Losing weight is a long and difficult journey that tests your character, desire, and commitment to achieving good health. If you really want to shed off those excess pounds, you have to keep going even after stumbling several times. It does not happen overnight, and it involves plenty of sweat and even tears.
How do you get started? What weight loss tips and tricks actually work? What should you do to make everything even just a little bit less hard?
Do drink water before meals
Water is an important part of life. It keeps you nourished and refreshed, and allows your vital organs to function properly. If you do not drink enough water, you will experience dizziness, headaches, nausea, and vomiting, and be at risk of dehydration.
According to various studies, drinking water is also beneficial to weight loss and management. Before eating a meal, you should drink at least a glass of water so as to increase your metabolism. In the findings, it showed that people who consume about half a liter of water about 30 minutes before their meals exhibited an increase in their metabolism rates by as much as 30% in the next 60 to 90 minutes. As a result, they ate less food and fewer calories, helping them lose weight faster.
Don’t eat foods that are high in sugar
A diet consists of foods loaded with sugar is not advisable for anyone who wants to lose weight. It actually makes you gain weight and can increase your risk of serious health problems.
A study found that people who consume more than the recommended amount of sugar every day have a greater risk of obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. If you are afflicted with any of this disease, your heart, kidneys, and other vital organs are put in jeopardy, and may eventually develop complications that can significantly drag your quality of life down.
Do intermittent fasting
If you have already tried various diet plans and strategies and have had a tough time with all of them, you should look into intermittent fasting. Unlike many other weight loss fads, intermittent fasting does not tell you to only eat one or two kinds of food or only drink water or liquids. It is all about calorie management through a fasting and eating cycle.
If you want to try it, you should start with the 16/8 method. This is done by spending 16 consecutive hours of the day fasting, and the other 8 consecutive hours as your eating window. So, for example, if you choose to eat breakfast at 7 am, you have until 3 pm to eat one or two more meals. Of course, it is important that you still control the calories that you eat during the eating window so as to actually lose weight.
Don’t drink alcohol
Many people like to drink alcohol, whether a bottle or two of beer or a glass of wine, with their meals. However, if done too frequently, it can prevent you from losing weight, and even open you up to various health issues.
According to health experts, alcohol is made up of elements that can impede your weight loss. It contains a lot of calories but lacks essential vitamins and minerals. A can of beer and a glass of wine, for instance, have about 150 calories and 125 calories, respectively. So, if you drink on a daily basis, the calories will add up and result in weight gain.
Also, drinking too much alcohol causes a beer gut. The extra calories from alcohol are stored in your body as fat, particularly in the abdominal region, and form that unsightly excess belly fat. Your liver, heart, kidney, and digestive functions are also negatively affected, and may develop severe complications like high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and cancer.
Do exercise regularly
Being more physically active not only can strengthen your bones, muscles, heart, lungs, and other vital organs, it also can help you burn more calories. If you want to lose weight quicker, you should start exercising, in addition to eating a healthy and balanced diet and calorie management.
As a beginner, there are many exercise and workout options you can try. Even without going to the gym or having workout equipment, you can do various exercise routines that allow you to burn calories. One good example is walking. If you have a dog, you can walk them around the block or take them to the park every day even for just 30 minutes. At work, instead of using the elevator, start using the stairs. If you need to go to the grocery store a couple of kilometers away, just walk rather than drive.
Don’t stay up too late
Sleep is an often overlooked aspect of effective weight loss. Like diet and exercise, it helps in the prevention of obesity, heart disease, and other medical problems. According to several studies, sleep deprivation can raise the risk of obesity in children by about 89% and the risk of obesity in adults by 55%.
So, for optimal health, you should get about 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night. By getting enough sleep, you not only can avoid weight problems, but your body can also fully recharge and recuperate, and give you the energy to keep you focused and alert throughout the day.
Do eat lots of fiber
Fiber is primarily found in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. One of its most important functions is its ability to improve bowel movements. It also has the ability to lower your risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Did you know that it also plays a key role in maintaining a healthy weight?
If you include fiber to your daily meals, you can keep your cholesterol, sugar, and blood pressure levels low, and protect against obesity. You can also control your eating better as fiber-rich foods, such as bananas, apples, mangoes, nuts, and broccoli, contain fewer calories than other foods and are quite filling.
