Millions of people around the world are plagued with obesity. Weight loss has been a constant discussion in the United States for years, pushed along by the need for men and women to reach a healthier weight. Everyone wants to find simple and effective ways to improve their body, but any online search can be somewhat overwhelming.
Top 36 Ways to Shed Unwanted Weight
In this list, anyone can find quite an array of suggestions to ensure that they can get the support they need to lose weight.
Reduce Your Food Intake
Many so-called experts in the weight loss industry think they know the hidden key to improving weight loss. Some people write books that sell thousands of copies or create websites with tips that have no evidence that they will work. The fact is, weight loss is not a complicated process. The key is to burn more calories than the body consumes. Inherently, this means that someone who is overweight or obese needs to reduce what they eat.
However, that leaves a lot of room for error and clarification. Eliminating half of the food that someone eats during the day simply will create an unrealistic change that won’t continue after the initial weight loss. It is essential to find the foods causing the worst reaction in the body but starting with a little less food in your daily diet is one step towards correction. From there, it is easy to integrate other habits.
Add a Little Aerobics to Your Day
The popularity of aerobics may have come and gone through the decades, but the fact remains that the right kind of exercise can make a big difference. It first became popular in the 1980s, bringing forth exaggerated colors and workout outfits about the decade it became known for. While many people thought that the trendy exercise would eventually fade, the health benefits have not.
Burning more calories than the body consumes isn’t just a change made with consumers’ foods. By increasing the number of calories that the body burns, the deficit can also be created. Realistically, no one should be going out to get junk food right after an aerobic workout if they want to lose weight. However, having a diet that is balanced and healthy with a workout routine could be helpful.
Reach for Those Hand Weights
A workout shouldn’t exclusively be cardiovascular routines; incorporating some weight can also be helpful. Some people may think it is unproductive to build up the muscles if they are trying to lose weight, but it is also incredibly effective. Muscle burns more calories after a workout than a strictly cardiovascular exercise does. By building up lean muscles, consumers keep burning through those calories long after they’re done with the routine.
Even if users only engage in 30 minutes of weight training every week, it can be helpful to keep off the extra weight. Compound lifts like squats and deadlifts are much more effective than bicep curls, making sure to incorporate suitable weight training techniques to lose weight.
Try the Keto Diet
The keto diet is one of the most popular eating regimens today, focusing on eating low carbohydrates (or none at all). The scientific evidence behind this change cannot be ignored since it was initially developed to help children suffering from epilepsy. However, after the Second World War, it lost its place to the anti-seizure medications launched at the time. The concept is relatively easy to follow – restrict carbohydrates to no more than 30 grams daily. While it may seem simple, many people struggle to make the sacrifice.
Taking on a carbohydrate-free diet does not instantly reduce the weight of the body. These diets work because it forces the body into a ketosis process, which means that the digestive system seeks out fat as the source of energy instead of the carbohydrates. The transition can take a little while, and some people become fatigued during that time. The only downside about this diet is that going over the daily carb intake will instantly pull the body out of ketosis. To get the weight loss benefits again, users will have to restart the entire process.
Increase Your Metabolism
So far, all the options on the list show consumers some way of boosting their metabolism. The metabolism determines how quickly the body converts the food consumed into usable energy. Individuals that tend to have a faster metabolism often are much slimmer, allowing them to eat constantly without any damage to their weight freely. However, individuals that do not have the same rate suffer from issues in maintaining a healthy body.
Most efforts to reduce the user’s weight have some way of improving the speed of the metabolism. Whether it is aerobic exercise, running, or going for a ride on a bike, all of these changes will improve how the body uses nutrients. By using the nutrients more efficiently, it does not get stored as extra fats on the body.
Write Down What You Eat
Keeping a record of what is eaten each day establishes an accountable way consumers can be honest about what they’re putting into their bodies. Most people have such a busy day that they don’t think about every snack or meal they have, but they all add excessive calories to the body. Even simply tracking the water that someone drinks makes them more aware of what they are doing. It leaves no room for hiding the different food that may not be as good for the body.
Even for individuals that don’t like the idea of keeping a journal, there are many different apps online nowadays that consumers can download straight to their phone to help them record it. Some of these apps will show the nutritional value of the food consumed, while others show the portions instead. Being confronted with what goes into the body is an excellent way to keep a healthy body and good conscience.
