Weight Loss Secrets

Weight Loss Secrets

Presenting a few weight loss secrets for a svelte and ahealthier you! These are very practical secrets that can be incorporated in your lifestyle. So know them and they will do wonders to your health.

Never wait till you starve

When you are starving and badly need something to eat, you will not search for healthy options. Instead you will gorge at the first edible thing visible to you and that may be a jumbo burger. You will regret it later but it would be too late.

Calorie budget

Measuring Brown Sandwich

Your calorie budget depends on whether you want to lose weight or maintain it. You can plan your meals according to your calorie budget.

Post-workout meals should be right

Don’t overestimate the calories you have burnt. People usually do so and land up eating more than they have burnt during the exercise. After a high intensity workout you will eat more than after a moderate exercise session.

Use the red, orange and green colour rule

Make sure that at each meal one food is one among the above colours. By placing such food on your plate you won’t have place for high calorie stuff. Moreover colourful fruits and veggies will keep you healthy!

Eat one less bite

By eating a bite lesser at each meal you will be able to save 75 calories in a day. That number may be small but if you add up in a week’s time it will be a bigger number.

Drink water

Water is very important to keep the body hydrated. The water requirement of each person is different, but the general recommended daily 8 glasses is common for all.

Cut down on your salt

Salt has a big role to play in weight gain. On an average it has been found that we are consuming more salt than needed by us. It makes weight loss difficult. So it would be better to cut down on the salt.

Spice up your food

Spice up your meals to reduce your hunger. It is backed by science that spices can bring your hunger level down.

Diet soda will not help you lose weight

Diet soda will actually increase the chances of you getting overweight. Artificial sweeteners in such sodas are the culprit. Skip the so called ‘diet soda’.

Focus on nutrient balance instead of counting calories

Don’t blindly count calories. Make sure your meal has carbs, protein, and fat. It helps you stay full longer.

Keep your plate away from the food at the table

Don’t keep the food in front of you as you will get tempted for a second helping even after you are full.

Maintain a food record

Make food record

You have fitness apps for making a record for all you eat. This will help you keep a track of your eating habits.

Begin with soup

You won’t overeat if you begin your meal with a low calorie soup. It is natural that if your belly is partially filled you will not indulge.

Take your time

If you eat fast there are chances that you will weigh more. Your body needs time to know that your tummy is full and if you rush through your meal you are bound to overeat.

Handle your hunger hormone

Your hunger hormone ghrelin has to be kept in check because it is the one that drives your appetite. You need to monitor and control thishormone if you really want to lose weight.

Dine anytime

Myth busted! It is a myth that you will put on weight if you eat after 7 p.m. You might come home late from office, this doesn’t mean that you have to skip dinner!

Build a relation with your kitchen

build your kitchen

You need to take the helm of your nutrition in your hands. So enter the kitchen and schedule things. Cooking at home will help you lose weight. There is no other way. Weight loss needs 20% exercise efforts and 80% nutrition efforts.

Breathe deeply

Deep Breathing has lots of benefits that include relieving stress and providing enough oxygen to your tissues. Take a break from the maddening crowd.

Eat before a party or event

I have said this before, arriving famished for a party will make you indulge too much.

Wear fitted clothing

Wearing well fitted clothes will remind you of your goals and prevent you from overeating.

Celebrate healthy talk

Stop talking negatively about your weight loss plan. Replace that ‘I can’t’ with ‘I can’. It will take time but you have to do it.

Eat breakfast without fail

Vegetable Salad Dish

Breakfast is the main meal of the day. Don’t skip it at anycost. If you eat a hearty breakfast you are less likely to eat too much for the rest of the day.

Take 10 minutes to enjoy a treat

Try eating a portion of your treat mindfully and slowly for about 10 minutes. This way your craving will reduce.

Sleep away the kilos

If you start sleeping early you are bound to see weight loss within a week’s time.

Use  Hand Diet For Portion Control

Cooked Food With Meats

Recent research has found that portion sizes have doubled in the last 20 years. We think it is great that at low cost we are getting more but actually it is a vicious circle we are getting entangled in. Bigger Portion are nothing to feel great about but like quicksilver which engulfs us without any chance for survival. Its a cycle of food- over eating- ill health – medicines and then we finally start thinking about portion control. If we have to control our portions eventually then why not do that at the onset. 

It isincredibly easy to underestimate the quantity of food we are actuallyeating.  To eliminate this, using a scale, measuring cups or a visual reference can be a great way to keep your portions under control. While not all foods perfectly match visual cues, there is another method that can help you better judge serving sizes and practice portion control, which may help with weight loss. That interesting method is the “HAND DIET”. Measure food portions using just your fingers, thumbs and palm.

Use Hand Diet For Portion Control

 Biggest portion should be of vegetables. 

