Often we feel so overwhelmed by the
idea of starting a weight loss plan. Here are a few simple tips to sneak into
your daily lifestyle so that you have NO MORE EXCUSES!
Start right away and you will find
yourself feeling great in a few weeks!
Trying to overhaul your entire
lifestyle by following restrictive diets and taking out expensive gym
subscriptions every season can leave you frustrated. You start on the diets,
you get all kitted out for the intense workout programs, but it is not
sustainable for most of us. The first few days are full of motivation but
eventually making huge changes becomes tiring, frustrating and overwhelming and
most people tend to quit, until the next time. That’s why we work with baby
steps, chunking it down, thinking small. How do you eat an elephant? By focusing
on bite-sized pieces!
1. Take a 10-minute break
Most of us are rushing at full throttle. This causes our body to remain in stress mode, produce more cortisol, a stress induced hormone that can block our metabolism and do a lot of harm in the long run, and we also tend to get easily distracted and dangerously forgetful while desperately trying to keep things together, be efficient at work, good housekeepers, parents, running around shuttling kids to various activities, thinking about the groceries, chores, appointments…..
STOP.
Take a full 10-minute breather from your busy life and do absolutely nothing.
Turn off all distractions, switch off the phone (actually switch it off), the TV, the computer, dinner on the stove…whatever could interrupt you and spend 10 full minutes with your eyes closed. Relax and take deep breaths. If you can stretch to 15” better still. If you can do it twice a day, you rock!
2. Kit yourself out for winning - Wear more comfortable clothes and shoes
Unless you are honour bound to run around in tight skirts, executive suits, high heels or smart but uncomfortable footwear at work, you can burn off many more calories throughout the day simply by being more comfortable and having your pretty feet well-wrapped in good-quality comfortable footwear. Research shows that we tend to be more active during their workday when our feet are comfortable and the waistband is not cutting into our tummy. Cutting small amounts of calories here and there adds up to the sum in the long run and doesn’t really require much effort.
3. Cut 100 calories in big meals or thereabouts
Today there’s a lot of discussion about keto diets and cutting out carbs for weight loss and what not. Crash diets only lead to frustration and the weight usually creeps back in, more than ever. This is because we need to cut out excess useless calories and not essential nutrition. Try and keep it simple: have a good look at what you are eating daily – the best way to do this is a food log. Then, just remove a 100 calories at your larger meals. That’s roughly equal to a pat of butter on your toast, extra salad dressing, extra cheese, mayonnaise... let’s say anything extra, Chopping a total of 200-300 calories spread out over three meals can take off almost half a kg a week! This is also a good way to lose slowly and steadily, allowing the body to adjust accordingly.
4. Take 10” daily to plan ahead or do it weekly
When you’re well armed with a plan everything gets easier becoming a no-brainer! If you love planning, you can do a month’s meal plans in advance and set yourself up for success… or if you buy as per the supermarket offers and season, you can simply give your meal-plans 10” daily or ven less with practice. Remember, the Calendar is our friend, waiting to serve us. As you wrap up the day, take a few minutes looking into your pantry and figuring out your meals for the next day. Bonus points, if you can prep something before heading off to watch TV or do other stuff. Having something ready, even prepped makes it so much smoother the next day!
5. Cook your own meals
There is really no better way to own your health! Unless you can hire a great cook, with good nutrition basics well drilled into them, you are the only one who can truly control what goes into your body, the one you will live in for the rest of your life! Get informed. If you cannot do all your meals for whatever reason, at least aim for a light nutritious dinner/evening supper. Breakfast like a King, lunch like a rich man and dine like a pauper used to be the norm once. Today, for most of us, dinner is the largest meal of the day and perhaps the only time the family can really eat together. Cooking on your own means you can control exactly what goes into your food, how it is prepared and how much is your personal portion. There is a variety of absolutely good nutritious light meals you can whip up in a few minutes with a good plan.
6. The Kitchen is closed
Most ancient cultures talk about eating the last meal by sundown, allowing the body to digest and metabolize the meal, keeping you feeling “lighter” and contributing to better sleep. Whether you ascribe to this or not, a lot of nutritionists tend to agree on reducing carbs in evening meals and allowing a few hours for digestion between the meal and sleep. If you have a tendency to mindlessly munch on something in front of the TV, you need to curb the habit. Just like fine-restaurants have the kitchen open for service until a certain hour, decide that your home restaurant will serve food-stuffs only till approx three to four hours before your bedtime and you cannot pre-order! Curb late night eating habits can save you on average, about 250 calories of mostly junk-food/nutritionally deficient food daily!
7. Sneak in 10 minutes of exercise thrice a day!
Our busy schedules can make going to the gym for an hour a day with another hour to get there, get changed, get showered etc. next to impossible, but that doesn’t mean we can’t strive to be fit. The latest studies show that squeezing in 10-minute high-intensity bouts of exercise/movement throughout the can still provide tons of benefits. When can we do this? Before the morning shower, nothing stops us from doing high-jumps and getting a little sweaty.
Taking a 10-minute brisk walk pre-lunch can help get our metabolism started. Another 10-minutes in the late afternoon before tea time can bring its own benefits or try a post dinner stroll with your family to strengthen family bonds. Movement in bite-size chunks is easy to fit into the day without it weighing on us like a gym session.
8. Curb cravings with a 10-minute walk
Cravings are usually linked to blood-sugar dips. Our body craves energy and the fastest sources are sugars and simple carbs. These can be avoided by eating balanced, nutrient dense meals throughout the day. However, there are moments of stress, triggers that induce cravings despite our best efforts. The next time you are hit unexpectedly by a craving, try drinking some water and getting in some movement instead. Several studies show that moderate exercise, may actually help reduce food cravings besides distracting you form the craving and getting your circulation pumping.
9. Go to bed 10 minutes earlier tonight
According to studies, sleep may be as crucial to weight loss as diet and exercise. When your body doesn’t get enough sleep, the hormones that control hunger and satiety go out of balance, causing you to eat more and you may suffer more from comfort eating. You don't have to turn in really early, just try to hop into bed 10 minutes earlier tonight. Make gradual changes until you adjust to your ideal bedtime and get sufficient sleep, which most experts agree is between 7-9 hours a night.
10. Take a 10-minute time out from your TV
A body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest remains so. No need to give up your TV time at the end of the day (though it would really not be a bad idea at all!), but taking a break for just 10 minutes for every hour of viewing to get up and move around can add up to big benefits for your health and vision. Take a quick walk around the house, putting things back in place during each commercial break. The average 65kgs woman can burn about 75 calories walking in place for 10 minutes. Do it twice or thrice….Not bad!
Try and incorporate these tips one at a time, babysteps, to build a healthier lifestyle!
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