1. Eat More Fiber
Foods high in fiber take longer to digest, so you feel fuller longer. Fruits and vegetables have a LOT of fiber, vitamin content, AND have a low calorie/volume ratio (large amounts of these foods have fewer calories). Lettuce is extremely high in fiber, but be sure not to have too much salad dressing with it. Swapping white bread for wheat or whole grain bread and white pasta for whole grain pasta are other ways of adding fiber to your diet.
2. Eat Breakfast
Skipping breakfast can destroy all of your weight loss efforts. Not eating breakfast will make you even hungrier throughout the rest of the day. Plus, studies have shown that eating breakfast can increase your metabolic rate by up to five percent!
3. Eat often
Eating many smaller meals keeps blood sugar low and helps to prevent overeating due to excessive hunger. Consuming several small meals also gives you the opportunity to have a lot of variation in your food, so you can get a wide variety of vitamins and minerals throughout the day.
4. Move around
Increasing your movement in daily activities adds up to a lot of extra burned calories. Walking around the office a few minutes several times a day can add up to a half an hour of walking in no time. Parking further away when running errands also helps with adding steps to your day.
5. Get more Calcium
Many recent studies have shown that consuming more calcium is directly related to more weight loss. The University of Tennessee conducted a study on calcium and weight loss in mice. They found that mice who consumed more calcium lost more weight when consuming the same amount of calories as calcium-deficient mice. Creighton University in Nebraska conducted a similar study (but on women) showed similar results -- women who consumed the recommended daily amount of calcium weighed significantly less tan women who did not receive enough calcium. *
Another bonus: Consuming skim milk provides a lot of calcium AND protein, to help keep you fuller longer.
6. Drink More Water
Staying hydrated is vital for achieving and maintaining weight loss, something most people don’t do. People who are constantly dehydrated can experience fatigue, moodiness, digestive problems, and trouble staying on focus. Water helps your body remove toxins, move nutrients through your blood, maintains body temperature, and even breathe (breathing accounts for about 2 cups of water loss each day). In order to make sure there is adequate water to perform these critical functions in a body that is not receiving enough water, it will begin to store any excess water consumed so that there is water available the next time it gets dehydrated. When water is continuously consumed, your body will reduce the amount of water stored, thus reducing excess water weight and bloating! (Don’t forget also that replacing sodas and juices with water will also help reduce calorie intake.)
7. Work on Strength Training
Strength training helps build muscle, which raises your metabolism. Adding some resistance training to your cardio workouts will help you lose weight much quicker.
8. Get Some sleep
Studies show that sleep loss can halt weight loss! Sleep deprivation can lead to excess eating for two reasons: Results from multiple studies have shown that sleep loss can lead to extra release of hormones that make you feel hungry even when you have eaten plenty of food. Secondly, when the someone is sleep deprived they tend to eat more food to make up for decreased energy levels to help get through the day.
Additionally, sleep loss has been shown to increase the body’s insulin levels, which can lead to additional fat storage (and decreased weight loss). Finally, being tired makes it harder to exercise as intensely as usual, resulting in fewer calories burned.
9. Set Mini-Goals
Setting a goal of losing 20 pounds over six months is not an unrealistic goal (that’s under 1 pound per week, a healthy weight loss rate that will be easier to maintain). However, it is hard for the brain to grasp ‘losing 20 pounds’, because that’s a lot of weight. So break down your overall goal into several smaller ones. Make a goal of losing 2 pounds in 2 weeks, then continue with another 2 pound goal. This method will be much easier to manage and will most likely lead to better results.
*Raloff, Janet. “Calcium may become a dieter’s Best Friend”. Science News. April 29, 2000. Vol. 157, No. 188, p. 277.
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