You can lose weight quickly, without depriving yourself. Easy changes can help you. Want to lose 20 pounds? These 5 Simple Steps will help you lose weight and allow you to maintain your healthy new physique:
5 Simple Steps to Lose 20 Pounds :
Plan Ahead:
Everyone has their weak moments—situations where they find it tough to make healthy choices. Make a list of those occasions and settings where your diet tends to take a detour.
No healthy lunch options at work? Pack your own. Devour everything in the fridge in the 10 anxious minutes after you walk in from work? Snack on the way home, and have a pre-cooked dinner that you can reheat right when you get home. If you go off the rails late at night, once the kids are in bed and you have a chance to decompress, think of another activity far from the kitchen that helps you relax. Try a book, a shower, a call to a friend, a hot bath, a fun movie. Hate to cook or don’t have time for it? Get a book or order premade foods or convenient healthy foods.
Don’t drink your calories:
Stick to calorie-free beverages like water or hot tea. A 20-ounce soda can pack 240 calories and 65 grams of sugar. Even a grande hot chocolate with fat-free milk has 360 calories. Add whipped cream, and you have an entire meal’s worth of calories before you’ve taken your first bite.
If you love specialty drinks, choose a smaller size with fat-free or low-fat milk and skip the whipped cream and syrups.
Fill up on fruits and veggies:
You can eat large portions without loading up on calories as long as you’re eating fruits and vegetables. Compared with other foods, produce is low in calories and high on nutrients, fiber, and water, all of which will help you lose weight without being hungry.
Fill half your plate at every meal with fruits and vegetables. Fill the other half with whole grains and lean protein lean cuts of meat, beans, tofu, or low-fat dairy to keep you feeling fuller for longer.
Get moving:
It’s difficult to lose weight by just cutting calories. Research shows that reducing calorie intake through diet and exercise is the most effective way to shed unwanted pounds and keep them off.
It’s ideal to develop a regular exercise routine of three to four times a week (Our Start Walking plan can help you get into the habit of regular exercise with four days of walking and stick with it.) But also try to incorporate more activity whenever you can.
Take the long way to the restroom, take the stairs rather than the elevator, park your car as far as you can from the front door. Set a timer to chime every hour so that you get up from your seat. Even standing rather than sitting at your desk will help. Studies have shown that standing at your desk during an eight-hour workday will burn 163 more calories than if you were sitting.
Do not make weight the only measure of success:
Even as you get fitter, you may not see results on the scale. Keep in mind: muscle weighs more than fat, and hydration, hormones, time of day, and other factors can all have an impact on the numbers on the scale.
Don’t measure success with the scale alone. Are your pants getting looser? Are you getting more compliments? Do you have more energy? What about your blood pressure, cholesterol, and other markers of chronic disease: Which way are they moving? Learn more about methods beyond the bathroom scale to measure your success.