Get Rid of the Extra Sugar
Sugar is one of the most addictive substances that are legally available to consumers today. On average, most Americans consume more than 20 grams of sugar each day, which may seem like a low amount. However, by consuming more than that, a process called lipogenesis causes sugar to be stored as extra fat. Consumers who want to lose weight should reduce the amount of sugar they put into their bodies.
Consuming too much sugar regularly can also lead the body to become resistant to the release of insulin. This resistance can then lead to type 2 diabetes rather quickly. Instead, seek out drinks and treats with less sugar to prevent health problems down the road and to lose weight now.
Don’t Skip Your Workouts
No matter what kind of change that someone makes in their routine, consistency is necessary. Lifting weights and working out are both excellent ways to improve metabolism and lose weight. However, if an individual decides they will work out one day and then take a break of 10 days before they do their next routine, they won’t likely get all the benefits that they could be. Optimally, consumers should be engaging in workouts at least three times a week to get the results they need.
Furthermore, establish the correct posture when doing lifting and muscle-building routines. It helps activate more muscles and promotes further muscle growth. Plus, it will prevent injury more effectively.
Invest in a Good Bicycle
Even though it might be a little faster to go from place to place by car, the bicycle is still one of the most popular forms of transportation today. It engages many muscles simultaneously, and it gets consumers where they need to go with more pads available than a car.
Taking a bike somewhere is much more cost-efficient, considering there’s no gas to pay or parking tolls. However, one of the main benefits is that it can help with how the body burns fat. Individuals that ride a bike regularly often have a healthier heart, a reduced risk of diabetes, and even a better mood. This form of exercise is also more helpful to individuals who want to promote better strength through the natural incline and decline of the roads they travel on. Many models are available today to help consumers find the bike that works most effectively for their needs.
Don’t Super-Size Your Portions
While it is essential to consider the types of food that anyone adds to their diet, the amount of food can also make a big difference. It doesn’t matter if someone is eating a healthy meal if they eat far too much of it. If someone is eating from a bag of potato chips or a pizza box, it is very easy not to pay attention to how much is consumed. However, portion control is necessary for anyone that wants to lose weight.
Consider dividing up a plate into four sections – use two of those sections for vegetables, one section for a serving of lean meats, and one section for a serving of starch. Furthermore, when the meal is over, do not indulge in second helpings. This will help users lose weight by controlling how much they eat without sacrificing the foods they enjoy constantly.
Lace-Up Your Jogging Shoes
Aerobics and riding a bike are both excellent ways to get some physical activity each day. However, if these routines simply aren’t interesting to the user, it may be good to lace up some sneakers and start jogging. Many people swear by the benefits that running offers, mainly because it is an excellent way to promote weight loss.
Running helps to reduce the amount of a particular hormone called ghrelin. Grilling helps regulate the appetite, but the suppression of the hormone makes it easier to control cravings. By handling these urges, consumers can take advantage of their willpower to overcome the foods that once had a hold on them.
Add More Protein to Your Diet
Protein is one of the building blocks of building muscle, which means consumers need to integrate it if they are going through any kind of resistance training or weight loss efforts. Even though it helps create larger muscles, they also help maintain the muscle mass that consumers already have when trying to lose weight.
Consuming the right amount of protein can reduce the risk of high blood pressure and keep the appetite under control. The body takes longer to digest protein than other nutrients, allowing the user to feel fuller for longer. Lean meat helps keep the number of calories consumers take in under control, and it is a much better source of long-term energy than carbohydrates.
Lay Off the Beer
Most people that enjoy a beer at the end of their day tend to drink it more often than they drink other beverages. When consumers consider how many calories are included in just a single bottle of beer, it is easy to see how quickly the calories add up. Even drinking a six-pack of beers during a party would exceed the average calories that the individual needs each day. Each of those extra calories goes towards the stored fat in the body, which is why it has become so common that consumers that drink a lot of beer end up with an excess amount of weight along their stomach.
Drinking beer doesn’t exactly lead to the best food choices either. Anyone who wants to lose weight should be including more vegetables and lean proteins in their diet, rather than filling it with another cold one.
Drink More Water
Whether someone is working to lose weight or simply wants to maintain a healthy lifestyle, water has to be a part of it. Drinking water can help fill up the stomach before a meal to reduce the amount of food they will eat during it, but it can also improve the digestive process. No matter how consumers tend to use it, the health benefits of drinking water regularly are beneficial.
