It’s simple, you just need to know a few tricks and strategies.
If with age it becomes more and more difficult to keep your girlish figure, then there is a good reason: the metabolism in the body slows down by about 30 years. Therefore, you need to be more attentive to the quality and quantity of food. At the same time, 30-year-olds usually already have families and are building careers, respectively, the number of hours for exercise and attention to good nutrition are decreasing. But I don’t want to lose my shape. What to do?
1. Eliminate sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners are low in calories, but some research suggests they can actually increase hunger, which ultimately leads to excess food intake. In addition, the sugar substitute aspartame blocks an enzyme in the gut that can prevent obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome.
2. Stock up on legumes. Eating one serving of legumes a day (beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils) can lead to long-term weight loss. Michael’s Hospital in Canada conducted 21 clinical trials on 940 adults. Experiments have shown that men and women lost about 0,5 kg in six weeks simply by adding one serving of legumes to their diet. These foods, high in protein and fiber, increase satiety by 31%.
3. Increase your intake of beneficial bacteria. Researchers from China state that eating probiotic foods, including yogurt, sauerkraut, and miso soup, can lead to a decrease in body weight and BMI (body mass index). Moreover, the greatest decrease in BMI occurs in overweight people. Especially when consuming more than one probiotic and for at least 8 weeks.
4. Discover the chef in you. Use your kitchen for its intended purpose as often as possible. Simple and quick meals can be healthy too. Frozen whole grains, canned salmon, legumes combined with fresh herbs, avocados, nuts, fresh fruit – you can do it all at home. One of the quick recipes: fry vegetables (mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes), add to vegetable broth, season with turmeric, black pepper and basil, season with an egg. Serve with half an avocado.
5. Eat the right breakfast. An easy way to shed unwanted pounds and maintain weight is to start the day with a high-protein breakfast. Research shows it helps to satisfy appetite and reduce your daily calorie intake. Alternatively: an egg and vegetable omelet. Eggs will help you last longer than eating a bagel with the same amount of calories.
6. Follow the golden rule of five hours. If you are without food for many hours in a row, then the metabolism begins to work at a slow pace. Therefore, it is necessary to observe the rule “Without food – no more than five hours of wakefulness.” So, if you have lunch at noon and dinner at 7 pm, then between them you need a snack that will help the body maintain a high level of metabolism.
7. Make your workouts shorter and faster. Changing short but intense exercises in quick succession can help not only shed a few pounds, but also prevent type 2 diabetes. Experts from the University of Leicester (UK) have found that such training has similar benefits to moderate-intensity aerobic exercise and may be even more effective.
8. Let your fingers talk. Don’t underestimate the power of the internet – share, you’ll be supported. The University of Southampton conducted an experiment in which 818 people participated, who fell into the “obesity” category. It turned out that those who participated in the online support group lost almost 3 kilograms more than the average dieter over the course of 12 months. And 32% of the participants were able to maintain their weight loss throughout the year.
9. Focus on your feelings about food. Because it is not always about what you eat, but also about what is eating you. A poll in Orlando found that only one in 10 people thought that psychological well-being was the biggest obstacle to weight loss. Emotional attachments to food (as a way to deal with sadness, stress, depression, to celebrate a happy event) can easily break the diet cycle. Watch what you eat and drink.
10. Get into the habit of being more mindful. Mindfulness is not just a new theory, its benefits are supported by research that suggests it can reduce inflammation and stress hormone levels, increase feelings of joy and happiness, reduce belly fat, improve sleep, and reduce appetite. Practice meditations to help tap into your feelings of hunger and satiety. Now there are even free mobile applications for this.
11. Have meat-free days more often. American doctors concluded that adults who followed the vegetarian program lost twice as much weight as those who followed the usual low-calorie diet (6,2 kg versus 3,2 kg). It consisted of vegetables, cereals, legumes, fruits and nuts. Animal fats were limited to one serving of low-fat kefir per day.
12. Keep a food log. It is strange to see the explanations of many people who are struggling with being overweight and at the same time mindlessly eating. A little bit here, a little there – and here’s a hundred extra calories for you every day. So write down everything you eat in a notebook or mobile app if you’re tech-savvy.
13. Snack on prunes. Although dried fruit is generally not recommended for those looking to lose weight, professors at the University of Liverpool found that those who ate prunes every day lost more pounds and had more waist volume than those who were on a diet without it.
14. Include good fats in your diet. Thus, the Mediterranean approach to food, which includes a large amount of vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fruits, nuts, olive oil, some dairy and animal fats (mainly fish) and red wine, leads to weight loss. According to a study published in The Lancet, older adults who ate a Mediterranean diet, including a high content of nuts and olive oil, lost more weight than those on a low-fat diet.
