Losing weight is hard, but you can tweak your environment to make the best of your health goals. There are hundreds of little changes you can make to your life to skyrocket your gains and achieve your goals. While you need discipline, well-planned nutrition and regular workouts, it helps to have the following on your way to a slimmer and healthier you.
Scale
It is obvious you need a scale when trying to burn fat. This simple gadget can make or break your weight loss progress. A scale lets you know how far you have to go on your way to the ideal body weight while also allowing you measure the success of your weight loss program, helping you to correct the course when things are not working. Regular weigh-ins help you notice changes in your weight and also make you a conscious eater, increasing your ability to make informed food choices. Research from Cornell University shows that daily weigh-ins and tracking the results can increase the chances of losing weight and keeping it off.
Food Journal
A food journal allows you to be accountable to yourself. With regular entries into the journal, it becomes easier to pinpoint the sources of those extra calories. You might be on a strict diet but still take 5 cups of sweetened coffee or three additional muffins after your regular meals. The extra sugar amounts to something. A food journal can also track the effects of certain foods on your digestive system. If you are allergic or intolerant to some ingredients, a food journal can point you in the right direction. That way, you can eliminate the problematic foods that may contribute indirectly to your weight from your diet.
Meal Prep Containers
Being in control of your diet is an essential factor when losing weight. Meal prep can help you eat food that aligns with your weight loss goals when you want it. But for that, you need quality meal prep containers. Life can be too complicated for you to make meal plans one hour before office time. With weekend meal preps, on the other hand, you can have a week’s worth of nutrition-dense meals ready for heating and eating. Failure to plan your meals can sabotage your weight loss goals.
Lunch Box
If you want to be in full control of your nutrition, you can’t afford to eat out all the time. Not only do your chances of eating low-quality food increase, but you also spend a large chunk of your income on food. You can cut eating expenses and improve the quality of your nutrition by cooking your meals and packing lunch. A fashionable lunch bag not only lets you carry as much homemade food as you like, but it helps you do so in style.
Join a Support Group
When you don’t get desired results, it’s easier to continue your weight loss program if you have a supportive community around you. There are many offline and online communities that provide encouragement and support for members. A community helps its members achieve their weight loss goals through an easy-to-follow program. At ACPT we’re a proponents of the OPTAVIA program that focuses on making lifelong transformations, one habit at a time. One of the four components of support that the OPTAVIA program provides is an OPTAVIA Coach. Our office’s OPTAVIA Coach, Dr. T, works with you to help you achieve your weight-loss goals. Furthermore, the OPTAVIA Community supports you alongside your Coach through many mediums, including live and recorded video conferences and calls, nutrition support, and client-focused groups. Regardless of your weight loss destination, having a community to share your journey with makes the whole process worthwhile and less lonely.