While you may want to lose weight, you need to slow down your weight gain first. It’s important to make small changes that are easier to handle and stick to in the long-term. But what options do you have to slow down your weight gain? What can you do to make sure you can still fasten your pants without the help of a coat hanger?
You need these tips. These 10 tips will put your health first, making sure you get all the nutrients you need without the excessive weight gain. Before you know it, you’ll maintain and then lose the weight you have.
Are you ready to tackle your weight gain issue?
Add More Exercise to Your Routine
Let’s start by doing exercise. You see, 20% of your diet is exercise. It doesn’t just help you lose fat, but build muscle. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn daily. Muscle needs extra calories to recover, repair, and build.
When you burn extra calories naturally, you will find it easier to create a calorie deficit. This is important to help slow down weight gain, and we will discuss that next.
The only other way to create a calorie deficit is by following a lower calorie diet. While exercise seems like hard work, it’s also fun. Exercise doesn’t just mean hitting the gym or going running. A game of football with friends or some yoga will help you build the muscle your body needs.
You should do 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week just to remain healthy. To lose weight, double that amount if possible. Don’t suddenly jump into doing all this exercise. You want to increase slowly to avoid injury.
Know the Calories You Burn
While the recommended daily number of calories a person needs is 2000-2500, this isn’t quite accurate. We all need different amounts of calories based on our age, size, activity levels, and any disabilities. Those who are active will burn more calories than those who spend all day sitting at a desk.
You need to know some calories you burn. This helps you create a calorie deficit. By knowing some calories your body will burn in a day, you can make sure you don’t go over that with your food. If your body doesn’t get enough calories through food, it will burn the calories that you store.
If you’re gaining weight quickly, you’ll likely eat far too many calories than your body needs. When you decrease the number of calories, you’ll see the weight gain slow down and even stop entirely.
Don’t be afraid to trial this. While there are calorie calculators out there, they’re not always accurate. The best way is to track your calories and watch your weight.
Don’t Forget to Track Everything
Get a food journal. This is essential if you want to track just how much weight you’re gaining and why.
Your journal will need to track the exact number of calories you’re gaining through food and drink. Don’t miss anything out. The only person you’re cheating is yourself when you do this. Make a note of the total calorie intake at the end.
Every week, weigh yourself to check your weight progress. If you find you’re still gaining a large amount of weight, look at decreasing your calories. Once you see yourself maintaining, you will find some calories you naturally need to burn throughout the day. To lose weight, you need to eat less than this.
Tracking doesn’t just help you create a calorie deficit. You’ll be able to track trigger moods or trigger foods. You’ll also get an overall look at your diet to make sure it’s healthy.
Eat Breakfast on a Morning
Skipping breakfast is one of the worst habits for those gaining weight. You may think that skipping a meal means eating less, but breakfast is the worst meal for it. In fact, skipping any meal is bad for you.
When it comes to breakfast, your body needs the fuel to kick start the metabolism. The body goes into a fasting mode overnight, slowing down some calories it burns temporarily. If you don’t give it a kick state, the body will remain in this fasting mode. It’s needed to prevent you losing too much weight in a short space of time.
Opt for a healthy breakfast. Oats or eggs will help to sustain you through the morning. You can create your oat bars for on the go breakfasts if you have a bad habit of getting up late.
Make sure you then eat meals throughout the day. Your body needs sustained energy levels to get you through the day. If you feel an energy dip, you’re more likely to crave the foods that are higher in calories and are more likely to cause weight gain.
Practice Mindful Eating
Let’s be honest; most of our weight gain is linked to mindless eating. We sit in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn or packet of crisps with the idea that we’ll only have a few. Before we know it, we’re at the bottom of the bag without a clue as to how we got there.
This is just leading to excess weight gain. If you want to slow down your weight gain effectively, you’ll need to practice mindful eating. This is just as it sounds: being mindful of the food and drink that you consume throughout the day.
It’s not the easiest tip of the lot but is one of the most effective. Chances are you’ll need to change a lot of your habits for this to work. Start with the TV snacking, which you’ll likely do out of boredom. Opt for food that is healthier to snack on at first or find another way to use your hands. Many women take up crocheting or knitting to keep their hands busy while keeping their eyes on the TV.
You’ll find a method that works for you. As you consume fewer calories, you’ll slow down your weight gain and will barely miss the changes that you’ve made.
Increase the Amount of Protein and Fibre You Eat
Your body needs all food groups. This isn’t about demonizing fats and carbs at all. In fact, we’ll get to them in a moment.
