When you start losing weight, it can be very frustrating when you get going with high hopes only to fail to reach your short-term goals. We will often tell ourselves that we want to lose 1 to 2 pounds each week. That said, the reality of those results can be very different.
Dieters may find that they don’t start losing weight at the speed they expected. They could discover that they tend to plateau for a while then see pounds dropping all at once before plateauing again. They may also find that their strategy doesn’t work at all.
How to Start Losing Weight from the Beginning
To make sure you get things started on the right foot, there are a few tips that you can use to start losing weight efficiently. Most of these tips are quite easy and straightforward. In fact, the majority will be beneficial to your health as a whole, not just to your body fat. Consider the following as you get started.
Work on Stress Control
Stress can have a very negative impact on your health and your ability to start losing weight. Therefore, you have yet another reason to focus on your mental health and get your stress levels under control. Whether this means doing more activities to relax, meditating and doing yoga, or learning how to effectively say “no”, it can make a considerable difference to your wellness and to your numbers on the scale.
Choose Flavorful Foods
If you’re on a calorie restricted diet, you may feel as though you’ll always be hungry. That’s not the case! The important thing to remember is that not all calories are created equal and that flavor helps to fill you up. Over time, you’ll develop a fantastic eating strategy that lets you eat lots of foods and get filled up instead of suffering that “starvation” feeling you dread.
Start losing weight by adding more veggies to your plate. In fact, try to fill at least half of your plate with vegetables. Need more flavor? Herbs and spices are about to become your best friend. Most of these options are low cal but can be eaten in quantity and fill you up, too.
Dump the Packaged Meals
It’s time to start avoiding processed, packaged foods. The more foods are processed, the harder the calories are on your ability to start losing weight effectively. Research shows that if you eat the same number of calories in a meal made of whole foods and one made of highly processed foods, the first meal will help you lose weight faster. So far, the researchers have no idea why, but the pattern is clear.