Well, who doesn’t love snacking? But the problem is, we snack on stuff we are supposed to stay away from. How about healthy snacking? You can carry with you something nutritious every time you step out of your home. Fruits, granola bars, or even a packet of plain popcorn – anything similar can serve the purpose. These contain fewer calories and are far better than those high-calorie ones (17).
A paper-thin wrap may seem like a healthier, lower carb alternative to a sandwich, but don’t be fooled by appearances. Wraps are almost always loaded with calories, thanks to the fat that’s needed to make them pliable—and a large wrap can be the carb and calorie equivalent of four or five slices of bread. In other words, forget the wrap and go for a cold, open-faced sandwich instead. Your waistline will thank you.
On top of its 4 grams of belly-filling fiber, a cup of hearty oatmeal delivers as much protein as an egg. In other words, the popular breakfast food is an excellent weight loss tool. In fact, according to a study in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, scientists found that having oatmeal for breakfast resulted in greater fullness, lower hunger ratings, and fewer calories eaten at the next meal compared with a serving of ready-to-eat sugared corn flakes, even though the calorie counts of the two breakfasts were identical. For ways to get more fiber, sprinkle some berries and chia seeds on top of your oatmeal, but be sure to stay away from fattening syrup and sugar.
Portions, my friend, portions. You can’t even think of losing weight if you don’t let go of your large plate. It’s plain common sense – reducing the size of your plate means eating less, and eating less means fewer calories. Usually, when we are dining, we tend to eat more than what is required – a terrible habit most of us have unknowingly cultivated. Cut the portions in half and ensure you are choosing smaller portions. A study conducted at The Pennsylvania State University talks about research that has shown the relation between large portions and obesity. It also says that for weight management, you can eat larger portions of low-energy-dense foods (2).
You can avoid a mindless binge by adding visual traffic lights to your snack. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University gave one set of students a bowl of uniform yellow chips, while another group had their regular snack layered with differently colored chips. Students who had their snack segmented ate 50 percent less than those with a uniform bowl.
Like peanuts, avocados contain metabolism-enhancing monounsaturated fats that have been shown to reduce hunger. In fact, a study in Nutrition Journal found that participants who ate half a fresh avocado with lunch reported a 40 percent decreased desire to eat for hours afterwards. What’s more? The trendy toast topping is also loaded with unsaturated fats, which seem to prevent the storage of belly fat, as well as satiating fiber and free-radical-killing antioxidants.
A study in the journal Cell found that our gut microbes are just as affected by changes to our circadian clock as we are. When we shift our sleep-wake cycles, our gut flora changes, and beneficial bacteria are replaced by the growth of bacteria that have been linked to obesity and metabolic disease. When traveling across different time zones, it’s important you travel armed with healthy, fiber-rich snacks your gut will love.
People tend to find one workout routine and stick to it but it’s important to switch things up every now and then, especially in terms of cardio. Instead of simply running or walking, try to vary your speeds as you go. Researchers at Ohio State University found that walking at varying speeds can burn up to 20 percent more calories compared to maintaining a steady pace, so get moving!
It may seem like completing 10,000 or 20,000 steps per day is too optimistic, but once you get the hang of it, you'll feel more confident. Try to break the steps into smaller chunks. For example, many office workers take breaks every hour to go for a short walk, adding a few hundred steps several times a day. You can also go for a longer walk in the morning, during your lunch break, and after dinner or before bed. If you walk for 30 minutes or more, you can easily reach your step goal.
Although they're best known for containing potassium, bananas are also a great source of resistant starch, a type of starch that's important for weight loss. Your body digests resistant starch slowly—helping you feel full for longer—while simultaneously encouraging your liver to switch to fat-burning mode. And no need to wait for them to become completely ripe; bananas actually contain more of this calorie-torching ingredient when they're still a little green.
“There are so many amazing properties in tea and so many healthy foods that require hot water,” Emmy-award winning and author of The 7-Day Flat-Belly Tea Cleanse, Kelly Choi says. “But I’ll swap in hot green tea instead of water for things like oatmeal and quinoa. I’ve seen so many people benefit from my tea cleanse that it inspired me to keep the tea flowing whenever I can!”
