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).
By now, you probably know that coffee can help curb your appetite. But did you also know it can boost your metabolism? Since coffee contains the antioxidant chlorogenic acid (CGA), it can actually increase your body’s use of fat for energy. Research has additionally shown that CGA can slow the release of glucose and lower insulin resistance to inhibit weight gain after eating a meal.
High-calorie drinks. Sweetened beverages are full of calories. Drink water this week and avoid all alcohol (wine, beer, and cocktails), juice, sports drinks, sweetened teas, flavored coffee drinks, soda, and commercially flavored water (such as vitamin waters). You can also make flavored water with fresh lemon juice or other fruit if you don't like plain water. Stay hydrated, but avoid drinks that cause weight gain via empty (non-nutritive) calories.
In a 2015 study in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research , scientists instructed subjects to choose either a fruit salad or a chocolate cake, then eat and evaluate their snack. Those who ate the chocolate cake in the room with the mirror found it less appealing than those who didn’t have a looking glass nearby, but those who opted for the fruit salad reported no difference in taste. In other words, the presence of a mirror makes unhealthy foods less appealing. So hang one in your kitchen to discourage the consumption of cake and the like, and then use it to watch your waistline shrink each day!
“Oolong, or ‘black dragon,’ is a kind of Chinese tea that’s packed with catechins, nutrients that help promote weight loss by boosting your body’s ability to metabolize fat. A study in the Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine found that participants who regularly sipped oolong tea lost a pound a week, without doing anything else to change their diet or exercise habits,” Kelly Choi, author of The 7-Day Flat-Belly Tea Cleanse tells us in How To Lose 10 Pounds Fast.
All beans are high in fiber, which is your friend when you're trying to lose weight because it helps you feel fuller longer, thus controlling hunger. Eating beans and legumes has also been linked with various other health benefits, including lowering blood pressure, reducing LDL cholesterol and reducing risk of cardiovascular disease. Beans are fairly low in calories and deliver protein as well. Try them in homemade veggie burgers, soups and salads.
Calcium and vitamin C team up well to boost metabolism, and broccoli is just one of several healthy foods that contain both nutrients. What sets broccoli apart from the others, however, is that the green veggie also contains kind of fiber that’s been shown to increase the digestion, absorption and storage of food, also known as the thermic effect of food or TEF. Combine a revved up metabolism with an increased TEF and you get a match made in weight loss heaven!
Your sleeping patterns have a lot to do with your weight. Lack of adequate sleep can eventually lead to weight gain. Here’s how – you feel tired since you didn’t sleep properly the previous night. As a result, you might be tempted to skip exercise the next day or any other regular activity that involves physical movement. And to make things worse, you are tired at your workplace, and tend to grab a pack of chips or a donut to get an instant burst of energy. And there you go – you have just created the recipe for disaster. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that those individuals who got inadequate sleep were prone to late-night snacking. They were also more likely to choose high-carb snacks (3). Another study had revealed that sleeping too little can prompt someone to have bigger portions of foods.
Honestly speaking, how many of us even think of doing this? Probably a few tens in a million? (Well, that’s an astonishingly good number!) You must start eating before you feel too hungry, and stop before you are full. This is because when we starve, we tend to eat more than we actually should – that spells disaster. This is the reason people who starve themselves to lose weight only end up gaining more. Remember to eat slowly and not when you are starving. Also, remember to end your meal just before you are about to be satisfied and let that burp out. Post that, drink a glass of water and you will be fine.
If you’d rather not channel your inner bunny, try dancing as a way to help shed fat on the body as a whole. “It is obviously a cardio workout, but because your body is forced to move in all different directions in different planes, it is making every single muscle in your body work,” Pedraza explains. “Similar to the benefits of a high-intensity interval training workout, you get the cardio plus toning benefit all in one.” Turn up the volume on your iPod and start moving!
If stone fruits aren’t your thing, peel a banana instead and watch your belly bloat disappear. A study in the journal Anaerobe found that women who ate a banana twice daily before meals for two months reduced belly bloat by 50 percent. Researchers believe this is because bananas are packed with potassium, which can reduce water retention. The yellow fruits are also a good source of fiber, which will keep you feeling full.
It can actually help you cut back on calories. That's because capsaicin, a compound found in jalapeño and cayenne peppers, may (slightly) increase your body's release of stress hormones such as adrenaline, which can speed up your ability to burn calories. What's more, eating hot peppers may help slow you down. You're less likely to wolfed down that plate of spicy spaghetti — and therefore stay more mindful of when you're full. Some great adds besides hot peppers: ginger and turmeric.
