Cut Calories With Ease: 10 Old Fashioned Weight Loss Tips and Tricks to Fix Your Diet
1. Take a DEXA Scan
The DEXA scan is a far more accurate way to measure your body fat, compared to an old fashioned skin caliper. Basically a DEXA scan is a type of x-ray that can measure the composition of your body. DEXA scans are mainly used to analyze for bone problems but you can also use a DEXA scan to gauge what your body fat percentile is. Everyone's frame is different and knowing your exact body fat percentile can help you to find out if you're healthy or not. If you're thinking about going on a diet or weight loss plan, you may want to consider getting a DEXA scan as a first step to see where you stand.
Many people have odd perceptions of their own bodies (some skinny people believe they are fat for some reason, and vice versa) so it helps to have some objective evidence. If you have health insurance, you may be able to get your insurance company to cover the expenses if you're clinically overweight or if you are at risk for osteoporosis. Even if you have to foot the bill yourself, a DEXA scan will cost you $100 or less. If you can afford that, it may be worth your while to get scanned.
2. Get More Sleep
Losing weight isn't all about sweat. Getting a few extra winks every night will help you lose weight. If you're tired, your body will urge you to eat more sugars and carbs in order to obtain more energy. Many Americans suffer from lack of sleep, and many experts have theorized that this may be one of the main reasons why America is one of the fattest countries in the world.
3. Eat Negative Calorie Foods
Grapefruit, broccoli, celery, cabbage and lemon are all considered to be negative calorie foods. Negative calorie foods are usually rich in nutrients and supposedly force your body to burn more calories during the digestion process than they contain. Though some experts have questioned whether or not negative calorie foods truly cause people to burn more than they cost in calories, the fact remains that eating fruits and vegetables is a good idea. Negative calorie foods often contain large amounts of fiber, which will help you feel full. Nobody ever became obese from developing a cabbage eating problem-- so go ahead and indulge.
4. Stay Active
Living a sedentary lifestyle will cause your body to shut down. If you have a job that requires you to sit down for eight hours, take a break every now and then and at least go walk around. Even if you don't have time to hit the gym, adding additional activity to your daily routine will help. Ideally you'll want to do some vigorous exercises multiple times throughout the day to keep the metabolism in peak condition. Recent studies have questioned whether or not a mere 30 minutes of physical activity per day is healthy or not. Get creative and find ways to make your body work. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park a few blocks down from the office where you work.
5. Drink Water
Staying hydrated should be an integral part of any weight loss strategy. Your body is largely composed of water. Often, those who feel hungry are actually thirsty. The next time you feel hungry, drink a bottle of water and see how your body reacts.
Staying lubricated will also help flush out any germs residing in your body. Extra glasses of water can help you recover from colds, urinary tract infections or almost any other type of infectious disease.
6. Don't Drink Diet Soda
Recent studies have suggested that there may be a link between diet soda and obesity. Experts believe that ingesting the artificial sweeteners contained in diet soda may cause future cravings for sugary foods and candy. Also, carbonated beverages tend to dry out the body. Substitute moderate amounts of juice for diet soda to satisfy your cravings for sweet drinks. Just make sure that you drink juices labeled as 100% juice products. Oftentimes, manufacturers will add sugar to drinks in order to make them more desirable and addictive.
7. Kick the "Eat All Day" Habit
In the early 2000s, people thought that eating several small meals throughout the day would help maintain an active metabolism. That's wrong.
Snacking all day long could ruin your diet. Here are the results of some follow up research that was done on the "snack all day" fad:
- Snacking all day does not improve metabolism
- Snacking all day does not curb appetite (it encourages overeating)
- Snacking all day does not help diabetes
- Snacking all day does not help build muscle mass
Read more about how we went wrong in the early 2000s with this fad diet here.
With that being said, don't starve yourself. Starving your body will cause your body to go into alert mode and shutdown. If that happens, your body will convert any incoming carbs directly into fat. You'll also feel lethargic and irritable.
8. Change Your Drinking Habits
Alcohol and unhealthy food is a bad combo. If you do drink, try to avoid eating and stay away from beer and wine. Beer and wine contain extra calories. Low calorie liquors like gin or vodka are a better choice because they contain barely any calories.
Oh so you like breakfast, eh?
If you enjoy kicking off your day with a delicious breakfast meal, then you're going to love this:
9. Never Skip Breakfast
I mentioned above that you should be eating small meals throughout the day if you're on a diet. If you do miss a meal, though, don't let it be breakfast. A recent study has shown that people who skip breakfast are more likely to become obese. Also, if you consume most of your calories earlier in the day you have a better chance of burning them off.
10. Add Spice
Spicy meals improve the metabolism. Capsaicin, which is found in many types of peppers, raises the body temperature. You're also going to feel full after eating spicy food-- probably because you'll also be drinking plenty of water with it. Besides helping you lose weight, spicy food also has other healthy side effects. It thins the blood, which improves blood pressure and reduces risks of blood clots throughout the circulatory system. If you don't like pepper, ginger and cinnamon have similar thermogenic effects on the body.
A delicious, healthy snack!
Thanks for reading!
If you liked this hub, check this one out: A quick, easy, healthy... and CHEAP pineapple treat
References
- Chili Heat Map
- Breakfast and Obesity (Study from NCBI)
PubMed comprises more than 22 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites. - Calorie Listing for Alcoholic Beverages
- Does Eating Many Small Meals Help You Lose Weight? (Both Sides of the Story)
Eating small meals each day stimulates your metabolism, keeping it going at a faster pace and thereby burning more calories. - Diet Soda and Obesity
- Urine Color and Hydration Levels Image
- Body Weight and Life Expectancy
- Negative Calorie Food List
- Sleep Disorders and Obesity Chart
- Example DEXA Scan