Looking back through the years, I gained an average of half a stone 3kg. Was I an enigma? How the hell does a substantially overweight person lose weight without trying over Christmas?
It confused me why I was going against the trend. I had hated a part of myself that I saw as a failure when it came to weight. I hated that I gave it so much thought when there were much bigger problems in the world and people facing hardships out of their control. But Christmas was the one time I took the pressure off myself and allowed myself to feel free. I looked forward to having some time off, meeting up with family and friends, and relaxing.
I stepped out of my normal routine, which was then full of unhealthy behaviours and habits, and even though I was no different to others in taking part in overindulging over the festive period, my body reacted positively to the break.
Exercise was more instinctive and enjoyable. I wanted to move, and to get out and about. It was still an effort to go for a walk or go to a gym session, and I had told myself it was fine not to do anything, but I always wanted to do some bit of exercise as my days off wore on. Sleep is another reason I credit for my unusual timing of weight-loss. I slept much more than I normally would, often until I naturally woke up.
Overall, I feel temporarily changing my mindset, stepping away from my unhealthy behaviours with food, catching up with sleep, not stressing about my weight for those few days and enjoying what was going on around me as it was happening all led to my weight-loss. And then came January 1st, when I had all sorts of plans for food and working out ready to go. It was exciting thinking of the drastic changes I was going to make.
I remember in the first week of January , the year of my worst weight gain, I had lost six pounds after the first week of the month only to have gained nine pounds to my starting weight by the beginning of February.
I started the year as I would continue, trapped in an unhealthy eating and exercise cycle. My relationship with food and exercise had become much healthier and enjoyable.
I look forward to each time I push myself out of my comfort zone and become a bit more confident in what my body can achieve. My mindset is constantly learning and improving. I recognise too I have mindset issues to tackle. I have always loved clothes, but those clothes were painstakingly picked out for practical reasons and not for my love of their style, fabric, cut, colour or fashion trend.
Contact Rachel on Twitter rachelfl , Instagram or email rflaherty irishtimes. Losing weight can be challenging, especially if you don't have the right mind set to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Thankfully, a recent Quora thread lists helpful advice for people who want to train their minds to help them lose weight in the long-term, rather than wasting energy on quick, short-term fixes. Quora user Wilfredo Thomas argues that understanding weight loss in the form of energy balance is the first key to achieving one's ideal body.
Once you understand energy balance, you might feel less tempted to eat more than you really need. Neil O'Nova, author of the book, "7-Minute Skinny Jeans," advises against eating out of food containers, boxes, and bags that aren't clear.
Measuring servings and pouring them into a small bowl or onto a napkin will stop you from eating more than you planned. Once you're off your diet and have lost weight, you might revert back to eating poorly, not exercising and ultimately regain pounds.
O'Nova advises choosing vegetables such as carrots and celery over sugary treats when you're having a snack craving. Keeping a daily food diary there are tons of apps for this leads to significant weight loss because it makes you accountable, research shows.
One study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that people who kept daily food records lost about twice as much weight as those who didn't.
Protein fills you up. You need it to build lean muscle, which keeps your metabolism humming so that you can torch more fat, Dr. People in a weight-loss program who ate double the recommended daily allowance for protein about grams for a pound woman lost 70 percent of their weight from fat, while people who ate the RDA lost only about 40 percent, one study found.
Produce is packed with filling fiber. Case in point: Three cups of broccoli is a lot of food, yet only 93 calories. Fruit is another story. It can be easy to overeat and can contain a lot of calories from sugar, so be sure. Plant-based fats like olive oil and those in avocados and nuts are healthy and extra satiating. Apovian says. Aim to incorporate each of the three Ps into every meal and snack.
People who eat protein throughout the day are able to keep weight off, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In addition to meat, poultry and seafood, good sources are beans, lentils, eggs, tofu, and yogurt. As for fat, keep portion sizes in check by measuring out salad dressing, oil, and nut butters shoot for one to two tablespoons. Finally, eat veggies or a little fruit at every meal.
People who did that consumed fewer calories but didn't feel any hungrier than when they didn't eat more produce, a study in the journal Appetite noted. When you lose weight on a fast or a crash diet, you don't learn to eat healthier, adjust your portion sizes, or deal with whatever is triggering your overeating in the first place, so the pounds quickly return, Frutchey says.
The physical damage goes deeper. Depending on how much weight you need to drop and how much you currently eat, try to cut to 1, calories a day through both diet and exercise, Frutchey advises.
Limiting yourself to about 1, calories a day won't leave you starving, but it will help you see motivating changes on the scale. In order for your brain to register that you're full , you need to focus on what you're eating. Sit down whenever you eat, preferably at a table. Turn off the TV or computer, put down your phone, and look at your food.
Smell it. Chew slowly, and don't put another bite on your fork until you swallow. When women ate lunch this attentively, they consumed 30 percent less when snacking later than those who listened to an audiobook at lunchtime, according to a study in the British Journal of Nutrition.
The scale provides the best evidence about whether your efforts are paying off, Beck Busis says. Seeing the numbers tick up or down or stagnate is motivation to keep going—or to rethink your approach. A study at Cornell University found that daily weigh-ins helped people lose more weight, keep it off, and maintain that loss, even after two years.
Step on the scale at the same time every day for the best results. If your weight shoots up several pounds from one weigh-in to the next, don't freak out. Eating a lot of salt the night before or having your period is the likely culprit. The number should return to normal in a day or two. It's a steady climb that you need to do something about. When you're tired and frazzled, your body cranks up the production of cortisol, the stress hormone that can cause carb cravings, Frutchey says.
Not getting enough sleep also boosts your levels of ghrelin, a hormone associated with hunger, while suppressing leptin, a hormone that signals fullness and satiety. People on a diet who slept only five and a half hours a night for two weeks lost 55 percent less fat and were hungrier than those who slept eight and a half hours, according to a study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
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