One of the major health concerns over the past two decades has been the rising risk of obesity. Obesity is caused chiefly by unhealthy eating and a lack of physical activity. People’s average fast food intake has increased over the years and there has also been a simultaneous decrease in the time they spend in physical activity. In a desperate effort to fix things, obese people sometimes decide to crash diet or subject themselves to intense physical activity which yields positive results up until the time they stop and go back to their same pattern of unhealthy living and end up becoming more obese than before. Expert dietitians suggest that the only way to stop this progression of risk is if people completely change their lifestyles.
1. Making The Decision To Permanently Change Your Lifestyle
The first and foremost step to take before setting on a weight loss journey, is to ensure that you have made the decision to change your lifestyle permanently. This is not easy and requires great a great sense of self-discipline. You will need to analyse every possible outcome that could lead you to go back to your previous lifestyle and prepare yourself to face them when they come. It is essential that you have a purpose that you want to achieve. Remind yourself of your purpose constantly. Set a goal chart that can help track your progress with realistic goals so that you are not too hard on yourself.
2. Create An Environment That Is Conducive To Change
Ensure that you have made your environment helpful to your cause. If you have a fridge stocked up with unhealthy food back at home, it will be counterproductive to your goal. Change is hard and you will need to help yourself by getting rid of the temptation around you and most importantly, the temptation in your mind. It may help if you have a support group or another person who can advise you or help you through the process.
3. Use Every Opportunity You Can To Stay Active
There was a time when there was no need to put in thought or mental energy into motivating oneself to be physically active. In fact, it wasn’t thought of as a task at all but rather a part and parcel of daily life just as natural as breathing. But now, we have invested in fitness centers, gyms, sports clubs and dedicated hours that we have set apart to ensure that our bodies remain healthy – which is fine but apart from the dedicated time spent towards fitness, we need need make use of every opportunity that lets us use our body like taking the stairs every now and then or walking short distances. The more active we keep our bodies, the higher our metabolic rate will be and the more we will burn calories.
4. Eat Healthy
This seems extremely obvious and needless to say but it is the hardest part of the entire process. The hard, cold truth is that junk food is just so much more accessible, cheap and saves us time. Eating healthy has become a process that requires great effort and commitment today. Eating healthy might mean spending time shopping for the right raw ingredients, making a healthy meal and keeping track of your calorie intake. This process requires effort, but your body will thank you for it in due time.
5. Enjoy The Process
Perception goes a long way in helping you reach your goal. If you perceive this lifestyle change as something that thrust upon you or something that you didn’t have a choice but to do, it is likely that you will lose motivation rather quickly. If you learn to enjoy it and have fun with it, you are likely to never want to go back to living an unhealthy lifestyle ever again.
