Guide : Six Habits That Can Accelerate Your Weight Loss

Weight loss is tough. But, not impossible. All you need to do is eat in limit and work hard in gym. However, sometimes losing a pound or two a month isn’t enough. For a complete and effective weight loss, you have to lose pound a week. And, for that you will have to take some extra steps. As they say, to get different results, you should do things differently.

Here are six different habits that will help you to do things differently and get different and better results. With right diet and correct workout problem, these six tips will supercharge your weight loss routine.

Many people fail to understand the importance of water in a weight loss program. When it comes to a weight loss program, drinking more water has several benefits. First of all, your body needs water to burn fat and convert it into calories. With lack of water, this chemical reaction can’t occur, leading to low energy levels and weight gain. Also, drinking more water will make you feel full and you won’t suffer the dreaded hunger pangs. Especially, drinking a glass of water before a meal can be a very smart and beneficial trick if you are looking to restrict your calorie intake. By drinking water before your meal, you are partly filling your stomach, which will make you feel full even before you have eaten full meal. In fact, this type of hunger suppression can result in around 25 percent reduction in your daily calorie intake.

Water also improves the quality of your workout. The water transports glycogen to your muscles to fuel them for the physical movement and takes waste and byproducts out of the muscles. So, if you don’t have necessary water content in your body during a workout, it will make you sluggish and would make it difficult to maintain quality intensity in your workout. In case, you don’t want to drink plain water all the time, you can flavor it with a very small amount of fruit.

It has been believed from long time that eating slowly can lead to lower food consumption. The celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow have backed this tip. And, in recent times, the information revealed by the studies also back this habit. The study conducted by researchers from Texas Christian University explored the relationship between eating speed and calorie intake, and found that eating slowly does restrict your calorie intake. It was found that those who ate slowly and chewed more ate on an average 88 less calories than the faster eaters. The study also revealed one more startling fact. It was found that those who ate slowly felt fuller for much longer time than those who ate fast. Lastly, it was also found that those who chewed slowly drank more water, to be precise, about 12 oz as opposed to 9 oz.

Furthermore, it is traditionally believed that by chewing food properly will drastically improve the digestion and absorption of the food. And, the scientific reason behind the fact that eating fast leads to eating more is – there is a delay between when you swallow food and when that food triggers a response in your brain to reduce its sense of hunger. And, often, this delay leads to people eating more than necessary. And, if you are chewing slowly, you can minimize the time delay in the response.

Walking after a meal is often scoffed at. It is believed that walking just after a meal causes fatigue, stomach ache, and other types of discomfort. However, a recent study conducted by Japanese researchers has found that it is nothing more than a myth. The study subject lost nearly 1.5 kg during one month of walking just after lunch and dinner, whereas the study author lost around 3 kg by taking a brisk walk. The study also found that waiting for more than one hour (as the conventional and traditional wisdom dictates) after meal to take a walk can actually reduce the amount of calories you burn. It was revealed that walking at a brisk speed for 30 minutes as soon as possible just after the meal could help you to lose more weight than does walking for 30 minutes almost one hour after the consumption of meal. What makes the results of the study even better news for anyone looking to lose weight is that the author of the study was a 60 year old Japanese woman, and the subject was a 67-year-old Japanese female volunteer. So, if someone in old age can achieve such good results, then a person much younger with far better metabolism can lose even more weight.

Also, it isn’t necessary that you have to take 30 minutes of long walk. You can take a ten minutes walk after every meal. And, anyone can spare that amount of time, no matter how busy they are.

• Use cold atmosphere to burn fat

All body fat isn’t bad. First of all, the fat stores in your body are divided into two categories – the white fat and brown fat. Most of your fat stores are white fat that just stores energy. In comparison, the quantity of brown fat in your body is very less. The body usually burns brown fat to keep you warm. So, you can use the brown fat to accelerate your fat loss. All, you have to do is expose your body to colder temperatures. This will stimulate the brown fat growth.

Now, you can achieve this in several different ways. You can keep the room temperature low, which can be done by either turning down the radiator or by turning up your air conditioner. Another option is to drink a glass of chilled water every morning and evening. The brown fat can be targeted directly as well. This can be done by taking cold shower or applying ice pack to your body.

• Slow down digestion with honey, lemon juice and cinnamon

One of the reasons that makes junk food and soda bad for your health is that it can be digested and absorbed quickly by your body. This leads to sudden spike in sugar levels in your blood, leading to sudden energy boost. However, this spike doesn’t last longer and is followed by equally sudden crash. The crash leads to more craving for sugary and fatty food items. This cycle of spikes and crashes leads to more glucose being shuttled into your cells. In comparison, the healthier food items with decent fiber content are slowly digested and absorbed by the body. This gives you a steady and sustained supply of energy. Also, such foods keep you full and satisfied for longer time. So, the healthy food items not only give you sustained energy boost, but reduces your overall calorie intake.

However, with a simple trick, you can slow down the digestion for all the food items. It has been found that addition of lemon juice and cinnamon to your food can slow the rate at which food transits from your stomach to your intestine, and this can improve insulin and blood sugar control. Replacing sugar with honey can do the similar trick because honey is comparatively digested slowly in comparison to sugars.

• Manipulate your plate size

Lastly, we have a very simple, yet effective trick. It is an established fact that the larger dishware can make you eat larger portions. And, it has been backed by recent studies as well. A study was conducted by Australian researchers to find the relationship between the size of dishware and portion size. The study found that the portion size increases exponentially with the size of the dishware. It further revealed that even a small increase in the size of the dishware can lead to huge increase in calorie intake especially when you are eating calorie dense food items.

You can use the fact proved by this study to boost your weight loss program. Serve healthy food items that have low energy density and high nutrient density in large plates and bowls. This will lead to more consumption of these healthy foods. And, serve unhealthy food items that have a higher calorie ratio in smaller dishware. This trick can especially work great for serving desserts and other tempting foods. You can satisfy your cravings and at the same time you don’t have to worry too much about crossing your daily calorie limit.