Shedding excess weight at a young age can go a long way toward preventing serious diseases in the future. Unfortunately, many young women who attempt to lose weight are lured into fad diets or exercise programs that cost money but offer few results. Instead, focus on making simple and healthy lifestyle changes to lose the weight and keep it off.
Pick Up The Weights
Whether you are trying to lose weight or not, focus your efforts on calorie-blasting cardio. Cardio is essential for losing weight and staying healthy but strength-training is just as important. It helps you stay strong, prevents injury and even promotes weight loss by boosting your metabolism, according to MayoClinic.com. Don't worry about bulking up or getting a manly body from lifting weights. Women don't have the testosterone needed to build large muscles like men do.
Healthy Friendships
Friendships are an important part of every young woman's life; unfortunately, many women bond with their friends over fatty snacks, restaurant dinners or buttered popcorn at the movies. Instead of skipping get-togethers when you're trying to lose weight, suggest activities you and your girlfriends can enjoy without taking in hundreds of unnecessary calories. Try a dance class at the gym, window shopping downtown or a potluck dinner where everyone brings their favorite healthy dish.
Choose Real Foods Over Diet Foods
Young women are a big target market for diet foods and products. While eating low-calorie foods is an important part of losing weight, many processed and packaged diet foods are low healthy nutrients, meaning you end up feeling hungry soon after eating them. Instead of buying diet bars, snacks, meals and shakes, focus on eating fresh foods that are low in calories but high in fiber, protein and vitamins. Most of your calories should come from fruits; vegetables; whole grains like brown rice and whole-grain bread and pasta; and lean sources of protein like low-fat dairy, poultry, fish and beans.
Lose Weight With A Friend
Turning a friend into a weight-loss buddy is a great way to have fun and stay motivated while reaching your weight goal. You can work out together, swap healthy eating ideas, inspire each other with your progress and motivate each other when things get difficult. Simply having someone to be accountable to for your weight loss progress can help you stay committed.
Don't Drink Your Calories
Between blended coffee drinks in the morning, sodas at lunch, and drinks during dinner, many young women drinks hundreds of calories in a single day without even realizing it. Even worse, beverages do nothing to fill you up and provide nutrients, so they're empty calories. Stay aware of how much you drink throughout the day, replace high-calorie beverages with water.
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