almost every diet ends with gaining weight again.
Statistically, therefore, there is not much to be said for making an effort at all. This is not due to a lack of willpower, but to wrong information and beliefs, with which overweight or obese people repeatedly fall into the same diet traps. Here are 8 things to keep in mind if you really want to lose weight.
1. Quality instead of quantity
As is so often the case in life, quality is more important than quantity when it comes to food. It is not so important how much you eat to lose weight, but what you eat matters the most.
2. Eat Real Foods
These are the kind of foods you should be eating. Real foods are whole, single ingredients and are mostly unprocessed (1).
They have been around for thousands of years and people have been enjoying them for millenniums. In contrast to industrial products, they are healthy, filling, and keep you slim. You’ll enjoy them when you get used to them.
Modern processed foods and fast foods usually contain high levels of sugar and fat, which are linked with heart disease, cancer, and other serious illnesses. Eat real foods like nuts, fresh fruits, and vegetables for snacks instead of candy.
Related: How To Achieve a Lean Physique
3. Maintain a Good Weight Loss Habit
Healthy weight loss is not a question of the right diet but the right habits. To lose weight sustainably, you have to acquire an eating behavior that you can maintain in the long term.
That said, you should stick to your new diet after you reach your goal weight. This is not possible with renunciation and starvation but only with healthy habits.
4. Healthy Eating Recipe
If you want to lose weight healthily, you have to prepare a large part of your meals fresh. That means cooking yourself several times a week instead of buying already made foods.
From my perspective, there is no way around this because our body can only use real food such as vegetables, fruit, nuts, and a few animal products as best as possible.
Since cooking often fails because you don’t have simple recipes to hand, there are many recipes you can find online with videos featuring how dishes are prepared from start to finish.
Read: Healthy Low-Carb Foods That Taste Incredible
5. Lose Weight Healthily With Less Sugar
Perhaps the most significant change on the way to a healthy diet is the reduction in sugar. Anyone who significantly reduces their sugar consumption will lose weight by themselves without going hungry.
That is why we use little sugar in our diet today and only occasionally use sweets or cakes. It may seem not easy at first, but the constant desire for sweets subsides after a few days.
6. Don’t Eat Too Fast
Eating fast may cause you to become overweight and obese. The more time you take to eat, the fuller you get, even without consuming a lot. It works best when you have good company. However, if you are alone, you have to force yourself to take your time.
Here, too, real groceries help again because if you’ve only been in the kitchen for 30 minutes, you don’t wring everything down while standing, but set the table and enjoy your meal.
Read: Should You Have a Cheat Meal? (And Why)
7. Drink Instead of Eat
It is better to fill your stomach with water or tea than unhealthy snacks. A drink can help, especially if you don’t feel hungry, just an appetite.
To drink more, always put a carafe close by whenever possible. Fill this with water along with fruit and herbs.
Alternatively, you can brew a pot of tea and let it cool down. Then drink it cold or lukewarm. You may also like to have a glass of wine in the evening. That will keep you from eating.
8. Don’t Eat Too Early in the Evening
It is often said not to eat too late in the evening so that the body can still utilize the energy. I don’t know whether that really makes sense. I don’t really care either because my meal times are dictated by everyday life anyway.
Because of my working hours, I often eat late, between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. But even on days when I don’t work late, I try not to eat too early.
If I eat at 6 p.m., I’m still awake for five hours afterward. It’s too long to get through the evening without eating unhealthy snacks.
Once I become hungry, a few carrots are no longer enough to nibble on. Unhealthy snacks are inevitable because I ate the main meal too early. With this in mind, I prefer to eat later and less overall.
See also: 5 Things We Can Learn From Minimalism