Many people swear by the use of water as a way to keep them from indulging in the foods that they shouldn’t, but there are ways that the scientific community is still studying the impact. Regardless, water should be a necessary part of every person’s routine to help them stay healthy and hydrated.
Trash Your Junk Food Stash
Though many people have difficulty parting with the foods they love, junk food is one category that cannot stay around if someone is trying to get in shape. This type of food is often overloaded with carbohydrates and oil, providing very little nutritional value at all. The body cannot process it in the same way that it would process lean meats or vegetables because the composition is entirely different.
The amount of energy used to handle processed foods is about half what it needs to digest foods like fruits and vegetables. Ultimately, the nutrients that do not get used as energy from junk food are much more likely to become the extra stored fat on the body that consumers are working to eliminate in the first place.
Leave Low-Fat Foods Alone
Even though low-fat food was once marketed as a diet-friendly alternative years ago, it doesn’t help consumers lose weight. Low-fat foods have to come up with a flavor profile somewhere, and companies often add more sugar to these foods as a result. By adding more sugar, the food isn’t as healthy as one might want to believe, making it even more challenging to lose weight with these foods. Plus, fat isn’t altogether unhealthy.
As mentioned above, consuming more than the recommended amount of sugar each day simply becomes stored fat, ultimately nullifying the reason to consume a low-fat treat in the first place.
Get More Sleep
A healthy amount of sleep is essential to ensuring that the entire body works in the way it should. When the body does not get enough rest, the brain turns to food to get more energy. Therefore, depriving the body of sleep ends up adding far more calories to the body than necessary. People who sleep less at night tend to have more significant cravings for carbohydrates during the day, but the energy supply never balances out. Plus, tired people don’t tend to make the healthiest of choices.
Most research suggests that at least 7 hours of sleep is optimal. Without getting enough sleep, it is possible that the body does not produce the same amount of leptin as it should. Leptin is a hormone that is specifically meant to regulate appetite.
Regularly Check Your Weight
Much like using a food Journal, constantly being aware of how much the body weighs holds the individual accountable for what they are doing in their diet. It won’t increase the number of calories that consumers use for their energy, and it won’t make them feel satiated from their meals. However, by drawing attention to steady weight gain, consumers can change what they’re doing in their routine before the damage becomes unruly. Even waiting a few weeks to weigh in could result in many pounds gained without even knowing it.
Be Informed About the Foods You Eat
While it is already a difficult circumstance to shed weight, finding out what is in the foods that the average person consumes is even more critical. It is easy to know what goes into a salad or a main course prepared by the individual but packaged and processed food tends to hide a lot of information in plain sight. The label of the chosen food may say that the product is natural, but there can also still be a lot of sugar and calories.
This type of food is also high in sodium as a way to preserve nutrients. Make sure to check the label for any information that may deter from the purchase of the food. Fresh food is always the easiest for the body to handle and the simplest source of energy.
Stop Yo-Yo Dieting
Just like consumers need to be consistent in their exercise routine, the diet has to be consistent. When someone takes on a new diet, it can take a while before they see the results of their hard labor, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to quit. Far too many people are obsessed with the idea of instant gratification, hoping they see the scale move after just a day or two of their eating changes. Realistically, these types of results take time. When taking on a new diet, stick with it for the recommended amount of time before making a change.
Going back and forth when dieting can be taxing on the body, putting it in a position forces the digestive process to hold onto as much weight as possible. Plus, without a consistent dietary plan, the results will not occur nearly as efficiently. Once an individual makes a plan, stick with it. Going from one trend to the next will only lead to disappointment.
Ditch High-Stress Situations
Stress is another problem that can happen to people today. There are so many different problems in the world that can cause stress. Sometimes, the stress comes directly from the normal parts of an individual’s life. However, stress brings on the production of cortisol, which is a hormone that can impede metabolism. Even if someone is doing a good job outwardly handling the stress, that doesn’t mean that they’re not suffering the consequences inside.
Stress can lead to weight gain, primarily because the body will go towards foods and other bad habits to find solace and soothing in the presence of cortisol. Find natural ways to alleviate the stress with meditation, more exercise, and other healthy habits to reduce the risk of further weight gain.
Add More Fiber
Fiber is essential to the health of any person. Along with the satiety it gives consumers in the foods they eat, fiber is also crucial to the digestion of food. It keeps blood sugar levels where they should be, reducing the risk of cravings and excessive hunger. It keeps the digestive tract clean to allow the body to absorb more nutrients through the gut. Plus, it reduces the harmful cholesterol that can build up in the arteries.
