Losing Weight Safely

The first step towards losing weight safely is to visit your doctor or dietician. They will work with you to determine your “healthy weight” and will let you know if your weight loss goals are both realistic and safe. You can also get started yourself by calculating this using the Healthy Weight Calculator.

If it turns out that you can benefit from weight loss, then the following suggestions will help you along your way to fulfilling your weight loss goals. After all, there is a way to do things properly, and a way to cause yourself frustration or even harm.  Naturally, you’ll want to aim for the former while avoiding the latter.

Helpful Tips for Losing Weight Safely

The following tips can help you to reach your goal on the bathroom scale without placing your wellness at risk.  The wrong weight loss efforts can cause harm to both your physical and mental health. Avoid them by focusing on your self care and using these tips for losing weight safely.

Do not crash diet 

Starving your body by crash dieting is not only very unhealthy, but in most cases people who have a rapid weight loss by crash dieting or other unhealthy means usually gain it all back, and then some, because they have not learned how to eat healthily. It’s bad for your physical health and for your mental relationship with your food to take part in short term extreme dieting.

Smaller Portions 

Reducing the size of the portions you eat will help you towards a healthy and natural weight loss. This doesn’t mean that you need to eat less food.  It just means that you need to shift the portion sizes of the dishes you’re consuming so that your meals and snacks fit into your nutritional balance and calorie restrictions. One of the easiest ways to get started with this effort is to begin filling half of your plate with veggies at all meals.  That will help you to fill up on high fiber, nutrient dense, but low-calorie foods while still enjoying a reasonable amount of whole grains and lean protein.

Snacking to lose weight 

Eating a few small and healthy snacks during the day will keep your blood sugar more stable and will help reduce your hunger. That said, make sure you pay attention to what you’re eating. Plowing through a bag of chips isn’t going to work in your favor. Yes, it will help to reduce your hunger, but you’ll consume far too many calories and far too few nutrients as a result. If a handful of chips is what you want, go for it. If you need something more than that to satisfy your hunger, choose something like a piece of mozzarella cheese, a handful of almonds, a bowl of raw veggies or a piece of fruit.

Avoid emotional eating 

Many of us eat when we feel upset, lonely or bored. If you find yourself being an emotional eater, then try to find some other activity to do when you are feeling the urge to eat. Take up knitting as you watch TV. Go for a walk when you’re feeling down.  Talk to a friend if you feel upset. If you think you feel hungry but aren’t sure if it’s for emotional reasons, do something to keep yourself occupied and wait ten minutes. If you’re still hungry, have a little something. If not, it’s likely an emotional response.

Watch what you drink 

Drinking many beverages, such as sodas, juices, energy drinks and your favorite specialty coffees are high in calories. Instead drink LOTS of water. Go ahead and add a drop of water enhancer if you’d like some added flavor. You can always have black coffee or some tea or green tea without sugar, too!

Find exercise that works for you 

Work yourself slowly into an exercise routine that works for you based on your abilities, interests and time. Remember that you’re not just doing this as a part of a crash diet. Take your time to try things and stick with what you like.  Mix it up so you don’t get bored.

Be kind to yourself 

OK, so you meant to only eat one cookie and the next thing you know you’ve gone through the whole box. Well, a slip in our diets is probably the one thing we all have in common. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Instead, drink a big glass of water, brush your teeth and continue on your diet – DON’T STOP. You are still on track to a healthier way of life.

It’s not a diet, it’s a way of life 

Always remember that all of these life changes you are making are not meant to be short-term but are part of the weight management strategy that will help keep you healthy for the rest of your life.