What your body isn’t getting enough of is protein. This macronutrient is a necessity for your muscles. It will help them repair and build, making exercise easier.
Fiber helps to sustain the digestive system. It encourages the removal of waste, helping to reduce bloating and discomfort that can lead to weight gain.
Protein and fiber also have the benefit of breaking down in the body slower than fats and carbs. They fuel the body for longer periods of time and leave you feeling fuller in a shorter space of time. Think about when you’ve eaten a meal. Do you feel like you can eat more pasta and potatoes but not anymore meat? This is because the protein in the meat will take longer to digest and will leave you feeling over-full.
High protein and high fiber foods can be higher in calories, but they’re worth it. Because your body doesn’t want to eat as much, you’ll find it easier to create a calorie deficit.
Opt for the Right Types of Carbs
Let’s look at carbs first. Carbs do get a bad reputation thanks to the likes of the Atkin’s diet and South Beach diet. The trust is it’s the wrong types of carbs that are bad for your weight gain. And these are likely the types of carbs you eat the most.
Simple carbs break down quickly in the body. They cause the blood sugar levels to rise, and this can lead to more weight gain. When you switch to complex, starchy carbs, you’ll find your blood sugar levels remain steady. The fiber or starch within the carbs will help to break down the carbs slower, so you have a sustained level of energy.
Switch out the white pasta and bread for whole grain and whole wheat options. Switch out the white rice for brown rice. Opt for more vegetables and potatoes in your meals and cut out the cakes, crisps, and other refined carbs from your meals.
When eating on carbs, think about the amount of fiber it has. Fiber is good, as it will help to leave you feeling fuller for longer, so you don’t feel the need to eat as much.
Opt for Some Healthy Fats
Fat doesn’t make you fat. It’s an odd thing to say, but it is the truth. But not all fats are made the same. Like with carbs, you want to include fats in your diet, but you want to get the right ones. Switch out the saturated fats and opt for the unsaturated options.
This means drop the vegetable oil and replace it with olive or coconut oil. Get rid of the skin from your chicken and avoid the fatty parts of your meats. Add some avocados and nuts to your meals to get all the healthy fats you need.
Fats will give you sustained energy. They support your liver to remove the toxins out of your body and promote a healthier lifestyle. Healthy fats will also support your arteries, reducing the risk of developing high bad cholesterol levels, heart disease, and other conditions.
Think About Your Portion Sizes
It’s time to focus on the amount of food you eat at meal time. Plate sizes have increased over the years, which has affected the amount of food that we eat. When we have a regular sized portion on our plates now, it looks like we’re eating very little. In fact, we’re eating a healthy amount of food. But to make us think we’ll get enough, we add more to fill up the plate.
Our portion sizes have skyrocketed over the years. You want to reduce them to slow down your weight gain.
Rather than reducing the amount you put on the plate right now, practice your mindful eating tactics at the dinner table. Eat half of the meal and then sit back. Give your stomach a chance to relay messages of fullness to your brain. If you feel satisfied, stop eating.
If you’re still hungry, eat half of the food left on the plate. Repeat the pausing steps again to see if your body is still hungry. If it isn’t, then you can stop eating. You don’t want to feel overfull. You want to feel satisfied at the end of the meal. If you’re still not satisfied, continue by eating half of the food left and pausing until you do.
As you get used to the amount of food you need, you can reduce your portion sizes naturally. Try getting a smaller plate to make it look like you’re eating just as much as you used to. You’ll be surprised at the amount of dieting that is psychological.
Substitute the Worst Offenders
What are the worst calorific offenders in your house? Do you have full-fat milk that uses up extra calories? Maybe you get added sugar yogurts or drink lots of orange juice. There are lots of ways that you can cut out the calories without feeling like you’re missing out.
Let’s start with the orange juice. Even if you make it at home, it’s full of unnecessary sugars and calories. You lose the freshing drink with none of the calories.
Switch your fiber when juicing fruits. Opt for an orange smoothie instead, using the whole fruits, so you still get the fiber. You can also chop a few slices of orange or lemon and add them directly to your water. You’ll get a cool, full-fat milk to skim milk. Get rid of the fruity yogurts and choose a natural Greek yogurt. You can add in your fruits to the yogurt to make it taste as it would have done from the store. In fact, Greek yogurt with some fresh fruit and nuts is more delicious than the store-bought varieties.
Little substitutions go a long way to help slow down your weight gain.
Are you ready to act? You can slow down your weight gain through small actions. Add more activity, make substitutions, and focus on mindful eating. While your food needs to be delicious, you also want to find new habits that will help to cut down on the calories and sustain you throughout the day.
