No matter what time of year it is, there’s always a reason to drop a few pounds.

Sometimes, we let ourselves go a little too far and need a big overhaul to the way we eat and live. Other times, we just want to fit into that pair of godforsaken jeans before next month.

We are constantly bombarded with advice about dieting and the latest slimming fads. But what works?

There are several things to know about weight loss– and our bodies in general– that are critical to understanding regardless of your weight loss goals. By understanding these things, your chances of reaching your goal weight go up and the headaches of wrestling with your body to get it to shed some pesky pounds go down.

In this article, holistic nutritionist Priyanshi Bhatnagar investigates the latest scientific breakthroughs in fat loss, uncovering ten of the simplest ways you can shed those pounds. From the slimming secrets of soup to our brain’s response after skipping meals, what he discovers may completely change the way you think about diets, health and losing weight.

Consistency is the key when it comes to weight loss.

1. Weight is more than Fat

Weight is too general of a thing to focus on if you’re serious about getting fitter because it involves several factors including the amount of muscle in your body and water weight.

Assuming you’re doing some sort of weight training, muscle is crucial. That’s because muscle is heavier than fat, so by losing fat and gaining an equivalent amount of muscle you’d be gaining weight. However, your body would look slimmer and leaner than ever.

2. Sleep can help you lose weight

Sleep is critical for weight loss. Why?

Well, think of sleep as taking an ice bath if you were a professional athlete after a game. An ice bath helps heal the body after intense physical effort and sleep does the same for fat-burning after a long day and, especially, a good workout.

Sleep is a time for everything in the body to recharge and optimize itself, including when most of the fat and general calorie-burning processes take place, so by getting more sleep you weigh less.

3. Ditch the weighing scale

Don’t look at the scale every single day and don’t look at it just once in a single day. Preferably, you stay off the scale and go based on body fat percentage and how you feel.

That’s because our weight fluctuates throughout each day regularly whether we’re working to lose weight or not. Part of this is because of the water content in our body, part of it the inverse relationship between body fat loss and muscle gain, as well as other regular bodily fluctuations.

4. Weight loss supplements are a worst

Weight loss supplements often promise immediate results. However, they do nothing to change your diet or physical exercise habits, ability to resist temptation, and all the other habits that made your body the weight it is now. So, even if do manage to get results, you’ll eventually end up back where you started.

Here’s are some of the side effects of weight loss pills:

• Pulmonary hypertension (potentially fatal)

• Heart disease

• Increase blood pressure

• Increased heart rate

• Insomnia

• Dizziness

• Restlessness

• Weak metabolism

To create a real, lasting change, you need to change your fitness and nutrition planning.

5.You can’t just keep cutting calories

“I want results fast, so I’ll just cut calories drastically and get there quicker.”

After all, the math adds up.

Right? Right?….

Wrong.

Starving yourself with too few calories is a no-no, so don’t even think of trying to fast-track your diet by eating air. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work that way.

By starving yourself, you can cause your body to turn catabolic, a state where your body essentially starts eating muscle instead of fat to maintain itself. That can then have all kinds of bad side effects on your body.

6. Apple cider vinegar is a weight loss drink

Apple cider vinegar is a wonder elixir purportedly with the ability to lower blood sugar, cholesterol and aid in weight loss among other things.

It’s positively disgusting, however, if you’re serious about shedding some pounds, try having a little of it each day. Most recommendations say two teaspoons a day in water or tea. And feel free to throw some honey in there to take some of the edges off.

7. Water Is Your Friend

In addition to alcohol, many of the other drinks we consume regularly have huge amounts of calories. This includes:

1. Soda

2. Packed Juice

3. Sugary Lattes / similar Starbucks-like drinks

The thing is, as opposed to the kinds of necessary calories we talked about earlier, like protein and good fats, these are empty calories that simply fill us up and make us gain weight. In other words, we don’t need ‘em.

Don’t be fooled by those “electrolyte replenishing” drinks.

Instead, drink lots of water, which doesn’t just help you cut the calories but helps your body’s various processes run smoothly, which can help assist in weight loss.

8.This Is A Lifelong Journey, Not A Short Term One

It helps you feel fuller for longer so you eat less, sleep better, feel better, detox your body naturally, and even impacts energy levels.

Most people who lose weight gain it all back.

The reason is simple: the most important thing of all to know is this: healthy living, whether it’s dropping a few pounds now, a lot of pounds over the next year, building muscle, or something else, needs to be made a lifestyle.

This is more mental than anything else, but it has a profound effect on your ability to remain consistent in your effort, the prime adversary in any endeavour, including losing weight. Being fit is a lifestyle overhaul.

9.Meal Skipping, Juice Fasts and Crash Diets Will Backfire. Always

When you lose weight fast or have a crash diet, you don’t learn to eat healthier, adjust your portion sizes, or deal with whatever is triggering your overeating in the first place, so the pounds quickly return. The physical damage goes deeper. The worse the quality of a diet or the more restrictive it is, the more you end up burning precious muscle to supply energy.

You’re losing muscle instead of fat, so the weight loss is just an illusion of success.

It’s important to keep in mind that there are zero quick fixes to real, significant weight loss. Don’t pay any mind to any celebrity fad diet, they’re just playing to the impatient masses. You need to be willing to exercise more than just your body to lose weight. You need to exercise your patience.

10.How You Eat Is As Important As What You Eat

For your brain to register that you’re full, you need to focus on what you’re eating. “Physical satiety is closely tied to psychological satisfaction“.

People tell me all the time how difficult it is for them to lose weight because they love to eat, yet they never concentrate on their food—they eat while watching TV, reading, driving, and working. According to research, eating when you’re distracted results in consuming a significant number of extra calories a day.

It takes about 20 minutes for the stomach to tell the brain it’s full, so eat slowly and stop eating before you feel full.

Everyone’s body is different

This is easily one of the most important points to keep in mind.

At one point or another, we all hear that XYZ celebrity, friend, or family member did some specific diet that worked wonders for them.

The thing is, everyone’s body is different and there’s more of a likelihood that the same method won’t work for you, so pay attention to your own body, and find what works for you.