Trying to begin a weight loss strategy can feel pretty stressful. After all, you know you have some challenges coming up. Some of them will be big. Others will be small. If you want to keep off the pounds, many will be quite life changing.
If you want to take some of the strain out of your weight loss strategy, there are many things you can do. This is not a matter of finding a fad diet to try to achieve drastic fat reductions in a tiny amount of time. That will only harm your metabolism and force your body into yo-yo weight loss and gains.
Steps to De-Stress Your Weight Loss Strategy
Here are three helpful steps to make your effort to drop the pounds more pleasant:
1. Examine your trends
Whether or not you have a history of dieting in the past, there are trends to the way you eat and exercise. Use a nutrition and fitness tracker to help you to identify them. Look for specifics such as when you get hungry, when you’re likely to skip a workout, and when you’re likely to overeat. Spot both strengths and weaknesses.
That said, be realistic. You know you can’t be perfect all the time. Find the worst offenders and come up with some alternative ways of dealing with them. Test out various solutions as a part of your weight loss strategy. This can help take to the strain.
2. Give yourself only short-term deadlines
We have a tendency to come up with a goal date for all our weight loss. Though deadlines can be helpful, that’s only the case when they’re used correctly. Long term goals in a weight loss strategy often set you up to fail.
Instead, set short term deadlines. They will all build toward your ultimate larger goal, but that deadline doesn’t need to be set. Shorter deadlines give you something within reach. They’re motivational. When the journey looks too long, it’s far too easy to feel like you’ll never get there.
3. Pay attention to sleep and other causes of stress
Many dieters forget to consider other stressful factors in their lives. This can make it hard to get the most out of their weight loss strategy. A lack of sleep or an extremely stressful lifestyle can make it much harder to stay motivated to lose weight. If you still find yourself stressed out over energy levels, a weight loss product formulated to boost energy levels can be a help.
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To overcome this challenge, make stress reduction and adequate sleep a priority in your life. Go to bed at the same time every night. Get up at the same time every morning. This includes weekends. Do yoga or meditate. Use caffeine and alcohol in moderation. All this together will only help your weight loss strategy.
4. Make fitness a daily activity
Getting exercise into your regular daily routine can seem like a nuisance if you’ve been relatively sedentary before implementing your weight loss strategy. However, by making sure you’re physically active in some way every day, you’ll not only support your progress toward your weight goal, but you’ll also help to reduce your own stress levels.
Regular exercise is one of the most effective forms of stress relief. In fact, it is among the top lifestyle changes recommended for people suffering from many forms of mental illness such as depression, anxiety disorders and obsessive compulsive disorders. That said, even if you do not suffer from mental illness, it can still help to support your mental health, keeping stress levels controlled.
5. Get outside
This is a particularly important step when you spend most of your time working or studying indoors, and in the winter months when daylight hours are shorter. Whether you’re taking a quick, brisk walk at lunchtime or even just sitting on a deck, porch or balcony during sunrise or sunset, getting outside, breathing some fresh air and taking in some sunlight can make a big difference to the stress levels in your day.
Whether you’re trying to remove the stress from your weight loss strategy or just do something great for your overall wellness, don’t let a day go by without getting some air and daylight. Remember that most light does penetrate clouds, so even when a day is cloudy or overcast, you’ll still benefit from heading outside for at least a few minutes.
6. Try gratitude journaling
Gratitude journaling may not have been the first thought to pop into your head when you were coming up with a weight loss strategy, but it can be a very positive and stress free factor. Keep a daily or even weekly journal that involves listing 5 things you’re grateful for. Make sure at least one of those points has to do with something you’re doing to reach your weight goal.
Yes, you can be grateful that you lost a pound this week but open your mind to other positive factors as well. Are you grateful for the access you have to healthy vegetables? For the delicious calorie controlled meal you prepared today? For the fact that your body can move around? For the information you can find about nutrition and exercise? For your fitness progress? Or even for that you got your hands on the best diet pills 2020 has to offer? The more you think about your efforts in terms of gratitude, the more you’ll gain new perspective about your weight loss strategy.
