Not only is weight loss difficult, when done wrong it can be outright dangerous. Even though weight loss procedures take an enormous toll on the body and affect a person’s overall lifestyle, most people take weight loss into their own hands.
And this habit of cutting out the need for an expert can be extremely harmful in the long run. This article will tell you exactly how to achieve your weight loss goals in a safe, healthy, and sustainable manner.
How to Choose a Safe Weight Loss Program?
1. Diet or Exercise? Both.
Never opt for a weight loss program that makes promises like “Lose Weight Without Working Out!” or “Lose Weight While Enjoying All Your Favorite Foods!”
Unless your favorite foods happen to be kale and celery, these claims are patently untrue. Because, simply speaking, your body needs to be at a caloric deficit to lose weight. And you cannot shed calories without either starving yourself (in case you don’t want to work out) or by spending half your day exercising (in case you don’t want to cut down on some high-calorie food items).
As is obvious, both options take a severe toll on your body. A weight loss program that combines a healthy diet with a fair amount of exercise is the only one you can trust.
2. Check Your Micronutrients
A lot of the fad diets that are all the rage now can stand to make you sick because of nutrient deficiency. If you cut out entire groups of food without checking whether your iron, magnesium, calcium, or vitamin levels are affected, you might land up in severe trouble later.
Most safe weight loss programs won’t require you to make drastic changes to your diet. However, if it does, you need to perform regular blood tests to make sure none of your micronutrient levels are dropping at an alarming rate.
3. Make Sure It Is Sustainable
Yes, some diets will guarantee you a 20-pound weight loss in a month. The problem is, these weight loss programs are never sustainable. Unless you can keep off the weight that you shed, what is the point of making yourself suffer for several months?
To make any weight loss program sustainable, your input is a must. Your nutritionist doesn’t know your core eating habits or your food preferences. Neither does your gym trainer know the unpredictable elements of your work schedule. This is why you must have an open dialogue with them to discuss which steps will be feasible for you in a practical sense.
For example, 4 days of 2-hour long exercise sessions may seem like a breeze initially, but you might simply not have time for that later. So, instead of exhausting yourself completely, you should choose shorter workout sessions for more days of the week, that you can easily fit into your schedule.
And, yes, water fasting will let you lose several pounds in a week. But it’s impossible to continue for more than a couple of days without falling extremely sick. Most “miracle” weight loss solutions yield the same results.
4. Psychological Counseling Is Necessary
Anyone who has ever lost a significant amount of weight in a short while can attest to the fact that changing your lifestyle and long-held food habits has more to do with a drastic change in your mindset, rather than a mere physical change.
Several people who are obese or anorexic often have complicated eating disorders. Binge eating is a symptom of an eating disorder that is taken too lightly. A good weight loss program should make sure they have counselors you can openly talk to whenever you are facing a problem.
5. Keep Health Problems in Mind
Don’t push yourself beyond your limit if your body cannot take it. There are several disorders like Polycystic Ovarian Disorder or hypothyroidism that prevent easy weight loss. It’s not that you cannot lose weight if you have these conditions, but you might need more time and a different diet from the others.
It’s futile to try and lose weight without making the dietician or trainer aware of your health issues. There have been several instances of people ending up with injuries because they did not admit to having spinal problems before overexerting themselves at the gym.
Though everyone can lose weight, one has to do it at their own pace and in their way. The ideal weight loss program should take your specificities in mind.
6. Lose Gradually
As I have mentioned before, expecting to lose a huge chunk of weight within the first week of working out is futile. In all probability, you will start noticing very small changes after the first month of starting a weight loss program.
Weight loss experts claim that your goal should be to lose 5-10% of your starting weight within the first six months. This means that you don’t have to force yourself to drop 6 pounds in a week just because someone else did it. Their starting weight could have been very different from yours.
In Conclusion
There is no “One Size Fits All” weight loss program that suits everyone. Weight loss may take up to several years, so make sure you find a program that suits your schedule and your health requirements like a glove.
Remember, in weight loss, slow but steady truly does win the race. The chief question at the end of the day is: Can you sustain your weight loss program for the long term? If the answer is ‘yes’, then you have successfully managed to make the right choice.
