A healthy diet and great exercise are the best ways to achieve a smaller waist. Slow, steady progress is the name of the game when it comes to investing in your health!

And here’s the deal: what you choose to eat will make more of a difference in how your belly looks than anything else. (In other words, it’s time to ditch the junk food!)

It’s imperative to eat healthy, well-balanced meals that nourish your body. And while that concept seems fairly simple, we all know it’s definitely not easy!

Along with staying active, here are six diet tips that might help you adjust to a new, healthier way of eating. (And get a smaller waist in the process!)

Plan Ahead For The Week

A big part of making poor eating choices is that you get hungry and simply eat what is easiest to grab. Of course, the easiest thing is often fast food. So take an hour on Saturday or Sunday and do some simple meal planning/prep.

For example:

• Bake, grill, or boil a few chicken breasts.
• Hard boil a dozen eggs.
• Buy a few cartons of Greek yogurt.
• Wash and chop your favorite anti-inflammatory fruits and veggies and get them into baggies for grabbing on the go.
• If you like to cook, make a big pot of healthy chili or low-cal southwestern chicken soup and divide it into containers for the freezer.

Anything you can do to prepare in advance will reward you with results. Spending a few hours on the weekend to plan for the week ahead can transform mealtime from stressful and fattening to simple and healthy.

You can learn more with these 8 meal prepping tips for beginners.

Eat In Balance

Protein, carbs, and healthy fats go together in meals for a reason. The combination keeps you balanced and satisfied.

Try to eat them together every time you eat. If you are grabbing an apple for a snack, it might surprise you to know that pairing it with a tablespoon of peanut butter is even better!

By balancing the nutrients, you might take in more calories initially, but you end up eating less in the long run, and your blood sugar will stay in balance, staving off cravings for the bad stuff.

This means you eat the good calories that get used up rather than stored in your belly. Storing less calories will help you avoid weight gain!

So, what does a well-balanced and simple meal look like? Here are some ideas for good choices:

• Piece of toast made from whole grains with peanut butter and ½ a banana.
• Protein shake with fruit or veggie mixed in.
• Veggie sticks and hummus.
• Full-fat Greek yogurt with berries.
• Try our Muffin in a Minute (it’s not what you think!)

None of these are complicated, and each of them will keep you satisfied for several hours.

Turn Down Unexpected Treats

We are often guilted into eating things that others offer us!

It’s totally fine to splurge every so often and enjoy a treat, especially if you typically have a healthy, balanced diet. But living in constant imbalance won’t give you the best results.

Think about it: If you added up the free doughnuts at the office, slices of co-worker birthday cake, or oversized samples at the big-box store, you’d be surprised at how often you eat something that wasn’t part of your original diet plan. (And don’t forget all the sips and bites you take from your kid’s plate!)

Be intentional about what you eat and, if needed, keep track for a week and write it all down as you take it in.

Crash Diets Are Not Your Friend

Restrictive meals and diets can cause your metabolic rate to drop. Evidence shows how hard it is for adaptive thermogenesis to begin the more you reduce your calorie intake. In reality, a tightly restrictive diet can be counterproductive.

So, how do you identify a crash diet? Any protocol that requires you to cut out a whole food group (also known as a macronutrient) or exercise excessively is worth questioning. We at Get Healthy U always advocate balance as the most important thing.

Eat Bloat-Blasting Foods

No one feels like their waist is trim and slim if they’re bloated all the time! We recommend you add foods to your diet that help with bloating and avoid the ones that make it worse.

It’s helpful to steer clear of baked or processed foods. (Especially overly salty foods!)

Add lots of leafy greens, which are high in magnesium and micro-nutrients for digestion. Here’s our list of debloat foods for more ideas.

Make Peace With Slow, Steady Progress

Losing weight quickly is not what you should focus on. Working toward a safe rate of losing 1 to 2 lbs per week will be much more likely to result in a permanent loss.

To make peace with slow weight loss, focus on small wins instead. Instead of “I must lose x lbs to achieve this bodyweight,” reset it to, “This week, I’m going to walk 5 times and plan my meals every day.” It’s much more tangible and realistic.

Going too hard too quickly could result in burnout. You want your lifestyle adjustments to stick, along with your slimmer waist!

53 Best Weight Loss Snacks

To keep you from going crazy with calories even when the saltiest of cravings hit, my team and I rounded up our best weight-loss snack recipes that are super easy to throw together.

And when you don’t have time or you’re on the go, we also made a list of our favorite healthy purchased snacks too!

53 Best Weight Loss Snacks

How Many Steps Do You Really Need A Day To Lose Weight?

Are you wondering how many steps a day you need to lose weight? 

When it comes to your daily step count, speed, intensity, and consistency actually matter more than just the total number if you’re serious about weight loss!

Here, we’ll explore how many steps a day are best for your weight loss goals.

How Many Steps Do You Really Need A Day To Lose Weight?

Inspiration For Weight Loss – 12 Inspiring Tips to Get You Motivated

Let’s get one thing straight: being healthy isn’t just about the number on your scale. There are tons of other factors that affect your health besides your weight, and every one is built differently.

However, if being overweight is affecting your day-to-day life, sometimes weight loss is the goal. Unfortunately, even if you know how to lose weight, finding the inspiration for weight loss and motivation to actually make those healthier choices can be another story.

Whether you’ve been in a rut for a few months or many years, we’ll help you find the weight loss motivation you need to finally make a change.

Inspiration For Weight Loss – 12 Inspiring Tips to Get You Motivated