·         Carbs such as rice should be no bigger than a clenched fist.

·         A portion of meat should be no bigger than the palm of your hand.

·         Fruits should be equal to a fist.

·         A serving of butter is the size of a thumb, cheese less than two fingers.

However,keep in mind that these are basic guidelines. Since adequate portions vary from person to person, you may have to eat more if you’re a big person or if you find that you’re still extremely hungry after eating the recommended amounts of food.  Another shift can be due to your individual diet protocol, like if you are on a low carbohydrate diet then you need to shrink your carb fist and increase meat portion. 

Here is a very interesting graphic that explains portions very easily and clearly. Just go through it and try to decode the details.

The palm of your hand can be used as a visual aid to determine an adequate portion of meat. The thickness of your palm must also be considered. As mentioned, correct portion sizes vary from person to person depending on such factors as level of activity height, age, and body build. However, since a man’s hands are generally proportional to his size, the average man can use his palm as a point of reference. It’s logical women have small hands so small portions for them and bigger portions for men as they have bigger hands.

This interesting self explanatory picture explains quantity and measurements in context with hands.

So what do you say? Isn’t it easy to control your portions and enjoy your weight loss journey with assistance from your hands?

If you want to experience some weight loss, you better learn portion control…with your hands.

Top 10 Ways To Identify A  Fad Diet

Spices on Bowl

The world of diets is badly crowded. There are so many so called ‘health experts’ out there churning one weight loss diet after another. Your body is the temple of your soul and it is your primary duty to take good care of it. You cannot afford to lose it because of some fad diet.

Now the question is how do you know whether the diet is a fad? Here I have jotted down some signs of a fad diet. It would be advisable to avoid such diets if any one of the following signs is found in it:

1. You can eat whatever you like and still lose weight

Weight loss requires either a decrease in the calorie intake or an increase in the calories burnt. If your diet plant  allows junk food like fries, pizza, burgers and sugar loaded aerated drinks as much as you like then it might be just a fad. It sounds too good to be a true blue weight loss diet unless it has a super intensive workout plan to burn all the unwanted calories. Losing weight is sheer hard work and dedication. Most of the time you need to make healthy food choices. Though cheat meals are allowed once in a while you need to eat healthy.

2. No exercise is required

If your weight loss diet has no exercise in it, think again. For weight loss you require to burn more calories than you consume through food. Diets that ask you to be a couch potato and promise weight loss are most probably fads; they would drastically cut down on your food which is not good. Such diets deprive you of the benefits of exercising. Exercise is not only essential for weight loss but also for overall wellbeing.
3. Eliminating a whole food group / foods that have high nutritional value

You might lose weight with such a diet as you’re calories are being cut down. However, you may develop nutritional deficiencies and energy levels may go down by eliminating an entire food group from your diet. A balanced diet is important for good health.

4. Advertised super pills that block fat absorption and suppress the appetite

A plenty of appetite suppressing pills are being touted on TV. Don’t fall for such ads as these products lack a scientific backing. They are a waste of many and can pose a threat to the health by messing up the body’s rhythm.
5. Unbelievably Rapid weight loss

Don’t get misled by diets claiming the loss of 10 kgs within 2 weeks. Health experts say that it dangerous to your health to lose weight rapidly. Loss of 1 kg a week is considered safe. Rapid weight loss diets can cause serious health problems in the long run.

6. A weight loss plan that claims to be suitable for everybody

Eachone of us is unique with our own body rhythms and metabolic needs. How can one plan be suitable for everybody? You weight loss plan should suit your body type and activity level. It is advisable to visit a dietiecian  so hat he/she can make a good diet plan for you based on your body needs.

7. A diet that warns about eating particular food combinations at the same time.

The human body is such that it can digest any number of food combinations at the same time. Avoiding certain combinations of food are not going to help you lose weight. There is no scientific evidence to prove this logic of avoiding food combinations.

8. Diets suggesting that regular foods are bad and intake should be limited to a few specific foods.

If a diet asks you to give up a common food that is fresh and unprocessed, think again. Such diets don’t have a proper scientific backing. Limiting your diet may lead to nutrient deficiencies.

9. Plenty of enthusiastic testimonials from followers but lack of scientific evidence supporting the diet

If you happen to see a particular diet being advertised like crazy with lots of success stories, it is most probably fake. The people who claim to have lost weight are paid actors with photoshoped before and after pictures. Such diets are cleverly marketed as they lack scientific evidence. Certain diets are even endorsed by doctors on TV but in most cases doctors are paid to do so.
10. Claims to be a ‘miracle’ weight loss food

There is no such thing as a ‘miracle weight loss food’. Do not trust any diet that claims any path breaking success in weight loss without sufficient scientific evidence.

By - P. Sakthi Vel, The Choose Healthy Food