You might not believe it now, but I really struggled with weight loss in my teen years. This turned into an unhealthy relationship with food and a negative view of myself. It took me years to work through those issues and find a healthy balance. I found that changing my approach to eating and moving made the biggest difference in my weight loss journey.
Here are some quick tips for changing your relationship with yourself and your activities surrounding your weight. These tips have helped me easily maintain my goal weight and are great weight loss tips for women.
Why Can’t I Lose Weight?
The choices we make repeatedly will form patterns. What we usually see with weight loss struggles is that the patterns we follow put us at odds with food. Our body needs certain nutrients, like protein, vitamins and fiber. But we usually don’t pursue foods rich in those nutrients because we bypass them for something tastier.
If we could wrap our minds around eating and moving to empower our bodies, then weight loss would become easier. We have to change our thinking around candy, soda, heavy pasta, bread, chips and other nutrient-low foods that fill our bodies with empty carbs. They aren’t “bad” foods because they don’t have moral weight, and we aren’t “bad” for eating them. However, they aren’t valuable to our bodies. And they make us feel sick, sluggish and slow.
If you can change your internal narrative, you will take a huge step in the right direction. Rather than feeling like you “have” to eat vegetables, think about which ones make you feel great after. Pursue those foods. Rather than feel like you are depriving yourself of sweets or carbs, remind yourself it’s OK to have a small portion, but those foods make you feel a certain way afterward-especially when you eat a large amount. When you change your mindset, you will stop being at odds with yourself and see the benefit of choosing a healthy path.
Turn your lifestyle choices into healthy habits. I’m going to give you some specific tips to help you form this behavior pattern below and lose weight fast, so keep reading!
5 Tips for Natural Weight Loss
There are lots of fad diet options and weight loss pills out there, but they can be devastating for your health. Rather than try something drastic, start with these natural weight loss tips.
Use a Small Plate
This is the simplest weight loss tip in the book! When you eat dinner, grab a smaller (salad-size) plate! You can visually fill it with food, and the portion size is much smaller than on a dinner plate. This helps keep your subconscious from feeling deprived without eating the extra calories.
As you fill the plate, try to make the largest portion healthy food-usually, green vegetables are a good pick. Reduce the amount of added sugar and processed food you eat.
I really like to use decorative plates because it feels like a gift. When I enjoy the dish I’m using, it naturally boosts my experience and helps me experience the opposite of deprivation-abundance. I don’t have to overeat to appreciate the abundance of food and goods in my life.
Eat Mindfully
Don’t grab and go! Don’t try to work through lunch or eat your dinner in front of the TV. Why? Because this mindless act will have you searching for the next bite without even thinking about satisfaction. Your body likes the stimulation and sensation of eating. When you snack or eat while doing something else, you will overeat before your body tells you to stop.
You can make your meal experiences more fulfilling and meaningful by slowing down to mindfully eat. Stop and sit at the table with your freshly made plate in front of you. Without anything else distracting you from your plate, eat each bite slowly. Enjoy the textures and flavors. This slower eating process helps you feel more satisfied with your food and form a new habit around mindful eating.
Movement is Key
Just increasing movement will increase blood flow and get your body going. A lot of sitting will literally kill you, cutting your lifespan short. One study found a sedentary lifestyle doubled the rate of early mortality when compared to active adults. Some studies suggest that exercise still can’t counteract long periods of sitting. So, the recommendation from experts is to take a break to move at least every 30 minutes and also get regular exercise through moderately intense physical activities 3-5 times a week. Explore movement options like a weight training class, recreational biking, jogging, pickleball or another fun activity.
If you sit a lot, just get up and stand, stretch and walk to another room. Those very short breaks don’t even have to be mental breaks-you can do this mid-task as soon as you get stuck on a word or thought you need to work through. I find the movement often helps jar my thoughts and gets me back on track.
I also wear a fitness tracker that goes directly to my phone and tracks my daily movement levels. The gaming aspect of trying to stay on track every day inspires me to move more often throughout my day.
Don’t Eat After 6-7 PM
Stopping your food intake early helps reduce how much food is in your stomach when you sleep. Your metabolism slows when you sleep, so it’s much better for your body if you can digest during your waking hours.
Not only will late-evening eating hurt your weight loss goals, but it has other negative side effects as well. For example, the food left in your stomach can cause acid reflux. You will also experience poor sleep and lower concentration levels when eating too late affects your circadian rhythm and makes it harder to get a good night’s sleep.
