At Simple Natural Weight Loss, we are constantly repeating “healthy eating choices and sensible exercise are the keys to natural weight loss.”  We recently came across an article on the website for the Montreal Gazette which supports that idea.

“Fitness: Old news worth repeating: Diet AND exercise vital to getting you trim”

“Once again researchers have shown that the battle to lose weight isn’t best resolved by diet alone. Nor is exercise the sole solution. Nope, when it comes to whittling away unwanted pounds it’s the combination of the two that is the most successful.

While this may not seem like startling news, confusion about weight loss abounds. After years of research there’s still no single set of guidelines for the overweight to grab and run with. Obesity experts in Canada and the U.S. recommend anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes of exercise most days of the week. As for diet, the suggestions range from a daily caloric deficit of 500-1,000 calories to ‘maintaining sensible portion sizes.’

…the authors noted that the most successful losers kept a food journal of everything they ate and drank.”

Read the full article here: Montreal Gazette

The biggest point made in the article is that much weight loss advice is confusing, and often contradictory; but the combination of eating a sensible diet and exercising regularly produce the best weight loss results.

The last point in the quote from the article above was included here because keeping a food diary is one of the natural weight loss strategies we have frequently recommended. (You can see some of those recommendations at these links: Journal Your Way to Weight Loss, Natural Weight Loss-How Hormones Affect Weight, Simple Natural Weight Loss Tip #16.)

We want to again emphasize that losing weight naturally is a matter of focusing on healthy eating choices, choosing nutrient dense foods such as vegetables and fruits, and choosing lean protein sources, and avoiding calorie dense foods high in added sugars and fats, and avoiding trans fats completely; and including some form of exercise daily. (If you are just starting an exercise or weight loss program, be sure to check with your doctor.)

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At Simple Natural Weight Loss, we regularly share natural weight loss tips that have worked for us, and others that we find as we search the web every day to bring our readers the best information we can find. Often the tips we find on other websites are the same as tips we have previously published, sometimes expressed a little differently. We believe that it is valuable to share these weight loss tips for several reasons.

First, someone may be a new reader and not seen a previous post, so the information will be new to them. Second, sometimes seeing the same idea expressed differently will be more easily understood by some of our readers. And, finally, repetition makes it easier to remember the weight loss tips we have offered.

That’s a long introduction to an article we found recently on the website Women24 called 10  Best Diet Tips.

“Forget quick-fix starvation diets and eating plans from hell. Incorporate these easy lifestyle fixes for effective long-term weight loss.

1. Keep a diary.
Keep a food journal and use it to devise a plan to counter all your bad habits. Apart from figuring out your daily consumption, writing down what and when you eat can help motivate you to make better choices.

2. Discover what works…
…and what doesn’t. Because we’re all unique (shape, height, gender etc.), our dietary needs and fitness requirements will differ so instead of following an eating plan that your sister recommended, visit a specialist first who can design something with your individual lifestyle in mind.

3. Eat breakfast
We cannot stress the importance of a hearty meal in the mornings. Not only does it stimulate your metabolism, but include a healthy dose of lean protein to your early java, and you’ll be less likely to binge later in the day too.”

You can read the other 7 tips here: Best Tips

Our regular readers will recognize most, if not all, of these tips. Perhaps seeing them from other sources can convince skeptics that these natural weight loss tips work.

Remember, if you are just starting to lose weight naturally, don’t try to use all the tips at once. Introduce them one or two at a time, and use them until they become habits.

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Sometimes we reach a point where our weight loss seems to have stalled, and we don’t seem to be losing any more weight. This is often referred to as a “plateau”. It can be very discouraging, but it is not the end of the world, and shouldn’t be the end of your natural weight loss efforts, either.

We wanted to offer a few suggestions about how to deal with natural weight loss plateaus.

First, you need to be sure you have not increased how many calories you are eating every day. Spend a few days writing down everything you eat, to be sure you are still within your optimal calorie range. The following recommendations come from a US government website handout called the Basics of Weight Loss:

Current Weight                               Daily Calorie Goal

Under 200 lbs.                             1200 – 1500 calories/day

200 – 225 lbs.                               1500 – 1800 calories/day

226 – 250 lbs.                               1800 – 2000 calories/day

251 – 300 lbs.                               2000 – 2200 calories/day

300 – 350 lbs.                              2500 – 3000 calories/day

Over 350 lbs.                               See a Move! Dietitian

You can find the full handout here as a free download: Basics of Weight Control

If you are eating more calories than you should be, get back into the range for your current weight. If you are eating the upper calorie number for your weight, try the lower number.

If you have lost enough weight to move to a lower range on the above chart, make sure you reduce your calories accordingly.

If these steps do not help, you can try increasing your physical activity levels. Maybe add something different to what you are doing. If you are walking for exercise, try walking at various speeds, alternating spurts of walking as fast as you can with your normal walking pace. Sometimes this can be enough to get your weight moving down again.

That same government website has a free download about weight loss plateaus which you can download here: Weight Loss Plateaus

You can also see our earlier post: Five Supplements where we talk about 5 supplements that may help you get past your weight loss  plateau.

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