1. Load up your plate with half veggies and half whatever you want.
So, yeah, if you want 2 or 3 slices of pizza, you better have an equal amount of veggies on the side. The veggies will give you the nutrition and fiber that you need and will fill you up so you won’t need another piece of pizza (or whatever food you choose), especially if that means eating another serving of veggies.
2. Walk.
Grab the spouse, the kids, the dog, a friend, and just get outside for 5-10 minutes. Anything more is a bonus. Don’t worry about the distance or amount of time at first. Just get in the habit of going for a walk most days of the week.
Are these tips going to melt fat off your body crazy fast? Of course not. But the biggest mistake I see people make when trying to lose weight or get healthier is they try to do too much all at once.
They start a strict diet or a Whole30 challenge, do tons of cardio everyday, sign up for Crossfit 5 days a week, buy Insanity or P90X or some other super intense workout program, and just basically go all in, Biggest Loser-style.
But that’s like trying to run a marathon on Day One. Sure, you could push yourself and suffer through a mile or two or maybe even three, but ultimately you’re going to crash and burn. And maybe get so discouraged that you quit altogether.
This seems insane to even attempt, right? But that’s what we tend to do when we want results really bad and are impatient to get them. We think we need to do all the things and just “try harder.”
And when we fail (whether that’s in the first week, month, or 4 months from now), we put all the blame on ourselves, when it’s really the plan that’s failed us.
If it’s not something that we can build into a sustainable habit (meaning it doesn’t take massive amounts of willpower everyday), then it’s not the best thing for us right now. Maybe in the future, but you gotta start where you are right now.
And if that’s at the very beginning, start small, like with the two tips above. Get consistent with those for a few weeks and then add another small step. Your results will come quicker than you think and will last much longer than the “all in” approach.