Everyone wants to be healthier. Even people who are already in great shape are looking for ways to be even healthier than they already are. But too many people watch commercials on TV and think they can lose 20 lbs. in 2 weeks just by ordering a set of meals over the phone. Although they may lose the weight fast, they will also feel miserable and will likely gain the weight back again after the course of meals is over. The reason people yo-yo in weight is that they haven’t made a lasting change in their lives to live a healthy lifestyle and change their attitudes about their bodies.
Love your body
It’s almost impossible for you to eat right and maintain a healthy lifestyle if you don’t love your body. But loving your body means two things. First loving your body means being comfortable with who you are and knowing that no outward transformation in your body is going to change how you feel on the inside. Second, it’s about loving your body enough to give it the right nutrition it needs to achieve a healthy balance. Extreme dieting and yo-yo weight cycles hurt your body and damage it. Love your body enough to give it what it needs to achieve the balance it craves.
Regular healthy meals
One of the biggest mistakes people make when they want to lose weight is to stop eating, or deprive themselves of food. Although it is true that you need to lower your caloric intake if you currently overeat, denying your body regular nutrition releases stress hormones that make you hungry, irritable, and can actually make your body go into “survival” mode, storing MORE fat than it would if it were receiving all the nutrition it needed. Eating regular, healthy meals will actually lower your food cravings between meals and will lessen your desire for fatty and sugary foods. And your body will be more relaxed, allowing you to lose more weight. This is especially true if you are exercising regularly.
Introduce fresh foods
Once you’ve started eating regularly, it’s time to introduce more fresh foods into your diet. This doesn’t mean you have to eat salad for every meal, but it does mean that you can start having orange slices and grapes as a side dish to your lasagna, or it means eating a small side-salad before digging into your pizza. Once you start eating more fresh veggies and fruits with your meals, your body will start to maintain a healthy balance, crave more healthy foods, and feel more relaxed, allowing for increased weight loss and a healthier outlook on life.
When you love your body enough to be comfortable with who you are and care about what goes into it, you’ll be on the road to making a lasting change toward a healthier lifestyle.
Gunter Jameson writes about several topics including travel, minimalism and Online Colleges.
