5 Principles to Lose Weight and Keep it Off

Around 45 million people go on a diet every year in the united states alone. Do you know how many successfully lose weight? Just 5 percent.

Do you know how much percentage of people are able to keep it off? 20 percent of the 5 percent.

This means for every 100 people who try to lose weight, only 5 of them are able to lose weight successfully, and just 1 of them is able to keep it off for more than a year.

And this does make sense. The modern lifestyle is beyond unhealthy.

The variety of cheap, unhealthy yet tempting food available to everyone has grown exponentially, The workload of most jobs is beyond manageable, and then you have stress due to various standards of society and social media.

However, there is a way to take care of your health and lose weight, and it involves more than just a change in diet and fitness regime.

In this article, I will share 5 principles that will transform your lifestyle, environment, diet, and fitness regime in a way that not only you will lose weight, you will also be able to keep it off.

5 Principles to Lose Weight

What makes these six principles special is how they transform your lifestyle, diet, and fitness regime and make it sustainable, healthy, effective, and concurrent with each other.

To lose weight, you are not just exercising. You are eating healthily, you are following a healthy timetable, your life is more exciting, you are no longer indulging in unhealthy life choices, and more.

However, there is a rule to following these six principles. An ironclad rule that makes these principles effective.

The rule is simple, you have to follow all six principles at the same time, and you cannot break even one of them. The moment you break even one principle, your progress is lost, and you will have to start over.

I know what comes to mind; breaking them just once isn’t going to make any difference, and yes, it doesn’t.

However, that’s not the best way to look at these principles.

To successfully lose weight using these principles, you need to become someone who is willing to choose what’s best for him (what’s right) despite how you feel or what you want. This sounds easy, however, it’s very difficult to do.

I have been trying to do this for a while, and I successfully do it every day multiple times, however, I have never lived a single day where I stuck to what’s best for me for the whole day. I always let my emotions and instinct get the better of me.

At first, you may feel uncomfortable and even restricted by these principles, however, you have to push through and keep following these principles, and within a month, you will realize that the best and the happiest way to live is by following these principles.

Breaking them means breaking your happiness.

1. 3 Hours of Cardio Every Week

One of the primary reasons why people quit their fitness journey and gain weight after a while is due to a lack of enjoyment and results from the effort they put in.

For instance, If you are trying to lose weight and you start following a strict diet and a gruesome workout routine, after a while, you will get tired from all this. You will look for days when you don’t have to workout, and this, with time, will make you abandon your desire to train.

There are three ways to prevent this:

1. By making your workout flexible and exciting.
2. By making your workout effective.
3. By making your diet flexible to a certain extent.

More on 2 & 3 points in later principles.

To make your workout fun, you can try and mess around with various training strategies.

However, the best way to make your workout exciting is through jogging daily, not on a treadmill, but on the road. I know this sounds stupid. However, runner’s high is real, and it has more benefits for your mental health than most people know.

Every time you go out for a jog (on road, not on a treadmill), you will realize how fun it is. You are moving and sightseeing, you no longer feel stress or tension, new ideas are bubbling into your mind,

All of sudden, the problems covering your mind are no longer tough. You know you can deal with them. You are talking to people who are jogging just like you.

Every time you feel exhausted, you can stop and just look around and see the world around you with your eyes, then through a screen. Oh man, you are going to get addicted to this.

You are going to get so addicted that you may start jogging twice a day.

And the good part is there is nothing wrong with that. Every minute you spend on the road is a blessing for your mental health and physical body.

However, make sure you don’t overcomplicate it.

I told this to a friend of mine. He decided to do it, however, with a little change. He decided to drive for half an hour every day to a suitable place to jog. He enjoyed it, but this wasted around 2-3 hours every day, and within a few weeks, he stopped.

What I would recommend; Just on pair of running shoes and just go out for a jog near your house. Someplace you can reach by jogging for 5-10 minutes. That’s it. If you do this, then you can jog for long terms.

Moreover, keep cardio sessions between 20-30 minutes per day. Yes, 3-4 hours of cardio per week amounts to nothing in terms of weight loss. However, it will make you stress-free, excited for the day, and focused throughout the day, which will inevitably set you up for success.

2. Train to Build Muscles (Not Just to Lose Weight)

To lose weight fast and keep it off for the long term, you need to build muscles.

Most people avoid weightlifting as they don’t want to get bulky. Some people avoid weightlifting, thinking yoga is enough. However, this is not true.

