What’s The Best Way to Lose Weight For Life?

It sometimes seems like the whole world is looking for a magic pill for weight loss. Whether that’s in the form of a fad diet, meal-replacement shake or (literally) a pill that claims to burn away fat, it’s easy to be seduced by promises that you’ll shed heaps of kilos in just a few weeks.

In some cases, those promises might come true – but only for a short time. As soon as you stop whatever diet you’re on, ditch those shakes or quit popping those pills, the weight comes back.

Why is weight loss such a potent desire for so many people?

Well, often it’s because we’re just not happy with the way we look. We may have always been overweight, or the kilos may have crept on over the years until one day we look at ourselves and think, “what happened?!” And often we tell ourselves all kinds of excuses for why we can’t do anything about it.

The benefits of weight loss

Weight loss has far more going for it than changing the way we look. Firstly, it boosts our self-esteem. If we’re unhappy with the way we look, that flows into a loss of confidence and feeling just not good enough. Losing weight will often have the opposite effect, boosting our self-esteem in ways we could never have imagined.

Also read: 10 Reasons You Can’t Stop Eating

But on top of that, there are numerous benefits of weight loss that are super-important – so important that we’d argue they’re vital! Reaching a healthy weight means you’ll:

• increase your energy
• lift your mood
• keep your heart healthy
• sleep better
• lower your risk of conditions like diabetes and heart disease, among others

What could be better than that?!

What’s my ideal weight?

It’s no good simply plucking a figure out of the air to decide how much you want to weigh. You need a specific reason to aim for a certain weight, and that’s where your Body Mass Index comes in.

Your BMI will show you what a healthy weight range is for your height, and for that you’ll need our BMI calculator. Your waist measurement is also handy for deciding how much you should weigh.

What’s the perfect weight loss method?

The simple answer is, there is NO perfect method!

We hate to break it to you, but there’s no magic formula that will guarantee if you do X you will lose Ykg in Z weeks. That’s because we are ALL individuals. This means our bodies all behave differently to each other’s, so sometimes we have to be a bit more patient than the person sitting next to us at work (damn her!).

Having said that, there’s one simple equation that determines whether you’ll lose or gain weight: how many calories you consume and how many you burn.

Sounds easy, right? Well, true, the idea of ‘calories in, calories out’ is indeed a basic equation, but we can easily forget how fast those calories add up through little things like a glass of wine here and a packet of chips there.

The fact is that when it comes to what we put in our mouths, everything counts.  Basically, it’s vital we understand the role that healthy nutrition and exercise play.

If you’re after step-by-step guidance and professional support, 12WBT offers a range of programs based on diverse needs, such as losing that last five kilos or getting rid of post-pregnancy baby weight. Click here for more info.