5 Weight Loss Tips for Women

Losing weight, getting into shape and making the time to live a healthy lifestyle can be difficult, as I know full well. Losing weight in the short term is relatively easy. What is not so easy, however, is achieving long-term weight loss goals and ensuring that the pounds aren’t piled back on within weeks.  Fortunately, there are some relatively simple lifestyle changes for a healthier life that you can adopt that will make the quest for weight loss. Adding in these 5 weight loss tips for women can help you achieve your goals.

5 Weight Loss Tips for Women

Many women tackle the issue of weight loss from a wholly negative point of view. For those women, losing weight is all about deprivation. Trust me, I’ve been there a million times. Here’s a few things I’m doing differently this time around.

Try New Foods

Instead of concentrating on the things I need to excise from my diet, I’m thinking about what I can add to my diet. From recent discussions with my doctor, I know there are some things that I just need to not have. Because they actually do damage to my body. That’s a hard pill to swallow some days. But instead of focusing on those, I’m making a list of things that I haven’t tried that I can have. Adding new things to my repertoire is helping me to not miss the things I’ve taken out of my pantry.

Get Enough Protein and Fat

One of the things I learned when I wrecked my hormones with the low fat dieting was that it was often difficult to get enough protein or fat in my diet. A healthy lifestyle for women includes eating enough protein for your muscles and enough fat for hormone balance. Being on the go a lot is no reason to miss your daily requirements. Pick up some pre-packaged snacks or protein shakes for women and keep them handy.

Do the Exercise You Enjoy

Most leading health institutions and fitness experts suggest that exercising rigorously for around 30 minutes, three to four times a week, reduces the risk of heart disease, obesity and a range of related health problems developing. However, a great many women get stuck in a cycle of performing exercises they just don’t like. If you find the constant pounding of treadmills at the local gym boring, don’t do it. Join the local football team, or sign up to a local volleyball or roller derby league. If you want to workout, try to vary what you do by designing some circuit training programs that will keep you motivated.

Walking really does provide a great cardiovascular workout that burns calories. But rather than viewing walks as part of your exercise regime, you should look for ways of making them part of your daily lifestyle. For instance, use the stairs instead of the elevator wherever possible. Walk to the corner shop instead of taking the car, or park your car a mile away from your place of work in the mornings. Taking a walk every day could also be a simple case of getting off a bus a couple of stops early.

Drink Plenty of Water

It doesn’t seem to matter which plan you follow, all weight loss tips include staying hydrated. Staying hydrated is good for your overall health, but it can also act as a natural appetite suppressant. Drinking a glass of water before you eat a meal will leave less space in your stomach for food. Always have a bottle of water with you, as constantly doing something with your mouth might stop you from snacking on high calorie foods when you’re bored. And if you are always well hydrated, your workouts will be far more effective.  Can’t stand the taste of water?  Try adding lemon or cucumber to your water for a refreshing change.

Try Intermittent Fasting

It’s funny how easy it is to get used to meals at certain times. I started intermittent fasting at the beginning of June because my doctor suggested it. She’s concerned that I’m on a fast track to diabetes, given family history, so she wants to see how intermittent fasting affects insulin sensitivity. Intermittent fasting for weight loss has become much more popular recently, and there is a lot of research that supports it.

I’ve learned that my sense of “hunger” is much like Pavlov’s dogs — a simple case of classical conditioning. I started with fasting 16 hours daily, and having an 8 hour eating window. Within a week, I no longer felt “hungry” in the morning. Most days I now have an 18 hour fast with a 6 hour eating window. Your stomach eventually becomes accustomed to a different eating pattern and changes the “hunger” triggering.