7 Weight Loss Challenges and Tips for Women

Men and women were created equal, but they are different. Especially when it comes to weight loss. Women face some unique challenges in getting the bathroom scale to budge. And these challenges are both medical and emotional in nature. So whether you're trying to lose 5 pounds or 50, it’s important to understand your weight loss challenges. 

7 Healthy Permanent Weight Loss Tips for Women

Is healthy permanent weight loss possible for you? Do you know what it takes? Are you willing to make the necessary lifestyle changes?

In our super-size, eat-on-the-run, death-by-chocolate society, healthy permanent weight loss can be a real battle. And winning the battle of the bulge takes weight loss strategies that work and die-hard commitment.

By now, we all know that nobody wins with fad diets and quick fixes. So, what are healthy permanent weight loss strategies that work? Here's the strategic battle plan you need to stick with it through thick and thin.

Healthy Permanent Weight Loss for Women in 7 Simple Steps 

These healthy weight loss strategies that work are based on studies of people who lost weight and kept it off to maintained healthy permanent weight loss for at least seven years.

1. Start keeping good records. To face the challenge, you need to know what's going on. Mindlessness will get you nowhere. Write down everything you eat and drink and exercise times. At first you won't like what you see, but clarity and awareness can gradually move you forward.
2. Make a long-term commitment. "Permanent" means you won’t be done in twelve weeks or even twelve years. Healthy permanent weight loss is about making a commitment to lifestyle changes for the long haul.
3. Plan your strategy and do it. What are you going to eat tomorrow? How can you handle family meals, work lunches and travel? What about emotional cravings? List your challenges and create solutions.
4. Pay attention to your calories. To lose a pound a week requires cutting about 500 calories a day. Almost everyone who achieves permanent weight loss counts calories – usually by writing them down.
5. Increase your physical activity. Exercise burns calories. Most people who lose weight and keep it off exercise between 30 minutes and an hour a day. If you're squirming over those figures, realize you can start out slowly. Any amount of exercise is better than none at all
6. Keep yourself motivated. Maintaining motivation is the biggest challenge. You can't be at the affect of your moods, failures or the numbers on the scale. Take time to nurture yourself, get enough rest and find healthy entertainment that doesn't involve food indulgence.
7. Eat a healthy high fiber diet. People who lose weight and keep it off tend to eat a healthy, moderately low-fat (25-30% of calories) high fiber diet. Here are more eating guidelines for healthy weight loss.Eat early and often. A healthy breakfast and 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day will jumpstart your metabolism, stabilize your blood sugar and ward off hunger pangFocus on vegetables. The low calories and high fiber, water and nutritional content of most vegetables make them more fulfilling and nutritious at a lower food calories cost.

• Upgrade your carbs. Switch from refined carbohydrates to whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds. They provide sustained natural energy and have much more fiber, so you feel fuller longer.
• Pad with protein. High protein foods help keep you feeling full, so include some with every meal. Choose omega 3 fish, lean poultry, beans, whole grains and nuts.
• Drink more water. By replacing soda, coffee and alcohol with water, you can easily reduce your calorie intake.
• Take a multivitamin. Good quality supplements (not weight loss products) can fill the nutritional gaps in your diet and contribute to better natural energy and health.Success in using these healthy permanent weight loss strategies will make you look and feel better and reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, arthritis, some cancers, diabetes and many other health problems.

7 Weight Loss Challenges

1.Do you feel stressed?

Almost everyone feels stress at some point in the day. But research shows that women are more prone to feeling stress as they juggle the demands of their work commitments, their family lives, and their social ties.

She kicker in all of this? Research shows that high levels of a stress hormone called cortisol increases appetite. Uh-oh. And cortisol makes people crave foods high in fat and sugar. Double uh-oh.

The solution: To help keep stress from sabotaging your waistline, one of the best weight loss tips for women is to spend at least a few minutes every day practicing a simple stress reduction strategy. Like one of these:

Walk for 10 minutes. 

Breathe deeply 10 times.

Tense and then relax each muscle group. 

Find a quiet place to meditate for 10 minutes. 

2.Are you getting enough sleep?

Most people don't get enough sleep. But women have more sleep struggles than men do. In fact, about 70% of women get fewer than 8 hours of sleep per night. Women have more trouble falling and staying asleep, and they also suffer from more daytime sleepiness compared with men. Some of the top factors in women's sleep troubles include work and family stress, health problems, and uncomfortable beds.

The solution: Sleep in. Go to bed early. Makeover your bedroom until it resembles a veritable sleep-fantasy suite. Do whatever you need to do to get the recommended 7 to 8 hours a night. Especially if you're trying to lose weight.

3.Feeling sluggish

A sluggish thyroid -- also know as an underactive thyroid gland or hypothyroidism -- is much more likely to develop in women than in men, especially after menopause. And that spells trouble for waistlines. Here's why: In addition to fatigue and sluggishness, an underactive thyroid can also cause weight gain.

The solution: If you have unexplained fatigue and weight gain, have your thyroid levels checked. An autoimmune condition called Hashimoto's disease is a frequent cause of hypothyroidism, and it's more common in women than in men. Another underlying cause of hypothyroidism in women: pregnancy.

4.How much muscle do you have?

Blame this one on Mother Nature. Women's bodies are built differently than men's -- women have more fat and less muscle. And less lean body mass means they have lower resting metabolic rates compared with men. Women burn fewer calories on a baseline level.

The solution: Avoid super-low-calorie diets that'll put you into starvation mode and make it harder for your body to burn calories and lose weight. Eat small meals throughout the day so your metabolism stays fired up. Also, focus more of your workout on strength training -- to help you keep the muscle you have.

5.Feeling hormonal?

As women age, estrogen levels drop and metabolism slows down. And, as a result, women lose muscle and gain fat, especially around the abdomen.

The solution: Amp up your activity. Research shows that as women reach the age of menopause, they tend to exercise less. Make it a priority to walk at least 30 minutes a day most days of the week, rain or shine, year in and year out.

6.Got a craving for cookies?

Studies suggest that women cave into food cravings more easily than men do. Women are also more likely to eat when they are sad or depressed and, in those moments, tend to reach for comfort foods that are high in fat and sugar. It's a recipe for disaster when it comes to trying to lose weight.

The solution: Relying on sheer willpower to curb cravings may not be the way to go. Instead, research suggests you might be better off using a practice called mindfulness meditation -- where you actually spend time acknowledging the craving. By recognizing, experiencing, and feeling the craving, you may be more likely to resist it than if you'd tried to suppress or ignore it.

7.Feeling bad about yourself?

Those pretty magazines with the skinny models? Get them out of your house. Those TV shows with the preternaturally preserved faces? Turn them off. Those success stories about women who lost 20 pounds in 1 month? Ignore them. Media images of stick-thin women and unrealistic weight loss goals cause many women to become frustrated and give up their own diet and exercise plans when their results don't match up.

The solution:Be kind to yourself, and don't beat yourself up if you have an occasional treat. Give yourself time to see results. If it took 3 years to put those extra pounds on, it's not unreasonable to give yourself 3 years to get them all off. And if you fall off the wagon, don't throw in the towel. Slips are bound to happen occasionally. Feeling guilty about it is only going to make losing weight harder