Most citizen believe that in order to lose weight they need to count and restrict calories, eat less fatty foods, and spend hours on the treadmill. Have you tried this approach? Often I find that these strategies don't work for my patients. They may lose weight for a short period of time, but ultimately old habits return and they gain the weight back. If your New Years goal for 2012 is to lose weight, here are 6 tips for keeping the pounds off.
Tip #1: Get More Sleep
Sleep is the amount one tip on my list because getting more sleep is cheapest, easiest way to equilibrium your weight loss hormones and preserve long-term weight loss. If you're getting less than 8 hours of sleep each night, hormones such as Leptin, Ghrelin, and cortisol can be out-of-balance causing your appetite to growth and your metabolism to decrease. When you are low on sleep, you are more hungry, more tired during the day, you practice less, and you burn less fat and fat. Plus, when you sleep less, you are more likely to do late-night snacking. Eight or more hours of sleep in a thoroughly dark room is imperative for getting good rest and supporting your weight loss hormones.
Tip #2: Eat Real Food
Many citizen use pre-packaged meals like Weight Watchers, Amy's Organics, or other Tv evening meal meals to preserve their weight loss with quantum control. Pre-packaged meals may be more convenient, but they often include excess salt, preservatives, and many citizen are still hungry after the meal. A salutary metabolism runs best on real, whole foods, not processed foods. Although it takes some extra time and meal planning, training your body to love real foods like meats, fish, legumes, nuts, seeds, fruits, and veggies, will go a lot farther than living off of processed meals.
Tip #3: Never Skip Meals
Skipping meals makes it harder to lose weight because your body goes into survival mode. When you skip a meal, your body secretes more of a hormone called cortisol, which regulates blood sugar and stress in the body. When your cortisol levels are elevated, your body thinks that it is under stress, and it's roughly impossible to lose weight. Eating regular meals at regular intervals will help verbalize optimal cortisol levels, and make it easier to lose weight.
Tip #4: Cut the Carbs
From the Atkins diet, to the South Beach diet, to the Paleo diet, there is a ton of study that supports the idea that carbohydrate discount helps with weight loss. My general dietary suggestion for patients is to cut out two highest carbohydrate foods in their diet--usually breads and pastas. Many citizen find that the wheat in breads and pastas makes them gain weight overnight and makes them more hungry for carb-rich meals. Depending on the person's weight loss goals, some carbohydrates in the form of legumes, lentils, brown rice, polenta, and small amounts of potatoes can still preserve salutary weight loss when balanced with sufficient protein and vegetables.
Tip #5: Drink Only Water
Drinking water prevents dehydration, and it prevents you from eating excess amounts of food. The body has a hard time distinguishing in the middle of being hungry and being dehydrated. Mindless eating often happens when you are dehydrated. I propose drinking at least half your body weight in ounces per day of water, plus more water if you exercise.
Tip #6: Enjoy Your Exercise
You don't have to spend hours at the gym to lose weight. Spending an hour running on the treadmill can often tax your adrenal glands and put excess strain on your joints. The best suggestion for practice is to do something you love, that way you can concentrate it into your daily routine. Some sustained cardio practice is considerable for any weight-loss plan, but if practice becomes a chore, you're less likely to do it. practice needs to be a regular part of your day, like drinking water.
Don't get caught in the endless cycle of counting calories, avoiding fat, and exhausting yourself on the treadmill. It's a dead-end road and you'll be production the same New Years resolutions every year. Instead, try a more balanced approach that gives your body the routine, regularity and equilibrium that it needs for long-term, sustainable weight loss.
