There is no doubt that weight loss has always been and will always be a hot topic. Well, who wouldn’t want to have that perfect hourglass body or the weight that won’t scare you looking at your weighing scale?

There are lots of techniques in losing weight and since we are up to the #slimheatbodygoals movement.

Let’s narrow down the list into four main categories below.

Overall Tips

• Make a Clear Goal. Be sure to set a clear goal in your mind by planning out the result. How many pounds do you want to lose? What waistline measurement do you want to achieve? Can you imagine how you will look by then? Be very sharp and clear with your goals. Setting ambitious goals will yield ambitious results.
  
  
• Track Your Calorie Intake. The only sure way to be sure how much you are eating is by keeping track of your calories. You can use any notebook or even an excel sheet to make sure you are not eating above or under the required number of calories. Not unless you do so, you will not be able to get a precise result. If you think tracking is too much of hassle since there would always be times that you forget to write down what you are eating, you don’t have to worry about tracking it down 24/7. You can do it for a few days, or even mental count can help but as much as possible, track it down. The key is to be very conscious of your food intake and how much you are consuming.
  
  
• Stop Thinking About how Much You Currently Weigh. One of the reasons why people tend to get easily discouraged when trying to lose weight is our being obsessed with how much we weigh now. Tracking weight every day and getting disheartened because there is no increasing or decreasing. Let go of your actual weight because it is not an indicator of success. It’s just a starting line. Some might even look skinny but weigh heavier after the regime because muscle weighs more than fats. Limit your weighing to once a week or even longer than that. Sometimes, our weight would suddenly fluctuate during the day, also due to water loss, so weighing in every day might give a false indicator of your progress. Instead of how much you weigh now, focus on how much you would like to weigh and look in the end.
  
  
• Be Committed. And by committed, that means a long-term commitment. Whatever you are planning to do, be sure that you are ready to do it. Ask yourself, “Am I willing to do this forever?”. Making radical changes often result in quicker weight loss, but rapid weight gain as well. Some would even weigh heavier the soonest they revert to their regular diet. When you add something to your lifestyle, make sure to make a habit out of it – only then will you be able to secure positive results such as weight loss.
  
  
• Prepare the Dream Outfit. Don’t just go burn those pounds off without imagining yourself on those pair of pants! Get your dream outfit ready. This will keep you motivated for sure.
  
  
• Focus on The End Goal. There will always be times when you become less motivated or that you want to stop in the middle of your weight loss journey. Keep your motivation running. Use external motivators to keep you reminded such as posters, pictures, or anything that would help your motivation high.

Diet Tips

• Eat only What Is Needed. Sometimes, we tend to overeat because of external cues. You may be full but you passed by a bakeshop and you find an exciting new item on their menu so grab one. This is an unnoticed habit, but most of us do it. We may not know it, but it’s already adding up some calories, making us heavier each day. Eat only based on the caloric needs and not on your physical hunger cues rather than what’s before your eyes. Sometimes, you are not hungry; you are just thirsty, so try drinking some water instead.
  
  
• Plan Your Meals. Plan your meals, so you know how much calorie consumption you will have. If you are not cooking or won’t be able to do so, plan the location and the right food. If your food intake did not go as planned, compensate by exercising so to release your extra calories.
  
• Eat Breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and helps you jumpstart your morning. Skipping breakfast can keep you in the hibernation stage, which is in low calorie-burning mode. Also, if you skip breakfast, you will tend to eat more in the next meals.
  
• Eat Small Meals. Instead of gulping down large meals, take small meals throughout the day to spread out your calorie intake. If you eat large meals, you will consume more calories, and your body can only burn at the moment while storing the excess calories as fats. You need to avoid storing too much fat since it is the last energy group where the body gets energy from.
  
• Consume Food with Low Glycemic Index (GI). GI refers to the blood glucose level in your body after food consumption. If you take in foods with GI, it will spike your glucose level after you eat. This is very unhealthy and often contributes to diabetes. Foods with low GI breakdown slower and release glucose in the blood over time. Low GI foods such as brown rice, whole-wheat bread, and such are better for weight loss.
  
  
• Get rid of high-fat food. Aside from the number of calories, what you also eat matters very much. While the pour body only needs 10-15% of fat in our diet for optimum functioning, the majority of diets today can easily exceed 40% fat content which is about three times the minimum. Better cut out the oily fried foods now since not only are they unhealthy, these foods also make your metabolism sluggish.
  
  
• Stay away from trigger foods. What are trigger foods? Do you have them? Trigger foods are food that cut you off from your diet. Yep, you read that right. These are foods that when you start eating them, you might want to eat everything that’s in the box and justify your ‘cheat day.’ Most of these foods are those with high sugar content such as confectionery and candies. If you can’t get rid of trigger foods, make sure those trigger foods belong to the healthy spectrum but still, be cautious with your food intake.
  
  
• Drink water, lots of water. Without water, your body cannot burn calories effectively as it is a necessary component in the calorie-burning process. Drink eight glasses of water every day.
  
  
• Don’t drink diet sodas or sodas. Diet sodas have zero calories, but they can make you eat more after drinking, perhaps because of the artificial sugar it contains making your body crave real sugar instead.

Exercise Tips

• Keep a regular exercise routine. Weight loss is a combination of calorie intake and calorie burning. While you keep a healthy diet, balance it out with an exercise regime to hasten weight loss. Exercise at least 30 minutes a day, three times a week. THere’s no such thing as too busy because you will always find a way if you want to lose weight.
  
  
• Stick with your plan. If you think about doing something, don’t just start. Make sure to stick with it, and the same goes with an exercise regime. Make sure to follow through your routine, and getting a partner or trainer can help a lot too! There are two reasons why you need to stick to your regime: First, calorie-burning continues even after the session and second, sticking to your routine puts you in the right mentality on maintaining your weight loss goals.
  
• Use High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). High-intensity interval training is a form of exercise where you combine high bouts and low bouts of intense exercises. With this form of exercise, you burn the maximum amount of calories in the given amount of time, which makes your workout more efficient.
  
• Vary your exercises. Try engaging in different exercises that focus and build muscles on different parts of the body. More muscles means more calorie burning. The key here is to build more muscle, so you are still burning more calories even at a resting state.
  
• Do some spots. Pick a sport that you might truly enjoy. You can also choose a group sport, so you become more interested in playing it. Competing with other players will motivate you to play even more. You will also burn more calories by doing so than by exercising on your own.
  
• Be more active. Other than exercising, increase your activity level. Instead of taking the elevator, go for the stairs. Instead of taking the bus, take a short walk instead. Doing more activities can help burn more calories on top of your exercise regime.

Lifestyle Tips

• Let go of your big-sized clothes. Throw out or dispose of off your bigger-sized clothing since you don’t have plans on wearing them anymore. This will help you get going as there will be no more clothes to look back on.
  
  
• Wear clothes that are smaller or fit just right. Wearing smaller clothes will keep you reminded of your goal of losing weight. It also prevents you from overeating. Buy smaller but not too small, or fit but not too tight.
  
  
• Get enough sleep. Not getting enough sleep will affect your metabolism and can also increase hunger. Aside from losing weight slower, not getting enough sleep is unhealthy in general.
  
  
• Hang around with like-minded people. Spend time with people who share the same goals. This could be your friend, or a weight loss community online. Having like-minded people around will keep you going, and the impact of a support group can be astounding.

If you want to lose weight, start losing it now.