Break the Cycle - Succeed in Weight Loss with these Tips

Remember the fable of the tortoise and the hare? The moral is, slow and steady wins the race. It may work in weight loss, too. When you’re trying to lose weight, whether because of health challenges or a desire to look and feel better, eating the right foods and making changes for life may be more effective than fast weight loss through short-term dieting.
Fad diets often fail because dieters are prone to regain the weight when they inevitably return to their previous eating habits, says Lisa Corcione, a certified personal trainer and
the fitness director at Tilton Fitness in Mays Landing. Success is a result of lifestyle changes and food choices.
Follow these steps to lose weight:
1) Go slowly. “When you’re making small, meaningful changes, the weight will come off slowly, but it’ll be more likely to stay off because you’re building good habits rather than crash dieting,” Corcione says.
2) Be sure to eat just 300 to 500 calories under what you burn each day. If you start cutting too many calories, your metabolism slows to protect fat stores in expectation of a long period of food deprivation, Corcione says.
3) Eat only when you’re hungry. Many people lose weight once they pay attention to this one tip,
Corcione says.
4) Get good sleep. Studies over the past few years, including one by University of Chicago researcher Eve Van Cauter published in 2004 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, have found that sleep deprivation increases levels of a hunger hormone, which may lead to overeating. Plus, “When you’re sleep-deprived, you’re less likely to have the energy to exercise or to make good eating choices,” Corcione says.
5) Exercise. It burns calories during the activity and revs up your metabolism afterward. It also builds muscle. “Muscle burns more calories than fat, so the more muscle you have, the more you can eat without gaining weight,” Corcione says. Even still, keep in mind that the key to losing weight is consuming fewer calories than you burn. ■