Embrace Cheat Day (But Don’t Overdo It!)
Even though most of this list focuses on positively impacting the body, constant strictness isn’t altogether helpful either. Deprivation will only lead to resentment, and ultimately a significant correction is the balance of the body. Any healthy person needs to have the chance to indulge in the foods that they like, as long as they do it within moderation. If an individual is primarily eating healthfully, it may be beneficial to work in a day to “cheat” on a diet.
One of the most famous healthy people in Hollywood today is Dwayne Johnson, and he constantly posts to social media about his cheat days. With 260 pounds of muscle on his frame, it is clear that his scheduled cheat days are not impeding his progress.
Take the Scenic Route
There are many active ways that consumers can incorporate physical activity into their daily routine with aerobic exercise and muscle training. However, it is just as helpful to regularly opt for the more active method of transportation from one place to the next. With the constant attention around fast food and the indulgence of sitting at a computer on a lazy day, individuals have to beat their obesity actively with movement.
There are simple choices that consumers can make to keep themselves moving. For instance, if there is a choice between stairs or an elevator, take an extra few minutes to walk up the stairs. Instead of parking at one of the first spots in front of a store, park towards the back to take a few extra steps. It is a little change like these that will tell the body to actively focus on energy needs.
Brush Your Teeth Regularly
Most people don’t relate dental care to weight loss, but it has an interesting correlation. Statistically, most people are less likely to have another meal soon if they have recently brushed their teeth. It is unclear if this is because of the taste of toothpaste with another food, or perhaps it is more about the idea of getting the teeth dirty again. Either way, it seems to be effective for some people.
In Japan, researchers conducted a study regarding how brushing the teeth impacts the rest of the body. Men who engaged in brushing their teeth at least a few times a day or noticeably thinner than the men who didn’t. Perhaps this is just a preference, but it is worth giving a shot to consume less food during the day.
Pay for Your Snacks in Cash
Choosing to pay for certain things in cash is another way to be accountable for how consumers use certain foods. Cash forces the spender to limit their purchase to no more than what they have the cash for. Spending money on a credit card or debit card is much easier, considering that consumers aren’t constantly faced with the balance available to them. When running to the store for a candy bar or a bottle of soda, taking out a card to pay is incredibly easy to do. However, the idea is that consumers will inherently spend less by being more aware of the cash available. Indulging in an unhealthy appetite becomes just as costly as using money that could be better spent elsewhere.
Forgo the Dessert Menu
Whether someone is going out to have dinner with friends or simply enjoying dinner at home one night, dessert doesn’t always have to be on the menu. The main meal that somebody orders should be enough to have fullness and a satisfied appetite. Even though it may be tempting to order a slice of New York-style cheesecake with sauce or whipped cream topping it, that is not something that the waistline will be grateful for. Even a simple denial of this dessert makes a difference later on.
For a bit of perspective, one typical slice of cheesecake is over 500 calories. If the meal that was ordered is even 800 or 900 calories, then adding dessert would mean that an individual has consumed over half of the calories they need in their day within a matter of two hours. There will not be enough time for the metabolism to handle that much food without at least a good chunk of it going to the stored fat on the body. Even though dessert is good to have in moderation, consider the rest of the meal before choosing it.
Salad Dressing, Be Gone!
Salad dressing is another example of a small addition causing a big problem. Even a few tablespoons of salad dressing adds up to 200 calories and a dish that would otherwise have almost none. Most people think salad is inherently healthy because of all the vegetables, and it is. However, dressing has many hidden calories in just a tiny amount. Between dessert, the main course, and a salad that is drenched in dressing, consumers may as well just have indulged in an entire cake on their own for dinner instead.
Weight loss is not about depriving the body of everything that it loves. Most of the time, it is just a matter of using common sense to properly balance the body.
Chew Every Bite Thoroughly
Chewing your food may seem like an elementary idea, even though many parents have told their children to make sure they finish chewing before the next bite. Surprisingly, the simple act of remembering The Chew food entirely has many benefits. Savoring these flavors makes them last longer, giving the brain more time to catch up on the full feeling consumers feel at the end of the meal. Chewing also helps the digestive process because the stomach acid and the GI tract do not have to work as hard to break down the food consumers eat.
