6 Easy Weight Loss Hacks - Anyone Can Do These!
Everybody loses weight at a different pace, for a variety of reasons – genetics, stress, medications, dieting and medical history, to name a few of the big ones. Sometimes it can feel too slow and be frustrating, especially if you know you’re doing all the right things.
Sometimes it can be too tempting to resort to ‘crash diet’ starvation methods just to see a change fast. It is very, very important to resist this urge, as we all know how that can backfire with rebound weight gain.
If you’re looking to get that extra edge beyond just right-sizing your food intake or being faithful to fitness, take a look at these well-researched hacks.1. SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE
While super-restrictive ‘crash’ weight loss diets are popular because they yield major results fast, it is no secret that the results are usually temporary – and the weight often comes back (‘rebound weight gain’)... with interest!
Major restriction sends your body into starvation mode, which means triple bad news for your weight loss efforts:
- 1Your metabolism slows down as your body clings to every calorie, making each count for what seems like double.
- 2You burn muscle along with the fat, which means you lose a major ally in keeping up your metabolism.
- 3Unbalanced hormones ultimately ensure that at some point, pent up cravings will give way to binges.
In contrast, gradual loss from right-sizing food intake and employing other principles of sound nutrition has been shown to be the most sustainable and conducive to long-term results – not only because you can continue indefinitely to practice reasonable dietary methods that don’t involve deprivation, but also because those methods support your body’s optimal metabolic rate.
This balances hormonal levels and function, as well as preservation of muscle that is so key to burning energy efficiently.2. AVOID PROCESSED FOODS - EAT NATURAL FOOD
Ditch the processed food and relish the goodness of whole and natural food.
When you eat processed foods, the nutritional value drops, no matter how many nutrients are added back in during manufacturing.
This has been observed to cause the body’s metabolic rate to take a hit, with whole foods associated with double the metabolic rate – which ultimately translates to weight gain.
Poor intake of vitamins and minerals in foods has been linked to obesity through impairment of thyroid metabolism and energy burning. The more naturally nourishing your food is, the easier it is to optimize your metabolism and right-size your body.
It has also been observed that certain pesticide residues (‘organochlorines’) can exaggerate the drop in metabolic rate that sometimes occurs during dieting, making weight loss and maintenance more difficult.
To avoid organochlorines, try using organic versions of at-risk foods, such as coffee and certain fruits and vegetables such as peaches, celery, strawberries, apples, blueberries, nectarines, bell peppers, spinach, kale or collard greens, cherries, and potatoes.Most organochlorines are banned in western countries, but a few remain in active use, and keep in mind that many food products are imported from third-world countries.
SUGGESTION: Read our weight loss diet plan for Indian women.
3. KEEP YOUR BODY GUESSING
Wear your workout shoes and sweat some calories off!
Muscle plays a major role in setting your metabolic rate, the speed at which you burn energy and fat. The more muscle is built up and challenged, the more it is on your side in the weight war. Building muscle doesn’t necessarily mean building bulk – most of the time, it means swapping out fat.
Exercise has therefore been linked to increases in the metabolic rate, not only during the activity itself, but also when not exercising. ‘Cardio’ (short for ‘cardiovascular), also known as ‘aerobic exercise’ remains the top choice for burning energy, and after at least 20 minutes, more fat than other fuels.
It can also serve to maintain muscle and healthy weight loss. When it seems like the muscles used have become complacent and burn less than they did when you started out, it may be a sign to shake things up. A popular method is to introduce new muscles into your workout.
For example, if you are used to taking a walk every day, try some calisthenics or Pilates in addition or instead; if you are used to walking on a flat surface, try uphill downhill routes, a faster pace, or walking in water.
If you don’t have time for a lengthy workout, increasing the intensity can be an exchange for time.
The trick is to be sure you are breathing – not being able to breathe can mean oxygen is not being processed, and oxygen is essential to fat-burning.
