Realistic Weight Loss Tips
It’s none of my business what anyone does with their own body; I just hope it comes from a place of self-love. While I don’t concern myself with the choices of others, including the choice to lose weight, I do concern myself with the multitude of BS weight loss tips circulating the Internet. This advice is often nonsensical, misinformed, lacking scientific support, and sometimes straight-up dangerous. To achieve weight loss, you need to be in a prolonged calorie deficit—don’t let diet culture fool you into thinking there’s any other magical way (I promise that lemon water was not the reason that influencer dropped ten pounds). If weight loss is the goal, it’s important that your means of achieving a calorie deficit are individualized and realistic, because what worked for Becky on TikTok won’t necessarily work for you. So, let’s talk about a few tips that might support your weight loss journey, BS- and lemon water-free.
Compromise, but not on happiness
In the pursuit of weight loss, small sacrifices need to be made—after all, nothing changes if nothing changes. But some things need to remain untouched for the sake of your sanity. Let’s say you look forward to your vanilla latte every morning; it’s what gets you out of bed, and it’s your daily dose of joy. Diet gurus might tell you that the calories and sugar in your daily vanilla latte are killing your progress, and sure, cutting it out would definitely support your calorie deficit, but is it worth it? If your vanilla latte is your favourite part of the day, leave it be and find other things in your routine to compromise on that aren’t as sacred.
Keep your latte, but substitute half your spaghetti for zucchini noodles at dinner. Keep your latte, but swap your midday vending machine chips for an apple with peanut butter. Keep your latte, but make breakfast at home instead of stopping at McDonald’s on the way to work. You never have to omit anything entirely—all foods can fit, even when weight loss is the goal—but determine what you’re willing to change and what you’re not. You can reduce your caloric intake without sacrificing your happiness.
Practice addition, not subtraction
When making modifications to your nutrition, think about what you can add rather than what you should take away. If you’re craving a sugary, less nutrient-dense cereal, don’t deprive yourself of the cereal, but add some protein and fibre to balance it out. This could look like a bowl of Lucky Charms topped with berries and a protein shake as the milk, or maybe you mix your Lucky Charms with a bran cereal and eat it on top of Greek yogurt. You’ll feel more energized and satiated if you add some extra nutrition to those less nutritious foods, which minimizes the likelihood of intermittent, mindless munching. You’re also satisfying that craving so you can move on with your day rather than letting it consume your thoughts.
To preserve a healthy relationship with food, don’t take anything off the table entirely. You can still enjoy all the foods you love, but with some intentional changes—more specifically, additions. You need to stay in a calorie deficit for weight loss, but balancing out your meals and snacks with nutritious additions will actually save you calories in the long run by filling you up and keeping you full for longer. Let’s also not forget that overall nutrition is still crucial, even when the goal is weight loss, and prioritizing a well-rounded, nutrient-rich diet is supportive of both weight loss and a healthier you.
Eat enough and eat often
First and foremost, even though you’re in a calorie deficit, you still need to make sure you’re eating enough—the only people that should be eating 1200 calories per day are toddlers and those under medical supervision. Second, make sure you’re eating often throughout the day to keep your energy levels stable and avoid any ravenous, hangry episodes. Of course, you need to personalize your eating schedule based on your own unique routine and appetite, but one suggestion is to evenly space out three meals and three snacks per day—breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, dinner, and after-dinner snack. Waiting too long between meals, especially if you’re restricting calories, increases the chance you’ll overconsume the next time you eat and take yourself out of a calorie deficit. By eating every couple of hours, you keep your energy levels and appetite more stable, allowing you to practice better portion control and stay within your calorie goal.
Eating often also helps to alleviate the scarcity mentality sometimes felt when restricting calories. Though you’re still maintaining a calorie deficit, it can feel less restrictive to eat smaller but more frequent meals and snacks throughout the day, rather than eating two or three bigger meals and no snacks. The most important thing is to find what works for you and stick with it, but don’t deprive your body of too much—a moderate but consistent calorie deficit is the best way to achieve and maintain weight loss.
Ditch the scale
A scale has its time and place, but generally, I’m passionately anti-scale. You’re a living, breathing, hormonal, dynamic human being, and the scale is going to reflect that. Depending on the time of day or month, what and how much you’ve eaten, water retention, bowel movements, and so much more, your weight is going to fluctuate. When these factors move the scale in the intended direction, it’s exciting and motivating; when they don’t, it can be discouraging and mentally destructive.
Beyond biological and environmental factors, if resistance training is part of your weight loss regimen (and it should be), the number on the scale could be impacted, but this is a good thing. To preserve lean muscle mass and increase BMR (basal metabolic rate, or the number of calories you burn at rest), resistance training is crucial during a period of weight loss. As a result, your weight could remain relatively stable or even increase, depending on the ratio of fat lost to muscle gained. This means you could be making meaningful progress in your weight loss journey—or, more accurately, fat loss journey—but your perception is skewed because the number on the scale isn’t what you’d envisioned.
I always encourage those pursuing weight loss to focus on qualitative factors over quantitative ones—and look, I know it’s f*cking annoying and cliché to be told to “focus on how you feel,” but the scale could be a form of self-sabotage. If you do choose to weigh yourself, please don’t let it be your sole indication of progress. Also consider things like your energy levels, what you see in the mirror, and your overall quality of life to reassure you that you’re doing something right.
The only one-size-fits-all approach to weight loss is a calorie deficit, but how you achieve it is so individualized. There’s always going to be a new weight loss fad or influencer suggesting that what worked for them will work for you, but stay skeptical. Humans are so unique from one another, and it’s important that you find a weight loss regimen that feels good and is sustainable for you. These tips may or may not align with that regimen, but I hope that whatever approach you take, you do it with self-love and compassion. Focus on building a lifestyle, not a diet, and envision a healthier you, not just you in a smaller body.