Lose Weight Fast with Easy Tricks
At any one time, two-thirds of the American adults are on a diet to either loose weight or to prevent weight gain. That is the astounding statistic revealed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). They go on to say that only 5% of these dieters are successful at keeping the weight off. What happened to the other 95%? It seems like dieting is not easy as the diet program claims to be. Why? Many of them are calories restrictive regimen, which can backfire when the body drops its metabolic rate to accommodate the lower food intake. A lower metabolic rate is disaster when the body decides go off the diet. That is why a lot of people who loose a lot of weight initially with diet plans end up weighing more once they get off the diet plan.
However, there is an easier way. You don’t have to sign up with Weight Watchers or the Medifast program to get in shape. Diet plans are what they are—you are only successful if you stay on it. The best solution to weight loss and keeping it under control is consistency. And consistency can only be achieved if it is built into your daily diet and lifestyles. By taking small, achievable goals and grafting them into your way of life, dieting is no longer a dirty word.
Credit: miracleorfraud
Here’s how:
Do you like big servings of food? According to researchers at Penn Sate University, participants who were served 30% less servings on smaller plate felt just as satisfied as those who ate out of larger plates. In practical terms, smaller plates make for smaller portions and since the plate looks full, you have essentially trick yourself into eating smaller portions. Smaller portions translate to fewer calories.
2. Never Crash Diet
Starving yourself for long periods of time may seem like the perfect way to burn excess fat calories. But wait—according to health experts, long periods of food deprivation put the body into “starvation” mode. The body is programmed to survive, so it lowers its metabolic rate in order to conserve. That is alright if you attempt to live on love and fresh air. When your body resumes regular eating, the slower metabolic rate will find it harder to burn calories. Result? More calories floating around than you need. And what’s worse? Your body will also store as much food as it can in the fat cells, in anticipation of another “famine.”
3. Eat Often
That sounds like a recipe for weight gain. Not so—more frequent small meals, at about 2 to 3 hours interval can boost your metabolic rate. Your body perceives a constant supply of energy and sees no need to store calories as fat (see point 2). It is a win-win situation—you get to enjoy food frequently and your metabolic rate stays up.
4. Cut Back on Fast and Processed Foods
In our fast-paced society, it’s easy to satisfy our food needs with quick drive-through meals or processed foods readily bought from stores. Look in your pantry, it’s probably a catchment area for easily accessible processed foods—anything boxed, bagged or canned. The mortifying truth is fast and processed foods are loaded with lots of empty calories, full of chemicals and saturated fats. Not only do they clog our arteries with cholesterol and raise blood sugar levels, they pack pounds of fats into the body. That is why World Health Organization blamed processed foods for the spike in obesity levels and chronic diseases.
So case in point—eat less fast and processed founds. It may be too high a sacrifice to try to eat like our early forefathers, but going easy on this category of “artificially” altered foods can do your body a whole lot of good.
5. Eat Your Vegetables and Fruits
You’ve heard it before—eat your 5 servings of fruits and vegetables. There is scientific evidence to prove that both these categories of food are easy on your waistline and good for your health. Eat a wide spectrum of colorful fruits and vegetables to tap into the whole array of plant polyphenols—compounds with significant antioxidant activities. They fill you up with all the goodness of phytonutrients and fiber without incurring hefty calories count.
6. Drink Up
If you’re hungry, reach for a smoothie. Most nutritionists agree that smoothie is a healthy hunger quencher and a happy alternative to food craving and snacking. Smoothie is a combination of protein, fiber and water and lots of health boosters like probiotics and antioxidants. Start your day with a smoothie and use it to stave off hunger in between meals.
7. Whole Grain
Whole grain goodness is extolled in most medical researches, but do you know that whole grain can actually trim belly fat? Right, that’s exactly what researchers at Penn State University found out. They found that adults who trim their calories intake and increase their whole grain intake for 3 months shed more abdominal fat those who cut calories but still eat refined sugar like white bread. Opt for oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, bran, barley and lentils.
8. Sleep
We often equate weight control with food control. Recent researches reveal that when you snooze just 4 hours a night, for 2 straight nights, the level of hormones that tell you to stop eating (leptin) drop by 18%, while the “hurry, eat” hormones (ghrelin) increases by 28%. Simply put, when you deprive your body of sleep, your urge to eat increases. These researchers recommend at least 7 hours of sleep to keep your appetite under control. So snooze and loose pounds.
As always practice moderation in your eating habits. An indulgence here and there should not derail you. Together with a sensible exercise routine—the American College of Sports Medicine recommends 30-45 minutes of moderate exercise 3 to 5 times a week—you will be in the best shape ever without punishing your body.
