What happens after the diet is over? Here are some tips for eating and exercising to achieve long-term weight loss.
What happens after the diet is over? Here are some tips for eating and exercising to achieve long-term weight loss.
Enjoy exercise
The type of exercise you do is not as important as picking an activity that you enjoy and can stick with. Regular exercise keeps you sensitive to insulin, which means you burn fat instead of sugar, are less hungry, and stay slimmer.
Count calories the right way
Studies show that restrictive diets requiring careful calorie counting don’t work over the long haul. Strict calorie counting is not sustainable. For a woman, you can count calories by making sure your meat or fish portion fits in the palm of your hand about 3 ounces. For a man, think in terms of the size of your credit card. Now double that portion with a vegetable, and fill the remaining part of the plate with a whole-grain food.
Fill up with fiber
Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are kind to your weight. They will fill you up before they fill you out. You should be eating four to five cups of fruit or vegetables every day. Having a salad before your meal has been shown to decrease calories by 10 percent. A cup or bowl of vegetable soup before your meal will work as well.
Control your carbs
Keep carbohydrates to a minimum because spiking your blood sugar with something innocent-seeming such as a baked potato can cause a rise in insulin, a hormone that causes your body to store fat. If you are running on sugar, you will be hungry all day. But on a lower carbohydrate diet, you will be burning fat so you won’t be hungry between meals. Don’t use artificial sweeteners like aspartame as they may actually make you gain weight.
Downsize your portions
Plate sizes have increased by as much as 20 percent over the years. The natural tendency is to fill up these bigger plates with food and then to clean off your plate. That means more calories per meal. Since smaller portions are key to weight management it is advisable investing in smaller plates or cups or leaving part of the dish empty.
Weigh the facts about weighing yourself
Frequently checking your weight can be motivating for some people, but discouraging for others. Although hopping on the scale regularly can help you make sure the weight you lost isn’t creeping back, be aware that weight fluctuates daily, even hourly.