Believe it or not, weight loss isn’t just about exercising and eating right; research suggests what motivates you to get in shape can play a role in your success. A 2014 study in the journal Body Image looked at 321 college-age women and found that long-term, those who exercised primarily for appearance-based reasons had a harder time sticking to their fitness plans than those who worked out to maintain their health. In other words, stop envying those fit models on Instagram and instead remember that you and your loved ones are the people who really benefit when you slim down.
A review of more than 600 studies found that being married, and transitioning into marriage, are both associated with weight gain. Transitioning out of a marriage, however, is associated with weight loss. The researchers found that weight gain occurs because of increased opportunities for eating due to shared, regular meals and larger portion sizes, as well as “decreased physical activity and a decline in weight maintenance for the purpose of attracting an intimate partner,” Zero Belly Smoothies states. we’re hardly advocating staying single or getting a divorce (unless you choose to) this research clearly indicates that dieters need to be especially careful around the wedding day. To keep things in check after you take the plunge, meal prep with your partner or develop a workout routine together.
Whole grains are one of the healthiest foods you will find in your kitchen. These grains get digested slowly, ensuring you feel full for long. A study revealed that women whose diets largely comprised of whole grains were half as likely to gain weight than those who consumed less of whole grains (8). Another study had found that incorporating whole grains in one’s diet can help reduce abdominal fat (9).
Nothing new here, again. This is something we have been learning right from school. If you are serious about losing weight, drinking a minimum of two to three liters of water must be your everyday goal. Make it a habit of drinking a glass of water before (to prevent overeating) and after (to aid digestion) a meal. It has been found that people who drink more water and less of soda or other high-calorie beverages would be more successful in losing weight (22). Numerous American studies have also backed the efficacy of water in aiding in healthy weight loss (23), (24), (25).
PROTEIN FOODS: Make sure your diet plan allows plenty of protein while you are losing weight. This will help you feel stronger while you are eating a lot fewer calories. Choose meat, fish, and poultry that is very lean before cooking. Remove all fat from meats and skin from poultry before cooking. Nuts and seeds are high in fat so limit the amount you eat. Do not eat more than 3 to 4 eggs a week. Use low fat and fat-free dairy products, salad dressings, and cheeses.
Fabrice Reduce your daily calorie intake by at least 500 to 1,000 kcal depending on how much you wish to lose. If you want to lose 1 pound of fat, you will need to burn 500 kcal everyday for a week. In other words, if your current plan is to consume 2,500 kcal daily and you want to lose at-least 2 pounds in a week, your diet must be restricted to 1,500 calories during that week.
Despite the common perception that you need to drop pounds slowly in order to maintain your weight loss, the exact opposite is true. In fact, you’re more than five times as likely to succeed in your long-term weight-loss goals if you start out of the gate by dropping pounds rapidly, according to a 2010 study in the International Journal of Behavioral Medicine . To set yourself up for weight loss success, make sure you focus on diet and exercise.
“The numbers on the nutrition panel aren’t the most important part of a food product. You need to look at the ingredient list, too. If there are ingredients you cannot pronounce or if you see anything you think may not be a natural ingredient, put the product back on the shelf,” Isabel Smith, MS, RD, CDN, registered dietitian and founder of Isabel Smith Nutrition tells us in 22 Top Weight Loss Tips, According to Nutritionists.
As far as sugar goes, high-fructose corn syrup is the worst of the lot. The man-made substance is a combination of corn syrup (which itself is 100 percent glucose) and pure fructose, making it a unique nightmare for your waistline. In one study, researchers fed subjects beverages sweetened with either glucose or fructose. Though both groups gained the same amount of weight over a two-month period, the fructose group gained its weight primarily as belly fat because of the way this type of sugar is processed in the liver. To avoid the belly-bloating HFCS trap, make sure you look at nutrition labels carefully and ditch the processed snacks and fruit drinks.
