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One of the easiest ways to help control your appetite when trying to lose weight is to make sure you’re eating enough lean protein. Your body takes more time to digest protein than carbs, which means you feel fuller for longer and hence don’t get the cravings or hunger pangs. Protein can also help to boost your metabolism, which means you’ll burn more calories.
Here’s some weight loss tips on how to choose lean protein for your diet:
Fish - this is one of the leanest and healthiest sources of protein we can get. It is low in bad fats (like saturated fat) but good sources of essential omega fats. Salmon in particular is very high in omega 3 fatty acids.
Chicken and Turkey – these are both quality lean protein sources but try to choose the white parts of the meat instead of the darker sections. You do need to make sure you remove any skin before eating it though as that’s where the saturated fats lie.
Beef - you can still eat beef when trying to lose weight, just restrict your beef based meals to once a week. Always cut off any visible fat from the meat or choose lean or extra lean cuts.
Eggs – there has been a lot of bad press about eggs and their relation to cholesterol, but eggs should definitely be part of your healthy diet. Egg whites are very high in good quality protein, and the yokes are a good source of omega fatty acids. I love an omelette for breakfast with loads of mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes fried up in a little olive oil.
Dairy products – I know milk based products are a good source of protein but personally I prefer to keep diary out of my diet completely. It’s not natural for cows to be producing milk day in day out, and the way the farmers manage to achieve this is by adding hormones to their food. These hormones remain in the milk and have a negative effect on our health and encourage our bodies to gain weight. Have a look at notmilk.com for the full story.
Lentils, Peas and Beans – these are just for vegetarians you know! There are very good source of high quality protein and have the added benefit of providing plenty of fiber for your diet. Protein and fiber together will really help you feel full between meals and therefore help prevent overeating.
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I’m pretty sure that I’ve said this several times already, but it’s so important that it’s worth re-emphasizing several times over – the best way to lose weight is to eat regular healthy meals and to not starve yourself.
When you restrict your food intake, or effectively start to starve your body, your metabolism slows right down and your body will soon go in to “starvation mode”. Once your metabolism slows down, your body is unable to burn calories as effectively as it should be able to, which ultimately means your weight loss slows right down or may even grind to a halt.
What happens then is that your body begins to feed off itself for the nutrition it needs, which means it starts digesting your muscles more than your fat reserves (muscles hold more nutrients than fat, which is why these get “eaten” as well as your stored fat).
Any weight that you do lose while you’re starving your body will sure enough come right back once you start eating properly again. The main reason for this is that your body will still be in starvation mode, so will just store everything that you eat as fat simply because it thinks this may be the last nutrition it gets for a while.
If you continue to eat a normal diet with regular meals only then will your body come out of starvation mode and start to properly digest the food you eat.
So the best way to lose weight is not to starve yourself, but to eat regular meals – the best option is to eat 4 or 5 smaller meals throughout the day so that you keep your metabolism high. Your body gets used to regular and frequent meals so actually switches into overdrive, burning off more calories because it knows it doesn’t need to store any.
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If you’ve read any amount of weight loss tips in the past, you already know that making sure you eat enough quality protein is critical to maintaining long term weight loss. The reason being good quality high protein foods help keep you feeling fuller for longer and therefore less likely to reach for junk and snack foods. But a high protein diet doesn’t necessarily mean you need to eat lots of meat. There’s lots of meat free options for getting protein in your body. Here’s some of my favorite ones:
Soya. Soy based products like soy milk and yogurts are high in protein and low in nasty things like saturated fats etc. Soy is also very good for lots of other health related issues and is particularly good for women going through menopause.
Beans and Lentils. These are not just foods for vegetarians or vegans. They are an excellent source of protein and being vegetarian they are very healthy too being low in saturated fats.
Quinoa. This is very popular as it’s classed as a “super food”, and for good reason too. It is a complete protein which means it has all the essential amino acids. Try using it instead of rice on Indian or Chinese dishes, or just serve it with roasted vegeatbles.
