Shedding away extra pounds that you’ve gained after lounging around and watching Netflix throughout the summer break is never easy. Are trying to leave behind those flabby sweatpants and get your curvy figure back in shape? Or wait, maybe you want to avoid getting in such a situation, and find out the perfect way of enjoying a sweet and sublime vacation without having to deal with weight issues when its over! That’s probably the smartest way to go about it, because you know what they say, prevention is always better than cure.
There’s nothing to worry about for we have ample research that proves that cutting off say a 100 calories from your daily diet is extremely easy without even disappointing your taste buds. So basically, if you’re someone who hates stepping foot in the gym or doing any kind of physical exertion except getting out of the couch and seating yourself back on it, you can still shed those nasty pounds. Even if you begin as small as loosing 100 calories each day, you can still shed off 10 pounds, or maybe even more each year. An ocean is created drop by drop, well there you go, the journey to weight loss is simple and all it requires is dedication.
Easy Way to Lose 10 Pounds
All you need on your journey are these amazing and scientifically tested calories shedding tricks that you make your diet more wholesome and your body healthier, shapely and fit. Are you ready to get started? Here we go!
1. Manipulate the lights to manipulate the calories!
Now this may come as a bit of surprise to most of you, but the effects of lighting have a great deal to do with your calorie intake. You know how as children we were always so afraid of the dark, well, after you read this one out, you’d always want to have all your meals in the dark.
Cornell University conducted a study recently, and it revealed some awe-inspiring facts that unveil some amazing secrets to help you not only eat less, but enjoy your meal to the core and feel more wholesome. And that simple trick is, dimming down the lights to create a soft, warm glow. The researchers proved that participants who ate their meal under a subtle and warm light took around 175 calories less than those participants that dined in very bright lighting. Moreover, the people who ate under the soft and mood glow consumed 18% less amount of food placed on their plates. They also revealed to have had a much “more enjoyable” and wholesome meal as compared to when the room was brightly lit.
Scientific evidence proves that bright and fluorescent lighting serves as a trigger for hunger, particularly the need to consume more and more food. For instance, the harshly bright and loud lighting that is so common of fast food places serves as a psychological stimulant that triggers a hurry to get your meal, hurriedly consume and get yourself another one. On the other hand, when you are in a romantic candle lit setting where the mood of the lighting is soft, you feel more stimulated to make conversation and feel lighter, rather than wanting to dig into your plate right away. Unless you’re starving of course.
So, you know what to do, just dim the lighting and enjoy a more wholesome meal with your family as you savor each bite as you chew.
2. Put away your stylish curvy wine glasses!
Another surprise here ladies, and this one might hurt a little bit. You know how we just love enjoying cold and crisp red wine in one those swanky and curvy glasses as our fingers curl around their stylish shape. Let’s admit it, we all like a glass of wine when we’re all dressed up and waiting for our date to pick us. And most definitely when we’re tired after an exhausting day at work and we just want to curl up in the couch and eat take-out pizza.
Now here’s a hard truth, scientific research has proven that curvy drinking glasses make a great contribution to the flabby flesh that tends to accumulate on your things and that spare tire like layer in the middle of your tummy. Let me throw some facts at you if I sound unbelievable. A recent study conduction in Britain has revealed that individuals who have a habit of drinking from curvy glasses consume 60% more alcohol, sweet juices, sodas and other beverages as compared to those who drink from straight glasses.
Scientific evidence concludes that when one is drinking from a curvy glass, one tends to drink faster since it’s difficult to know when you’ve drunk half of your drink. That makes you reach for another drink soon after, and before you know it, that’s gone too.
Healthy and balanced eating has a lot to do with spacing out your sips, and feeling content with the amount you drink. The trick is to make your drinks in straight glasses, and that alone can help you cut down around 67 calories per meal.
And if you want to really speed up the calorie burning, replace alcohol and sweet sodas with orange juice, green tea and other fresh no-sugar juices.
3. Catch up on your beauty sleep!
Your beauty sleep has a great deal to do with the fitness and health of your body, and it is also linked with your desire for food. Now, if you’re tired and sleepy, according to scientific evidence, your body will be hungrier than a body that is wide awake, active and alert. Mayo Clinic conducted a research revealing that sleeping for less than 6½ hours every night causes a person to consume over 500 calories during the day.
According to Manfred Hallschmid, renowned researcher of the medical psychology & behavioural neurobiology, University of Tubingen, sleep deprivation causes a direct increase in hunger because when the body exhausted, it tends to consume and desire more calories than when it is alert and active. Hallschmid conducted another research to study the effects of sleep and the consumption of calories. The study revealed that sleep deprivation increases appetite harmones such as ghrelin, which in turn cause as increase in one’s desire or hunger for food.
So basically, if you don’t catch up on your beauty sleep for at least around 8 hours, your body will be exhausted and would not be able to rejuvenate. And you will end up consuming thousands of more calories than you would otherwise. Catch up on your beauty sleep ladies, I am not kidding!
4. Sugar is not nice!
It most certainly isn’t. It is the most disturbing thing on this planet, when we’re busy at work, or walking down the street just minding our business, we spot in the mysterious and tantalizing of ways. Sometimes, someone puts a plate of home-baked brownies on our desks, other times, we spot chocolates, cakes, sodas and other junk that just ruins our diets as the craving digs deep into our bones. Is there a way to avoid such a sugary confrontation?
