How to lose weight – everything you need to know
When it comes to losing weight, things can get out of hand very quickly. “Don’t eat after 6pm!” “Do cardio to lose weight!” “With this 90-day diet you will lose 10 kg!” Enough! Weight loss has its principles, but they will never forbid you anything, ruin your daily life and even your lifestyle. Principles with which you achieve lasting results, of which losing weight itself is just a pleasant side effect of your improved lifestyle. You will learn each of them in this article, once and for all.
Table of Contents
Who is this article for?
This guide is aimed at anyone who feels confused in the world of weight loss information, no matter what experience they have in the field. If you are just embarking on the adventure to lose weight – this article is for you. If you have already reached a certain level, you want to make sure that you are on the right track – this article is for you. Everything you need to know to achieve the sustainable results you need is here.
How to lose weight?
With calorie deficit.
You can lose weight even without counting calories, but this does not override the basic “law” of the process – we lose weight when we are calorie deficient.
What is a calorie deficit? This concept may not be so foreign to you, even if you are a beginner, but in short, it means that the calories from the food and beverages we consume and absorb should be less than those we consume.
How is calorie deficiency achieved?
Calorie deficiency can be achieved by:
- Reduce calorie intake (eat less);
- Increase calorie expenditure (move more);
- Combination of the above two – simultaneous reduction of food intake and inclusion / increase of physical activity.
If you currently lead a sedentary lifestyle and do not exercise, then the best option for you is the latter. We do not recommend weight loss without sports if the goal is good health, tone and “tight” vision.
If you want to learn more:
- Calorie balance
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Calorie balance during weight loss – how it works and what we need to know?
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What is the most accurate formula for determining caloric balance
How to workout to lose weight?
Exercise is important for health, good mood and better coping with daily tasks. Combined with diet and weight loss habits, proper movement helps not to lose a lot of muscle mass (for this purpose, resistance training is most suitable – weights and / or own weight). Because you don’t want that (I’ll explain why below). You want to lose weight, but it should be mainly in the form of excess fat and water.
If you are in the “beginners” column, you do not need to throw yourself into something complicated or choose training programs from which you do not understand anything. At first it is important to increase your physical activity.
Choose an activity that will make you happy – walks in the park / forest, cycling, training at home, training in the gym, group aerobic activities, choose the one that the thought brings you a positive emotion.
There is time for complication.
If you want to know more about training:
- Beginner’s training guide Training at home.
- How to start?
Everyday habits that will help you
There are some small things in everyday life, which, however, with regular practice lead to quality accumulation and contribute to the goal of weight loss. If you lead a sedentary lifestyle and realize that it bothers you, here are some easy-to-follow habits:
- When you have the opportunity, do not use the car or public transport, but walk to work;
- If the car is something you can’t do without, try to park further in the parking lot and walk to the building where you work, for example;
- If you live in a block on higher floors, reduce the use of the elevator;
- During your lunch breaks, when possible, take a walk in the nearby garden or around the building.
How to eat – How to Lose Weight Everything you need to know?
Maybe your diet seems a little more complicated and we understand you – if you are a beginner, it is not difficult to get confused, come across different information and wonder what is good to do. Here comes our free guide to eating for beginners and our advice is to take time when you have no other tasks, and your mind is calm and fresh to look at it in depth. Read it because it will give you a basic knowledge of what food is and how to determine your portions.
For the purposes of this article, we will briefly mention that:
- There are no magic foods for weight loss, and there are no foods that make you gain weight. All the food and everything you do is important;
- There are no “forbidden” and “allowed” foods, but there are really some that should be limited – semi-finished products, chips, waffles, confectionery, etc .;
- It is not necessary to avoid a whole group of foods or a macro nutrient (for that after a while);
- Losing weight does not mean starving – on the contrary, starvation will frustrate your task in the long run;
- It is always helpful to reduce alcohol if you consume it on a regular basis.
Surely the terms protein, carbohydrates and fats are not foreign to you. These are the macro nutrients we eat and drink that bring us calories. In the above guide, you will also find out which foods contain the predominant amount of a nutrient. When it comes to losing weight, “stop carbs” advice is often given, but you can actually lose weight with them on the menu. They are not the enemy if you are calorie deficient.
