How can you stick to a healthy weight loss diet if you have an eat-and-run lifestyle? How can you maintain a healthy weight or even lose weight in the midst of the American massive-portion-sized culture? You’ve probably tried crash dieting before and found out that they don’t work. Worse, you’ve experienced horrible side effects. Many diets are simply ineffective, and there’s no one weight loss diet that works for all. Every individual physiological make-up responds differently to different weight loss methods. There’s basically no quick-fix to losing weight but there are simple and practical tips you can do to develop a lean and fit body while keeping yourself healthy.

1. Get more physically active. Most of all, exercise. It’s debatable how much exercise benefits weight loss, but there are more perks if you get moving and sweat it out. Other than burning calories, exercise also steps up your metabolism and inculcates a positive outlook. It’s not necessarily about working out heavily either. You can simply stretch, go for a walk or move around so you can muster more energy and drive to rev up your health and fitness program to the next level. What if you lack time for an exercise program? Fret not because research has shown that 3 periods of 10-minute workouts everyday works just as good as a daily 30-minute workout. Any physical activity is better than none at all. If it seems that you’re dragging yourself to get physically active, start slow doing small amounts of exercise each day. You’ll have more energy as you lose weight where you’ll eventually find it easier to do heavier work outs. Not that you’ll have to force yourself doing heavy and unpleasant exercise, too. Do what you enjoy to lose weight, such as dancing, cycling, walking with a friend, playing Frisbee with your dog or doing active video games with your kids and playing pick up basketball with your chums.


2. Cut back on your emotional eating habit. Sometimes eating is done not to satiate a hungry stomach but to relieve emotional stress such as anxiety and depression. It’s an antithesis to your healthy weight loss diet and it can horribly make you pack pounds as well. Do you munch junk food when you’re bored or lonely? At the end of a stress-laden day, do you snack on sugary foods? The first step to remedy this problem is to recognize the triggers of your emotional eating habits. If you particularly overeat when you’re stressed, look for alternative activities to calm yourself such as meditation, yoga or having a long hot bath. If your energy levels are getting low, you can listen to upbeat music, walk around the block or take a short nap. Feeling lonely or bored? Call a friend for a lot of laughs, go to the mall, library or the park or bring your dog along with you for a walk.


3. Stay motivated to stick to your health and fitness program. How can you stay motivated to keep to your weight loss efforts? Make changes in your food choices and lifestyle in general. Find social support for lifelong health and fitness lifestyle changes. Get encouragement to sustain your exercise and diet habits from your family, chums or support group. Go slow but steady. You can win the race that way. If you lose weight too fast, you might feel sick, drained or sluggish. Lose weight healthily by shedding 2 pounds every week where you lose fat, not muscle and water. Set goals and keep your motivation to reach them. Don’t focus on sticking to your weight loss goals so that you’ll look good in a bikini. Think about long term goals such as the benefit you’ll reap if you’re fit and healthy. Use a fitness tracker, your smartphone apps or simply a journal to track your progress. Note the foods you’re eating and how much calories you burned and how many pounds you’ve lost. You’ll stay motivated if you see the results of your efforts in black and white. Get sufficient amounts of sleep. Otherwise, if you lack sleep, you’ll have hunger pangs and a bigger appetite to eat. Get about 8 hours of quality sleep every night.

You’ll find hundreds of tips for losing weight on the internet and in fitness magazines, some complex and some as easy and simple as those mentioned above. Being fit, trim and healthy doesn’t have to be heavy effort- you can follow these healthy weight loss diet and exercise tips to find more motivation and happiness to stick to a lifelong health and fitness lifestyle.