Whether your aim to lose weight comes from wanting to live a healthier lifestyle or you are wanting to lose weight in order to reduce your current state of being overweight, it is important that you establish the healthiest way to do so.
Ways to lose weight fast, but effectively!
When we decide that we would like to lose weight, we often want to do it as quickly as possible in order to achieve results as quickly as we can. It is important that weight loss is considered to be a journey. Losing weight involves a lifestyle change that is much more than just weight loss.
Firstly, when we think of losing weight, we often feel that this makes us healthier. However, it is important that along with maintaining a healthy weight, we remove the ideal that flat stomachs automatically mean we are healthy. Weight loss can be achieved through a healthy means of lifestyle changes and, if anything, this is the best way to lose weight.
When we lose weight quickly, it can cause an array of health issues, such as:
Health Risks
When your body is low in leptin, which is a protein that is produced by fat cells that are responsible for regulating appetite and fat storage, it can be damaging. If you are not getting the right amount of calories and you are eating substantially less than you should be, your bodies natural response will start to break down muscle for energy, resulting in a loss of muscle mass.
Another side effect of adopting a low-calorie diet is the effects that your body experiences when you do not get the essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals that you need to stay healthy. They can result in:
- The suppression of your immune system causes a lack of response in its protection of us against bacteria, viruses and other infections
- Poor skin, such as an increase in acne
- Mineral deficiency that leads to cramping, fatigue, irregular heartbeat, weakness, diarrhoea, loss of appetite and vomiting
In cases left untreated, this can lead to long term health conditions. Therefore, it is important that weight loss is done effectively. Another issue with quick weight loss is the likeliness that you are going to experience an increase in your weight. This is because no changes have been made to your lifestyle permanently, and once you have reached your goal weight, the consequences of going back to your old lifestyle and eating habits will cause the weight to be put back on.
Below, we have outlined some of the most effective ways that you are able to lose weight quickly, but efficiently.
1. Eat Healthier
Eating healthier is the best way to aid weight loss. This can be done by exchanging the unhealthy options in your current diet and finding a healthier alternative. Try adding more fruits and vegetables into your diet in place of processed snacks and sugary treats. Eating healthier also has wider benefits, such as providing you with more energy to exercise. Fruit and vegetables are full of vitamins and minerals and these are great for weight loss.
Tips to eat healthily:
- Eat starchy carbohydrates. This should make up around a third of your daily intake. Foods such as pasta, potatoes, bread, rice and pasta when in the form of wholegrain, contain fibre and this helps to keep us fuller for much longer.
- 5 a day. Try to increase your fruit and vegetable intake by consuming 5 a day. This can be fresh, frozen, canned, dried or juiced.
- Eat fish. Eating fish can help us to get the vitamins and minerals that we may be lacking. NHS suggests eating 2 portions of fish and one portion of oily fish a week. Some types of fish to try are salmon (oily), trout (oily), mackerel (oily), haddock (non-oily), cod (non-oily), and tuna (non-oily).
- Cut down on saturated fats. You do need some fat in your diet, but consuming too much saturated fats can lead to problems such as heart disease. Some foods high in saturated fats are sausages, butter, cakes, biscuits and pies.
- Cut down on sugar. Consuming too much sugar, either through foods or drinks can be a cause of obesity. Try to stay away from items such as fizzy drinks, cakes, sweets, chocolate and alcohol.
- Eat less salt. Aim to eat no more than 6g of salt (for an adult) per day.
2. Exercise Regularly
Exercising regularly can help you to control your weight and maintain a healthy weight loss. This is because regular exercise will help you to burn calories. You do not need to charter time out of your day in order to make time for exercise. There are some simple tips that you can try in order to increase your daily exercise.
- Take the stairs instead of using a lift. If you are working where there is a lift and you are not on the ground floor, swap your daily use of the lift to a walk up the stairs. If you live in a flat/apartment, take the stairs. In any area where you are required to take the lift, always try to find the stairs and use those instead.
- Walk instead of drive. If you are a driver and you are used to driving to most locations, try to walk to locations that are within walking distance. In any areas where you are able to walk, use this as a preferred method. If you take public transport, then get off a few stops earlier and walk the rest of the way. If you do wish to drive the entire way to work, try parking as far away from the entrance as possible.
- Carry items such as bags, coats, books and other items instead of using pull along carriers and other easier forms. This can increase strength (do this within reason and do not overstrain with items that are too heavy).
- Housework is a great way to get moving. Activities such as hoovering (Vacuuming), laundry, washing up, gardening, painting etc, are great ways to promote weight loss.
In addition to encouraging weight loss, regular exercise can increase mood, boost your energy and your self-esteem, whilst helping you to get a better night's sleep.
