Healthy weight loss

There’s no rulebook when it comes to healthy weight loss. Different people manage it in different ways – the kind of exercise you do, how often you do it, what you should eat and how much of it all vary according to your goals, time frame and body type. On top of this, even things like sleep quality affects our body’s ability to shift the pounds. If you want lasting results, though, you need to lose weight safely and healthily – which means ditching the crash diets. Not only does crash dieting make you miserable and involve depriving yourself, it also tends to only offer a short-term fix. Many crash dieters tend to gain even more weight than when they started their diet over a period of time.

Personal trainer and co-owner of London Fields Fitness (lovelondonfitness.com) Sapan Sehgal offers his top four tips for achieving a safe, healthy and lasting weight loss, whether you’re shifting baby weight or blasting the last five pounds.

1.    Make it last
‘It’s better to set realistic and achievable plans for weight loss over a longer period of time,’ says Sapan. ‘Quick fix diets are ineffective and usually result in increased weight gain once you discontinue your regime.’ However, long-term lifestyle changes will help you reach your goal and doesn’t involve depriving yourself of your fave foods.

2.     Get intense
‘A higher intensity type of exercise maximizes energy expenditure. This means you end up with a greater calorie deficit after your workout – which also means more weight loss.’ This means intensity is the key to the most efficient weight loss. The good news is that, whether you’re into weight training or cardio, both can be structured to high intensity training. To learn more about high intensity interval training, or HIIT as it’s affectionately known, click here.

3.    Make new eating habits
Rather than taking on a restrictive diet which encourages you to think about what you can’t have rather than what you can, try to slowly adopt new healthy eating habits. ‘They key is to follow a healthy diet rather than an extreme diet plan,’ adds Sapan. ‘It’s more sustainable and beneficial to concentrate on the nutritional value of the foods you choose to eat, as well as portion sizes, rather than simply cutting calories.’ Try these great tips for healthy eating.

4.    Hit the hay
One of the biggest ways you can sabotage all your hard work in the gym and at meal times is to neglect the important stage of rest and recovery. ‘A lack of sleep results in an increase of appetite,’ says Sapan. ‘Aside from keeping cravings in check, during sleep growth hormones help muscles to build which speeds up metabolism.’