7 Tips for a healthy weight loss journey

29th April 2023

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Losing weight can significantly improve your physical and mental health.

Building healthy habits into your daily routine can help you lose weight in the healthiest way possible.

Your goal to lose weight should be based on how you feel and the health benefits that weight loss will bring rather than on how you will look when you lose weight. Hutton Health’s recent blog Lose weight to get healthy or get healthy to lose weight shares some pitfalls of focusing too much on your appearance as a motivator for your weight loss journey.

7 tips for a healthy weight loss journey

1. Ditch strict diet rules

Labelling foods as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ can put immense pressure on you and keep you from having a healthy relationship with the foods you desire, what you eat and the balanced diet that can lead to long term weight loss success.

Eating ‘bad’ food can make you feel like a failure.

All food has a place in a healthy, balanced diet. Rather than completely cutting foods out to abide by strict diet rules, strive for a healthy eating pattern.

2. Focus on healthy substitutes

What ‘treats’ do you love to eat? There are often healthy substitutes that you can swap your indulgent treats for that still satisfy your craving.

If there are foods that you constantly crave and struggle to resist, look for alternatives that are healthier options.

If you enjoy rice, consider swapping white rice for brown rice
If you like to add mayonnaise, swap it for a healthier condiment
Swap your cooking oil for a healthier version
Swap regular ground beef to lean ground beef
Swap your processed peanut butter for a natural peanut butter
Swap your whole milk to skim milk
Swap your flavoured yogurt to plan or Greek yogurt with cut up fruit

3. Ditch your all or nothing mentality

If you decide to workout 3 or 5 times a week, but know you don’t have the time or energy to stick to this plan, then you start the week off with an ‘I can’t do it’ mentality. This sets you up feeling like you will fail, so why start exercising anyway?

If you focus on a workout being a specific length of time, such as a 45 minute run or strength training session, it means you may not do anything if you feel like you can fit in the full session, rather than embracing a shorter workout.

The all or nothing mentality can affect your nutrition and turn one indulgent meal or treat into a cycle of binging as it can make you feel like you have indulged anyway, so why focus on eating a healthy diet?

4. Build a routine that works for you

Start small and set realistic exercise and nutrition targets that work for you. Look at your schedule at the start of the week and schedule workouts in a way that works for you.

It is no good to tell yourself you have to do 2 cardio sessions and 3 strength training workouts if you don’t have the time or energy for this.

Download Hutton Health’s free GOAL SETTING WORKBOOK to help you set SMART goals to fuel your motivation and keep you on track on your fitness and weight loss journey.

Feeling unsure how to build an exercise program can be a barrier to starting to exercise. Hutton Health offers structured programs and the support, accountability and motivation of an experienced coach at your fingertips.

5. Manage stress

Stress affects my sleep and my ability to relax and unwind. Waking in the night with a busy brain is often the first sign that my stress levels are creeping up on me.

I have worked out how important it is to find the source of stress and take steps to minimise it before my body or mind forces me to take a break through illness or injury.

Stress can be harmful in many ways and can have a profound effect on your health.

Ways to reduce stress:

Be aware of energy hoovers in your life – people or places that seem to zap you of your energy
Take time for self-care – read a book, take a bath, take calm and quiet breaks during the day, enjoy a quiet walk in nature
Prioritise rest and relaxation
Be aware of your stress triggers

6. Emotional eating

Food can offer a welcome reprieve and distraction from thoughts and feelings and a way to find comfort during or after a stressful day. Allowing yourself to deal with your emotions in alternative ways and finding healthier coping mechanisms will help reduce your eating.

Things to consider before reaching for a snack or meal:

Are you actually hungry or are you connecting the desire for food with a time, place or emotion?
Have you had enough water today?
Do you need energy?
Is this a treat?
Is the snack providing a break in your day?
Is the social situation causing you to snack?
What are you feeling right now; are you actually hungry or are you attaching food as a solution to the way you are feeling in the moment?

7. Portion control

It seems simple – ‘don’t eat too much’, but it is easy to lose track and continue eating the portions that you have always done.

When I started focusing on my portions, I didn’t concentrate on the total amount of food I was putting on my plate, instead I focused on the type of food that I was filling my food with.

I started to fill half my plate with vegetables, ¼ with protein and ¼ with carbohydrates.

Being aware of what a ‘portion’ is helps give a clear picture of how much are eating.

It is easy to get fixated on the numbers on a scale. These numbers can dictate how you FEEL about your body and your health journey. When the number creeps up, even by a small amount, it can have a negative impact on your mental health and confidence.

Find out other things to consider on your health and weight loss journey in this blog, Non-scale ways to track weight loss.

Hutton Health strives to bring fitness, nutrition and mindset together to get optimal results for people’s health and wellness from the comfort of their own home. Our mission is to remove barriers to starting a health and fitness journey through flexible online coaching that fits in to each person’s schedule.

Commit to YOU and your journey to be the best version of YOU for life!