Want fresh tips on shedding pounds and inches? You can make positive changes by incorporating small tweaks into your lifestyle. Learn the top 5 ways to lose weight fast so you can see and feel the difference.
1. Eat every meal on a small salad plate
Larger plates trick people into serving larger portions—and that will sink your weight loss goals fast!
Instead, serve all your meals on salad plates, which usually run about 7-9” in diameter.
Chances are good you’ll naturally stick to smaller portions so you consume fewer calories over time.
2. Eat slowly
It takes the brain about 20 minutes to process an “I’m full” signal from the stomach.
When you eat more slowly, the brain has time to process that signal, so it can tell you to stop eating before you become overly full.
Here are a couple of ways to slow down:
- Chew each bite more thoroughly. In a recent study, researchers found that people who took about 40 chews per bite of food consumed 12% fewer calories than when they chewed 15 times per bite
- Put your utensils down on the table between each bite. It’s a small action, but placing your fork, spoon, or knife back on the table after every bite can also help slow down the eating process.
3. Don’t drink calories.
You may be adding hundreds of additional calories to your diet daily from beverages, whether it’s lattes, sodas, or sports drinks.
Cut out drinks sweetened with refined sugar.
Don’t be fooled by artificial sweeteners either. Even though they’re not adding calories, they have a negative impact on the metabolism, making it harder to lose weight and keep it off.
Instead, to lose weight fast stick to plain H2O or beverages lightly sweetened with natural ingredients.
4. Eat more healthy fats
Not all fats are bad for your weight. Some fats actually support healthy weight loss. For example:
- Coconut oil contains lauric acid, which makes it harder for the body to store fat cells.
- Salmon and other cold water fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which fight the inflammation that slows down the metabolism.
- Avocados offer monounsaturated fats, an excellent source of energy and natural appetite suppressant so you lose weight fast.
5. Always eat veggies first.
This simple weight loss tip can have a big-time impact on your waistline. No matter what meal you’re eating, dig into those veggies first.
Vegetables are low in calories and high in fiber, and when you consume them first you’re less likely to over eat the rest of the meal.
Green salads or sliced veggies are great choices for filling up on vegetables.
6. Get proper sleep.
Numerous studies have shown that getting less than 5–6 hours of sleep per night is associated with increased incidence of obesity. There are several reasons behind this.
Research suggests that insufficient and poor-quality sleep slows down the process in which the body converts calories to energy, called metabolism. When metabolism is less effective, the body may store unused energy as fat. In addition, poor sleep can increase the production of insulin and cortisol, which also prompt fat storage.
How long and how deep someone sleeps also affects the regulation of the appetite-controlling hormones leptin and ghrelin. Leptin sends signals of fullness to the brain while ghrelin tells your brain you’re hungry.
Without a properly functioning leptin and ghrelin, you’re constantly hungry and nothing you eat will ever make you full – double whammy.
So, sleep more and sleep well.