10 Tips for Sustainable Weight Loss
By Marnie Kunz, NASM-certified personal trainer
If you want to enjoy sustainable weight loss that lasts, a healthy, balanced approach is your best bet. Losing weight is not easy and it can be tempting to try quick fixes promised by the booming diet industry, but the truth is that healthy weight loss isn’t quick. But sustainable weight loss will pay off with long-term health benefits. As a trainer, I often get asked about weight loss and diets so I wanted to offer my best tips here to help you in your healthy lifestyle and weight loss journey. With a balanced approach to weight loss, you can enjoy lasting results and health rewards.
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Tips from a Trainer on Sustainable Weight Loss
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Tip 1: Avoid Quick Fixes
When you want to lose weight, you’ll probably see weight loss ads and claims on commercials, social media, and more. Many will promise a quick fix - a pill or restrictive diet - that supposedly will give you your dream body in a short timeframe. These weight loss methods are often dangerous and even if some offer weight loss results, they will not give you sustainable weight loss that lasts.
Restrictive crash diets that cut out nutrients from your diet - such as no carbs or no fat - will leave your body malnourished and can have negative effects on your health. Also, a severely restrictive diet is not something that you will be able to maintain in the long term and any weight you lose will most likely come back once you start eating regularly again.
It’s best to avoid fad diets and other quick fixes that promise nearly instant results. For sustainable long-term weight management, mindful eating and a balanced diet are key.
Tip 2: Set Achievable Goals and Milestones
For sustainable weight loss, it’s important to set achievable goals and milestones. When figuring out your weight loss goal, talk to your doctor about any health issues and concerns you have, and see what your doctor recommends as a healthy rate of weight loss.
In general, losing 1 to 2 pounds a week is a healthy and sustainable weight loss goal. This means consuming 500 calories less than you burn each day for a week to lose one 1 pound or consuming 1,000 calories less than you burn each day to lose 2 pounds in a week.
When you set your weight loss goals, use the S.M.A.R.T. test - make sure your goal is:
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely
Set your big goal and then break it up into milestones to help you stay on track. For instance, if your goal is to lose 12 pounds, you may set smaller goals to lose 1 pound each week. Check out our tips for sticking to your workout goals for more help with goal setting.
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Tip 3 - Track Your Eating
When you are starting out with new healthy habits, using a food tracker can help a lot with showing you the nutrition information for everything you consume in a day. A food tracking app can help you identify healthy foods that are high in nutrients and lower in calories, such as fresh fruits and vegetables. You will also be able to see some foods that you may need to reduce in your regular eating habits - like overly processed, high-calorie, low-nutrient snack foods (soda, white bread, fried foods, etc).
Using a food tracking app will help you keep your calorie consumption lower so you can make progress with your sustainable weight loss goals. For sustainable weight loss, it's crucial to eat a balanced diet with enough protein, healthy fats, complex carbohydrates, and fiber. Tracking your calorie intake and consuming fewer calories can help you achieve successful weight loss.
If you need help creating a healthy eating plan, see a registered dietitian.
Tip 4 - Track Your Workouts
The other part of losing weight is your activity level. Regular physical activity with strength training and cardio workouts are essential for reducing body fat and losing weight. Lifestyle changes like setting a daily step goal and walking more can have a big impact on your health.
Use a fitness tracking app or device - such as a Fitbit or Apple Watch - to keep tabs on your daily steps and calories burned. You can use a simple fitness app (see our post on the 15 Best Free Running Apps) or a more complex tracking device with biometrics.
Tracking your activity level can help you make incremental changes to get in more movement when you need to. Tracking your workouts will help you see your energy expenditure so you know how many calories you're burning each day. Using a fitness tracker will also help you stay motivated and accountable, which is important for sustainable weight loss.
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Tip 5 - Enlist Support
Research shows that having the support of family and friends can make a big difference in your weight loss maintenance and success. Tell supportive people in your life about your weight loss goals and they can help encourage you and cheer you on in your journey. If you want to meet more like-minded people, you can join a fitness class or fitness challenge.
Tip 6 - Try a Broader Perspective
When you’re working toward sustainable weight loss, it’s easy to get sucked into tracking all the numbers and measuring progress only by numbers. But take a step back and a broader perspective and you can celebrate your progress in other areas as well.
As you embark on a healthier path, you will enjoy health benefits that aren’t as measurable - practicing healthier behaviors, feeling happier, having more energy, or sleeping better, for instance. Appreciating these signs of progress will help you stay motivated and feel better throughout the journey even if the numbers don’t always stack up perfectly.
Tip 7 - Reward Yourself
Each milestone you hit on your sustainable weight loss journey is a victory. Celebrate your successes and you’ll feel more positive throughout the process. Monitoring your food intake or hitting your workout goals for a week call for celebration.
You can do small things to reward yourself - post your progress or share with your fitness friends and enjoy some self-care time with a bath, a nap, or your fave podcast (here are 51 ways to practice self-care if you need inspo.)
Tip 8 - Slow and Steady Wins the Race
If you have a bad day - or week - in your weight loss journey, or you experience a little weight gain, don’t get discouraged. Everyone -even pro athletes - has times when obstacles or setbacks come up, so don’t beat yourself up. Simply get back on track with your weight loss program and you will succeed in the long run. You may not have fast, glamorous results, but your efforts will pay off with long-term health benefits and sustainable weight loss that lasts.
Tip 9 - Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
The comparison trap can be a nightmare if you’re on social media a lot. If you find certain accounts you follow make you feel bad about your own fitness journey, mute or unfollow them. Remember that healthy weight loss is for your health so don’t get sucked into toxic comparisons with others. Try to avoid things that trigger you and undermine your hard work - whether that’s social media accounts or certain co-workers. At the end of the day, the only opinion that matters is your own so try to keep this in mind throughout your journey.
Tip 10 - Seek Help When You Need It
If you’re eating nutritiously and staying active while maintaining a calorie deficit, and you still aren’t losing weight, contact your doctor for a checkup. There may be health or hormone issues at play. Also, if you need help with healthy eating, check out our healthy recipes section.
Here’s wishing you a sustainable weight loss journey that lasts for a lifetime of good health.😊💚
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Marnie Kunz is a NASM-certified personal trainer and USATF- and RRCA-certified running coach based in Brooklyn, NY. Marnie likes helping people get and stay active to enjoy a better quality of life. When she’s not doing fitness things, Marnie enjoys exploring with her dog, a mischievous rescue Akita.