Eat while you eat, and watch while you watch. Merging television time with your dining time can lead to mindless eating. You tend to focus on what’s happening on the television screen, and become unaware of what’s going inside your mouth and stomach. And, ultimately, you end up overeating. Eat at the dining table, and focus on your food. This helps you become aware of what you are eating, and you will only eat as much as you require.
Instead of gobbling down breakfast at home, eat at your desk a few hours later than you typically do. Pushing back your first meal of the day naturally reduces your “eating window”—the number of hours you spend each day grazing. Why’s that beneficial? Sticking to a smaller eating window may help you lose weight, even if you eat more food throughout the day, a study published in the journal Cell Metabolism found. What’s more, time-restricted eating reduced excessive body weight by 20 percent and prevented further weight gain.
“Calorie counting is not the only game in town when it comes to weight loss. Chemical counting should also be part of our decision-making process. Processed foods, plastic bottles, lotions, non-organic dairy, and many other items in our daily lives contain endocrine disruptors that can lead to hormonal imbalance and stubborn weight gain,” Jennifer Cassetta, clinical nutritionist, personal trainer, and expert from ABC’s “My Diet Is Better Than Yours” tells us in 22 Top Weight Loss Tips, According to Nutritionists.
While you might not think there’s a huge difference between eating a whole piece of fruit and drinking fruit juice, nutritionally speaking, the two entities are most definitely not one and the same. Whereas whole fruit contains naturally occurring sugars and fiber that can help counteract the bad effects of too much sweet stuff, fruit juice is often loaded with added sugar (such as high-fructose corn syrup) and no fiber to speak of. According to a study led by Harvard School of Public Health researchers, eating more whole fruits, particularly blueberries, grapes, and apples, was significantly associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, a greater consumption of fruit juices was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. To get the fruit flavor without all the bad stuff, try stirring up a batch of fruity detox water instead.
The 25-Minute Sprint Fartlek Workout: “Fartlek” means “speed play” in Swedish. This type of HIIT program combines continuous training with speed intervals. You control the intensity and speed of each interval, so the training can feel spontaneous and engaging. This program focuses on cardio training, where you walk, jog, or sprint for set amounts of time.
Nothing new here, again. This is something we have been learning right from school. If you are serious about losing weight, drinking a minimum of two to three liters of water must be your everyday goal. Make it a habit of drinking a glass of water before (to prevent overeating) and after (to aid digestion) a meal. It has been found that people who drink more water and less of soda or other high-calorie beverages would be more successful in losing weight (22). Numerous American studies have also backed the efficacy of water in aiding in healthy weight loss (23), (24), (25).
The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee dropped their longstanding recommendation that we should limit dietary cholesterol. Decades of research have shown that it has little effect on blood cholesterol levels, and the government’s outdated recommendations have done little more than send scrambled messages about the pros and cons of eating eggs and shrimp. So go ahead and scramble up an omelet—with the yolk. Eating the entire egg is beneficial to your body because it contains metabolism-stoking nutrients, including fat-soluble vitamins, essential fatty acids, and choline—a powerful compound that attacks the gene mechanism that triggers your body to store fat around your liver.
Drugs.com provides accurate and independent information on more than 24,000 prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines and natural products. This material is provided for educational purposes only and is not intended for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Data sources include IBM Watson Micromedex (updated 1 Aug 2019), Cerner Multum™ (updated 1 Aug 2019), Wolters Kluwer™ (updated 31 July 2019) and others.
Grocery shopping on an empty stomach is never a good idea because research has shown it inhibits your ability to make smart choices about what you wish to eat. In a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers found that even short-term fasts can lead people to make more unhealthy food choices, picking a higher quantity of high-calorie foods. Fill up before you shop in an effort to avoid buying foods that won’t help you lose weight.
How would you like to take all the great weight-loss results you’ve just read about—and double them? That’s what happens when you supplement your diet with a combination of vitamin D and calcium, according to a Nutrition Journal study. Just four weeks into the 12-week experiment, subjects who had taken these two nutrients—found in abundance in some yogurts—lost two times more fat than the other group! To get similar results at home, start your day with one of these best yogurts for weight loss.
