6 tips to burn fat and lose weight
The human body is a remarkably adaptable machine. Even if years and years of neglect have allowed pound after pound of fat to fill out your frame, you can rid yourself of that lard at a much faster rate than you brought it on board. In that sense, time is your side!
Take these six easy tips to heart, and progress will come in a hurry:
1. Stock up on green tea: Green tea isn’t known only for its cancer-fighting benefits: It may help boost your metabolism, too. People who took green-tea extract three times a day saw their metabolic rate increase by about 4 percent, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
2. Substitute foods instead of eliminating them: Although many people feel that “diet” or “reduced fat” foods are not as good as the original, it can be a big help to buy less fatty snack foods. Try out different reduced fat brands and items and who knows, you may find something that you like even better than the original. The key is making sustainable changes, if you can’t live without tortilla chips, trying to eliminate them entirely from your diet won’t work. Making the change to a lower-calorie reduced fat tortilla chip can make a noticeable change in total calories consumed over time.
3. Don’t overeat: If you’re full, or even simply satisfied, stop eating. There’s no need to eat until your stomach feels like it’s going to explode. Also, keep in mind that it takes a while for the nutrients in your food to enter your bloodstream, and circulate to the nerve centers in your brain that regulate appetite. Eating slowly is helpful in this regard; you give your body a chance to recognize that you’ve had enough to eat.
4. Eat beans. This high-fiber, protein-packed staple will help your body incinerate fat. Purée them for stews or toss with oil and vinegar and serve as a side dish.
5. Avoid alcohol: Want to keep your favorite meals from going straight to your hips? Wash them down with water, not wine. Alcohol slows your metabolism by depressing the central nervous system. A British study found that when alcohol was added to a high-fat, high-calorie meal, less dietary fat was burned off and more was stored as body fat.
6. Go fish: Regular fish eaters tend to have lower levels of the hormone leptin: good because high levels of leptin have been linked to low metabolism and obesity, says Louis Aronne, M.D., an obesity specialist at the New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center. Try to consume three to four servings of a fatty fish, such as salmon, tuna or mackerel, each week.
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