Today I have a guest post from Jen, who blogs over at Just Average Jen, a lifestyle and food blog by Jen, who lost over 10 stone dropping from a whopping size 30 to a slinky size 6-8 just by eating more healthily. Jen shares her tips, recipes and reviews on everything linked to weight loss and healthy eating on her blog. Jen is just an average kind of woman, a mum, a girlfriend and just like the woman next door, she also shares how she is overcoming self confidence issues and finding who she is now, her lifestyle and an all rounded blog about just your average woman.
It’s January so a huge proportion of people are currently on diets or healthy eating plans of some kind. By February however how many people still will be eating healthily and trying to lose weight? Many people who have a New Year Resolution to lose weight do not manage to keep it up and soon quit, I had done this previously too, but in 2014 I decided this was my year to lose weight and I didn’t give up this time. Within the first year of starting my healthy eating I had lost 9 stone (8 stone of which I lost in the first 37 weeks!). In total I lost over 10 stone dropping from a whopping size 30 to a slinky size 6-8 by changing the way I ate, I didn’t even exercise.
Here are my top 10 tips to help you lose weight successfully and most importantly to keep it off and stick to your plan and not give up.
1.Set your sights high – if you want to lose weight and be a size 8 then you can (I didn’t think I could but I did!) but break it into smaller chunks to work on at a time so you feel you are achieving and don’t feel like you have a huge mountain to climb, just lots of small hills one at a time!
2.Enjoy your food – never eat anything you don’t like because then you are more likely to feel unhappy with your diet and want to quit.
3.Vary your food and cook the same healthy meals for the whole family – you are still part of your family, don’t feel like you can’t enjoy meals with them. Most meals can be cooked healthily or eaten in moderation.
4.Enjoy vegetables – whilst there may be vegetables you don’t like this doesn’t matter, enjoy the ones you do. No one has to like every vegetable but make sure you try them cooked in different ways to discover if there is a way you enjoy them.
5.Don’t be afraid to use herbs and spices to liven food up – by using these you can usually quite easily make meals you would usually have used a jar for. For example instead of a processed and high calorie jar of Bolognese sauce use a carton of passata (sieved tomatoes), some fried onions, peppers and mushrooms and some mixed herbs.
6.Swap your oil – instead of frying everything in oil use a low calorie cooking spray instead, it saves so many calories whilst still eating the same meal!
7.Plan your meals – plan your meals ahead so that when you go food shopping you only buy what you need and stick to your shopping list.
8.>Is it hunger? – Every time you think of eating anything between meals ask yourself first, is it actually hunger? Could it be thirst? Boredom? Comfort eating?
9.Swap your sweet treats – swap for fruit and fat free natural yoghurt or fat free fromage frais when you can. Even if you just swap a few treats a week for something healthier like this it all adds up and will make a difference.
10.Don’t give up – It may sound obvious but if you have a set-back like a takeaway or huge bar of chocolate it isn’t the end of the world, don’t give up, just draw the line and carry on.
These are great tips, and for someone like me that definitely needs to lost some weight, I shall certainly be putting these into practice, my downfall is planning, so I just go for the quick and easy option of convenience food, plus I eat very late at night, so that will have to stop.
You can find Jen blogging at Just Average Jen
and watch a video about her weight loss on youtube. You can find Jen on facebook twitter and Instagram .
This will surely help me in losing weight. Ugh. Food is my temptation.