How to Lose 100 Pounds: 11 Tips for Safe and Successful Weight Loss
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Losing weight is always going to be a challenge. No matter how many pounds you want to shed, proper weight management takes lifestyle changes, including a healthy diet, regular exercise, and a change in mindset.
If you’re looking to lose 100 pounds, you will find 11 top tips for losing weight and building healthy habits below.
How to Lose 100 Pounds? 11 Tips to Do It Safely
For those who want guidance, or don’t know where to start with losing 100 pounds, below are 11 recommended changes you can make. Each involves a change to diet, exercise, or lifestyle that will promote weight loss in its own way.
#1 Track your calories
A caloric deficit is the number one way to lose weight and reach a healthy body weight. It essentially means consuming fewer calories than you burn to ensure your body is always in a deficit.
You can ensure that you’re doing this by tracking your caloric intake. There are many weight loss apps currently available that you can use to track your intake, and most come with a food journal to keep track of recipes and more.
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When tracking your caloric intake, you will need to ensure you’re in a deficit by working out how many calories your body actually needs per day. If you’re planning on using an app to support your weight loss program, the app will likely work this number out for you. If not, then you will need to calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR) using an online calculator.
#2 Develop an exercise routine
Exercise is really useful for weight loss as it increases the calories that you burn each day. This means you can boost your caloric deficit by building a regular exercise routine. It is recommended that you get at least 150 minutes of moderate activity each week.
To lose weight, you should use a mix of cardio exercises, like running for weight loss, along with strength training. Lifting weights and building muscle are actually known to increase your metabolic rate, meaning your body will burn calories faster, thus helping you to lose weight fast.
If you’re new to exercise or feel overwhelmed at the gym, you could reach out to a personal trainer who can help you to build a routine that works for you and your health goals.
#3 Focus on protein and fiber
Protein and fiber are both essential macronutrients for our health. To lose 100 pounds, you will need to increase your intake of both.
Fiber is a carbohydrate that can not be broken down by the body. It is essential to gut health, and there is research to suggest an imbalanced gut microbiome may be linked to obesity. Additionally, food with more fiber makes you feel more satiated and can help to curb hunger pangs.
There are two kinds of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Both are essential to your digestive health, and you can find them in many plant foods, including fruits and vegetables (particularly those with edible skin), nuts, seeds, and grains.
Lean protein is found in sources like meat, fish, nuts, seeds, grains, and plant-based products, like tofu and soya. Like fiber, a higher protein diet can help you feel fuller for longer, and it could have an impact on certain hormones. For instance, one study found that a high-protein breakfast reduced the concentration of ghrelin, commonly known as the hunger hormone.
Additionally, protein can help you to build and repair lean muscle mass, which, as discussed earlier, has an impact on your metabolism.
Reducing hunger hormones and increasing feelings of fullness ensures you eat less between meals. This makes it easier to maintain a caloric deficit and helps you to avoid unhealthy snacking.
#4 Set your goal
Goal setting is a really easy way to hold yourself accountable. Having something to focus on will help you to stay on track and motivated to keep losing weight. You could set smaller goals along the way, like hitting specific weight milestones (i.e., 10 pounds lost, 50 pounds lost) to ensure you don’t feel like you’re not making progress.
A good way to stay on track is to take progress photos or weigh yourself. In fact, research suggests people who weigh themselves frequently are more likely to lose weight and maintain the weight loss than those who do not. It could help you avoid weight gain once you’ve lost the weight too.
#5 Eat more in the morning
It can be tempting when you’re trying to lose weight to skip meals. Unfortunately, skipping breakfast is not the answer. In fact, research suggests that eating breakfast may have some benefits for blood sugar regulation as well as overall weight.
The body runs on a series of hormonal cycles that, together, are known as circadian rhythms. They control a range of different responses in your body, including the best times to eat and properly digest food.
There is research to suggest that eating earlier in the day helps to avoid what is known as circadian rhythm disruption. This disruption has been associated with overall weight gain, among other negative side effects.
#6 Focus on nutritious foods
Due to diet culture and other harmful practices, many people opt for low-calorie foods, low-fat options, and no-sugar food products when dieting. However, contrary to old thinking, it is actually better to focus on eating nutritious foods that actually nourish your body.
This means that while taking down your calories is important, you need to switch your overall eating habits to focus on the food that is good for your body. The products marketed as being low-calorie are often highly processed foods.
Many processed food products constitute what is known as “empty calories.” This means that you’re consuming calories that have no benefit for your body. Avoid food products that contain few calories but no nutrition.
Instead, look out for foods with lots of fiber, protein, healthy fats, and other healthy nutrients in them to ensure that you’re nourishing your body properly. These foods will keep you fuller for longer and ensure you don’t have a blood sugar spike and then crash.
#7 Avoid sugary beverages
Sugary beverages, like soda and other fizzy drinks, are well-known as another form of empty calories. One of the easiest ways to stay within your calorie intake limit when trying to lose weight is to totally avoid sugary drinks.
Not only are they not helping you to restrict your calories, but they are also linked to weight gain and other adverse side effects, like metabolic disease.
