Come New Year and we all view our health and well-being with renewed vigour. Armed with diet recommendations, insta inspirations, planned workouts – we immerse ourselves in our new routine with dedication.
2 months down the line – Yay! There is definite weight reduction, you are looking thinner and then…
Life happens!!
Before you know it – you’ve not only started gaining what you lost but are stressed, your diet is getting to you, there’s no time for exercise , tonnes of cravings and as for insta inspirations – well how DO they do it!!!!
Before you embark on your weight loss journey, check your diet here:
Does/Is your diet
- fit into your normal routine or you need to upside down your whole routine to fit into your diet?
- include basic foods that you have been eating since ages or is all about fancy foods that you haven’t heard ever before?
- help you prevent or reverse common health concerns, like high BP, migraine ,acidity ,thyroid or diabetes?
- safe and poses no long-term health risks?
“If you really want to lose weight and be healthy and grateful to your body, you have to pick something that you’re going to be able to do over the long term.”
Your new “DIET” must fit in with how you really live. If you enjoy going out to eat but try to commit to a diet that forbids you from ever going to a restaurant, you’re just going to cheat eventually.
The biggest science of weight loss is that your great diet has to be your lifestyle and not a short sprint toward a short-term goal. Turning a diet into a lifestyle isn’t only about knowing what to eat. Knowing what to do and actually doing are completely different things. It surely demands your dedication. But it also demands the diet be sustainable. For most people who ‘successfully’ lose the weight, 70% of them gain it all back within a handful of months. For your diet to be sustainable and become your way of life you need guidance to
- Understand your unique body and its relationship with food.
- Help you break unhealthy patterns and make you start doing the things you know you should.
- Tune your habits considering your strengths and weaknesses and then chalk out a “Nutrition Plan”(and not a diet) for you.
- Support you maintain a mindset powerful enough to stay motivated and achieve the goals you set for yourself.
(Looking for a customised weight loss plan for yourself- http://nutriguide.co.in/iplan/)
STRATEGIES TO MAINTAIN
Unlearn the diets and learn the new way of life
Once you commit to a new lifestyle, everything else starts falling in place. Forget about the newest nutrition buzzword or latest diet in trend. Rather focus on making gradual and permanent changes for your body.Keep yourself accountable and plan your meals.Make a grocery list before you shop.Include your favourite fruits and veggies in your diet as snacks.
Learn to recognise hunger
Many of us have forgotten what physical hunger feels like. If you’re hankering for a specific food, it’s probably a craving, not hunger. Tune into your stomach-that is your best hunger guru. Learning to listen your body helps you consciously stay in control.
Change the way you eat at home
Don’t slump into your chair and eat in front of the tube. Sit well, on your meal table and savour your food slowly. Use smaller plates and serve yourself one course at a time. Smaller portions and spending more time to eat, helps you eat mindfully without effort. If you are not sure about how much to serve yourself, use measuring cups at first. This will help you to understand portion sizes better.
Reduce ½ hr of screen time
The more you are hooked on onto your net shows or TV, the more often you tend to munch. Sacrifice one program and go for a walk or try shaking a leg on your favourite number instead—in even just 15 minutes, you’ll feel much better.
Close your kitchen at night
After dinner, close your kitchen completely. Late night snacking significantly leads to fat storage.
Keep on hand chutneys, salsa and dips(home made)
They not only provide lots of flavour and variety to raw veggies with low fat and few calories, but also turn up your digestive fires, causing your body to temporarily burn more calories.
Never deny yourself. Just eat smart
Eating dessert every day is okay if you don’t overdo it and pick the right ingredients to prepare same. Have a spoonful of ice cream and a bowl of fruit. Pair each chip you eat with yogurt dip or salsa. Try balancing a little cheese with a lot of veggies.
Don’t just keep track of your food – track your mood as well
Most of the time, bad food choices are linked to the mood we are in. If you are keeping a journal or sincerely wanting to lose weight, write down the mood alongside what you ate. E.g. 1 bowl ice-cream, feeling upset.This will help you to accept and eventually reduce emotional eating. Alternatively, a walk, a phone call, music or an impromptu dance can help you feel better without food.
Make the waiter your best friend when you eat out
Order the smallest portion and ask for dressings on the side. Request to keep your water glass filled, to double the side of veggies and to limit the fried preparation. Bag it as a takeaway if the portion is too large rather than finishing there and then. Don’t stress and enjoy your food keeping the portions under check.
Seek Support
It can be your partner, your mom, sis-in-law, best bud or neighbour….but that one person who motivates you towards your goal and keeps you on track is extremely important. Can’t find anyone? Use the technology. Download the app to remind you drink water, counts your steps or helps you track your food journal.
Continue to challenge yourself with new goals
It doesn’t have to be related to weight loss always. Achieving both short-term and long-term goals will help you keep your confidence level high and make you feel like a winner.
Don’t obsess over your weight
Whatever your weight-loss goal, the priority should be first and foremost on gradual habit tuning focusing overall health and wellness. Eating for health frees you up emotionally and is based on improving your body rather than rejecting your body needs. Food obsession can lead you to feel frustrated and destroy your relationship with food. Always remember, any food can fit in a healthy diet if you’re eating in the right way.
Maintain ‘sustainable’ activity-find a workout you love
Maintain a routine you enjoy be it walking, swimming, gym or zumba. If it feels like additional work, chances are high that you don’t sustain it.
Enjoy your new ‘lifestyle’-
Slimming down slowly instead of all at once gives you enough time to tune your habits, create some new and break few old.This finally creates eating and exercise routine that you can maintain for life. You’ve got to give yourself few months to an year of consistent behavioural changes to keep the weight off and build new habits.
For customised Nutrition Plans for keeping your weight off permanently visit www.umanarula.com.
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Uma Narula is an award winning practising Nutritionist since 12 years.If you have any queries regarding your health,weight loss and nutrition you can email at uma@nutriguide.co.in or call on +91 99676 35556 / +32 468 29 79 49.