No matter how hard you try, you dread stepping on your weighing scale every time. And every time, it’s a horror show.
You seem to have tried every fad diet in existence, but the results just aren’t there.
However, you should never give up.
Diet is a science. If you apply it to your daily life, you can transform yourself to get the body you’ve always wanted.
Your two best friends in this quest are called knowledge and discipline.
This article will give you 10 essential weight loss secrets. Those secrets are the knowledge you require to achieve your goals.
Knowing them is half the battle. The other half of this battle is down to you.
Learn those secrets, apply them, and get your dream body. Read on!
1. Stop Eating So Many Refined Carbs
Refined carbohydrates consist of grains and sugars whose fiber and most nutritious parts have been removed. They are often called “empty calories” because their nutritious value is so poor.
Some of the main sources of refined carbs include white bread, white rice, white flour, pasta, sodas, breakfast cereals, added sugars, and sweets. They also tend to be added to most processed foods.
Refined carbs cause blood sugar levels to quickly peak. As a result, you feel hungry soon after and eat more.
They have been heavily linked with risks of diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
2. Cut Back on Sugary Drinks
That includes soda and fruit juice.
Sugar, in general, is bad for you, but especially in the form of these insidious drinks.
It’s easy to get in the habit of consuming them every day, but studies have shown that soft drinks have played a big role in today’s obesity crisis.
Even fruit juice, that many think of as healthy, contains comparable amounts of sugar. You’re better off eating actual fruit!
3. Drink More Water
Drinking more water is an important tool in your weight loss journey.
The reason for this is that it helps you burn more calories. Your body expends energy after drinking water, even if you’re not doing anything! As a result, you lose weight.
To maximize this effect, you should strive to drink around 1-1.5 liters (34–50 oz) of water daily.
Drinking water has the added benefit of making you feel fuller. Drinking a full glass of water before a meal will make it easier for you to refrain from getting a second or third serving.
4. Drink Coffee
Even if coffee (unfairly) gets a bad rap, it can be a useful tool on your way to your ideal body.
You should, however, stop drinking it after 2 PM as it’ll worsen the quality of your sleep otherwise.
Coffee earns a recommendation for weight loss as it contains lots of antioxidants and displays a host of health benefits.
In particular, it’ll boost your metabolism, which means that you’ll burn more fat.
You shouldn’t forget what we saw about refined carbs though. So don’t add sugar or any other high-calorie food to your coffee as it’ll defeat the purpose of drinking it.
5. Drink Green Tea
Green tea is one of the healthiest drinks out there.
It’s chock-full of antioxidants, not to mention a handful of useful compounds for your body.
It’s a stimulant that holds a moderate amount of caffeine. That caffeine, however, is moderated by the presence of theanine, which gives it a more relaxing effect.
It otherwise contains powerful antioxidants known as catechins and epigallocatechin gallate. Those substances help boost your metabolism and make it easier to lose weight.
Especially as a complement to exercise, green tea allows your body to break down fat more efficiently.
6. Strength Training
One of the biggest risks of dieting is that it’ll make you lose your muscle mass. Strength training, such as lifting weights, is ideal to counteract this tendency.
It’s a great activity to keep your metabolism high and your muscles in shape. It’ll also make you feel more dynamic in general.
If you’ve been vying for a lifestyle change, and wondering how to get ripped, strength training is the ideal choice.
7. Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting has been gaining increasing popularity in the last few years. It means that you alternate between periods of eating and fasting.
A common practice is to fast for a period of 16 hours and get all your food intake within an 8-hour window, twice per week.
Studies have shown it to be a very effective weight-loss method.
The fasting periods let your body know to use the fat stored in your body rather than the calories from your food intake.
It’s also beneficial as it’ll reduce snacking in general, which is a big culprit in excessive eating.
8. Count Calories
Dieting is simple science. You count how many calories per day your body needs to sustain its weight, then you eat a little less than that amount.
As a result, you lose weight.
It may seem tedious to start counting how many calories you’re eating, but it’ll prove beneficial on several levels.
For starters, it’ll make you more aware of how much exactly you put in your body. It’ll also make you realize that you may have bad habits when it comes to eating sweets or snacking.
Furthermore, it’ll help you exercise portion control way more easily, as you’ll know if you’re overeating.
Counting calories will soon become rote as we tend to eat the same things quite often. Then, it’ll just be a normal part of your life and you’ll never gain the weight you lose back.
9. Eat More Veggies
It’s probably not what you wanted to hear, but you knew it was coming.
Rest assured, veggies don’t have to be a chore to eat. Stir fry them with proper seasoning or chop them finely to eat them with other foods.
If you prepare them properly, you soon won’t be able to go without them!
Veggies are always recommended when it comes to diets as they tend to have very few calories, which means you can eat lots of them. They are also often rich in fiber.
Fiber is great for weight loss as it makes you feel full with less food.
10. Get Enough Sleep
It may seem surprising, but getting a decent amount of sleep is paramount for losing weight and good health in general.
It allows your body to repair itself and will improve your cognitive functions during the day.
The Weight Loss Secrets Are Yours
Now you know 10 essential weight loss secrets to put you on the right track.
Remember that for them to work, you have to apply them to your daily life. Start today, and you’ll be thanking yourself soon enough!