Why, of course there is! Scientific research reveals that the trick to avoid consuming such high-calorie sugary foods is to simply look away when confronted with an image or having a direct audience with high-fat sugar products. According to Kathleen Page, Assistant Professor of Medicine at USC, imagines of heavy calorie foods and sugary treats tend to trigger and stimulate the reward center and parts of the brain that control hunger. And now that is exactly the reason why cheesy burger ads and stacked up beef steaks tend to make us go wild with hunger, while green cabbages and other vegies just seem to shut our brain for good.
5. Quit using the word “Can’t”
Maybe you’re thinking about picking up Mc Donald’s on the way back home, or you want to gobble down that cake left in the refrigerator since your parents visited last. Oh wait, maybe your parents are hosting a huge Christmas dinner and food is all over the place piled up in rich assortments that are a real treat for the eye. Your mouth is watering, and you keep reminding yourself, I can’t eat this, I can’t eat that. Hold it right there, you can’t say that.
Recent studies reveal that in order to improve the results of your diet or supposed dietary state of mind, you need stop focusing on what you eat, and think about what you shouldn’t eat. You see, scientific research has proven that the word “can’t” in itself is the cause that hinders this improve. Why? Because it sounds harsh, it does not bring about healthy results and eventually, it binds you into a cycle where you are punishing yourself rather than maintaining a more wholesome diet.
A recent study studied the effects of two phrases common of diet regimes, “can’t eats” and “don’t eats”. They divided participants into these two groups, and studied their choices of food. Amongst the don’t eats group, 64% picked out a granola bar instead of candy, while this behavior was only imitated by 30% from the can’t eats group.
The idea is to avoid creating a feeling of deprivation, of constantly repressing your desires. That will have a grossly effect on your motivation, and you will end up breaking free of this diet of I can’t. The trick is to adopt the phrase I don’t, or think about certain foods as they are not very becoming of you. For instance, imagine that if you wish to fit into that gorgeous dress you picked out for the school dance, eating another slice of cake would not be very becoming of you.
Adopting such an ideology will help you set some priorities. It will motivate you and help you channel your willpower towards creating a more wholesome diet. Of course, you can do anything want, but you don’t do certain things because you have priorities, and you will yourself to make healthier decisions.
6. Visualize your curves
Do you find yourself overly obese? Do you not like what you see in the mirror, even after weeks of diet when you put on that red dress you’ve been meaning to flaunt in front of your husband once you shed away those nasty pounds? Lady, you need to start visualizing those curves else they just won’t come!
Scientific evidence proves that your perception and imagination about your food choices, your body and most importantly, your waistline has a strong impact on your success at losing weight and maintaining your diet. If you’re constantly labelling yourself as fat and obese in your head, chances are, you’re going to de-motivate yourself into believing you can’t lose weight despite having the energy to go on a diet or a physical exertion regime.
Susan Albers, the author of Eating Mindfully and 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food, conducted a research that studied women over the period of 10 years. It revealed that around 59% women who tend to imagine themselves as obese, experience an increase in their body mass index over time even if they start out with the average DMI of 20. It works like a self-fulfilling prophecy, how you see yourself has a strong psychological impact on the success of your dietary regime.
If you don’t start with a positive mindset you cannot stick to your diet and shed away those nasty pounds. So visualize your curves, and start working on making them real.
7. Team up your food with water
Yes, that’s right. Think about it, when you have a glass of chilled coke in your hand, what would you want to eat, boiled peas or cheesy fries? Obviously, its going to be the later, a ham sandwich or a slice of pizza. You see, unhealthy beverages lead to unhealthy food choices. Scientific research conducted at the University of Oregon revealed that the drinks you pair with your food end up effecting the food you consume along we the amount of calories you intake.
For instance, if you have red wine on the table, you’re likely to crave steak. On the other hand, something as light as water would fill you up and make you want to finish up the vegies on your plate. Coming back to the study, it divided adults into two groups, those who drank water and those who drank soda. Now, those with water revealed to have preferred water with veggies, and termed it as the “best drink” to go with healthy food with lesser calories. While those who enjoyed pizzas and greasy fries tended to loved beverages like cokes and other sodas.
The moral is, pair your plate of fresh and green veggies with a huge glass of cold water, and consume it right before your meal to eat in proportionate amounts.
8. Welcome your meals with positivity!
Are you planning to meet your crush for a dinner date and you’re worried he’s a guy who likes girls who love to eat? Oh wait, perhaps your grandmother is planning a huge Thanksgiving dinner and you just can’t bear to miss out on all the delicious delicacies she churns out of her oven? Whatever the reason, don’t stop yourself from dreaming and imagining yourself licking that decadent chocolate from that scrumptious brownie!
According to a recent study conducted by Dr. Hallschmid, anticipating or fantasizing about a meal causes the ghrelin levels, which are basically the appetite hormones we discussed earlier, to lower down. In his study, Dr. Hallschmid revealed that looking forward, anticipating and fantasizing about a meal causes the ghrelin levels to go down, and by the time the plate of food is placed in front of you, even the aromatic fumes emerging out of the creamy soup won’t be enough to make you chuck down a bowl full and still want more.
So, look forward to your meals with positivity and preserve your hunger mostly by fantasies of the scrumptious dish.
