Losing weight doesn’t have to be a super complicated ordeal. Sometimes, you have to adjust your lifestyle starting with just the meals and snacks you make at home. Follow these simple steps provided below, and you will see the fantastic benefits of optimising your meal plan.
When homemade tastes better
Do you love pasta? Pizza? Hamburgers? Don’t worry… we aren’t going to tell you that you can’t eat those foods anymore. Instead, be mindful of how you prepare these items if you do eat them. By cooking pasta yourself, making hamburgers, and baking pizza in your own kitchen, you’ll be able to ensure that you know exactly what is (and isn’t) going into your favourite dishes.
Plus with fresh, high quality, and healthy ingredients, your favourite herbs and spices, and a wonderful recipe you might just find that your meals taste even better than if you ate out!
Be mindful of treats
If you have a favourite treat (or two), and the idea of having to give it up seems like an impossibility, then the simple solution is… don’t! Choose smaller portions of the foods that you love, and plan your treats instead of eating based on cravings.
A square or two of chocolate every day is much better than depriving yourself for weeks and then watching an entire block magically disappear.
Eat healthy snacks
Mid-meal snacks are a wonderful way to get in extra nutrition, as well as help to manage hunger in between your main meals. Some healthy nibblies to grab include a punnet of berries, a tennis ball sized piece of fruit, a small handful of nuts, no added sugar yoghurt, vegetable sticks with a healthy dip, grainy crackers topped with salad, or a small bowl of non-starchy vegetable based clear soup.
It can be tricky sometimes to get in enough fruit and vegetables in your day, so see if you can get creative with your mid meals to try and fit in more.
Create a meal plan
By spending a little extra time creating an appealing and creative meal plan, you are setting yourself up to actually enjoy your meals and snacks while you lose weight. A little tip to curb cravings is to actually schedule in your treat foods.
Love chocolate? Pack yourself a square or two for morning tea every day. Adore chips? Give yourself permission to enjoy a small serve when you feel like it. By creating a meal plan that takes into account these treats, you can lose weight while still enjoying your favourite foods.
Embrace your new lifestyle
Rather than viewing these changes as a temporary ordeal that you need to get through, instead think about how you could make these changes more enjoyable so that you will not only be able to maintain them long term but actually want to!
How could you create a life that you love, enjoy, and that makes you fitter and healthier? Working towards your best self can be incredibly rewarding short term as you see results, but needs to involve enough positives so that you will love your life in the process?
What are your best tips for losing weight and enjoying life while you do it?