Mixing short bursts of relatively intense activity with your regular pace has been shown to ramp up the positive influence of exercise on body weight and fat loss.
SUGGESTION: 23 Ultimate Exercises... Using Just Your Body!
Research suggests that the combination of cardio with interval training – bursts of high-intensity activity – twice a week can significantly enhance weight loss results attained with cardio alone.
Interval training can be as simple as adding a brief speed walk (30-60 seconds) for every 1-2 minutes of a normal walking pace (repeating sequence 10-15 times), a 30-second sprint for every five minutes of jogging (you can apply the same principle to regular or stationary bicycling), or a one-minute incline to a session on the treadmill; or try ‘cross-training,’ working several different muscles in a 8 session, for 20 minutes or more per session.
Ideally, try alternating two weekly cross-training sessions with two weekly cardio-interval training combinations for at least four good weekly workouts.
Where aerobic exercise is best at burning energy during the activity, strength training – which is more muscle-building – may better enhance the metabolic rate. Therefore, it is often suggested that your best bet may be to mix muscle-building with aerobic exercise.
4. EAT SMALL, BUT OFTEN, AVOID WEIGHING, BUT CRAVE LESS.
Have 5 to 6 mini meals for a leaner body
Eating five to six small meals throughout the day, eating every 2-3 hours – and of course taking care not to overdo overall – has been shown to support a faster metabolism and better fat-burning than the usual three-large-meal plan.
When you eat more frequently, levels of metabolic factors – including blood sugar and insulin – are better balanced compared to with fewer larger meals each day.
This means your natural fat-burning rate is better maintained or even enhanced, in addition to hunger being reduced.
With fewer meals or skipping meals, your body can get stuck in the semi-starvation + urge to-binge trap, which often hits late at night when it does the most damage to your health.5. DO NOT COMPROMISE ON 8 HOURS SLEEP
A good night's sleep brings healthier skin and slimmer physique...
The body anticipates sleep and activity periods according to light changes. This ‘internal clock’ has been identified in fat tissue, and observed to regulate metabolic rate and energy burning.
Disruptions in this clock, i.e. by inadequate nighttime sleep, have been blamed for obesity risk, regardless of total calorie or fat intake – though it has been shown that lack of sleep can result in increased appetite and higher intake of high-fat foods.
The optimal amount of sleep appears to be about 8 hours, with 5 hours being linked to unbalanced appetite and metabolic hormone levels and increased body mass index (BMI).6. HEALTHY AND HEAVY BREAKFAST
Kick-start your day with a plate full of nourishment!
Skipping breakfast has been associated with increased risk for obesity and related risk factors such as high blood glucose and insulin, and skipping breakfast, having a light breakfast, and loading up toward the end of the day have been linked to lesser weight loss, even with the same total energy intake and expenditure.
Similarly, a large breakfast with a smaller dinner has been shown to be beneficial for weight loss and related health indicators such as blood glucose insulin, and fats (triglycerides).
In addition to the above findings, breakfast was found to lead to beneficial alterations in the hormones and signals that control food intake.
Since the resting metabolic rate is lowest in the morning and after “prolonged bed rest” as after a night’s sleep, this is important to set the pace for energy- and fat-burning throughout the day.
Note that not just any breakfast may be enough for optimal results. (Here are 5 brilliant breakfast options.)
Where protein is known to lend the highest degree of satiety, a high-protein breakfast has been found to best control hormonal and brain signals that lead to later hunger and evening snacking (regardless of the total energy intake throughout the day) as well as lower intake throughout the rest of the day. This is consistent with other research findings linking protein foods most closely with satiety.CONCLUSION
So just remember these simple 6 tips if you want to lose weight. None of them is more important, they all have a sort of "holistic" effects.
At the end of the day, remember that it's your daily habits that give you long-term fat loss results. We not only teach this, but have observed it all our members!
If you have any query, ask us in the comments below...