My top 10 tips to lose weight & be healthy for beginners!

Recently I uploaded a new health & fitness video which explores my 10 tips to lose weight & be healthy for beginners. This video is heavily focused on having the right mindset for creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. To re-cap on these tips incase you’d rather read than watch the 11+ minute video again, I’ve outlined them in easy dot point format.

Positive Mind = Positive Changes

-       Do not be negative towards yourself

-       “you’re so fat” “you’re so ugly” etc will not deliver changes, you will continue to beat yourself up and will not embark on a healthy journey without a healthy mind

-       Set your goal to be healthier, not just to be “skinny”

-       “I just want to be thin” is not positive – if you do not focus on how your body feels and will do anything to be skinnier, it is easier to become obsessive and miss the warning signs from your body

-       “I want to be healthier” is a lot more positive and a broader goal – you can focus on physical and emotional aspects of your life and as a result of dedication and discovering the power of self-love, weight will fall off!

Be patient!

-       You will not lose 10kg overnight because you ate an apple and went for a run!

-       Weight falls off people differently, but it is unlikely that you will lose a big portion of it quickly so don’t give up because you don’t see immediate changes!!

-       Patience is the most important mental key to weight loss.

Exercise is not a chore

-       Find something you ENJOY so that it is more likely you will do it again

-       If you do an exercise that you do not enjoy, you will associate negative thoughts with it and it will put you off exercising again

-       There are MANY things you can do: walk, run, swim, use gym cardio equipment, group classes like zumba, spin class, weight lifting or group sports like netball, basketball, etc Possibilities are endless!

Cut out soft drink/soda

-       Unnecessary sugar and all sorts of toxins

-       You’ll be surprised how much you won’t miss it!

-       Always choose water first, but tea and fresh juice (lots of sugar in store bought options so read the labels first!) are okay!

-       If you don’t like water try it sparkling; or place fruit in the water.

My favourite fruit combinations are:

-       Orange and/or Lemon

-       Cucumber & Mint Leaves

-       Raspberries

-       Blueberries & Lemon

-       DON’T TRY BANANA OR TEXTURED FRUITS!

Go fast food-free for a week

-       Challenge yourself to no fast food for a week, if it’s easy then extend to two weeks and watch as the cravings subside.

-       Don’t forbid fast food but rather make it a choice – CHOOSE not to have it! If it is forbidden, you will crave it more.

-       I don’t exclude fast food 100%! I still eat at McDonald’s with friends on occasion, but I don’t choose to eat it for every meal. I’d say I have it twice a month maximum.

-       When you do have it again after resisting for a while, your body may even feel unwell and try to reject it, which may help you avoid it in the future (you won’t want to feel gross again!). It has happened to me with some fast food chains!!

Introduce new fruits and vegetables into your diet every week

-       You will not adopt a health-food-only diet in one day, you will last better if you introduce foods in slowly and fade bad foods out

-       When I started, I only ate lettuce as a salad ingredient and now I can eat a full salad – I introduced carrot and cucumber first, and worked my way up every week

-       I often turned my nose up at many vegetables, but from being open minded I discovered my favourite vegetable, spinach!

Make your food look pretty on the plate

-       Make your food look instagram worthy

-       Sounds weird, but if it looks appetizing, you will want to eat it

-       This helped me eat vegetables and other foods that I usually avoided or had associated negative feelings towards.

-       be open minded!!

Bring food from home

-       School, uni, work – pack lunch and snacks!

-       I always have nuts and snack bars in my bag so that I am not tempted by vending machines and unhealthy food courts

-       If you make your own lunch you can see exactly what goes into it! Much better than a bucket of chips or a slice of pizza!

-My favourite go-to lunches are coming in a separate post soon.

Keep a food journal

-       If you write down exactly what you eat, you will become aware of just how much junk you eat and how little vegetables you consume!

-       Keeping a journal helps to reflect on what you could replace certain foods with, and if you experience bloating or discomfort you will be able to track what exactly has given you this!

-       I keep track of every single thing, every tiny insignificant snack and make notes on the left hand page of how I felt throughout the day. This helps me make positive choices for the next day!

You don’t NEED a buddy!

-       Many people think that they need a workout buddy to be held accountable but the impacts can often be more negative than positive

-       Health journeys are intimate and personal, and constant comparisons between yourself and another person can spark negative thoughts such as “why don’t I drop the same amount of weight when we do the same things??”

-       Every body is a different shape, every body reacts differently to foods and exercises and nobody will ever be exactly the same!

-       It is unrealistic to believe you and another person will achieve the same goals at the same speed!

-       Use this journey to get closer to yourself and 100% commit to you and only you – you don’t want to let yourself down, you want to get to know your body and identify what it likes and what it needs!

Starting is the hardest hurdle, but once you become committed to yourself, do exercises you enjoy and experiment with different foods, it becomes enjoyable!

I have failed many times to lose weight as I was in a negative headspace – I didn’t care about my health, I just wanted to be thin like all the other girls.

Where did that get me? NOWHERE!

The positive mind made a positive change. If I can do it, then you definitely can!

x Krystal