While losing weight can be very tough for many of us, it’s usually our misconceptions of healthy eating that lead us to struggle while shedding the weight off. Dieting and healthy living are usually paired with calorie restriction and starvation for most people, and this is completely wrong. Cutting out certain food groups and restricting your calorie consumption is not going to give you the results you’re looking for.
Make Your Weight-Loss Goals
You need a healthy, balanced diet that provides your body with all the needed nutrition while keeping you in shape. You need to know when to exercise, when to eat large meals, and when to binge. That’s right, a healthy diet must consist of sustainable habits that motivate you to keep going. We consulted some of the top nutrition pros and here is their take on the best weight loss methods.
Never Starve Yourself
It’s a huge misconception that calorie restriction can lead to weight loss. We’ve seen many examples of girls starving themselves just as an attempt to look skinny, according to societal norms, of course. However, when you starve your body from nutrients, your metabolism drops significantly to preserve every calorie remaining. Your body enters a critical state where your metabolism slows down remarkably leading to unpleasant results.
This is because when you eat again, your body will take a lot longer to burn and digest the food, which means you’ll gain more weight as you go back to eating normally. Your muscles also start breaking down, your energy levels drop very low, and your body preserves more fat than ever. This is why you need to stay away from all starvation diets that deprive the body of nutrients. Stick with a healthy diet that provides your body with all required nutrients in order to keep your metabolism levels high and lose weight.
Know When You Are Really Hungry
It’s very important to learn how to differentiate between hunger and boredom, stress, or despair. When we are exposed to stress or other certain emotions, we tend to eat as a way of relieving the pain. However, hunger can be recognized using certain physiological signs such as stomach growling. What you need to work on is recognizing these feelings of emotional stress to stop yourself from emotional eating. This will help you get rid of unneeded weight, the weight that you put on unintentionally while eating your feelings.
Drink Caffeine
Caffeine is good for you if you’re trying to lose weight. Drinking green tea or coffee positively impacts your fat oxidation and thermogenesis. There are many other benefits that accompany drinking caffeine on a daily basis. When your caffeine levels increase, your body receives more energy, you stay awake for longer periods, and you become more productive and active that you burn more calories throughout your day. Increase your caffeine consumption if you don’t drink enough green tea or coffee. Keep it to a limit of 2 cups of green tea or coffee per day.
Don’t Skip Strength Training
It’s a fact, exercise is one of the main ingredients of a healthy weight-loss plan. However, contrary to popular belief, strength training is far more efficient than cardio. When you incorporate strength training into your workout routine, you build muscles and burn fat even at rest. While exercise is not an excuse to overeat, muscles can help you burn extra fat while sitting down or resting.
We suggest joining an MMA system where you can work both your heart and muscles. This way, you burn calories a lot more efficiently and keep the weight off for as long as you stay healthy. Lifting weights also utilize calories more efficiently than cardio. This doesn’t mean you have to entirely quit the treadmill and stick to lifting weights. You can design a balanced workout exercise where you engage in both strength and cardio training.
Drink Lots of Water
It’s no surprise that drinking water is healthy, it’s like the topic of every health-related article these days. Hydration is really the key to kickstarting your metabolism and burning calories. It also contributes to how well your body digests food and how much energy you receive from the digested food. Our bodies tend to retain water when they’re not hydrated enough, that’s why you need to stay hydrated to prevent your body from putting on extra pounds due to water retention.
Weight loss is not a simple equation, however, when you truly understand the secrets to healthy dieting, you’ll be surprised by the results.