We all lead stressful lives, in one way or another. We have jobs to go to, others to take care of and bills to pay and in the process we forget to take care of ourselves. People deal with that stress and frustration in different ways and a lot of us find solace in food. Now, that doesn’t necessarily need to be a bad thing – everyone should enjoy food, but some of us fall into the trap of overeating. That, in combination with the lack of exercise and a bad diet, is what leads to issues with being overweight and even, in some cases, obesity. A few legitimate questions arise: How to lose weight? What is the best, safest and healthiest way to lose weight? That is what we will be focusing on in this article, so please keep reading.

Weight Loss For Dummies – How To Lose Weight?

Before anything else, there are a few basic concepts that you need to grasp. What you first need to remember is that struggling with being overweight isn’t something to be ashamed of. The fact that you are here, reading this article means that you are trying to work on bettering yourself, which is more than most people ever do. Be proud of yourself for having the courage to admit that you have a problem, most people never do that. So, first of all, congratulate yourself for being courageous enough to want to step out your comfort zone and make a significant change in your life.

Now, let’s get down to business. First, let’s start with addressing the reasons of your excessive weight. Aside from the obvious ones, like stress, lack of exercise and genetics, what is it that you do that makes you keep gaining, instead of losing weight? 

1) You skip breakfast – You’re probably wondering right now “How could that be? If I’m skipping breakfast, doesn’t that mean I am eating less?” Well no, it actually doesn’t. When you skip the first meal of the day you are likely to get a lot hungrier later, which in return may lead you to overeat at lunch. Try to eat within an hour of waking up.

2) You eat too late – Basically, in order to lose weight you need to burn more calories than you consume, which is incredibly hard if you eat before bedtime. How are you supposed to lose those calories when you just lay there and fall asleep? Late night meals are a big no if you want to lose weight, but excessive calories that you are unable to burn aren’t the only reason they’re a bad idea. Eating late raises your blood pressure, body temperature and insulin levels.

3) You don’t get enough sleep – Getting enough sleep is absolutely crucial. Lack of sleep slows down your metabolism and makes it a lot harder to exercise because you have much less energy during the day if you don’t get a good night sleep. That is how many people fall into that vicious cycle of sleeping too little and eating too much. Not to mention how much lack of sleep can affect one’s psychological and emotional well-being, which makes finding the motivation to work out and make good diet choices even harder.

Motivation, Diet, and Exercise

The process of losing weight may seem scary and complicated at first, but essentially, if you break it down into a few sections it consists of three things: motivation, diet, and exercise. Now, let’s break it down even further and talk about each of these 3 different things separately.

Motivation is what many people underestimate and not a lot of people pay attention to. The psychological aspect of the weight loss process if absolutely key – you need to have the right mindset to achieve anything and it’s no different with weight loss. But, how to motivate yourself? This may sound harsh, but here’s what world’s top fitness coaches say to their clients when they ask how to motivate themselves: Look in the mirror. You have to face the truth at one point or another. Take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself: “Is this who I want to be? Does my body reflect who I am on the inside?” You deserve better. You owe it to yourself.

Diet is equally as important as motivation. If motivation is what fuels your desire to lose weight, then diet is what fuels your body with healthy calories. Fast food and sugar are your worst enemy. If that is all you eat then you are missing out – weight loss aside. You are missing out on so much healthy, tasty food it’s ridiculous. The best thing is, healthy food is much cheaper than fast food. Get creative. Look for recipes, explore. Green leafy vegetables are a good place to start and instead of having a sugary desert, eat fruit. Every day, you need a protein rich meal. Things like chicken breasts and tuna, for example, are high in protein and low in fat, plus they taste amazing.

All of this leads us to exercise, the final piece of the puzzle and the one that’s hardest to talk about. Individuals that struggle with being overweight have a really hard time talking about exercise, let alone exercising. It’s taboo, it’s scary – you just don’t go there. That is because they are afraid to step out of their comfort zone, but sooner or later, everyone has to face the music. Exercise is incredibly important for your body and for your mind both. Exercise releases feel-good chemicals in our brains and physical activity increases the quality of life and longevity, among other things. Find a good weight loss exercise program and stick to it. Day in, day out, no matter what – stick to it. If you can get a personal coach or join a gym great, but if you can’t that’s not a problem either. Take small steps. Try to take walks for a start. Walk for 30 minutes every day. In a couple of weeks, that will turn into an hour and in a few months, you will catch yourself jogging.

What else is there to add? A lot of us struggle with being overweight and only those that have fought this battle know how hard it can be to break out of those chains our bodies and minds impose on us. With discipline, determination, optimism and hard work you can achieve anything. Everyone deserves to feel good and so do you. Become your best self, you deserve it.