When looking for something to drink, opt instead for water, herbal tea, unsweetened coffee, and other low-calorie beverages. You could try infusing your water with fruit and herbs, lime lemon, lime, or mint to add flavor while still reducing the calories.
#8 Opt for healthy snacks
During weight loss, you may think that you have to be incredibly restrictive, but you can still add snacks to your day. Choosing healthy snacks to eat between meals can help to ensure you get all the right nutrition and keep you full between meals.
Healthy snacks don’t just mean eating an apple every time you’re hungry, either. You can get inventive with your snacks. Great options include nut butter on whole grain toast, apple slices with peanut butter, a nuts and seeds mix, and Greek yogurt with berries.
Turning to more nutritious snacks can help you to build healthier habits and successfully lose weight. It should also help you to maintain your weight loss once you have reached your goals.
#9 Go to a support group
Support is often a really helpful aspect of any weight loss success. Having other people by your side can ensure you shed excess weight and feel supported while doing it. Research has actually found that those who receive support can maintain a healthy weight loss rate with the help of social support.
In addition, for those who have had weight loss surgery, social support afterward has a huge impact on being able to maintain the weight loss results from the surgery.
If you cannot find a support group close by, or you prefer other methods of support, you could try out a weight loss app. Since the inception of the smartphone, more and more weight loss apps have appeared on the market.
Many of these apps support your weight loss by recommending healthy foods, giving diet tips, and providing workouts for you to try. They also often have a community aspect. This online and app-based support is thought to be a great way for people to maintain weight loss and stay motivated to stick to healthier foods and habits.
#10 Consult a dietitian
A dietitian is the best professional to speak to about losing weight in a healthy way.
They can help to steer you away from fad diets that cause rapid weight loss and regain and will exhaust all options with you before they even consider weight loss surgery. A registered dietitian will be able to help you find the best calorie range to lose weight in a healthy way and can ensure you’re burning calories through exercise.
Sometimes, having professional help can be the push you need to get on track and change your habits.
#11 Be patient
Losing a huge amount of weight, like 100 pounds, is going to take time. And to ensure you’re losing it in a healthy way, it shouldn’t happen quickly anyway. This means that you need to be patient.
You may hit weight loss plateaus and remain the same weight, or even gain weight, during your journey, but it is important to remember that weight fluctuations are normal, and healthy weight loss takes time and effort.
How Long Does It Take to Lose 100 Pounds?
Healthy weight loss is considered to be 1 to 2 pounds per week. This means it should take around 1 to 2 years to lose 100 pounds in a healthy and sustainable way. Losing and maintaining this amount of weight involves a huge overhaul of your lifestyle.
It is going to take time to rebuild healthy habits, cut unhealthy foods from your diet, incorporate exercise into your routine, and change how you think. You need to do all of these things for long-term success with weight loss.
While fad diets that promise rapid weight loss can be attractive, you should remember that losing too much weight too fast can result in muscle loss, fatigue, nutrient deficiencies, hair loss, and more.
How to Start Losing Weight When You Are Obese
The best way to start losing weight is to reduce your daily calorie intake and add regular exercise to your week. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by beginning the process, consider consulting with a registered dietitian specializing in obesity weight loss for a more structured plan.
You could also seek advice from your GP, who can help you structure your weekly meal plan for healthy body weight. Losing extra weight may be daunting, but it can be done by following the steps above and setting realistic goals for yourself.
FAQs
A healthy rate of weight loss is considered to be 1 to 2 pounds per week. With 52 weeks per year, you can lose between 52 and 104 pounds in a year if you stick to a healthy weight loss method.
It is possible to lose 100 pounds in one year in a healthy and safe way. However, weight loss is not linear, and you may go through periods of losing little to no weight on your weight loss journey.
Yes, you will likely have loose skin after losing a large amount of weight, like 100 pounds, as your skin may not have the elasticity to bounce back.
A Word From a Dietitian
Losing 100 pounds is a big accomplishment. You’ll need to change the way you think about food, commit to eating fewer calories each day, and start exercising regularly. You should choose healthy foods, such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, to nourish your body while staying within your calorie limit.
Obesity has been linked to a number of chronic diseases, so losing weight can actually reduce your risk of developing them. However, it is important to avoid extremely low-calorie diets and unhealthy weight loss as this can result in negative side effects and weight regain.
If you’re struggling, there are a number of professionals you can reach out to. You can work with your GP to find resources in your area, including nutritionists and dieticians who can support you. You could also work with a personal trainer if you don’t know where to start with exercise.
Conclusion
Major weight loss takes time and can be impacted by everything from your starting weight to your genetics. Whatever your weight loss goal, you’re going to need to commit to changing your bad habits and the way you eat and exercise.
Weight loss comes down to how we nourish our bodies and how we move each day, but it is not a simple and linear process. Be patient, try not to be discouraged if you don’t see immediate results, and always avoid unhealthy ways of losing weight.
Anahit Harutyunyan is an MD in Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care. She also has a second specialty as a Medical specialist in Physiatry. Anahit has work experience in different clinics as ICU Doctor and Medical Doctor in Yerevan and Gyumri Ambulance Stations. She also worked in the therapeutic department during covid and has morning consultations in Nor Med private clinic.
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