However, if you have to emphasize something, let it be the protein – it saturates, it is a building block and the body does not have the opportunity to store it as stocks.
Are you curious about more?
- Prohibited foods – does it make sense to put such labels?
- Why do diets not give the desired results?
- Hunger for sweets and sweet foods – how to deal with this “vice”?
What nutritional supplements should I take for weight loss?
Probably the topic of L-carnitine is not foreign to you or someone gives you advice to take a fat burner.
To save you unnecessary costs, we will tell you that you do not need nutritional supplements at this stage.
Changes in diet, habits and the inclusion of more physical activity are the main aggregates of the weight loss equation. You can possibly include nutritional supplements at a much more distant stage. However, if your field is interesting, read our guide.
Should I follow the scales?
Very often and especially among women, when the goal is to lose weight, only the indicator of the scales is looked at. The smaller the number, the better. Is it? In fact, the reality is different and the scales don’t tell you much.
Not always a smaller number of scales means better vision.
Yes, it is likely that if you are very overweight, it will be important for the scales to record weight loss, but still keep in mind that for beginners it is possible to lose fat and gain muscle mass at the same time. This affects the number of scales – either moves minimally or does not move at all. It is often a reason for loss of motivation, but in reality the person obsessed with the scales does not see the big picture. He did not notice that the waist and hip circumferences had decreased. Or that the muscles are in better tone, and this leads to a better appearance.
Tracking progress is an important step to keep up the good habits and not lose motivation.
Learn more:
- What does the scales (not) tell you …
- Anthropometric measurements
How to have long-term motivation to lose weight?
Having said motivation, it is important to warn you that in the beginning you lose weight faster, especially if you are overweight. Over time, the process slows down, but this should not demotivate you or make you return to old and not so useful habits. On the contrary – go on.
And a slow pace leads to success.
It is important to lay a solid foundation for long-term success, and in order not to give up the first difficulty, it is good to find intrinsic motivation, which you can read about in our material on the subject.
Will I feel hungry while losing weight? To lose weight, you must be calorie deficient and the process itself is such that you will feel hungry. Sometimes it is bigger, sometimes it is smaller – it depends on each person, his daily life and especially how big a calorie deficit he has decided to observe. We advise you to do it in small steps so that the hunger itself is controlled and a little more comfortable.
There are also a few tricks:
- Emphasize protein-rich foods because they are a saturating macro nutrient;
- Include more fiber in the form of vegetables – make large salads with your favorite vegetables, but be careful with the sauces to them;
- Drink enough water and watch for your optimal hydration. Sometimes we feel hungry, but we are actually thirsty.
- Chew food well and generally strive to eat slowly without distractions such as television or scrolling on social media.
Something important: by “hunger” at this point we mean a controlled one, with a calorie deficit, which is not too aggressive.
Complete starvation as well as super low calorie diets are something to avoid.
Do you want to know why? We strongly advise you to read “Why starvation is not a solution”.
Will I get support?
Our experience with clients shows that support from the environment is really important. To feel support from relatives, friends, family and to meet people who have similar goals and interests. Many people are motivated by this and make them move forward. However, there are cases in which the beginner feels alone and does not find the necessary support among relatives. If this is the case with you, we have a solution – join our community in the forum or our Facebook group. These are places where we share and look for solutions.
We wish you a successful start and hope that the above tips have sorted out the chaos in your head. Give them time. If you are not comfortable taking on several new habits at once, do it step by step.
How to lose weight Everything you need to know – in summary
To lose weight, you do not need to throw yourself upside down or bother with bills. The process of losing weight has “laws”, but you can follow them without counting calories. We strongly recommend that you start exercising if you are not already. And to take small steps if you are one of those people with whom “all or nothing” makes it even more difficult. Include more traffic this week. From the next week, start reducing alcohol, etc. Take care of your food as much as possible without going to extremes. And don’t wonder what “magic supplement” to buy, because there are none.
