a simple list

Losing weight and staying healthy often provides challenges that we have to face up to in order to be successful. Staying on track and achieving your goals can take a lot of determination, especially when starting out.

To keep yourself focused on reaching your objectives, it’s good to constantly remind yourself of a few of the positive steps needed on a consistent basis to be successful.

A handful of simple ideas to help you stay healthy and lose weight - remember - you HAVE to stay on track if you want to achieve your goals...

• Educate yourself on healthy eating practices. Get advice from a professional nutritionist if necessary
• Avoid fad diets and crash dieting.
• Keep a food diary - it's paramount to knowing exactly what you are consuming in a single day
• Eat moderately sized meals and have healthy snacks in between them
• Make a healthy grocery list before shopping
• Read labels before buying groceries
• Eat a healthy breakfast every day
• Weed out calories you have been overlooking – dressings, condiments, sauces etc.
• Substitute fatty foods with low-fat alternatives – e.g. low fat milk, low fat yoghurt
• Never miss meals - stick to a regular eating schedule
• Choose fruit for dessert
• Cut back on added fats and oils in cooking and spreads
• Cut out fried foods
• Be a chef and create your own healthy dishes and lunch boxes
• Eat whole grains – replace white bread, pasta and rice with their whole grain counterparts
• Learn to love vegetables and add them to your diet, especially the green ones! Understand that when you don’t your body isn’t getting all of its nutrients to lose weight. Try eating some vegetables raw
• Cut back on salt
• Opt for lean meats rather than red meats
• Take baby steps and make dietary changes gradually
• Eat a balanced diet and don’t focus on just one type of nutrient. Get as many colours as you can
• Replace fatty snacks with healthy alternatives – no more chocolate bars and crisps; buy rice cakes, dried fruit and cereal bars instead.
• Share your meals when eating in restaurants
• Cut back on caffeine and alcohol
• Don’t drink fizzy soft drinks or energy drinks – drink at least 2 litres of water per day and spread out throughout the whole day.
• Don’t be a couch potato
• Go for a walk every day
• Become more active throughout your whole day ... leave the car at home – cut out short car journeys and walk, run or cycle instead
• Stretch your body every morning
• Join the gym and be motivated by like minded people
• Build your muscles to burn calories
• Exercise with friends
• Explore new physical activities that you havent normally participated in
• Get enough sleep every night
• Get support from your friends
• Set goals and stick to them. Rewards when you achieve them, and a telling off when you don’t even bother trying - treat yourself when you make good progress
• Throw away your old “fat” clothes when you are too slim for them. You never want to wear them again!
• Don’t listen to negative self-talk
• Never starve yourself.
• Write your goals down on paper and hang them on your wall
• Relieve your stress; relaxation is key to good health
• Laugh a lot and be happy – if you’re not, find new ways to do so

Don’t give up if you’re not getting results as fast as you’d like - there are many, many changes happening to your body - a 'kg loss' is one of the least favourable as a 'measurement' of how well you are doing, yet, it is the one the majority of us seem to focus on - stay healthy and the results WILL come.
Keep this list nearby and read it every now and then to keep yourself on track....