Diets will only work in the short term. To make it sustainable it has to be a lifestyle change.

If your lifestyle is filled with junk food, little sleep, and a little workout, then you have an uphill battle to keeping the weight off. None of the lifestyle change is dramatic, many of them simply involve a change in mindset. If you can challenge yourself you’ll be amazed at how much you can change.

The following points are ways to change in lifestyle with tips to achieve them.

1. Increase water intake

Water is the most important factor for a daily basis, but also in any weight loss program. Drinking water can cleanse the toxins from the body. Daily consumption of water is about 4 to 5 liters.

Tips: If you can’t stand the taste of water I highly recommend you add some cucumber, lemon or maybe some berries. This can help to add some natural flavors to your water and you will have something fun to drink. All the fruit you add is good for you and without all that added sugar.

2. Reduces the intake of carbohydrates

Carbohydrates food such as rice, pasta, and bread are high in carb, and it contains a lot of calories in it. Therefore if you want to lose weight, it is essential to reduce the amount of high carbohydrates food to a greater extent.

Tips: It’s difficult to control how much carbohydrates you take into your body, therefore my suggestion is to use a plate for every meal. Using plates can help to control the portions you eat, as you can control how much food you are putting on your plate.

3. Increases fiber and protein intake

Eating food that contains soluble fiber will shed the weight by reducing the bad cholesterol in your body. Fiber can keep your stomach full for a longer period and eventually prevent overeating. Therefore having food with soluble fiber is a great way to lose weight. Fiber is only found in food from plants, such as vegetables, fruit, brown rice and brown pasta.

When it comes to weight loss, protein is the best nutrition. You don’t need to reduce protein intake while diet, this is because protein is a muscle builder that can effectively reduce the fat in your body. Another reason to increase the amount of protein intake is that it helps you feel more satisfied and less likely to eat more.

Tips: Find the healthy food you love. It is not realistic to have a salad every meal. Go and explore the supermarket and find the healthy foods that you enjoy, for me I love broccoli, mushrooms, and tomato. Don’t force yourself to eat something you don’t like, just because it’s healthy. For example don’t force yourself to eat dry kale salad, if you don’t like dry kale. It is important to stick with what food you really like.

Note: The picture below helps to make my point 2 and 3 more clear on the portion of food you should consume in a meal. Click the picture for more information.

4. Never skip a meal, at least 3 meals a day

It’s is important to eat while you’re on a diet. When you skip a meal thinking that you might lose weight, but in fact, you’re actually gaining weight. This is because the hunger stays in your body and the next time you eat you will end up eating more. My suggestion has a light breakfast and dinner, while lunch can be a little heavier.

Tips: Use a food journal to help you keep records of what you eat, and I have been loving an app called Lifesum. This app is amazing to track down exactly what you eat a day and gives you the calories it contains in the food. Therefore you can easily count your calories intake in a day. Try Lifesum here: https://lifesum.com/

5. Get rid of food craving

When you have a food craving, try not to consume unhealthy snacks, such as chocolate, sweets, cakes etc. Also, limit food and drinks that contain added sugar. There are also many healthy snacks to choose from such as fruit and nuts are better options.

Tips: Keep tempting snack out of the house, this might sound crazy but it actually works. If there are snacks in the kitchen, there’s a temptation that you will eat it all. So the simple way is not to keep any snack in the house. Instead, stock up healthy snacks such as fruit, rice cake, and nuts.

Last, weight loss and keeping healthy is a lifelong journey. Sometimes all it takes are tiny lifestyle changes to achieve the results you are looking for. These lifestyle changes may seem difficult in the first place, but you can start it step by step. Most importantly all you need to do is set your mind to it and makes it happen. Good luck 😉