Incorporate movement throughout the day.
Another tip is to choose exercises that are enjoyable, which will vary from person to person. People might need to experiment to determine their preferences. Enjoying the exercise will help a person incorporate it as a regular part of their weekly routine.
Any extra movement helps burn calories. Think about ways you can increase your physical activity throughout the day if you can't fit in formal exercise on a given day. For example, make several trips up and down stairs instead of using the elevator, or park at the far end of the lot when shopping.
Make sure every meal is healthy and nutritious.
Also, try to avoid an all-or-nothing mindset. If you eat less nutritious foods, don’t throw in the towel and eat those less nutritious foods for the rest of the day or week. All-or-nothing mindsets can lead to a rollercoaster of restricting yourself, followed by overeating.
“Make half your plate vegetables, a quarter of your plate whole grains, and a quarter of your plate lean protein. When you switch the portions of grains and vegetables on your plate, you'll see a difference. The only caveat: Potatoes, corn, and peas are starchy vegetables, so they go in the grains category.” — Younkin
Track your progress and make adjustments as needed.
Don't do all of these at once. Choose the one that seems the most feasible for you, and try to stick with it for a week or so. Once you're doing it fairly consistently, add another one. Over time, you will realize that many of these habits can be interconnected.
After assessing your personal challenges to weight loss, try working out a strategy to gradually change habits and attitudes that have sabotaged your past efforts. Then move beyond simply recognizing your challenges — plan for how you'll deal with them if you're going to succeed in losing weight once and for all.
Reward yourself for success!
There are countless ways to reward yourself, and while it may seem trivial, research shows that rewards that are personal to us do in fact help us stay motivated and establish long-term habits. It's worth the time to come up with a system and a list of rewards for your own milestones!
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to reward yourself. Some are small rewards that are a few minutes long and don’t require any money, while other rewards can be both costly and life-changing (in a positive way). When using this list, make sure that the rewards match the accomplishments and you stay consistent.