Cheese isn’t traditionally thought of as something you consume to encourage weight management, but calcium-rich Parmesan, when eaten in moderation, can help stave off sugar cravings that can easily lead to weight gain. How does that work, you ask? The native Italian cheese contains the amino acid tyrosine (a building block of protein) which has been shown to encourage the brain to release dopamine without any unhealthy insulin spikes. What’s more? The combination of calcium and protein found in dairy products such as Parmesan has been found to increase thermogenesis—the body’s core temperature—and thus boost your metabolism.
While all fruits are healthy, a handful of them reigns supreme when it comes to frying fat and de-bloating your belly. University of Kentucky researchers found that eating watermelon can lower fat accumulation, while another group of great minds discovered that honeydew can banish water retention and bloating. Spend ten minutes chopping up these slimming fruits for the week ahead. Enjoy them solo as a snack, throw them into yogurt or add them to salads.
Big-box stores such as Costco or Sam’s Club are great money-savers, but frequenting them to buy groceries can be bad news for your fitness goals. That’s because a 2015 study in the journal Appetite found that the larger the bottle, bag, or box the food comes in, the larger we think the serving size should be. To come to that conclusion, researchers surveyed more than thirteen thousand people and found that when confronted with larger packages of cola, chips, chocolate, or lasagna, the shoppers tended to want to serve themselves larger portions.
A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that dealing with work-, finance-, or relationship-related stress can pack on the pounds. When you’re stuck in a hair-pulling situation, your body releases the stress hormone cortisol, which stores abdominal fat. Next time you find yourself overwhelmed, try these awesome ways to strip away stress.
Diet experts say that we need about one gram of protein per kilogram of body weight to aid muscle growth and weight loss. So if that’s what you’re eating each day, you’re bound to get the body of your dreams, right? Unfortunately, there’s more to it than that. According to University of Texas researchers, the timing at which you consume your protein can make or break how much lean muscle mass you pack on. If you’re like most Americans, you likely consume little to no protein for breakfast, a bit of protein at lunch and the bulk of your daily intake during dinner—which the researchers discovered isn’t ideal for muscle synthesis. Luckily, fitness-minded friends, the fix is a simple one: Just distribute your protein intake evenly throughout the day. The scientists found that those who followed this simple trick had 25 percent higher protein synthesis than those who ate the majority of the nutrient after the sun went down. To hit the mark and start leaning out, try one of these 35 best-ever chicken recipes for weight loss!
Lately, we’re noticing protein-packed everything—from breads to nut butter and milk. While you don’t need to load up on weird franken-foods to amp up your intake of the nutrient, if you’re trying to drop a few pounds, then it’s wise to keep some high-protein snacks on hand. Noshing on these can prevent eating something high-calorie every time hunger strikes.
The American Heart Association recommends that the amount of added sugar consumed in a day shouldn’t exceed 25 grams for women and 37.5 grams for men, but since the sweet stuff is in everything from bread to tomato sauce, most Americans aren’t adhering to those guidelines and they’re fatter for it. In a review of 68 clinical trials and studies, New Zealand researchers reported in the British Medical Journal that increasing sugar intake meant increasing body weight while reducing sugar meant reducing body weight. Additional research has shown that cutting back on the granular stuff is one of the fastest ways to lose weight.
中文: 在一周内快速减肥, Deutsch: In weniger als 7 Tagen abnehmen, Español: bajar de peso en menos de 7 días, Français: perdre du poids en moins de 7 jours, Bahasa Indonesia: Menurunkan Berat Badan Kurang Dari 7 Hari, Italiano: Perdere Peso in Meno di 7 Giorni, Русский: сбросить вес менее чем за 7 дней, Português: Perder Peso em Menos de Sete Dias, العربية: فقدان الوزن في أسبوع, Nederlands: In één week afvallen, Tiếng Việt: Giảm cân trong vòng 1 tuần, ไทย: ลดน้ำหนักใน 1 อาทิตย์, 日本語: 1週間で体重を落とす
Like a marathoner stretching before the big run, eating half a grapefruit before a meal can enhance your body’s fat-burning performance. A study published in the journal Metabolism found that this “warm-up” tactic can help whittle your middle—by up to an inch—in just six weeks! The scientists attribute the powerful effects to the grapefruits’ fat-zapping phytochemicals. The fruit can interact negatively with certain medications, so as long as you get the green-light from your M.D, plan to have half of a grapefruit before your morning meal and add a few segments your starter salads to reap the benefits.
