In our society, a common health goal that many of us have is to ‘lose weight’. A simple search on ‘losing weight’ in google throws up around 47 million results, consisting of books, articles, papers and case studies. A current popular diet is the 5:2 diet , but there are many others to choose from and many people who try them all!
However if you look at the stats of any restrictive diet, they’re pretty alarming. According to one study, 83% of dieters actually gain more weight than when they started, and it’s no wonder given that feast often follows famine, and vice and versa.
Many people who are successful at sustaining their weight loss realise that what’s required isn’t a few weeks or months of restriction, but a lifetime of making better food choices as well as getting into other healthy habits such as moving the body, sleeping well and managing stress levels.
I’ve started to compile a list of some of the tips that health coaches across the globe have highlighted and will share these with you over the next few weeks.
Here’s the first which touches on the idea of starting where you are and crowding out the bad stuff; learning to love vegetables and drinking plenty of water.
‘ I have lost over 30 pounds over the last 6 months . Water has been the biggest help as well as being a conscious eater, crowding out junk with whole foods, returning to a plant-based diet and being kind to myself, meditating and exercising. My new motto works here: Practise, fail, forgive, repeat.’