15. Start with soup. Professor Barbara Rolls of Pennsylvania State University has long been studying the role of “water volumes” on fatness and weight loss. One of the main findings of her research is that broth soups (eg, miso soup, chicken noodles) promote satiety. At the same time, cream soups do not give such an effect, it is better to exclude them.
16. Hang out with like-minded people. This increases your chances of success. For example, an experiment involving 3300 overweight and obese people showed that surrounding yourself with people with similar goals increases the effect by 20%. Researchers attribute this to the effects of “positive peer pressure.”
17. Chill out. If the weather is warm outside, you can turn on the air conditioner. And that’s why. A group of researchers found that people who spent 2 hours a day for 6 weeks in a room with a temperature of 17 degrees decreased the amount of body fat.
18. Eat spinach. It reduces hunger and increases weight loss by 43%. Women who drank a green drink containing 3 grams of spinach extract every morning for 5 months lost about 1,5 kilograms of weight compared to volunteers who were given a placebo.
19. Cut back on carbohydrates. Watch out for excess carbohydrates for weight management. It is they who are associated with an increase in the prevalence of obesity in the world. Choose traditional low-carb pasta or vegetable ribbons (vegetables cut with a special cutter in the form of a spiral or ribbon, which have a brighter appearance and retain more nutrients). Avoid pretzels, crackers, chips, baked goods.
20. Say goodbye to weekly picnics. And limit your alcohol intake. It is high in calories and can affect your weight loss. In addition, it affects your personal inhibitions and has an impact (usually negative) on willpower.
21. Get enough sleep. Of course, work or parenting can limit your ability to sleep for 8 hours or more. However, research shows that getting enough sleep plays an important role in weight management. And every hour of sleep lost reduces your chances of losing weight.
22. Let the sun in. According to American doctors, vitamin D (which is produced by exposure to ultraviolet rays) in postmenopausal women significantly increases muscle mass and helps reduce muscle loss. This means that while maintaining more muscle mass, in addition to improving mobility and reducing injury, you will burn more calories at rest.
23. Drink more water. Although water cannot melt fat, it does when you burn calories. One German study says that consuming 2 cups of water (about 0,5 liters) increases calorie burn by 30% in 10 minutes, and this effect lasts for an hour. Therefore, everything is simple – 2 cups of water 4 times a day.
“Drink no more than 2 liters of any liquid (including just water, liquid foods and tea) per day. It is important not to overload the lymphatic system: the body must completely drive out all the fluid, preventing it from stagnating. If you drink more than 2 liters of liquid, then the water is retained in the body, and edema occurs, ”explains Dr. Leonid Elkin.
24. Improve your portions. Our eyes, as a rule, want more than our stomachs, and most of us can no longer eat as much as, for example, 5 years ago. To understand the adequacy of a serving of your favorite foods, refer to the nutritional chart on the labels and the recommended serving size. Also, weigh and measure your food for one week to get the best idea of what constitutes a healthy serving.
25. Change your plates. After you have found the optimal serving size, renew the dishes. The older you get, the smaller your plates and cups should be. And remember: the larger the plate, the smaller the serving looks on it. It is no coincidence that people can put 30% more flakes in a cup if the size is increased. This means 30% more calories.
26. Switch to ready meals. If you have a hectic schedule, then portioned ready-to-eat meals may be a perfectly acceptable option. A University of California study found that 74% of volunteers who ate 2 cooked low-calorie meals a day for 3 months lost about 8% of their original weight compared to those who chose their own weight loss plan (they lost about 6%).
27. Find the right doctor. The doctor-patient relationship plays a key role in weight loss, according to a survey conducted at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Patients who thought their doctor was sympathetic, showed good communication skills, looked reliable, and supported their patient lost almost twice as much as those who rated their doctor less favorably.
28. Join associations. As a rule, 50% of people who have gotten rid of a “clinically significant” amount of kilograms (5 percent or more of weight) readily join associations that unite people like them in their ranks, and happily support each other.
29. Set small goals. Do not try to jump over the abyss in one fell swoop. The key to success is one step at a time. If you are thinking about losing double-digit weight, your emotions can play a cruel joke and interfere with rational thinking. As soon as 1–2 kilos are lost, you can celebrate and set the next mini-goal.
30. Remember that all roads lead to victory. If you are losing weight gradually and shed 1 to 2 kilograms per week, this is good news, because there is no better way to lose weight long-term. By the way, scientists have found that different types of healthy lifestyles work for different people. There is no one right way. Therefore, slow progress does not mean a loss at all. As well as the claim that rapid weight loss is associated with his own quick recovery, because this is a myth.
Alena Dmitrieva, Alika Zhukova