Changing your diet plan is one of the most effective ways to reduce weight. However, the sheer amount of diet plans available will make it quite tough for someone to start, simply because you wouldn’t know which one is the most appropriate, reliable, and sustainable enough for your long-term health.
Although setting an appropriate meal plan can be difficult, weight loss for women is still influenced by a variety of factors not just limited to a proper diet. Fortunately enough, a few minor adjustments to your everyday schedule can already result in significant weight loss. Today, we’re going to take a look at 8 easy womens fitness steps to ensure that you can achieve and maintain your ideal weight.
1. Drink More Water
One of the most effective ways to start losing while exerting minimal effort is to drink lots of water. Being 100% calorie-free, drinking water can help you lose weight and burn lots of calories when you drink it before eating a meal, with studies even showing that you could lose up 13% of the number of calories you consume. Substituting it with sugary and acidic drinks can greatly benefit you to cut sugar intake and take in less calories.
2. Try Doing More Cardio
Cardio is an important exercise to help you lose weight because your heart rate can rise to the target heart rate, which will make your blood flow quicker and sweat more, all the while letting your body burn a lot of calories. You won’t have to think about injuries or overexerting yourself if you follow a sensible schedule for your cardio routines. Remember, if your goal is to lose weight, you should focus more on cardio than resistance training, and you should be doing it for the majority of the week. For the best results, you should be spending an average of 20 – 40 minutes per day solely on cardio.
3. Eat More Protein
Protein-rich foods such as beef, poultry, fish, and eggs are just some of the essential components of creating a balanced diet, especially one suited for weight loss. Research indicates that taking in a high-protein diet can reduce your cravings, lessen temptation of overeating, and speed up overall metabolism. A 12-week analysis showed that raising consumption by 15% results in at least a 5 kg weight loss, which is still a pretty big deal and a good way to start.
4. Do Yoga
There are a variety of yoga types that are active and vigorous enough that it can help you burn enough calories needed, while also making your body more flexible and less susceptible to gaining weight. Not to mention that, it can also help aid in the development of muscle growth and improvement of metabolism. Despite the fact that yoga is not a physically demanding thing to do, it is still an essential step to losing weight, where it was even shown to be successful in helping women lose abdominal fat.
5. Cut Down on Sugar
Sugar is a big cause of weight gain for the majority, and can even include severe health problems, the most common ones being heart disease and diabetes. Although sugar-rich foods are high in calories, they are low in just about everything else, such as nutrients, calcium, and fiber, all of which are needed for your body to function properly.
To better encourage weight loss and have a better wellbeing, it’s advisable to limit consumption on snacks like candy, desserts, and drinks like soda, fruit juice, and sports drinks.
6. Have a proper sleep schedule
Having less than 6 hours of sleep per day has been linked to increased risks of obesity and weight gain according to several studies. Inadequate sleeping habits result in slower metabolism, which means your body is storing extra energy in your body as fat. Although it may seem like a small thing, getting the right amount of sleep may just be as important to achieving a consistent weight loss as exercising and eating a proper diet.
7. Keep your stress levels under control
Being stressed out can cause you to release a lot of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Initially, it’s still a good thing because it can suppress your appetite at first. However, when people are constantly stressed, these hormones can stay in the body for a longer period of time, leading to increased appetite and could force you to overeat as a result. To combat this, try doing activities to lessen your stress levels. These include activities previously mentioned like doing yoga and exercising, while other pastimes such as listening to music, communicating with friends or relatives, are also included and are also successful ways to reduce tension.
8. Set Goals You Can Achieve
Probably the most important thing to tell yourself is that you’re capable of achieving your goal. It’s also important, however, to make sure that those goals are within your capability, because you may end up disappointed and worse, demotivated to continue if you find that you haven’t achieved that goal yet. That’s why setting up SMART goals is important, as it helps you assess and achieve your weight loss objectives realistically, without expecting too much, yet still ensuring success. Understanding the cost of the procedure is also crucial, as it allows for better financial planning and decision-making in your health journey. Having SMART goals will keep track of your actions and set out a strategy to achieve your objectives.
