Weight loss is a little bit like Mondays. Often, the hardest part is finding the motivation to get started. Once you get going, you end up looking back, and you figure out it wasn’t that hard after all! This guide for beginners has all you need to know about how to take the first steps to crushing your weight loss goals!
We’ll go over exercise regimes and diets, providing all the necessary information to get you on the right path. If what you’re looking for is significant, permanent weight loss, this is the guide for you. Remember that for permanent weight loss, you need to make permanent changes.
Step 1: Make a total commitment to moving more!
The number one thing you can do to crush your weight loss goals is to move more. This means taking as many steps and climbing as many stairs as possible throughout the day, every day.
The American Heart Association recommends that we take about 10,000 steps every day. This roughly translates to five miles total. However, most Americans are taking as little as 2,000 steps a day.
Sedentary lifestyles are linked to all kinds of health complications. You probably knew that it’s bad for your heart and waistline, but did you know that prolonged sitting is also believed to raise your cancer risk?
That’s right, all the sitting you’re doing in front of your computer and television can raise your cancer risk by as much as 60%. Studies have found that prolonged sitting is particularly dangerous for women.
Not to mention, standing burns 50% more calories than sitting. So, just working while standing can help boost your weight loss.
That’s why the first step to weight loss and the #1 change we recommend for a healthier lifestyle is simply moving more. Check out these 10 Ways to Squeeze More Steps into Your Day to get some tips and tricks for hitting your daily step goal.
Step 2: Make it to the gym a minimum of 3 days per week.
Sure, going to the gym every day would help you lose weight faster, but it’s a goal that’s difficult to stick to long-term.
The truth is that we need some flexibility in our workout schedule. There are days when we’re going to be too busy or too tired. Forcing yourself to go to the gym even when you’re feeling exhausted will make exercise seem like a punishment.
Exercise should be fun! It should leave you feeling energized, powerful, and healthy! Instead of forcing yourself to go to the gym every day, commit to making it at least three times per week. You decide what days to go to the gym. You decide the time and the workout, just be there!
If you feel up to it, you can go more than three times per week. These 5 Best Home Workouts for Weight Loss are a good place to start. We also have plenty of beginner workouts, so check out our database for some great ideas.
Step 3: Incorporate cardio.
There are two main components to a weight loss gym routine: cardio and strength training. We’ll go over strength training in a little bit. But first, cardio.
Cardio is paramount for weight loss. Cardio is what drives up your heart rate and burns calories. The faster your heart rate, the more calories you’ll burn during your workout.
The most popular form of cardio is running. Running is great because you can do it on a treadmill or outdoors. This 17-Day Walk/Run is great for beginners who want to get into running.
Another good cardio option is High Intensity Interval Training, or HIIT. HIIT alternates bursts of intense exercise with brief rest periods. For example, you’ll jump rope non-stop for 40 seconds, then rest for 20 and repeat. You can do HIIT with sprints, jumps, or any other exercise that brings up your heart rate.
HIIT is a great alternative for people who get easily bored by regular cardio (walking, running, or biking). If you’re interested in HIIT, try this 12-Minute Home HIIT Challenge.
Step 4: Strength Training!
One of the biggest mistakes people who are new to working out make is leaving out strength training.
When people are eager to lose weight, they focus on the cardio, jogging for hours and spending their entire workout on the elliptical machine. Unfortunately, this isn’t the most effective way to lose weight for good.
For long-lasting weight loss, you need to incorporate strength training.
Strength training helps you develop muscle mass. Because muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue, more muscle means you’ll burn more calories throughout the day, even on days when you don’t work out!
If you take one thing away from this article, it should be that strength training is good for fat loss. Adding muscle actually helps you look leaner!
Step 5: Pay attention to what you eat.
No matter how much you work out, you can easily undo all your effort if you’re careless in the kitchen. If your main goal is weight loss, you’re going to want to pay special attention to your diet.
Below, we’ll go into more detail about what makes a good sustainable weight loss diet. But first, some tips for the most important change: being mindful.
