Be Clear On Your Reasons Why

Be up-front with yourself about why you want to lose some weight. Maybe you want to keep active and healthy so you can keep playing in the garden with your children without getting out of breath, or maybe you just want to keep fitting into your favoruite clothes. When you know what motivates you to stay active, it’s easier to keep the motivation going and remind yourself of why you’re doing the work. 

Eat Five Times A Day

This might seem like the opposite of what you should do for weight loss, but eating more often can help you stay feeling full. If you’re full, it will be easier to keep away from unhealthy snacks or the vending machine at work. Eat three meals and two snacks every day. Your snacks should be small and ideally under 200 calories. A high protein snack like yogurt, boiled eggs or a protein shake is perfect to keep you feeling full all day. If you’re full of healthier choices, you won’t be as tempted by sugar-laden snacks to keep you going. 

Eat Lots Of Protein

Protein is not only excellent fuel for building up lean muscles but it also works to help you to feel fuller for longer after you eat. Aim to get at least 14g of protein into every meal or snack. Get your protein from lean meat, eggs, yogurt, or foods like lentils. 

Protein is especially useful when eaten at breakfast time, in the form of eggs, lean meats, yogurt or nuts, as this fuels you up for the day in the right way, and helps to feel full right from the get-go. 

Try A Fat Burner

Fat burners, like the ones from Muscle Rage, are a kind of nutritional supplement that can be used to help your body to burn fat in a more efficient way. Some of these fat burners work by creating heat inside a cell to literally burn fat, while others work by boosting your metabolism to burn fat on its own. Others are designed to help your cells to release fatty acids or to manipulate the enzymes in your body that are in control of fat loss. 

Beware Of Snack Packs

There are lots of diet snack packs on the market that claim to be a low-calorie, healthier choice than reaching for crisps or chocolate. While these snack packs are often less than 100 calories, these pre-packed snacks are usually very high in sugar to add flavor and low in protein, so they won’t fill you up at all. Instead, they just cause your insulin to spike. Insulin is a hormone that builds fat, so these snacks can have the opposite effect than what you want. Instead, choose snacks that are low in sugar and high in protein so they fill you up properly, without the insulin spike. 

Don’t Clean Your Kid’s Plates

Kids often leave bits of food on their plates, and many parents find themselves absentmindedly eating these leftovers as they clear their kids’ plates away. All those few mouthfuls of fries and chicken nuggets seem harmless, but those extra calories soon add up, adding a lot of extra calories to your diet. Nobody wants to waste food, but eating these little bits of leftovers can really impact your weight, so you’re better off giving the scraps to the dog or putting them on the compost heap instead. 

Serve Healthy Food To The Whole Family

Eating healthily is not only good for you, but for the whole family. If you’re trying to improve your diet, then it will be much easier if you aren’t cooking unhealthy meals for the rest of the family. Instead, plan healthy meals that everyone will enjoy, so you can all enjoy tasty meals while eating in a much healthier way. If you’re worried about your kids turning their nose up at some different foods, try to get them involved in the meal planning and cooking process. If they’ve been more involved in getting dinner ready, they’re more likely to be interested in eating trying something new and eating something a bit healthier. Learning to cook will also be useful to them as they grow up, so you’re helping them in more than way.  

Embrace Technology

If you’re struggling to keep up your motivation to keep active, then you can try adding some technology to your routine to boost your interest and activity level. Almost all smartphones have built-in pedometers now, so you can easily keep an eye on how many steps you’re taking in a day. Aim to reach 10000 steps a day to boost your health and keep off excess weight. Being able to see how you’re doing means you have a set number that you can work to improve on and keep you on target. There are plenty of free apps for your phone which allow you to track your calorie intake or daily exercise as well. For more advanced tracking, try a smartwatch or fitness tracker. 

Find Someone With Similar Goals

If the people you spend most of your time with have unhealthy habits, it can be easier to fall into these habits and become overweight yourself. Instead, see if you have a friend or family member who is already leading an active lifestyle or who has similar fitness goals to you. You can hold each other accountable and stay on track. You could do active things together like taking a hike or trying a new exercise class. 

Prioritise Sleep

Getting enough sleep is a very important part of losing weight. Not getting enough sleep can affect the hormones that regulate your appetite, so you end up wanting to eat more. If you’re over-tired during the day, you’re also likely to reach for sugary snacks to boost your energy. To get more sleep, go to bed earlier and remove any distractions from the bedroom, like your smartphone. Limit your screen time before you go to bed, so can fall asleep more easily. 

Add Supplements

It’s not known whether supplements can actually speed up weight loss, but they can help to improve your overall health. Start by taking a general multivitamin, then you could add extras like fish oil, vitamin D, vitamin K and probiotics. Before taking any new supplements, check with your doctor first, especially if you are taking any kind of medication already. 

Ditch The Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners can actually give you more cravings for other sweet things. This causes you to reach for other sugar and take in even more empty calories. When you eat something that tastes sweet, your body then expects something with a high number of calories. When it doesn’t get those calories, you’ll want to seek them out elsewhere. Artificial sweeteners are usually even sweeter than actual sugar, so your brain is fooled into wanting more sweetness so you might overeat later. 

Lift Weights

People who are generally inactive will lose their muscle mass faster than active people. Many people living a very sedentary lifestyle; sitting in an office or their car for most of the day. This means that losing muscle can become an issue as you get older. To combat this, try lifting weights. Weight lifting builds strong muscles and helps your body to burn calories more effectively. 

Stick With Cardio

Even if you’ve increased your strength training, it is still important to keep up your cardio routine at the same time. Cardio exercise boosts your metabolism. 150 to 220 minutes a week is about the least amount of cardio that you should be doing to keep your body burning fat. 

Cut Back On Alcohol

Alcohol can become a part of your daily routine more than you realise, between drinks with colleagues after work, date night, and drinks with friends. Most celebrations involve alcohol, and while a few drinks occasionally are okay, alcohol is very high in empty calories. To cut out some of those calories, stick to only drinking one or two nights week, and drink fewer drinks when you do drink alcohol. 

Drink More Water

Water is one of the best things you can do for yourself.  Drinking water before a meal can boost your weight loss too. Water makes you feel full, so a glass of water before meals can help you to eat less. If you want to eat a snack, drink a glass of water first, and then see if you’re still hungry. Your brain can often mistake dehydration for hunger, so a glass of water can help you to eat less.