10 Habits will help you to lose over
100 Pounds:
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It takes a lot of hard
work to lose 100 pounds, I know. Regardless of what some people might say or
what you might read, there is no shortcut or easy, magical way to lose a lot of
weight. Large weight loss takes effort, perseverance, self-reflection, and a
change of habit. For the longest time, I didn’t want to do any of those things.
I didn’t want to have to work for my goals, I didn’t want to look inward at
myself, and I certainly didn’t want to change how I lived my life. But it is
because I didn’t want to do those things that weight loss took years, and
endless trial and error.
I eventually realized
that the reason I wasn’t able to lose weight (and keep it off) was that I
wasn’t willing to change some of my core habits. Or, at the very least, wasn’t
willing to work to maintain change. It wasn’t until I paused and did some self-reflection
that I was able to identify which of my core habits I needed to change in order
to achieve my goals. When I dedicated myself to changing those habits, that was
when I was able to lose 100 pounds and keep it off.
10 Habits will help you to lose over 100 Pounds:
Keep in mind while
reading this post that these are things that worked for me and may not
necessarily work for everyone. However, I do recommend giving everything a try,
because what do you have to lose?
10 Habits will help you to Lose over
100 Pounds:
Drink at least 1/2 a gallon of water daily.
One of the best things
you can do to help yourself lose weight and maintain the weight loss is to
significantly increase your water intake. There are lots of different ways to
drink more water. Remember that tea and coffee also count as water intake. The
myth that tea and coffee lead to dehydration has long since been debunked.
Another easy way to drink more water is to carry a water bottle with you
throughout your day. You can read about more easy ways to increase your water
intake in this post.
Walk between 6000-10000 steps daily.
Most experts agree that
the average person should be burning about 200-300 calories due to exercise
daily. Walking at a brisk pace is a great way to get this extra exercise.
Especially if you don’t have the time to do a full aerobic or strength training
workout. Early in my weight loss, I made sure to do a workout plus a daily walk
most days. Thankfully, because I have a dog this is still easy to do. Walking
promotes lean muscle growth and is great for the heart, so to me, it’s now just
part of my healthy lifestyle.
Don’t eat after 8pm.
If you’re wondering which
habit is the easiest to adopt, this habit is it. Challenge yourself to stop eating
before 8 pm, and then don’t resume eating until the morning time. Most often,
calories eaten after 8 pm are calories we do not need. So ditch the late-night
snack!
lose 100 pounds
Regularly practice intermittent
fasting.
I’ve mentioned in this
blog a few times that I am a huge fan of intermittent fasting. I truly credit
this style of eating for completely changing my relationship with food and for
helping me to lose a large amount of weight. Intermittent Fasting cycles
between periods of planned eating and fasting with the most common being the
16:8. The 16:8 method requires fasting for 16 hours (half of these are sleeping
hours) and eating during an 8-hour window. This method of eating works because
you are never restricting what you can eat, simply when you can eat. And the
reason it works for weight-loss is that short-term fasting has been shown to
increase your metabolic rate. And of course, an increased metabolic rate means
your body is burning more calories.
Exercise
4-5 times a week.
People don’t like to hear
that exercise is an important part of losing and maintaining a weight-loss. But
the truth is, exercising 4-5 times a week is the number one factor in my
weight-loss. I would never have been able to lose 100 pounds naturally if it
hadn’t been for fitness programs like P90X, 80 Day Obsession, and training for
my 10km race and half-marathon. Nutrition alone may help you to lose a
significant amount of weight but if you truly want to be heart-healthy, and
keep the weight off than you need to work out. Here are some of my favorite
home fitness programs that I’ve tried:
Healthy Snack First.
I talk a lot on my
Instagram about how I still struggle with emotional eating. Emotional eating is
by far my biggest struggle when it comes to maintaining my weight-loss.
Thankfully, I’ve come up with lots of little tricks over the past couple of
years to help in this area. But the easiest trick is to allow yourself to
indulge in a treat only after you have eaten a healthy snack first. Nine times
out of ten I get full from my healthy snack and abandon my desire for the
treat. It works because you don’t feel like you’re depriving yourself of
anything, you’re simply telling yourself that you can eat it later. A delay of
gratification is another way of practicing and strengthening your willpower
which will make food choices easier over time.
Plant-based diet.
I’ve been eating a
plant-based, vegan diet for 5 years now. This means I avoid consuming all
animal or animal-based products. I absolutely credit this diet to losing
weight, maintaining weight-loss, to clear and bright skin, a healthy gut and
more. Want to try it out? Try a meatless Monday!
Reduce or eliminate alcohol.
I talk about not drinking
your calories in another post but I’m going to take it one step further and
suggest reducing your alcohol intake. During the past year, I have committed to
drinking little to no alcohol and it is unbelievable the difference it has
played in my health. Considering even a light beer is still almost 100
calories, even a couple of drinks adds up real quick. And if you’re drinking
mixed beverages, then you’re looking at some serious calories. Easily drop a
couple of pounds by removing or reducing alcohol consumption.
Embrace natural sugars.
Personally, eliminating
sugar from my diet is just not realistic. I’ve tried many times and have failed
miserably. But, when I started to substitute white, processed sugars for more
natural sugars like honey, maple syrup, agave, etc, it completely changed my
waistline. Even though I was still eating sugar, I wasn’t gaining weight like I
was in the past. Now, I’m not saying go overboard on the sugar because it’s
from a natural source, but you can consume it more confidently. Try it for
yourself!
Practice daily self-care.
Strangely enough, it
wasn’t until I had embraced my body for what it was that the weight started to
come off. I had spent decades hating my body. I was always looking at myself
and seeing everything I wasn’t. But the day I chose to accept my body for what
it was, and what it could do (my body birthed twins for crying out loud) I felt
a complete shift. All of a sudden, I felt confident enough to try a fitness
program. It didn’t matter how overweight I was, I knew my body could do hard
things.
From then on, I’ve
treated my body with much more respect. I practice daily self-care, and I take
care of my body inside and out. It’s true what they say, love your body and
your body will love you back.
These are the habits that
helped me to lose 100 pounds. And I still practice these habits every single
day. Simple changes to your lifestyle can add up to huge result
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