The reason that chewing is so helpful to weight loss can be credited to another Japanese study. In the study, researchers discovered that eating quickly caused consumers to gain more weight than if they took their time to chew through their food and enjoy the meal. The brain takes a while before receiving the signal that the stomach is full, regardless of how long a meal takes. If an individual rushes through their meal, they will consume far more calories before the brain even gets a signal to stop eating. Take the extra time and put away the leftovers if it means less fat will be stored at the end of a meal.
Cook at Home More Often
Though it may be nice to go out for a meal every once in a while, it shouldn’t be the automatic decision every day to do so. Restaurants want to make sure that every single bite is decadent and delicious, which is why many of the dishes are loaded with oil, butter, fat, sugar, salt, and all of the other components they can add. Most people don’t know the entire recipe that goes into the prepared foods, and the taste buds simply want more.
This entire concept goes back to the idea of knowing what goes into the food consumed. Cooking at home gives consumers more control over the extra ingredients that go into their meals. With fewer preservatives and unnecessary flavor boosters, consumers can simply focus on what is nutritious instead.
Choose Yogurt for a Sweet Treat
Dessert can be a difficult habit to kick, especially for individuals who love treats like ice cream. Avoiding it entirely is one of the best ways to improve their health, but it is not fair to have to give up a sweet treat forever. There’s no way to deny how delicious it may be, but there are alternatives that can be more effective in helping the body lose weight. Rather than reaching for a pint of ice cream, consider the taste of frozen yogurt.
Frozen yogurt has 2/3 of the calories that ice cream does and less than half of the amount of fat. Even though it may seem like a minimal difference between the two, the gap can significantly increase over time.
Change Your Plates
Even the plates that consumers eat off of can influence how much they ingest. This trick is more of a matter of tricking the mind rather than tricking the stomach. Rather than keeping the big plates that consumers enjoy filling up to the edge, consider choosing smaller plates instead. A serving that would look small on a large plate will look large on a big plate, giving the brain the impression that the body is getting much more food. For many people, this method is highly effective, though the scientific evidence is slightly lacking.
Even if it is not a proven way to consume less food, it can be helpful to individuals who want to get the impression that they’re still indulging, even if they are not.
Don’t Give in To the Buffet
Most people that enjoy the flavor of the food that they consume love the idea of going somewhere where they are not restricted in the amount of food that they are allowed to adjust. Any restaurant with a menu has a specific meal that consumers can order, but an all-you-can-eat buffet gives consumers freedom that is not afforded in other settings.
Even though individuals who go into this type of setting can tell themselves that they will only eat a certain amount, the temptation can prove overwhelming for others. Consumers don’t have to sacrifice the indulgence of a good social hour with their friends if they choose a pre-portioned meal instead.
Add a Probiotic Supplement to Your Diet
One of the essential parts of the body for digestion is the gut microbiome. The environment within the gut is filled with healthy bacteria that break down the nutrients and allow them to absorb into the body more efficiently. Unfortunately, consuming the wrong foods for years can damage this environment, blocking the intestines and preventing the body from actually reaping the benefits of a good diet.
Rather than indulging in a tonic or a cleanse, adding a probiotic supplement to the diet is a much easier change. These supplements fill the body with the bacteria that it needs for proper digestion. Still, they also eradicate the buildup of toxic bacteria from junk food and other unhealthy choices.
Consider Gastric Band Surgery
If all of these options simply do not work for the individual trying to lose weight, a more permanent solution may be needed. Gastric band surgery is for individuals who don’t have the luxury of time and patience to see the weight come off. Surgery should never be the first step towards weight loss, but some people may not reach their goals without this type of intervention.
Gastric band surgery is a process that involves placing a band around the upper part of the stomach. This band then creates a pouch that fills quickly, causing the user to fill their stomach much faster and with less food, the idea is that it will force the body to only consume a certain amount of food, creating the initial deficit discussed in the first item on this list.
Choose A Weight Loss Surgery That Works for You
Gastric band surgery is hardly the only weight loss procedure available. Many different options can be discussed with the doctor to determine the best way for consumers to shed extra weight. Intragastric balloons, gastric bypass, and a gastric sleeve are examples of ways to restrict the number of calories being added to the body. They all involve different ways to separate the upper stomach, but these are all procedures that should be discussed with the doctor before using them.
Though it may be tempting to seek out liposuction as a way to bypass the need for dietary changes, individuals that do not make healthier choices will be doomed to repeat this procedure over and over. The only way to truly have a healthy body is to make healthy choices, requiring a bit of willpower to do it.
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Disclaimer:
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