What are the sustainable ways to lose weight in your 30s?
Over the years, the definitions of age limits have changed. But in my opinion, the best age to start and maintain healthy behaviors is in our 30s. If we take more conscious steps, knowing what we want, we can have a lifelong health plan. Your health should be a fundamental priority throughout your life, including your 30s. For some people, losing excess body weight can improve various aspects of their physical health, including blood sugar and blood pressure levels, inflammatory markers, and mobility. Furthermore, achieving a healthy and sustainable body weight can boost your self-confidence, body image, health-related quality of life, and reduce symptoms of depression. Unfortunately, most weight loss methods are not suitable for our bodies and are unsustainable. Also, incorrect dieting and diet culture can be incredibly harmful to your physical and mental health. However, it is possible to safely achieve a healthy body weight that supports your overall health. So, how?
1. Redirect Your Focus
Focusing on improving other aspects of your health, rather than your body weight or physical appearance, can help you achieve your goals. A study of 301 women found that those motivated to lose weight to reduce their risk of disease or improve their overall health achieved significant weight loss compared to those seeking to lose weight for self-expression or aesthetic reasons. Conversely, women most motivated to lose weight to improve their appearance gained weight over the 30-month period. This doesn't mean you can't be motivated by improving your appearance. Rather, I suggest that your appearance and desire for acceptance from others shouldn't be the sole or even primary motivator for achieving a healthy body weight. Being motivated by factors such as improving the quality of your diet, your endurance, and your energy levels, as well as reducing your risk of disease, will help increase your long-term success on your weight loss journey.
2. Store the Right Foods
Decades of scientific research show that increasing your fruit and vegetable intake supports weight loss and can help you maintain a healthy body weight. Making this point about adding more vegetables and fruits to your diet is an excellent way to improve diet quality, reduce disease risk, and promote healthy weight loss. Try adding spinach, tomatoes, and onions to your eggs in the morning and enjoy them with lettuce and cucumber. You can also snack on vegetables dipped in yogurt or add baked mixed vegetables to your dinner. Of course, vegetables cooked in olive oil are our favorite.
3. Prioritize Sustainability Over Speed
Numerous diets and detoxes promote rapid and extreme weight loss using very low-calorie meal plans. The truth is, these diets will support rapid weight loss by drastically reducing your calorie intake. However, they are not a good choice for sustainable weight loss as they can significantly impact your energy levels, health, and overall performance. Studies have repeatedly shown that drastic diets lead to weight gain and compensatory changes, making it harder to lose and maintain weight in the future. Creating a satisfying dietary pattern that nourishes your body while establishing a small calorie deficit results in slower weight loss, but reduces your chances of weight gain over time and ensures you get the nutrients your body needs.
4. Don't underestimate daily activity.
When trying to lose weight, most people think they need to engage in frequent high-intensity activities. Incorporating such activities into your routine can promote weight loss and muscle gain, but it's unnecessary to do so to reach a healthy body weight. Being active daily by increasing your step count and sitting less is just as important as spending a few hours at the gym each week. If you are currently sedentary, you should gradually increase your activity. If you average 1,000 steps a day, try to increase that to 2,500 steps on most days of the week. (That's about 1.6 km.) Once you consistently reach that goal, gradually increase it to 1,000 steps a week until you can comfortably walk a few kilometers a day.
5. Prioritize Your Health and Happiness
Never compromise your health or happiness by following a diet or exercise program that makes you feel bad. If the diet is excessively restrictive or causes you to become overly preoccupied with food, this is a sign that the plan you're following is unhealthy and not suited to your needs. The same goes for activity. If your new trainer or workout class makes you feel uncomfortable or unwell, find a different activity that you enjoy. A sustainable nutrition and activity plan should make you feel healthy, nourished, and energetic.
6. Understand that weight loss is not the key to overall better health.
Losing excess body fat can indeed improve your health and reduce your risk of disease. However, weight loss is only one piece of a larger puzzle. Stress, mental health disorders, lack of activity, illness, malnutrition, genetics, and sleep deprivation are just a few of the other factors to consider. Therefore, your goal should not be just to lose weight, but to improve your overall health.
7. Prioritize Sleep
Many people in their 30s are trying to balance work responsibilities, family, and social lives. This can shorten their sleep duration and negatively affect sleep quality. Chronic sleep deprivation can make weight gain even more difficult by increasing hunger hormones and calorie intake, and decreasing satiety hormones and energy levels. Consistently getting at least seven hours of sleep is important for weight management and overall health.
8. Say No to the Wrong Diet
Avoiding restrictive, unnecessary diets is crucial for developing a sustainable weight loss plan tailored to your needs. Research shows that improper dieting and overeating don't work for long-term weight management. Furthermore, restrictive eating habits can harm your physical and mental health. Whether you're on vacation, enjoying holiday food, or having dinner with friends, a healthy eating pattern can be followed for life. How? Through portion control. If you frequently have to "cheat" or "abandon" your plan to eat your favorite foods, it's a sign that your diet is excessively restrictive and unsustainable. All foods can and should fit into a healthy, sustainable eating pattern that can be followed long-term as part of a healthy and enjoyable lifestyle.
9. Choose to Stay Outside
Spending time in nature is incredibly beneficial for your overall health. Some research suggests that spending more time outdoors is associated with higher activity levels and less sitting, which can naturally help you lose weight. Furthermore, spending time outdoors can help reduce your risk of chronic diseases. Make an effort to go outside every day, whether for a walk or to enjoy the fresh air.
10. Stay hydrated.
Staying hydrated is crucial when it comes to weight management. A new study involving 358 people aged 18 to 39 found that higher fluid intake was associated with healthier body composition, including a lower body fat percentage and a smaller waist circumference. Fluid needs depend on many factors, including your activity level and body size. A simple way to tell if you're getting enough water is to check the color of your urine. Aim for a light straw color, or even white.
11. Think about the future.
While it's normal to have short-term goals when trying to lose weight, it's important to think about your future self. How can improving your diet, increasing your activity, and managing your body weight in your 30s benefit your future health? Instead of making the wrong diet and lifestyle changes based on how quickly they promote weight loss, make decisions based on how they affect your overall health and future well-being.
12. Join the Joyful Movement
Finding an activity you enjoy is crucial for increasing your activity level. Muscle mass naturally decreases with age, starting in your 30s. One way to build and maintain your muscle mass and metabolism is through regular exercise. Instead of jumping into an exercise routine based on the number of calories it burns, set aside time to practice one or more activities that you genuinely enjoy and dream of doing for a lifetime. Zumba, hiking, cycling, walking, Pilates, swimming, and dancing are just a few of the activities that many people of all ages find enjoyable.