Tricks to raise metabolism and lose weight

Having gone through the entire process of losing weight from my peak of 75kgs to my current weight of 53kgs, I find that the best weight loss techniques for me are those that are convenient to execute and easy to incorporate into my lifestyle.

First things first, we need to understand the most basic weight-loss principle: Your output (ie amount of energy used up) must be more than your input (what you consume). So when we want to lose weight, we must find ways to either increase our output or reduce our input. In this article, I will be sharing with you my favorite easy tips to lose that extra flab.

Did you know that having enough water in your system will raise your metabolism and help you lose weight? You can google for the statistics. Water is also a natural appetite suppressant and helps you to detox. I found that when I drink enough water, my weight actually stabilises and does not swing up and down too much. Part of this is also because when you hydrate properly, you reduce your water retention. So with a combination of detox and raising metabolism properties, appetite suppressant and water retention reduction, having enough water will help you regulate your weight. This is a simple tip that all of us can incorporate easily into our daily routine.

Tip: Drink your water throughout the day and not all at one shot.

Studies have also shown that insufficient sleep can lead to weight gain. The lack of sleep causes the following:

• Interfering with the body's ability to break down carbohydrates effectively and causes higher fat storage.
• Reduces levels of growth hormones - affecting the regulation of our body's proportions of fats and muscles.
• Drives down leptin levels which causes the body to crave carbohydrates.
• The body seems to not be able to feel satiated after a meal which leads to over consumption of calories.

From just these few points, you can see how our output (ie metabolism) is affected because our bodies can't form muscles effectively from lack of sleep and muscles directly affect your metabolism. Lack of sleep also causes us to increase our input of calories which will make us put on weight if we are not vigilant about what we eat.

So what happens when you sleep more?

• Body has less cravings
• Body increases metabolism
• Mind is clearer and allows you to do your daily work routine more effectively and takes the focus off food

Seems like you have everything to win and nothing to lose when you sleep more. So, why not incorporate an additional hour of sleep as part of your weight loss routine today?

Yes, you heard me right, snack a lot more. You must be wondering why I am encouraging this when I should be telling you to eat less. Let me explain why.

Snacking many times in the day keeps you satiated more and reduces cravings. When you snack in-between your meals, you find that you eat less during lunch and dinners. Eating more also increases your metabolism as you fuel your body to keep burning energy. The trick to losing weight is to eat more times while maintaining an overall calorie loss in a day.

Find the simplest way to incorporate snacking into your lifestyle. Have a look at my snack hub to give you ideas on what kind of snacks you can prepare.

Hope these 3 simple tips will help you kick start your weight loss journey. The key to this journey is your own motivation and desire to lose weight. When you really want something, you will do whatever it takes to get there. The question is - how do you engage that desire within yourself?

I want to share a realisation that I had when I was shopping with my girlfriends that day. Being a fat kid, I hated going to the mall with them because I could never ever fit in anything in the shops. Especially because I reside in Asia, the clothes seem to be extremely small.

It took me a long time to shed my weight, and finally that day, as I was standing amongst the shelves and picking out clothes for my girlfriends, I suddenly realised that, "hey, I can actually fit into these as well." I no longer need to be the wallflower anymore and can stand tall alongside with the rest of the girls. I no longer have to look longingly to join them in the fitting room just because I knew I could not fit into the clothes.

I never felt better, I never felt more liberated, I never felt more alive. Some people might think that I am exaggerating, but it was at that moment that I felt all my efforts, vigilance, research, energy and money spent to lose weight was worth it. I was once again motivated to get rid of the last remaining ounces and tone up. This is an amazing feeling, and all of us deserve this for ourselves. Hence I'm dedicated to sharing over here what I have experienced in hope of being able to benefit everyone and enable them to achieve what I did.

My question to you is, what is your motivation and how are you going to keep to it? Have a thought about it, once you get this conversation right, the rest would just be clockwork.

PS: Hope you enjoyed this article, if you're interested to read my views on how to make weightloss tips work, here's the link: Making weight loss tips work for you.