3. Eat at Regular Intervals
Eating at regular intervals can help you to burn calories at a much faster rate. You are less likely to snack during the day if you are eating at regular times. Our metabolism relates to the rate in which our body will burn the calories we consume, and when we are hungry, our body slows down the rate in which it burns calories. Therefore, not eating at regular intervals means that our calories are burned much slower, making it harder to lose weight.
Eating at a regular time each day can encourage a good routine, which is very beneficial for weight loss.
4. Drink Water
Drinking water can be beneficial for a wide scope of reasons, but in terms of weight loss, water is a natural appetite suppressant, meaning that when we misinterpret hunger for thirst, water can prevent us from choosing food to fulfil that space. Drinking water increases the ability to burn calories, Medical News Today suggests that 2-3% more calories are burned in 90 minutes after drinking 500ml of water.
Water is also helpful when removing waste from the body in its ability to aid the kidneys in filtering toxins. If you do not drink much water, you can become constipated, which leads to bloating and thus an increase in body weight.
Water is great for helping the prevention of calorie intake from sugary drinks, such as soda, juice, coffee and tea.
5. Portion Control
Portion control is a very important part to losing weight. When your portions are large, you are more than likely going to overeat, past the point of being full into an uncomfortable state of fulfilment in order to finish your food. The following tips can make portion control much easier.
- Use a small plate. Using a smaller plate can prevent us from doing large portions of food and this has shown that people are likely to eat less if there is less on their plate.
- Drink water before your meal. It is thought that drinking a glass of water, around 30 minutes before you eat can help to decrease the amount you eat. This is because the water takes up room in your stomach, making you more full.
- Eat slowly. Eating slower can cause the body to recognise it is full much quicker. It takes the body approximately 20 minutes to recognise that it is full, and as such eating quickly means we eat more than we need to feel full. By slowing down the rate you eat, we are more likely to recognise the feeling of being full after eating less.
- Measure your food. Measuring your food can be a good way to ensure that you are not overeating. Weighing food can help us to determine how much of a particular food we should be consuming on one particular setting.
Remove Junk Food from the House
When you do your weekly or monthly shop, remove any junk food or unhealthy items from the list and avoid buying them in-store. This stops us from eating them when we feel like snacking. If we leave the store without them, we cannot consume them. Alternatively, if you are new to your journey, throw away any unhealthy and sugary snacks rather than starting to eat healthy once they have already been consumed.
Shopping for a longer period of time, such as buying food to last and month or a week can stop us from visiting stores as often, meaning that we are less likely to face such temptations.
What to eat when losing weight
Whilst having all that in mind, it can be difficult to know exactly what we can eat when we are attempting to lose weight. Most foods are acceptable in moderation, but the foods listed below are some great products that can actually help the process of your weight loss making them a great food to eat when losing weight.
- Apples - Rich in fibre and antioxidants
- Kombucha - Rich in probiotics
- Chia Seeds - Antioxidant and high in fibre
- Kale - Contains vitamins A, B6, C and Calcium
- Oatmeal - Antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and high in fibre
- Greek Yoghurt - High in protein and vitamins
- Eggs - Complete source of protein
- Sweet Potato - Rich in vitamins C and B6
- Avocado - Great source of Potassium and monounsaturated fats
- Garlic - Antiviral properties
- Beans - High source of fibre
- Tuna - Good source of vitamin B12
- Broccoli - Reduce inflammation, improve blood sugar and boost immunity
Meal Prep for Weight loss
Meal prepping is the notion of cooking and preparing food, whether it is breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacks, ahead of time so that they can be consumed later. This can be done in a number of ways, such as batch cooking, portioning out meals, and having ingredients put together that are ready to cook. What you decide to pick will depend on what works best for you. You do not have to meal prep every day and this can be done a few times a week or every day of the week when your workload might be busier. However, it can be beneficial for weight loss if you are meal prepping each day in order to have more control over your food intake.
Using meal prep can be a good method for weight loss. When prepping meals, it helps us to avoid eating foods that are less beneficial to us. Meal prep cuts out the notion of eating takeaways out of convenience or snacking due to not having enough time.
Natural fat burning supplements
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There are many sites where you are able to find quick and efficient guides to meal prep, all the while giving you ideas on what you could actually make. The following sites can be used.
30 Quick Healthy Meal Prep Ideas for Weight Loss
Meal Prep Recipes
25 Most Popular Lunch Meal Prep Ideas
80+ Budget Friendly Meal Prep Ideas
5 Easy & Healthy Meal Prep Recipes
25 Healthy Meal Prep Ideas To Simplify Your Life
25 Healthy Breakfast Meal Prep Ideas for Busy Mornings
20 Healthy Dinners You Can Meal Prep On Sunday
