Did you know that over 70% of Australian’s are overweight or obese? We have all heard and maybe tried some tips and tricks to help lose weight, but with statistic like this, some of us may need a little extra help to shed those extra kilos.
The health consequences of being overweight are well known and well documented; these consequences can include an increased risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers. As Exercise Physiologists we promote the importance of exercise as a powerful tool in combatting obesity, however there are other factors that need to be addressed such as diet, lifestyle, and behaviour changes. For example, doing 30 minutes of exercise is a fantastic start, however, how you spend the other 23.5 hours of your day play a larger role on your overall health. Below are our top tips for not just losing weight, but keeping it off too!
- Find your WHY?
It may seem like a silly question, but WHY do you want to lose weight? Sometimes changing your lifestyle just to lose weight isn’t the best goal to focus on when starting out. Sometimes the number on the scale may not change as quickly as we like and this can hinder our drive to keep going. Find something you’re passionate about to be your WHY! For example, I want to lose weight and improve my health so I can play with my grandchildren. I want to change my lifestyle to improve my mental health, or to reduce the likelihood of developing chronic diseases. - Set short term goals, and focus on them, rather than your long term goal.
Your long term goal may be to lose 5 kgs, but you can’t achieve that without setting your short term goals to help. Rather than focusing on the 5kgs, focus on what you need to do to achieve that such as increasing you daily step count, reducing the amount of packaged snacks you eat, or reducing your sedentary (sitting) time. - Track your progress (in different ways)
The most common ways we track weight loss is through the scales, or the tape measure around our waist. These methods are outcome based and like we spoke about in the previous dot point, we want to track our short-term goals too. Look at getting a pedometer or a smart watch to track your steps each day, use a physical activity diary/checklist to monitor your exercise frequency, or even measure you’re blood pressure every week or 2 to see if your lifestyle changes are showing changes to your heart health. - Get the right advice for you!
Everyone has different goals, lifestyles, and health/fitness levels so each lifestyle change will need to be approached differently and tailored accordingly. There is also lots of conflicting information out there which can be very confusing. Exercise Physiologists, Dietitians, Physios, GPs, and Psychologists can all work closely with you to provide you with the best advice and set you up for success!
