WEIGHT LOSS JOURNEY AS A TEENAGER

Tips that helped me

1. Take breaks when "dieting".
Eg. Cut calories for 2/3 Weeks, then eat normally for 1 week to maintain weight.

2. Know that it's a lifestyle.
Create your own "diet plan" and making sure it is sustainable lifestyle for you. This means that when you lose weight, make sure that your new habits/lifestyle can maintain your weight.

3. Eat in moderation
Know that is okay to eat fried food, cookies, all the junk food once every 2 weeks, but in moderation. It's easier for you to carry on to achieve your goal as you don't have to keep thinking about that food. EAT IN MODERATION!!

4. Stop eating when you KNOW you had enough. This is hard for me and i'm trying to listen to my body better but when you know your full, your body tells you. But it's the amount of food left that causes you to ignore that thought and to continue eating and eating. Stop trying to stuff yourself. You'll end up having a food coma........ (for me)

5. Your muscle exist to exercise, to move.
Keep moving and exercising! If not what for your muscle exist right?

6. Stop blaming food for everything
Feeling tired? must be the lack of food. But you just ate a mea an hour ago! This is one reason why we overeat. Keep eating and thinking that it'll provide us with energy. No. Don't use food as the reason why your tired. It can be because of the way you look at things(thinking that this is boring...) that makes you feel lethargic. This is something i learnt after cutting out calories & realised that it is because of the way i feel and look at the day and therefore feel bored & tired, not because of the lack of food i ate. Eating too much causes food coma too, btw.

7. Getting rid of temptations.
Previously I would ask for a bread to eat, but i kept it with me for awhile, thought about my goals and how eating this bread would affect my thinking process, and then i just gave it to other people. So i got rid of my temptations to eat. I would find this a useful way to test your willpower and control it. Keep testing yourself & to not let yourself down, remember to keep saying "no". Make it a habit to say "NO"!

8. Gaining weight is normal.
What i meant by this is that usually saturday's & sunday's my routine is messed up.Therefore Monday-Friday will go well, but not saturday and sunday's. After weekend i would gain about 0.5KG or so back. AND, that is completely normal. Its okay to gain back some weight because routine was messed up in weekends, the most important part is that during WEEKDAYS your routine is not messed up. This tip is for maintaining weight. If you want to lose weight, it's much better than sundays & saturday you eat clean as well. But for me, to spend time with my family, being under a calorie deficit would be a liilllllllllll difficult. It's much easier to progress smoothly with losing weight (fighting with your mentality) by accepting the fact that I gain some weight over the weekends but i wouldn't during the weekdays.

9. The food ain't running away.
Hardcore cravings? Tell yourself that the food ISNT running away. Even if it's just one time thing, i'll probably come back next year. So stop using the "if i don't eat now i won't be able to eat later." as an excuse.

10. Being active all day.

One thing I've learnt is to be active all day, especially when you're at home. When I feel I'm seating too much or slacking too much I would walk around the house, do some hula hoops, or even clean my house in order to keep myself doing something. Even such small actions can actually contribute to you losing weight!

11. Give your house a makeover.

Our eating habits are often driven by our environment. What we have at home to eat is usually what we'll end up eating. If your house is filled with unhealthy food such as processed meat, chips, ice cream and cookies, most likely you'll be eating them and gaining weight. To avoid that from happening, try to put those junk food aside in a container that cannot be seen. Most of the junk food belongs to my family, so to not touch them, I would set an area in my house that I cannot touch, and dump all their junk food in that area. well they're not complaining after all I'm helping them to organise their food. Another method is to tell yourself that the food doesn't belong to you, who gives you to right to eat it.

12. Controlling food portions, for everything.

Controlling food portions plays a huge role in losing weight. If you're craving to eat a bag of chips, don't eat everything. Eat the serving size. For example just a handful of them. One way you can trick yourself is to tell yourself to not be selfish and share with your family as well. If you're having your meals outside, portion control by requesting lesser food to be served. EG less rice, noodles, pasta. One method that I used when my mom prepares my meals is to buy a metal tray. Like those Korean metal trays that has those divided parts for portion control. It helped me to portion control my rice and take just the right amount.

13. Fast food/fried food/cheat days.

For the first 2 or 3 weeks, I avoided fast food because they can mess up with your mind pretty easily. Having to know that I can have a cheat meal during my first weeks of losing weight caused me to lose my determination easily and return back to the starting point. So if you are trying to lose weight, try to avoid having cheat meals for 1-3 weeks to train yourself to get used to not have cheat meals. After 1-3 weeks, if you feel that you are ready to get a cheat meal, just get a cheat meal once every week. Use OMAD control yourself. REMEMBER ITS A CHEAT MEAL, NOT A CHEAT DAY!!!!