In 5 Unusual Weight Loss Tips Part 1, We looked at two tips that weren’t necessarily ‘unusual’, but that represented a bit of a departure from the more common ideas for weight loss. Including ‘Don’t Try to Lose Weight’ and ‘Don’t Focus on Weight Loss Exclusively’, the tips are aimed at transforming your approach to weight loss.
A transformation that can produce healthy, long-lasting results.
Here are three more tips to help you make the transformation.
1. Snack!
One big reason why you should beware of trendy diets is that they try to take a shortcut to weight loss. But the shortcut is full of potholes. One of the worst potholes, which can single-handedly destroy any weight loss program, is the effect of drastic diet changes on your metabolism.
Your metabolism regulates how you burn the calories of energy you get from the food you eat. When you simply cut calories, your metabolism adjusts itself so that it burns fewer calories. The result is that you can actually gain weight on a calorie-reduced diet.
But even on a day-to-day basis, your metabolism can play havoc with your weight. When you eat a meal, your metabolism perks up to deal with the rush of food energy. Afterwards, it takes a rest and slows down. When your body needs more energy, it tells you you’re hungry. You grab the nearest food to stop the hunger pangs, and your metabolism kicks into high gear once more.
By keeping your metabolic rate stable throughout the day, you can enjoy more of a consistent metabolic burn. Eating steadily throughout the day, with a combination of smaller main meals and snacking. Will keep your metabolism steady too. But you can’t just grab anything at snack time.
Healthy snacking takes planning and preparation to avoid overeating and/or eating empty calories. Both of which can put you back on the metabolic rate seesaw and spike your blood sugar.
2. Stop Drinking Calories
Don’t make the mistake of underestimating how many calories you can add to your diet by drinking many everyday beverages. Regular fruit juices, regular or diet pop, alcoholic drinks and even many smoothies can blindside a weight management program with high levels of sugars and other empty calories.
If you swap just one regular pop or alcoholic drink for an equivalent glass of water you can lose up to 10 pounds a year.
In addition to helping you shed the pounds, drinking up to eight glasses of water a day boosts your energy to help you be more active, it strengthens your immune system so you spend less time fighting colds and the flu and it keeps your digestive system running smoothly.
4. Plan Your Meals & Snacks
You plan your day, you plan your work schedule, you plan your social life. To make your weight management program a success, you need to do the same for everything you eat daily.
Having a meal and snack plan helps you lose weight in two main ways. First, it makes you more aware of everything you’re eating. Including its nutritional value, calorie count and portion sizes. Second, sticking to an food plan helps you avoid the temptation of grabbing something, anything, when you feel a hunger pang. In fact, an effective diet plan will help you avoid hunger pangs altogether.
To learn more about transforming your approach to reaching your weight loss goals, call or visit a Herbal One Centre near you and talk to a nutritional consultant who is ready to help you start.