Stop Dieting, Learn To Live Leaner
If you have noticed that recently your health has got into a little rut or you’re just not feeling as happy about your approach to your health and fitness as you once were, you might be thinking about going down the diet route. The truth is that when it comes to diets, they offer a short-term fix to a long-term problem, which is why it’s far better to ditch the diet and go for a different approach.
Ask any nutrition expert and they will tell you the same thing: dieting isn’t good for your health, it just creates a system of yo-yo-ing in and out of diets throughout your life. That’s why instead it’s far better for your health and overall wellbeing to take steps to learn to live leaner without dieting, understanding how to make healthy, sustainable changes and overhaul how you treat your body and your general fitness.
If you have decided that now is the perfect time to begin making some changes to how you look after yourself and what you feed your body with, you have come to the right place. Of course, deciding that now is the time that you are going to start making some changes and actually start thinking about leading a leaner life is one thing, but knowing how to go about it is something entirely different. The truth is that the prospect of overhauling your health and wellbeing can be exceedingly difficult to do, which is why a lot of people struggle with the process.
That being said, if you can determine how to get the approach right, you can make overhauling your health and wellness far simpler and easier for yourself. Intrigued at the concept of stopping dieting and starting to live a leaner, healthier life? Below are a few tips and suggestions for steps that you can take to do so - read on for everything that you need to know about changing your approach to your diet and fitness.
Gain an understanding
When it comes to taking steps to stop dieting and starting to live a leaner life, it’s important that you gain an understanding of how you can make changes to enhance and improve your health and wellbeing. If you are going to succeed at overhauling your health and wellness, it’s vital that you understand why choosing to swap dieting for healthy eating can work well to help you to achieve those goals.
Similarly, you need to gain an understanding of what is and isn't realistic in terms of the results you'll see. Both women and men often have unrealistic expectations when trying to live leaner. Men assume that they can achieve a perfect v-shaped body in just a few weeks, while women also expect to drop a few dress sizes in no time. Be aware that the best progress is slow and consistent progress, and also don't focus too much on what you see across social media or the internet.
Determine how many calories you can eat
When it comes to giving your diet an overhaul, one of the most important steps to take is to determine how many calories you can eat a day to either prevent weight gain or to reduce your weight if that’s your goal. Your calorie allowance is how many calories you are able to consume on a daily basis without gaining weight or to lose weight, again depending on what goals you have in place.
When it comes to working out what your daily calorie allowance should be, it’s best to use a calorie calculator like the tdee calculator, for instance, to work out how many calories you can consume a day to either maintain your weight or to lose weight. A calculator like this will take your personal details, such as your age, height, gender, and activity level, and determine how many calories your body needs to function and how many calories you need to eat to achieve different goals, such as weight maintenance and weight loss, for instance.
Make healthy food fun and simple
A lot of people choose not to eat healthy food simply because cooking can seem stressful and overly time-consuming. However, that doesn’t have to be the case, you can make cooking fun and enjoyable, not to mention easy. It’s just a case of taking the time to properly understand how to go about this.
Meal preparation can be made simple, it’s just a case of determining which approach works best for you. For instance, some people find that using recipe boxes can help to make preparing meals simpler, easier, and more enjoyable, not to mention making healthy food a little more exciting. While others prefer to batch cook their meals in advance, freezing them down into different portion sizes, and heating them up on a daily basis. Think of this approach as a healthy alternative to ready meals.
The key to success when it comes to making healthy, wholesome food is finding a route that works for you. It’s also important not to get into the habit of eating the same thing day in, day out. It’s important that you take steps to diversify what you’re eating to help prevent food boredom from occurring. The more new recipes you can try, the better. If you’re looking for recipe inspiration, you can find lots of great recipes online.
Understand that you can enjoy treats
What makes this kind of approach to your health and wellness so incredible, is the fact that that there are no limits in regards to what you can and cannot eat. You don’t have to feel guilty about treating yourself to ice cream or having dessert, as long as you stick to your daily calorie allowance you shouldn’t see any problems with your health and weight.
Getting into the mindset that you can eat whatever you live and still see results isn’t easy, but the fact is that once you adapt to this approach, it becomes far simpler and easier. There is an adjustment process to eating in a certain way, but once you understand how following this kind of approach to your weight can help you, it becomes far simpler to stay on track and on the plan.
The key thing to remember when enjoying treats is that just because you’ve had one treatment, that doesn’t mean that you should reach for another one. It’s all about moderation, and having treats in moderation is okay, but what you don’t want to do is binge eat because this can have a seriously detrimental impact on your weight and your health.
Ensure you’re doing plenty of walking
Studies show that everyone should be doing at least 10,000 steps a day to remain healthy; that’s on top of the 150 minutes of exercise that is also recommended per week to stay in shape. If you want to ensure that your body stays in good shape, then it is vital to make sure that you are getting your 10,000 steps per day in and walking as much as you possibly can do.
To track how much you are walking, consider investing in a fitness watch or step tracker so that you can make sure that you are getting at least your 10,000 steps a day each day. Walking more becomes easier over time; it’s just a case of adapting to doing more on your feet rather than driving as much.
It’s little, consistent changes that tend to make the most difference, such as walking to the shops rather than driving, for example, or choosing to walk to school with the kids, rather than driving them.
Be more active
As part of leading a leaner life, it’s important to take steps to become more active in general. If you are someone who doesn’t enjoy physical activity, then you might struggle to become more active. However, if you want to see results in your weight and health, it’s important that you take steps to be more physically active. This means thinking about how you can do more with your free time and lead a more active life.
For instance, don’t spend your weekends sat at home watching television, aim to get out and about and do more. Whether that’s heading off on a bike ride with a friend, going to a Zumba class, or taking your kid’s swimming, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you aim to become more active and start moving more, because the more active you are, the healthier you will be. It’s just a case of getting started and building momentum; once you get into being active you will become addicted and will begin to look forward to it.
If you find it hard to hold yourself responsible when it comes to staying active, it might be a good idea to buddy up with a friend who is also looking to exercise more regularly. By finding someone to buddy up with, you should have someone to help hold you accountable and make staying on track with your fitness a little easier and more achievable. It’s always nice to have someone to work out with, as building your fitness journey with someone else can make getting fit and healthier far more achievable.
There you have it, a few simple tips and suggestions for some ways in which you can make stopping dieting and starting to live a leaner, healthier life a little easier. Hopefully, the tips and ideas above will help you to get off to a good start and find managing your health a little easier.