How to Start Losing Weight for Beginners

Are you trying to figure out how to start losing weight for beginners? Read this article to get the best tips for people just starting out.

Did you know that half of Americans are trying to lose weight at any given time?

Everyone understands the importance of maintaining a healthy body weight, but finding the motivation to change your lifestyle is hard. The good news is that losing weight can be an enjoyable process if you have the right tools.

Do you want to learn how to start losing weight for beginners? Keep reading for 10 expert tips that can make your journey easier.

Start Making Small Changes

Have you tried all kinds of trendy diets and workouts because you wanted to lose weight fast? The unfortunate truth is that these fads aren’t sustainable and any weight you lose in the beginning is usually just water weight.

Losing weight the right way takes time and dedication. Instead of creating huge changes in your lifestyle that will make you miserable, start small.

If you’re someone who drinks soda every day, reducing or eliminating soda can help you shed a surprising amount of weight without making any other lifestyle changes. Once you feel like your new changes have become sustainable, you can start adding more changes.

Increase Your Water Intake

One little-known fact about our bodies is that we can actually mistake thirst signals for hunger signals. If you’ve ever felt hungry after you ate something filling, your body was trying to tell you that it’s thirsty even though it felt like a hunger pang.

An easy way to lose weight is to get into the habit of drinking more water before, during, and after meals so you have fewer cravings.

Grow Your Support Community

Starting your weight loss journey can feel isolating at times. Finding wellness buddies will not only help you stay motivated, but you can also swap valuable tips that you’ve learned. If you don’t know anyone else who’s trying to lose weight, there are plenty of online communities you can join to stay connected.

Focus on Measurements Instead of Weight

Your weight loss journey can be full of ups, downs, and even plateaus. To avoid disappointing yourself, don’t get hung up on what your scale says.

A better way to track your progress is to measure yourself. Even if your scale won’t budge, you may notice that your chest or hips are half an inch smaller. Logging your progress will help you stay motivated since you can see how far you’ve come.

Don’t Restrict Foods

Food isn’t inherently good or evil. Some food is more nutrient-dense than others. Adopting a nutrient-dense diet is the best way to feel fuller for longer and give your body the fuel it needs to thrive.

As long as you make an effort to eat mostly nutrient-dense foods, you can still indulge in treats once in a while. One popular weight loss trick is to adopt an 80/20 diet. This means that 80% of your diet should be nutrient-dense foods while 20% of your calories can come from any other foods you’re craving. Treating yourself in moderation will help prevent unhealthy binges that sabotage your efforts.

Fill up With More Fruits and Veggies

If you struggle with feeling full, adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet is the easiest way to satisfy your stomach without overeating. Fruits and vegetables have a high fiber and water content, which means you’ll feel satiated even after eating a smaller amount of calories.

Find an Exercise You Enjoy

Are you someone who claims to hate exercise? If so, you’re not alone. Lots of people who hate exercise actually hate going to the gym or running, which are two of the most popular methods for weight loss.

In reality, you can burn calories by doing all kinds of fun exercises. The trick is to find an activity that you enjoy so you can commit to doing it several times a week. Yoga, walking around the park, swimming, cycling, and Tae Bo are just a few of the many exercises you should try.

Avoid Distractions While You Eat

In the modern world, lots of people enjoy watching tv or browsing online while they eat. Although a meal with entertainment can be fun, distracting yourself from your food can cause you to eat much more calories.

Some studies have found that distracted eating can cause you to consume as much as double the amount of calories you’d normally eat.

Calorie Tracking Tools Can Help You Learn

As it turns out, people aren’t the best at guessing how many calories are in their food. Since people have the tendency to vastly underestimate calories, this causes them to eat more than they should throughout the day. This is why downloading calorie tracking tools like MyFitnessPal can help you learn more about what’s inside the foods you like to eat.

Calorie tracking apps are also great for calculating how many calories you burn when you exercise and also getting a breakdown of the macro- and micronutrients that are in your food. Staying educated is the best way to lose weight and keep it off.

Try Strength Training

Both women and men can benefit a great deal from lifting weights. Lots of women are hesitant to start strength training because they’re afraid of building bulky muscles. However, in order to build muscle mass, you’ll need to eat more calories than you’re burning.

If you want to lose weight, doing strength training exercises a few days a week can help turn your body into a fat-shredding machine. Lifting even small amounts of weights is a great cardiovascular activity that also boosts your metabolism.

Now You Know How to Start Losing Weight for Beginners

Learning how to start losing weight for beginners isn’t as hard as it sounds. If you have the right attitude, you can see big changes in an impressive amount of time.

Do you want to know other ways you can thrive? Explore our blog to find more helpful tips and guides.