Changing your dietary and exercise habits is key to losing weight. But once you've adapted to your new eating plan and made exercise part of your routine, you might find that you want to give your weight loss efforts an extra push. Or maybe you can't exercise right now because of a physical condition and are looking for other ways to help you lose weight. Whatever the reason, there are a number of other things you can do to lower the numbers on the scale.
Lower Your Stress Levels
When you're under stress, you're more likely to eat high-calorie, high-sugar foods, which can interfere with your weight loss efforts, according to the Mayo Clinic. Also, stress makes you more likely to overeat to soothe your anxiety. To avoid this and to help you continue in your weight loss journey, you first need to identify what's causing the stress and what your normal reaction to it is. If you tend to eat when you're stressed, do something else, such as going for a walk or getting a manicure. Other ways to reduce stress include learning to meditate, practicing yoga or trying guided imagery.
Track Weight Changes
Keeping a food diary can also help enhance your weight loss. You can note down your cravings, emotional changes and your reaction to stressful situations. The diary will help you keep track of your efforts and give you an outlet that doesn't add calories to your life. According to the Am I Fat? weight loss website, you can track a number of things in a weight loss diary, including goals, daily diet and exercise program, calories consumed, milestones and successes and medical tests or visits. You can also add recipes or articles to the diary, as well as inspirational stories and photographs of people who have lost weight and kept it off.
Sleep More
The ads promising that you can "lose weight while you sleep" might not be all that wrong. In fact, lack of sleep can cause weight gain, according to an article in Glamour Magazine. In fact, the article points out that an experiment conducted by the magazine showed that women who slept at least seven and a half hours per night lost up to 15 pounds over the course of 10 weeks. Because lack of sleep affects your hormones, increases cravings and appetite and slows down fat metabolism, sleeping more can be a simple way to ward off junk food cravings and reduce your overall calorie intake.
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