Nothing beats hard work and perseverance when you’re trying to lose weight and keep it off, but there are also a few sustainable ways that you can use to drop those first few pounds and keep them off. These 5 steps will have you 5 pounds slimmer by next week.
1. Work out first thing in the morning.
What do 90% of people who exercise consistently have in common? They exercise in the morning. Working out in the morning more or less guarantees that you’ll work out every day, and the benefits carry over throughout your day. For one, exercise in the morning increases your energy levels, which makes you more productive throughout the day and more focused on your work. Also, getting in an early morning workout helps you burn more calories throughout the day. Working out helps to increase your metabolic rate, burning calories for long after you’ve stopped exercising.
A study done at Appalachian State University found that people who had completed a 45-minute exercise routine burned 17% more calories in the 14 hours following exercise than those that didn’t work out. Also, when you exercise, you tend to be more mindful of your food choices throughout the day. You want to carry your new good habits over into the rest of the day, and remember that exercising is NOT a free pass to eat what you like throughout the day. If you’re looking to reduce, you need to watch your food as well. And speaking of food…
2. Get Better about Food.
Bitter greens like kale, arugula, mustard greens, collards and escarole are summer diet staples that aid in digestion and de-bloating. Bitter foods are also known to stimulate and support better digestion, as recently outlined in a study by the European Herbal and traditional Medicine Practitioners Association. These dark greens are low calorie (about 36 calories in a cup for greens), and are packed with vitamins and fiber that your body needs to stay lean. For instance, kale is high in iron (per calorie, it has more than beef!), vitamins A, C and K, is great for your liver and for lowering your cholesterol levels. Most bitter greens are also great anti-inflammatories, which can help fight bloating and get you down to your fighting weight.
3. Spice Up, Salt Down.
High-salt diets lead to water retention. Cut the salt, and you cut the bloat. But it takes more than just leaving the salt shaker on the table. A study reported on by the American Heart Association found that 75% of American’s salt intake comes from the food itself! While you need a little salt in your diet, for most people, everything they need will already come from the food that they eat, and most people will get too much. Cut out processed foods as much as possible and you will drastically reduce your excess sodium. Food items like salad dressings and sauces are some of the worst culprits. For example, per tablespoon, ketchup has 20 calories and a whopping 6% of your daily salt intake. A few squirts of ketchup and you’re already at 20% of your daily value, and that’s not even including what the ketchup is on! Instead of “secret sauces” that will cause bloating and completely mask the flavour of what you’re eating, try spices, especially hot ones. Conversely, spices enhance the flavour of what you’re heating, and hot spices that contain capsaicin increase thermogenesis in your body. The latter can help burn more calories after your meal. Sprinkle some cayenne pepper, bell pepper or jalapeno into two of your daily meals and increase your metabolism.
4. Eat the Whole Thing.
Whole foods, that is! You want to give your body the cleanest fuel possible so it can run at maximum efficiency. When you want to shed all you can, you want to avoid anything processed (for salt-related reasons above.) Raw vegetables, fruits, whole grains and proteins like cold water fish, beans, and eggs should be your staple diet if you’re working on trimming down. You’ll also want to limit your fat intake to “healthy fats” only. This includes fats from olive oil, nuts and avocados. These “good”, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can actually be beneficial to your heart and help lower bad cholesterol (LDL) levels. In fact, research done at Harvard found that while bad fats like saturated and trans fats increased risk factors for certain diseases, total amount of “good” fats did not. In fact, eating “good” fat can help you burn fat. In another Harvard study, researchers found that participants who ate 20% of their calories from “good” fats dropped 5 pounds more after 18 months than the participants who went on low fat diets.
5. Deep breaths.
It may sound trite, but breathing deeply not only helps you calm down, but it can help your weight loss efforts as well. Deep, calming breaths can actually “trick” your body into de-stressing. While most people take breaths with their chest, you should be taking long, deep breaths with your abdomen. Taking a moment to focus and breathe deep into your abdomen can do wonders for your stress level.
So what does stress have to do with weight loss? Stress increases your levels of cortisol, a hormone in your body that can increase your appetite and lead you to eat more. This response used to make sense in “fight or flight” situations, where we need that energy to defend ourselves. Now, a more common situation is to come home after a long day at work and chow down. Elevated cortisol levels also lower your cognitive functions such as learning and memory, decrease your immune function and bone density, and increase your blood pressure, cholesterol and risk of heart disease. Need a reminder to breathe? Set an alarm for every hour on your mobile phone, and take a few long, deep breaths every time it pings. It’ll help your weight and your sanity.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennifercohen/2013/07/03/the-5-steps-needed-to-drop-5-pounds-this-week/
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