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At this time of year there’s lots of tips on how to lose weight – a quick look at the magazine shelf in your local supermarket will no doubt reveal he latest “celebrity weight loss tips”, so it’s no wonder we struggle to lose weight with so many conflicting tips about how to lose weight fast.
The problem is we all want to lose weight fast – today, this week , this month – not spend the rest of our lives on a diet. But we must accept that to lose weight and be able to keep it off for good takes a little time to learn how to lose weight successfully. I want to share with you my tips on how to lose weight fast and how to prepare yourself for the weight loss journey – which will mean you’re far more likely to achieve your goal and maintain it.
Apart from looking great when you’re lost weight, you will also start to feel great too. There’s nothing better than having lost 10 pounds to make you feel like a million dollars. And that “feel good factor” will have a positive impact on all areas of your life.
So lets get down to my tips on how to lose weight fast and permanently.
If you’re eating more calories than you’re burning off you will be fat – and keeping gaining too. It’s very simple – if you want to lose weight you must burn off more calories than you eat. This is how you reduce your fat cells. If your body is not getting all the energy it needs from food each day it will start burning off stored energy from your muscles and fat cells. Make sure you eat enough healthy protein (fish, eggs, white meat etc) so that your body doesn’t attack it’s protein reserves (your muscles) and only attacks it’s fat reserves.
Don’t start a restrictive diet – they don’t work. Your body has a natural instinct to survive. If you starve it will win in the end – and that’s when you start to make bad food choices like cakes, biscuits, sweets etc. Eat lots of healthy food so you’re not hungry, but make sure you burn it off. In fact, if you do start to starve your body, it will automatically start to store up every bit of fat it gets, because it’s thinking food is scarce so it needs to store it all!
Eat plenty of fresh fruits and veg. Cut down on red meat. Chicken, turkey and fish is fine. Drink lots of water – the vast majority of people (not just dieters) don’t drink nearly enough water – 2 liters is a day is your target. As most people are dehydrated (without realizing it) they mistake their body’s cry for water as hunger pangs, so they eat something when what their body really needs is water.
You’ve probably noticed that these tips on how to lose weight focus on long term lifestyle choices not some short term fast weight loss diet plan. You can lose weight quickly if you do it the healthy way.
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Looking for some easy ways to lose weight? Here’s ten simple easy ways to lose weight that can help you start losing weight from today – but before we get started, a word of caution. Stay away from the fad and quick weight loss diet programs that promise effortless weight loss. Unfortunately most of these plans promise lots but deliver very little. And worse still could actually end up damaging your health.
There are lots of different weight loss tips that can help you lose weight quick, but not many of them tech you how to keep the weight off once you’ve lost it. These easy ways to lose weight are simple tips that can help you lose weight now and teach you how to keep it off for good.
OK – enough of the soap box – here’s my ten easy ways to lose weight:
- Eat breakfast – everyday. Gets you metabolism going and stops you from getting hungry mid morning and making unhealthy snack choices.
- Always have vegetables or salad with lunch and dinner.
- Drop the snack bars and gave fruit or veggies instead.
- Replace full fat food and drinks with reduce fat versions – but don’t go for “diet” versions. The sales of diet drinks is increasing all the time and is pretty much parallel to the increase in obesity!
- Drop refined foods (like white bread, white pasta etc) and opt for wholegrain alternatives instead.
- Buy smaller plates so that you automatically reduce portion sizes.
- Slow you eating and chew your food more – when you feel satisfied stop eating – don’t keep going till you’re stuffed full.
- Only eat when you’re hungry – not when you feel you need a “reward” or some emotional gratification. If you’re not feeling hunger pangs, don’t eat.
- Cut out any sweetened and diet drinks and replace with water – and aim to drink a couple of liters a day. Build up to it if necessary but get there.
- Don’t eat evening meals in front of the TV. Sit at the dining table with your family/partner/friends/radio. No TV.
Ten easy ways to lose weight and keep it off – you will lose weight quickly if you stick with these weight loss tips, and you will keep if off if you incorporate them into your lifestyle too.
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