Most of us have had bad experiences with dieting. Which isn’t surprising since 95% of dieters on old-fashioned weight loss diets don’t lose weight. 80% of people who have lost weight regain the lost weight in less than 12 months. This appalling success rate shows that there is a problem with diets that promise a simple or quick fix for habits, attitudes and behaviors that often build up over many years.
So, is there a better way to achieve long-term, sustainable weight loss? Certainly this is not the old calorie counting or food restricted diet. Maybe the answer is to make diet a part of your daily lifestyle, just like gaining weight was a part of your routine in the past. By thinking of weight loss this way, as not the primary focus but more of a by-product of your lifestyle choices, it is possible to start reversing those bad habits. Yet more importantly, you’ll begin to change the habits, attitudes, and behaviors that led to the weight gain—not just toy with the symptoms.
You can start with a few simple changes that you can make to your lifestyle and begin the process of weight loss without dieting. Here are three things you can do now:
Avoid processed foods. There is a simple mantra that you can consider memorizing, which is ‘Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize, Or at least you should think twice before doing so. Processed foods are saturated with fats and sugars and low on nutrients, a combination that is a perfect recipe for weight gain. As an alternative, turn to fresh and whole foods rather than their processed counterparts. For example, whole grain bread fresh on the day of purchase will be better than white preservative-laden alternatives. Research proves that the more whole natural foods you eat, the healthier and more satisfying your diet will be.
Eat well but eat less. One of the simplest and most effective no diet weight loss techniques is to reduce — even by a fraction — the amount of food on your plate. As weight loss is a numbers game, consume fewer calories than you need to lose weight. Eating just 5% less will make a dramatic difference. It is sometimes difficult to limit calorie intake so always use quality over quantity. That’s why 5% is an ideal number because anything more can be noticeable and may well leave you hungry and vulnerable to impulsive eating.
Try to get more rest. There is a lot of evidence that indicates that stress can lead to weight gain and one way to lose weight is to get more rest. The stress process is part of the flight or fight response because stress causes your adrenal glands to release adrenaline and cortisol into your bloodstream. A side-effect of which causes the body to retain fat. Besides this cortisol, the stress hormone, makes your body desensitized to other hormones. This in turn reduces your sensitivity to leptin, the hormone that tells your brain when you’re full. The other downside with stress is that we tend to turn to comfort food to cheer ourselves up.
If you think a weight loss program without diet is the way forward for you then the one thing you will need is more patience than willpower. Because habits, behavior and attitudes do not change overnight. Yet making small, tiny changes over time will give you consistent and long-lasting results leading to gradual weight loss that will increase the likelihood that the weight will disappear for good. So if old fashioned diets have failed you, why not try this?
Source by Jim Brackin