Mindless eating is often the cause for weight gain. We eat out of boredom, as a socialization tool, or because we’re stressed. If your body doesn’t need any more calories, but you eat them anyway, your body will store them as fat for later use.
One simple way to practice mindful eating is to track your diet. You can use a journal or an app. Check out this post on 7 Health Apps to Help You Stay on Track for some options.
Step 6: Eat more protein and fewer carbs.
Low-carb diets are all the rage now. It might have started with moves like the Atkins diet, but now the Keto, Paleo, and Whole30 diets have taken it to new standards.
For many of us extremely low-carb diets are hard to maintain long-term. We deprive ourselves of our favorite foods and end up with terrible cravings instead. Forget about completely cutting out carbs. Instead, practice moderation, and save your calories for treats you truly enjoy.
Take a few minutes in the mornings to make an egg breakfast instead of resorting to convenient cereal. If your routine doesn’t allow for much cooking in the morning, prepare a quiche dish (such as this Crustless Quiche) and microwave a slice in the morning. It’s just as easy as cereal, but twice as healthy.
Don’t fill up on bread when eating out, and offer to share an order of fries instead of having one for yourself. Another easy way to cut out carbs is reducing or eliminating sugary drinks. This includes sodas, sweetened teas, and fruit juices. Yes, even all natural fruit juices fill in your waist line. (More on fruits in a little bit.)
Stick to regular water whenever possible, or give these flavored water a try with these fun 7 Ways to Make your Water Taste A Whole Lot Better!
Step 7: Focus on what you can add rather than what you can’t.
Weight loss is going to seem like a drag in no time if you only think of the things you can’t have. No cake, no fries, no ice cream, no cookies, no lazying around on a Sunday. It’s depressing just thinking about it.
If you approach weight loss thinking of can’t, you’ll never want to stick to the plan. Instead, don’t deprive yourself of your favorites. Add things to your life.
For example, if you add a healthy salad and some low-calorie veggie side dishes to your dinner table, you’ll find yourself naturally eating less pasta. Research some interesting veggie dishes you can try, and you might even get excited about the change.
Try new concepts such as this Cauliflower Fried Rice or these Oven Baked Zucchini Chips.
Step 8: Replace fruit products with whole fruit.
One of the most popular (and perhaps least ethical) ways to market snacks and drinks is labeling them as being made with real fruit. Companies don’t have to do much to be able to put this claim on the label. For example, they can extract just the fructose from the fruit, mix it with corn syrup, gum, and artificial coloring and use it to make gummy snacks.
The product is marketed as healthy, but in reality it’s just candy, with all the ingredients of regular candy.
Similarly, fruit juice is mostly sugar. When you drink juice, you’re consuming all the sugar in the fruit, with none of the fiber. Fiber is what helps you feel full, and it can slow down your metabolism, helping stabilize your blood sugar.
Whenever possible opt for real fruit. Don’t be fooled by clever marketing campaigns. Instead, try recipes like this Quinoa Fruit Salad or this Pineapple and Peach Salsa.
Step 9: Have fun with it!
The worst mistake we can make when it comes to weight loss is forgetting that exercise can be fun and healthy food can be delicious! You can embark on a weight loss journey and enjoy every step of the process.
It can take a little try-and-fail, but you’ll eventually find an approach that works for you. There’s no one approach that works for everyone. When it comes to exercise, some people like the soothing vibes of yoga, while others prefer high-strung pump-up sports like kickboxing.
Try everything! You might fall in love with spinning, running, or weight lifting.
The same applies to healthy food. We’ve got an arsenal of recipes made with whole ingredients, from indulgent desserts to easy low-calorie dinners. Find recipes you’re excited to make and eat.
Overall, what matters is that you have fun with it. Make changes that you can stick to long-term. Don’t deprive yourself of your favorite foods, but fit in healthy, nutritious ingredients whenever possible. Try to move more, and remember that while it’s sometimes hard to get off the couch, the changes in your health are worth it.
The hardest part is getting started. But we hope this guide helps you figure out how to take the first steps to crushing your weight loss goals!
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