Instead, consider the benefits of intermittent fasting. I choose to eat each meal or healthy snack during a 6-hour slot each day, taking off the other 18 hours with an option for water alone. This is a simple way to limit my food intake to the hours when my body is most prepared to convert the food I eat into energy for my day. This means I usually start eating around noon and stop eating around 6 PM.
Create a New Mantra
Change your internal messaging to help support your new healthy lifestyle habits. Repeat over and over, “I easily maintain my healthy weight.”
Join me in a Clearing Walk in The Carol Tuttle Healing Center to help establish this new perspective. My powerful clearing will remove interferences you’re storing in your body that prevent you from creating healthier habits.
Additional Tips for Quick Weight Loss and How to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle
If you like those tips, then you will love these bonus tips! Here are just a few more things to consider adding to your daily routine for healthy weight loss.
Set a Regular Sleep Schedule
Most Americans aren’t getting enough sleep and it’s extremely unhealthy. A lack of sleep makes it hard to function at full capacity and will impede your weight loss efforts. Sleep deprivation leads to an increased risk of high blood pressure, hypertension and spiked blood sugar.
Get your circadian rhythm under control and allow your body to get the rest it needs each day. Getting more sleep will help you improve your impulse control and reduce your cravings. Your body won’t feel as if it is lacking something and try to make up with it by craving sources of quick energy (like carbs, sugar and caffeine)
Try to plan for 8-9 hours of sleep every night. This means you will need to go to bed earlier in order to wake up at the time you need to start preparing for work, school or whatever is on your calendar. You want to try to keep your timing as consistent as possible, so don’t try to sleep in on the weekends.
Keep Stress Under Control
The fight or flight response that occurs when we are under stress is likely to sabotage our efforts for weight loss. When your body feels threatened by stress, it tends to store up fat for an emergency by slowing the metabolism, resulting in weight gain. Your body doesn’t understand the difference between being chased by a predator and struggling through a relationship or being overworked.
Plus, when you are stressed, you have a lower impulse control threshold for things like food choices. You are more likely to turn to junk food or processed foods to find comfort.
The best way to slow your mind and encourage your body back into a state of neutral energy is to eliminate the major stressors in your life. It isn’t always possible, but we can typically avoid many stressors. Even if you can’t avoid the largest culprit, try to reduce the number of small stressors you have in your life to stop exacerbating your system. Tips for removing stressors include:
- Decluttering and getting rid of your excess stuff
- Setting boundaries for demanding relationships in your life
- Cutting out toxic people who aren’t trying to change
- Telling people “no” when something isn’t a high priority for you
- Refusing to overbook your schedule and protecting time for yourself
- Making time for regular exercise (a great stress-reliever!)
- Searching for a new job that pays well or appreciates you more
- Meditating to force your brain to let go and calm down
Practice Yoga
Yoga is a mindful physical activity that can help with losing weight. This form of exercise may take some practice before you feel confident. However, the stretching and bodyweight movements will help you improve your focus and tone your body.
People of all sizes and ages can practice yoga. You don’t have to have a certain belief system to get involved. You can use the time to focus on an intention, a favorite positive affirmation or prayer.
If you are distracted by your daily tasks during yoga, you will find it hard to balance. This makes yoga the perfect way to get out of your head and let those stressors go. A good glass will typically last 45 minutes to an hour. You can even practice with a free yoga instructor on YouTube if you want to explore some of the moves before joining an in-person class.
Be patient with yourself as you learn something new, and feel empowered as you gain more control over your body.
Drink More Water
Water helps filter out harmful toxins in your body. Water will also keep you hydrated-which is crucial for every system in your body. Plus, water will take up space in your stomach and help you feel satisfied faster while eating less.
Try drinking a glass of water before any meals or snacks. Drink water when you first get up and about an hour before your bedtime. The goal is to continue drinking water throughout the day to stay healthy and shed the extra pounds.
Love Yourself
Finally, LOVE YOURSELF. I can’t say this enough.
You are incredible. Your body is incredible. It’s okay to have goals, but you should STILL love yourself. If you practice negative self-talk, you will form an ingrained pattern of self-loathing.
Learn to love your body exactly how it is and support it with the best food, movement and lifestyle habits you can muster. Internalize these positive affirmations by repeating them over and over:
- 15 Affirmations to Feel More Beautiful Inside and Out
- 10 Affirmations for Building Self-Confidence
- 10 Affirmations for Aging Positively
