Weight loss can promote a roller coaster of emotions when it comes to your weight, how you feel about your body and the methods you use in order to lose weight. While short-term weight loss success can help give you a quick boost of confidence, long-term weight loss can help you stay healthy for life. By making both long- and short-term goals, you can keep your motivation high while implementing healthy habits for better results. In a month, you could lose up to 8 lbs.
Recommendations
Health outlets like Medline Plus suggest a safe weight loss rate of 1 to 2 lbs. per week. This ensures that your body can sustain your weight loss and you're not engaging in unhealthy tactics to drop weight fast. In order to lose one or two pounds per week, you'll need to create a 500 to 1,000 calorie deficit between the calories you consume and the calories you burn on a daily basis. This can be accomplished through a lower calorie diet and more physical activity.
Fad Diets
The danger is dropping weight faster than the recommendation is that it's likely done using unhealthy methods or fad diets. Fad diets are those that promise to help you lose a large volume of weight in a short amount of time. While you may have some success on a fad diet, the lifestyle changes and diet choices are usually so impossible to maintain that they can result in rebound weight gain when you begin eating normally again. Avoid methods of weight loss that cause you to lose more than two pounds a week, restrict caloric intake drastically or cut entire food groups from your diet.
Healthy Weight Loss
True, healthy weight loss occurs when you begin making choices that are better for your body. Weight loss takes hard work. By choosing foods that are low in calories, yet nutritionally dense, you can maintain a healthy diet while still losing weight. Fruits, vegetables, lean protein, healthy fats and whole grains all contribute to a healthier diet. Then, adding daily physical activity can help you burn calories to create a calorie deficit each day. By making healthier choices, you can lose weight without depriving yourself.
Healthy Habits
While you may only set a weight loss goal for one month, the habits that you begin in that month can help you continue losing weight and live a healthier lifestyle on a long term basis. Set your weight loss goal for the month and mark it on your calendar as a constant reminder. Once the month is over, assess your level of success and decide what needs to change. Over the course of two or three months, you can formulate a diet and exercise plan that works for you, using healthy habits for a better overall lifestyle.
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