Losing weight is not easy if you don’t have the right plan. Sometimes it feels like you’re fighting an uphill battle that never ends ultimately ends up with you gaining the weight back. Losing weight shouldn’t be this way and we’ve put together a few tips to help you hit that weight loss goal.

Eat 3 fruits, 3 veggies and 3 proteins

When my clients are starting out on a weight loss plan I always advise them to eat 3 fruits, 3 veggies and 3 proteins daily. This will help you combat the feelings of hunger preventing overeating. Fruits in veggies have a lot of fiber which makes you feel full. Protein takes a long time to digest which keeps you full longer.

Drink water, Coffee or Tea

If the goal is weight loss drop all drinks that have calories. If you like coffee or tea have it without adding calories to it. Many people that struggle with weight drink soda, sweet tea and have high calorie drinks from Starbucks. When my clients address this issue they usually see the pounds come off quickly. Stick with water black coffee or tea during your weight loss program.

Do a polarized exercise program

The Pareto principle states that 20% of your work will give you most of your results. A polarized exercise program is something that runners do to avoid burnout and improve fitness injury free. The idea is to do 20% of your workouts hard and 80% of your workouts easy. When planning your workout, program make sure that most of your workouts are easy, this may be walking, jogging or light running. If you plan 5 workouts a week make one day a hard day and all the other days easy. If you would rather do 2 hard workouts a week just make the hard workouts shorter. The goal is to split time spent workout out in that 80/20 range. The idea is to do workouts that won’t beat the body down day in and day out. Light workouts burn calories too and they won’t cause burnout. An example of a hard workout is a HIIT workout or running intervals.

Get some sleep

Sleep is the most important factor when it comes to weight loss because if you skimp on sleep you won’t preform during workouts and you won’t be able to stick to a proper diet. Sleep is related to will power and motivation. When you lack sleep you will not be able to keep up with the demands of everyday life and a weight loss program.

Try to aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night.

Reduce stress

Stress reduction is almost as important as sleep because if you’re stressed it’s hard to stick with a diet and workout program. The term stress eating has been coined for a reason. Stress causes many of us to eat poorly, and skip our workouts. Easy ways to reduce stress is to cut unnecessary stressors like social media or cable news. The idea is to find things that you can avoid that cause stress and reduce them.