If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you’ve probably heard this advice from well-meaning loved ones: “If you want to lose weight, all you need to do is eat less and exercise more.”
Oh, if it were only that easy! Weight loss is actually a lot more complex, involving multiple behavior changes aimed at breaking bad habits and adopting healthy ones. Fortunately, medical weight loss can help.
At Triad Primary Care in Greensboro, North Carolina, our team offers custom medical weight loss plans tailored to each patient’s goals, health, lifestyle, and other factors for the best possible results. In this post, we offer a quick overview of seven behavior changes that can help you succeed on your own personal weight loss journey.
This is probably the behavior change most people think of when they think of losing weight, and for good reason: What you eat and how much you eat both play major roles in weight management and health, too. Medical weight loss is geared to help you make smart choices when it comes to selecting healthy foods, planning satisfyingly delicious meals, and controlling your portion size.
Our team helps you learn about mindful eating, a technique that helps you focus on your meal so you’re tuned in to sensations that tell you when you’re full. Mindful eating helps you overcome habits like watching TV or surfing the internet during meals — habits that tend to lead to mindless overeating.
After eating habits, exercise habits are probably the second change most commonly associated with weight loss and the change many people dread the most. That’s because most of us are used to being inactive.
Regular physical activity is essential for losing weight and for lots of other health benefits, too. Our team can help you learn how to work more activity into your daily routine so you get more activity “automatically,” plus we can help you identify other activities you actually enjoy.
Many people find themselves reaching for snacks when they feel stressed or anxious. Over time, stress is a trigger that makes us overeat without even realizing we’re doing it. With medical weight loss, you learn ways to manage your stress without overeating. You also learn how to identify stress early so you can distract yourself from snacking.
When you don’t get enough rest, it can be a lot harder to lose weight, and you might find yourself snacking when you should be in bed. To make the most of your weight loss journey, you need to prioritize your sleep and adopt a healthy sleep schedule. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine offers some tips on its website that can help you catch those Zs.
Going out to eat with friends and family is a lot of fun, but it can also be a minefield when it comes to overeating. If social eating is a regular part of your routine, our team can help you learn ways to maximize enjoyment while making sure you don’t overindulge.
If you’ve tried losing weight before without success, it can be really easy to slip into feelings of failure and inadequacy. One of the best ways to stay on track is to adopt a kinder and more forgiving attitude toward yourself. Instead of beating yourself up over that extra helping or before-bed snack, remember that everyone has setbacks. Commit yourself to understanding why you lapsed so you can avoid temptation the next time around.
Finally, work on changing the way you view food overall. Remember that food is like medicine, full of nutrients our bodies need to stay healthy and function well. Your body depends on you to feed it what it needs. Make the right choices, and your body will reward you with years of better health and wellness.
Weight loss isn’t easy, but it’s absolutely doable. With our team on your side, you can finally enjoy weight loss success and long-term maintenance of your results. To learn how we can develop a plan just for you, call 336-800-8958 or book an appointment online with us at Triad Primary Care today.
