Wellness

Tips for Healthy Weight Loss – Loose weight the right way !

6 min read•By Falak Hanif, MSc. in Dietetics and Food Nutrition

Weight loss is one of the most commonly searched topics in the world. Practically everyone has searched for weight loss tips at least once in their life.

However there are many paths to weight loss but not all are healthy. One may wonder why it even matters, how we lose weight. After all, isn’t losing weight supposed to be a good thing if you’re overweight? Why does the process of weight loss matter?

What many people fail to realize is that the process of weight loss is vitally important. It determines whether you keep the lost weight off (and don’t gain it back) and also whether you are sacrificing muscle mass or becoming deficient in vital nutrients.

Healthy weight loss is a reduction in the fat percentage of your body with either the same or increased muscle percentage. If you have achieved this kind of weight loss, then you are on the path to healthy weight loss !

Everyone is typically in a hurry to lose weight. They want to look good for an occasion, a function or a trip and often people try shortcuts to lose weight. The most common shortcut weight loss techniques are so called ‘fad diets.’ These ‘fad diets’ typically require the elimination of an entire category of nutrients or a food group for extended periods. However, weight lost in this manner is regained very quickly after one discontinues the diet.

UNHEALTHY WAYS OF WEIGHT LOSS

Lets list a few of these shortcuts which most of us are familiar with and then discuss how they affect our body:

Less than 1000 calorie diets-

Apart from burning fat, low calorie diets eventually burn muscle tissue as the body goes into a semi starvation stage. As the heart is also a muscle, following these diets for an extended period can result in interference with the heart rhythm. Moreover due to lack of nutrient intake, your body will not be able to function normally.

Juice diet or Liquid diets-

Consuming just juices throughout the day for weight loss cannot give our body the nutrients it requires to function normally. Furthermore, depending on the types of juices being consumed, it can elevate the blood sugar levels. Without additional protein supplements added to your juices or smoothies, you can even end up losing significant muscle mass in this process. It is impractical to continue a liquid diet for an extended period of time, and it is practically certain that you will quickly gain weight as soon as you resume a normal diet.

Magic Pills-

These pills that promise weight loss never work as intended. They just suppress your hunger to an extent and contain caffeine or other stimulants and often cause side effects like nausea, nasal dryness, anxiety, agitation, dizziness, insomnia and elevated blood pressure. Reduced nutrient intake due to suppressed appetite can result in other side effects similar to those experienced in the 1000 calorie diets.

Fad diets –

These are diets that completely eliminate certain food stuff or nutrient from your body and promise good results. However, along with weight loss, these diets often end up causing nutrient deficiencies and elevated cholesterol levels. In the worst case, it can lead to medical emergencies.

TIPS FOR A HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS

The best way to lose weight is to focus on fat loss and make lifestyle changes that can be implemented lifelong and the weight lost that way is lifelong and not reversible unless you jump back to the same unhealthy lifestyle again.

Apart from making lifelong changes there are a few small changes that can be made or small actions that can be taken to help you lose weight and overcome food cravings:

Out of sight, out of mind –

Once you decide to completely eliminate a certain food item from your diet, make sure it isn’t available in your surroundings at all so that you don’t reach out for it when you crave for it as it isn’t available.

Flush out those toxins –

Fill your water in an attractive bottle with preferably a motivating quote right in front of you on your working table or study table or your work area and make it a point to sip it every now and then and empty it at the end of the day which can be your target initially followed by refilling it and finish it twice eventually.

Starving is not the solution, frequent eating is –

If you think starving and keeping your tummy slightly empty is the key to losing your weight, then you are doing it wrong. If you tend it eat every 2-3 hours you end up eating small meals and will not overeat at any point of time nor will you starve .

We often google our questions and follow the first result without checking its source .The same goes for diets. People tend to follow generic diets provided on the internet. Just like every person who goes to a doctor cannot follow the same prescription, similarly understand that a diet plan differs from person to person depending on their age, stage of life, physical activity level, health issues etc. It’s always better to get professional help as they customise your diet plan keeping all your specifications and preferences in mind .

Get a diet plan with us

We count nutrients, not calories! We use a sophisticated AI-driven platform to perform an in-depth analysis of four macro and six micro nutrients (Calcium, Vitamins, Zinc, Iron and more) obtained from your current diet. Then we create a customised diet plan based on your specific nutrient needs, that fulfils RDA requirements. We know the science of nutrition like no other. See our diet packages.

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