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It can be easy to give into unhealthy eating and exercising habits. Eating foods that are high in calories and fat can often seem like the cheaper and more convenient option at the time, especially after having a long day. But as this habit becomes increasingly acceptable, your body forms a new habit that can cause massive amounts of weight gain, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and a number of other health problems and concerns. So how can you begin to form healthy habits to lose weight without giving in to crash diets and cutting out your favorite foods?

We are presenting to you 7 fairly simple diet and exercise habits you can begin to incorporate into your daily life to help improve your overall health. We assure you that these tips are easy enough to follow without making you feel like you are participating in an extreme health plan.

Drink Water

It’s true! While you may hear this simple little tip repeatedly, drinking water throughout your day has an incredible amount of health benefits and can help you reach your weight loss goal. Water can help assist your weight loss even more so if you are replacing it with sodas and juices that can contain high amounts of sugar. It’s important to hydrate your body and give your cells and organs the amount of water they need to stay healthy. Drinking water can increase your energy levels as well, which just might make the difference between going home to sit on the couch, or going for a brisk walk around the neighborhood.

Portion Each Plate

Portion out your food to make sure you are not eating too much at one time. While you should absolutely include nutritious items in every meal, this does not mean you can’t enjoy other things every once and awhile. But with high calorie items such as desserts, fried foods, and foods drenched in sauces and gravy, portion out your servings so that you don’t go overboard. For example, if you are at a restaurant for someone’s birthday and the group decides to indulge in cake and ice cream, go ahead and see if you can either get an extra small portion or split a small plate with someone else. A few bites can not only give you a taste of the sweet treat you might be craving, but you also won’t load up on massive amounts of sugar and fat.

Choose Healthy Snacks

Many people may find that eating healthy meals isn’t their problem when it comes to weight loss, but eating unhealthy snacks can be. It can be easy to excuse snacks throughout the day because they might appear too small to have any effect on the body, but snacking can be a huge roadblock on the path to losing weight. If you do choose to snack, bring snacks that are healthy and successful at making you feel full like fresh vegetables, small amounts of fruit, greek yogurt (plain and unsweetened), and whole nuts with no added sugar. Just think about this. A typical single serving (1 oz) of trail mix with chocolate candies added has about 146 calories in it with 9.7 grams of sugar and 9.7 grams of fat. A single serving of plain pumpkin seeds (1 oz) has about 126 calories with 0.4 grams of sugar and 5 grams of fat. In this case, you would be eating the same amount of food but with highly contrasting health benefits. So be careful what you decide to snack on throughout your day.

Avoid Eating Too Late

Another poor habit to get into is eating food too late in the evening. Ideally, you should stop eating about 3 hours before you decide to go to bed. Timewise, you should avoid eating beyond 7PM to 8PM. These times may vary depending on when you begin and end your day. Eating later can cause one to overeat and over indulge on unhealthy, easy-to-access foods, which can up your calorie intake to an unbalanced level. By eating before the night truly sets in, you can allow your body to better digest and rest before falling into a relaxing sleep and waking up to start again rested and ready to have breakfast.

woman sleeping

Reduce Sugar Intake

Decrease sugar where you can in items such as drinks, desserts, and snacks. These seemingly small changes can lead to an increased amount of weight loss. For example, for someone who drinks 2 cans of cola a day, that equals 276 calories and 66 grams of sugar in a single day. That’s 1,932 calories and 462 grams of sugar in a week! Women on a standard 2,000 calorie diet should only have 25 grams of sugar a day, while men should stick to 38 grams of sugar per day. According to a study on sugar by UCSF, research shows that the rate Americans consume sugar adds nearly 66 pounds of unnecessary sugar consumption per person.

Up Your Exercise Level

One of the most effective ways to lose weight along with eating properly is by increasing your physical activity. This doesn’t mean you need to immediately start taking intense fitness classes. You should instead begin by increasing your activity level depending on where you are at right now in your fitness regimen. For someone who is not active at all, begin by taking a walk for 15-20 minutes for three days out of the week around the neighborhood to decrease overall body fat. Build up your time and pace as you move forward with your new activity habits. If you live in a place where walking outside is too much of a hassle, look into your local gym, let the employees there know what you would like to accomplish, and attend a workout session 3 times a week. When you are more comfortable with working out, you can add in:

  • Strength training like weight lifting and using resistance bands.
  • Flexibility exercises like yoga and careful stretching.
  • Balance methods like Tai Chi.
  • Increased endurance training including cycling or jogging.

woman doing yoga

 

Another great way to lose weight is by tracking your intake of calories, sugar, carbs, and fat, every day. Just because you begin a food journal, does not mean you need to cut out all of the things you love. It will just become easier to track how much you eat, their nutritional information, and how it serves you and your body whether in a positive or negative manner. Not good with pen and paper? No problem! If you have a smartphone, laptop, or tablet, there are a ton of new apps out there that can track your daily intake for you. Using a health journal can help you stick to a healthy diet, follow a solid workout routine, and help you lose overall weight.

Look for more healthy habits to lose weight in the future on our Advanced Houston Surgical blog and visit our website for more information on losing weight through bariatric surgery.