5 Weight Loss Rule

If you’re serious about losing weight this year!

You know that the all-or-nothing mentality can actually make it tougher for you to lose weight and keep it off. But if you’re serious about slimming down, sticking to these five guidelines will help you reach your goal. 

Always Eat Breakfast 

All nutritionists insist skipping any meal is a big mistake. And enjoying a hearty and nutritious meal in the morning, if you normally eat breakfast anyway, can actually jump-start your metabolism and encourage pounds to drop. Choose a breakfast that’s high in protein and fiber to keep you full and give you energy for hours.

Healthy Foods Don’t Mean All You Can Eat

Nuts, nut butter, avocados, sweet potatoes, orange juice, brown rice — these foods are all highly nutritious, but that doesn’t mean they’re void of calories. You still need to be aware of serving sizes, even for foods that are super good for you.

You Have to Make a Change to See a Change

In order to encourage a change in your weight, you need to make healthier lifestyle changes that include eating nutritious, balanced meals most of the time, with the occasional splurge. That’s the principle behind the 80/20 rule. You can’t be 100 percent all of the time, but you can be 80 percent all of the time.

Calories in Can’t Exceed Calories Out

Losing weight is about simple math: you have to burn or cut out 500 calories a day to lose one pound in a week. If you burn 250 calories on a morning run, you’ll need to cut out 250 calories from your diet that day. Don’t get in the mind-set that a workout gives you a free pass to splurge, because you’ll end up taking in more calories than you burned, which will result in weight gain instead of weight loss.

Once the Weight Is Gone, You Can’t Go Back to Your Old Ways 

If you used to guzzle a can of Coke with your lunch but switched to water, don’t go back to your soda habit now that the weight is off. Losing weight is a forever lifestyle change, not something you do until you reach your goal. Once you go back to old eating habits the weight will creep back on.