Losing 10 pounds is a challenge, but you don’t have to completely overhaul your life. With focusing on a few important areas and being consistent, losing 10 pounds can be an attainable goal.
Keeping the weight off is also difficult. But if you consider the tips below, along with sustainable lifestyle changes and not just a short-term diet, it will be easier to keep the weight off in the long term.
1. Start your day with water and continue drinking it all day.
Drink a big glass of water in the morning to help you frame your mindset for the day toward your health goals and make a nutritious food choice for breakfast. It’s also easier to get to the gym and squeeze in a few extra steps when you’re hydrated. And it can help keep your bowel movements regular.
It can be common to mistake thirst for hunger — especially during the 3 p.m. slump — so drinking more water throughout the day can help you keep your energy up without eating more. The average goal should be about 64 ounces of water each day.
2. Listen to your body.
Learning how to better understand your hunger and satiety is key when it comes to losing weight. I teach my clients to rate their hunger using the "hunger quotient." This is the number to describe how hungry you are feeling. You want to be between a 6 and a 4 at the beginning and end of your meals and snacks. A 6 is “slightly hungry” and a 4 is “slightly satisfied.”
When meals and snacks are skipped during the day, your hunger gets thrown off, and it is easy to end up making poor food choices and overeating. Keeping hunger in check makes it easier to focus on foods packed with protein, healthy fat, fiber and antioxidants (and I’d rather you overeat these foods than chips and dip, and cupcakes).
3. Make protein a priority.
You may notice that on days where you eat less protein in the morning, you eat more snacks later in the day. Protein is known to help you feel more satisfied and full for longer, so it's a great way to help yourself to eat less and lose weight.
Loading up on protein at breakfast can make you feel more satisfied for the rest of the day and even keep cravings at bay at night. These high protein breakfast ideas can get you started on your weight loss journey.
As a nutrient in the body, protein helps build muscle and works with the hormones that control hunger. It also helps determine how quickly food leaves your stomach and burns more calories when it's being digested than carbs or fat.
4. Eat your greens.
Green veggies get five gold stars. They are packed with fiber and water volume, both of which help you to stay full and regular. They're also loaded with antioxidants which help fight disease and inflammation, and, of course, they’re low in calories.
Fighting inflammation with antioxidants can aid in weight loss. Foods that are high in the antioxidants vitamin C, E and beta carotene may help reduce fat storage by regulating your body's use of the hormone insulin. Greens are an excellent source, but you can also find these compounds in citrus fruits, almonds and sweet potatoes.
My favorite greens are broccoli rabe and spinach, and I recommend getting in greens at least twice a day. During meals, fill up on greens first, and you’ll find that you naturally begin to eat less of the perhaps more "unhealthy" parts of your plate.
5. Make fat your BFF.
Eating fat doesn’t make you fat (overeating anything of course will cause you to gain weight). Actually, it can help make you thin. Fat tastes good and helps to keep you satisfied. It also helps you burn fat by taking fat out of your cells, so you can use it for energy.
As with any food, portion control is key, but be sure to get fat in consistently throughout the day (about 30% of your calories should come from fat). Instead of having a big apple for a snack, have a small apple with two teaspoons of almond butter. And, instead of sugar-laden, fat-free salad dressing go for olive oil and vinegar mixed with herbs and spices.
6. End your night with meditation.
Stress affects every aspect of your health, including your weight. Even exercise probably won’t do the trick if stress is throwing your hormones out of whack. Prolonged excess stress not only causes an imbalance in your hormones which leads to weight in the mid-section, but it also increases free radicals (think inflammation), and it can increase emotional eating.
Managing your stress can have a huge effect on your weight-loss efforts. Meditation, even if for five minutes, has been shown to reduce anxiety with every session practiced. So while adding a new fitness routine is vital to your weight-loss goals and chugging water is too, add a stress management tool for maximum effectiveness.
