Weight Loss Tips To Help You Lose Weight.
With so many bogus weight loss tips out there, counting calories and managing food group portions in an attempt to lose weight is sometimes both overwhelming and confusing. Some factors affecting a person’s ability to shift weight may include age, sex, fitness levels and pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes, asthma, arthritis or thyroid problems. While there are many contributing factors affecting the weight of an individual, weight loss does not need to be time consuming or expensive.
Healthy eating habits offer many health benefits in addition to giving your body the best opportunity for weight loss. Below are the top 10 inexpensive and easy weight loss tips that can help get your body on the right path for weight loss. By making a few simple shifts to your daily eating habits you can be on your way to feeling healthier and losing weight.
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Plan Your Meals
Planning all your daily meals and snacks for the day will stop you from impulse buying or opting for take away meals as a quick fix. To avoid those last minute trips to the vending machine at work try to have a few ’emergency’ snack packs such as nuts or dried fruit ready to go in your office drawer.
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Eat Oats
No matter what else you do with your diet for the rest of the day, eating oats in the morning has numerous benefits. Oats fill you up, give you energy and give your metabolism a great boost for the entire day. Feeling fuller in the morning will also stop you from over eating later in the day.
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Don’t Skip Meals
Skipping meals will reduce your metabolism and place your body into fat storing mode, making it even harder to lose weight. When your body’s metabolism is altered it often requires a lot of effort to return it to a normal level, so try never to skip meals. Keep some quick meals handy for when you are time poor and keep some emergency high-protein snacks ready to ‘replace’ a meal if you are caught on the hop.
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Drink Water
Thirst due to dehydration is often mistaken for hunger. Try to consume 8 glasses of water per day at least. If you think you feel hungry, have a glass of water then allow yourself to have snack afterwards if you still feel the urge. This way even if you do eat you are less likely to gorge yourself with a glass of water already sitting in your stomach. For this reason you should also drink a glass of water before or during meals.
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Mind Your Plate Size
Check your usual plate size. Most people tend to fill their plate and are tempted to finish everything on the plate rather than stopping when they are full. For most people, a 9 inch plate is an ideal size for the average meal.
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Avoid Packaged Foods
In addition to containing extra salt, sugar and fats to make them tastier, most packaged foods also consist of a high number of preservatives and additives that the body can have difficulty processing. Unprocessed foods such as fruit, vegetables and meat are all more readily processed by the body and are less likely to result in the storage of excess fat or toxins.
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Eat Smart
Even if you don’t like to use the word ‘diet’, integrating a few healthy eating habits can be a significant step towards losing weight. Snack on nuts and enjoy healthy fats found in foods such as olives, salmon and avocado. Roast, bake steam, poach, braise or boil your food rather than frying it and swap heavy breads for pita bread or wraps.
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Grocery Shopping Traps
Many understand that it is not a good idea to shop when you are hungry as you are more inclined to purchase extra snacks and ‘treats’. Always shop from a list and never deviate from this list, regardless of the specials. It’s also a great idea to set yourself a time limit for your regular grocery shop. This way you will be less likely to browse through isles that you don’t need to and you will be more likely to stick to the necessary isles such as the fresh food sections.
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Walk Before Meals
Light exercise just before meals will physically make you feel less hungry to help reduce the risk of overeating. Walking also has a positive psychological effect, making you feel better about your fitness efforts and motivating you to continue to eat healthy.
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Meditate
Stress of any kind will make your body crave carbohydrates. By reducing stress through meditation or other relaxation techniques you will reduce cravings.
In summary, adopting healthy eating habits is a fantastic step towards weight loss. Healthy eating habits together with a sensible exercise plan can not only help you lose weight but will also improve your general health, make you look better and give you more energy. Following some simple and easy weight loss tips such as those listed above is a great start to healthier eating no matter which weight loss program you decide is right for you. Weight loss can be a difficult journey for some and can involve many aspects of your health. To discuss the best path of weight loss based on your current health status be sure to make an appointment with your local doctor or dietitian.