The best and safest way to lose weight is to reduce energy intake while increasing energy expenditure, that is, eat less and burn more energy, such as through regular exercise. It is the amount of energy intake (that is, the energy consumed during the day minus the energy expended through physical activity and bodily functions) that determines whether we lose or gain weight.
What principles can help you lose weight safely and effectively?
Here are the top 10 principles:
1. Eat regularly
Avoid skipping meals. Eating regularly will give you the energy you need to function throughout the day. Eating irregularly will lead to snacking and make you forget about your food intake.
2. Limit snacking
Snacking on fried, greasy, or sugary foods (e.g., cakes, pastries, etc.) adds extra calories to your diet. If you feel hungry, choose lower-calorie options like fresh fruit, low-fat yogurt, or a low-fat tuna, sardine, or cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread (don’t forget to add veggies like cucumbers and sliced tomatoes!) since they’re more filling and nutritious.
3. Add fiber
Fiber absorbs water and expands in your stomach, helping you feel full more quickly and for a longer time. Include a variety of minimally processed plant foods such as whole grains (e.g., brown rice and whole wheat bread, or even better, multigrain bread), vegetables, fruits, beans, and lentils to add fiber to your diet and support weight loss.
In general, the likelihood of regaining weight is higher if you lose weight quickly than if you lose weight slowly and steadily.
Limiting high-calorie foods, choosing lower-calorie foods, and cutting down on portion sizes are some ways to lose weight.
4. Reduce fat
Reducing your fat intake is an effective way to reduce your energy intake and lose weight, as fat is a concentrated source of calories.
If you cook at home, trim off any visible fat from your food before cooking.
Choose low-fat cooking methods (such as steaming, baking, broiling, roasting, boiling, or pan-frying with less oil) to keep your food lower in fat and calories.
Avoid deep-fried foods and dishes made with coconut milk. Always skim off any remaining oil from soups and sauces before eating.
5. Reduce sugar
Sugar provides energy but contains few valuable nutrients. To lose weight, limit sweets, desserts, cakes, and pastries as they contain a lot of added sugar. You should also pay attention to your drinks, choose water instead of soft drinks and sugary fruit juices. Drinking too many soft drinks and sugary fruit juices puts you at risk of obesity and tooth decay. Excess sugar consumption has also been linked to serious long-term health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and heart disease. To cut down on sugar, start by replacing sweetened drinks with plain water, sparkling water, or unsweetened tea. When you crave something sweet, opt for naturally sweet foods like fresh fruit, which not only satisfy your sweet tooth but also provide fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants. Making these small but consistent swaps can greatly reduce your calorie intake and help you maintain a healthier weight.
6. Eat a little less and avoid emotional eating
Even healthy foods eaten in large quantities can add up in calories and cause weight gain. So it is important to eat in moderation. We also need to change the way we think about food and how we control our portions. Adding new skills such as avoiding emotional eating and calculating your daily calorie intake is also part of this lifestyle change.
Learning how to cope with stress and emotional eating is important because these coping skills will help you overcome stress in different stages of life, such as marriage, family and relationship issues, work, and caring for family members.
7. Beware of holiday parties
Many holiday snacks are high in sugar and fat. Some of these snacks can even contain the same amounts of calories as a snack. Limit the amount of holiday snacks you eat when you are with friends and family.
Some tips:
- Limit the amounts of snacks you buy because you will want to eat the rest after the holiday season.
- When going out, limit your food intake by dividing holiday foods into small plates instead of large ones.
- Choose fresh fruit, such as tangerines, instead of holiday snacks.
- Choose low-calorie drinks (e.g. diet soda, water, unsweetened green tea/fruit tea) over sugary drinks.
8. Exercise regularly
To stay healthy, you should exercise at least 150 minutes per week at a moderate intensity, or about 250–300 minutes if you want to lose weight. You can break it down into 10–15 minutes/session and gradually increase it. Set realistic goals and combine forms of exercise such as walking, cycling, swimming, dancing, etc. In addition to cardio, you should do resistance training at least twice a week to increase muscle, reduce fat and prevent injury. You can also maintain daily activity by walking, climbing stairs, doing housework and aiming for 10,000 steps/day. Don’t forget to drink enough water, listen to your body and rest when needed.
9. Get enough sleep – 6 to 8 hours per night
Lack of sleep leads to a tendency to snack more to quickly replenish energy to combat fatigue caused by lack of sleep. Getting seven to eight hours of sleep can play a role in supporting weight loss through the action of hormones that regulate appetite. Getting enough sleep will give you more energy to exercise and reduce the risk of stress-related binge eating.
10. Avoid fad diets and over-the-counter remedies
One of the main reasons why many women fail to lose weight is because, in an effort to lose weight quickly, we often resort to unrealistic diets that are not sustainable in the long term. There are many fad diets such as detox diets, very low-calorie diets, or commercial diets that restrict too many food groups, causing you to binge on foods that you are not supposed to eat.
Using over-the-counter herbal teas, diet pills, and laxatives is also harmful because it can lead to life-threatening effects such as high heart rate (tachycardia), nervousness, and high blood pressure with some diet pills, and electrolyte imbalance and dehydration with laxative use.