Building muscles is a very delicate process, and you control every part of it. Your muscles won’t grow accidentally. You can control how much you want to develop your muscles to some extent. So, if you don’t want to get bulky, you can just lift light, and this way, you can stay athletic & toned.

Second, yoga is great. However, it does have limitations. It is not good enough for weight maintenance. So, you should consider adding a weight-lifting routine to your fitness regime even if you perform yoga.

Here are a few benefits of weightlifting daily:

1. Once you build a certain amount of muscle, you will burn more calories even during rest.
2. You will have a faster metabolism
3. You will be able to burn more calories while working out
4. You will be able to build the hourglass figure
5. You won’t get tired easily
6. You will be able to maintain weight for long terms (weight lifting is the secret to maintaining weight for long terms.)

Here’s a weight lifting routine for beginners (You can follow this routine to build toned athletic muscles like fitness models)

You can perform this routine 3 times a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).

1. Barbell Squat: 4 sets of 8 reps (60% of one rep max)
2. Bicep curls: 4 sets of 6 reps (50% of one rep max)
3. Shoulder press: 4 sets of 6 reps (50% of one rep max)
4. Leg raises: 4 sets of 10 reps
5. Deadlift: 4 sets of 5 reps (60% of one rep max)
6. Bench press: 4 sets of 6 reps (60% of one rep max)

Grow your glutes by adding Bulgarian split squats (4 sets of 10 reps, 50% of one rep max).

3. Avoid Consuming Junk Food, Alcohol, Sugary drinks, Artificial Sugar

The amount of weight you will lose just by staying away from junk food, sugary drinks, artificial sugar, alcohol, etc will shock you.

However, it’s very difficult to stay away from these things in our modern world.

It’s easy to stop yourself when you are around people, however, when you are all alone with your phone, and you feel empty and bored, and you find a good series to watch, It is tough to follow through on the commitment.

I read somewhere that if you want to test your will, your grit and know what kind of person you are, just pick something you like and quit. How you will go about it will help you better yourself.

There are ways to make quitting junk food easy; just replace them with healthy snacks, make sure those snacks are tasty enough, and keep yourself well-fed throughout the day with a balanced diet.

If you are addicted to junk food, alcohol, etc seek professional help. It will take a lot of time and effort to quit on your own, however, with professional help, you can get back on track in a few months.

4. Consume a Balanced Diet

There are four main ways to achieve satiety when you eat:

1. Consume fiber rich food
2. Increase the intake of protein
3. Consume enough water throughout the day
4. Consume enough macronutrients & micronutrients

In a way, to supress your hunger you have to consume a balanced diet.

Moreover, to lose weight successfully, you need to keep your appetite in control. How long you can maintain your weight will also depend on this factor.

If you are following a balanced diet try consuming zero calorie foods as snacks.

Here are few zero calorie foods you can try: Tea, salad greens, soup broth, mushrooms, strawberries, vegetable soup, whole grain toast, cod, eggs, low-fat cottage cheese, arugula, radishes, asparagus, green or black olives, tomatoes, celery, and iceberg lettuce.

5. Stick to a Healthy TimeTable

The best way to go through your day is by following a routine that lets you have fun and helps you maintain your health and well-being at the same time.

For young folks (at least the majority), health is not an issue. You can play video games for hours, go out and party for days, and still feel fine.

However, this lifestyle and lack of a proper timetable inevitably takes a toll on mental and physical health.

You can prevent this from happening meanwhile having the time of your life. All you have to do is carefully craft a proper timetable.

Here’s a timetable routine you can use as inspiration:

1. 7:00 am Wake-up
2. 7:00-7:30: Exercise/cardio ( 2 days cardio, 5 days exercise)
3. 7:30-8:00: 10 minutes mediation + freshen up

That’s it. Now for the rest of the day, you can do anything you want or need. You no longer need to think about your health.

If you work on your daily routine properly and keep moderation in mind, you can build muscles, lose weight, party with friends, travel, and eat anything and everything you want at the same time.

Conclusion

By following these five principles, you will lose weight. However, it will take time.

On average, it will take around 7-10 days before you start seeing results.

Keep in mind, you will make a lot of mistakes while following these principles, however, the best thing you can do is realize what went wrong, what made you tick, learn from it, and start over again.

You should also try your best to not repeat mistakes.

Moreover, before you start your weight loss journey, come up with a clear goal. Any goal is fine. My recommendation; pick a goal you feel comfortable with, a goal that makes you excited.

And craft a routine that pushes you toward your goals daily. Your routine with progress will become ineffective, so keep adjusting your routine to ensure that you are steadily moving toward your goal.

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