Whether you’re trying to manage your body fat, get within what is considered a healthy weight range, or cut after you’ve spent some time bulking, effective weight management can be a great way to revitalise your body. That said, there are a lot of tips floating around regarding how to do it effectively, and not all of them are worth following. Here, we’re going to look at the tips that can do you the most amount of good, without indulging in the fads that can end up doing you harm. Read below to see what habits are going to do the most to help with your weight management efforts.
Keep yourself accountable
You likely know all of the eating habits that you should be trying to cut out. Eat less fat, eat fewer empty carbs, avoid bad cholesterol, and avoid sugar where possible. However, it’s easy for bad habits to creep in even without you being fully aware. You might think to allow yourself one chocolate bar, but allowing yourself that chocolate bar every day of the week, even if you’re fully aware, will have long-term consequences. Diet management apps help you track what you each and every day, indicating when certain foods might be in the way of your goals and helping you become more mindful of the bad habits you need to make an effort to stop.
Make workouts about intensity, rather than length
Although diet may, indeed, play the largest role in your weight management efforts, that doesn’t mean that exercise isn’t going to have a part to play either. Exercise burns calories, no matter what kind of exercise you do. However, HIIT training and routine exercise which typically involves bouts of faster and more intense movement, or lifting heavy things, not only burns calories quicker, but it can also increase your metabolism, which helps your body burn fat at a higher rate throughout the day, even when you’re resting. Of course, it also helps to build muscle, which can help make your efforts more readily visible.
Swap cleanses for meal replacements
There are a lot of fad diets that include things like cleanses and long-term fasting (note: this is different from intermittent fasting) that have mixed to negative effects on the body. A juice cleanse, which often involves only drinking juice and having no other food or drink for a certain period of time, can end up putting the body into starvation mode. Instead of following fads, you can look at methods like the alternative to Exante Diet, which typically involves using low-calorie but nutrient-rich shakes. It helps you manage your cravings for food and doesn’t starve you, which is both healthier but is also easier to stick to.
Enjoy a hot drink
There are a couple of hot drinks, in particular, that can offer good benefits to those trying to cut weight. Green tea and oolong tea are both natural fat burners and can improve fat burning during exercise, even to the point of helping some people break through their weight loss plateaus. Coffee is also effective, helping to regulate how the body processes fat and increase metabolism.
Try intermittent fasting
Fasting for long periods of time is, simply put, risky. As mentioned, it can put the body in starvation mode, which can actually make it harder to lose weight as your body tries to fight and keep on to as much as possible. Intermittent fasting doesn’t require quite as much effort, typically involving not eating for a stretch of hours throughout the day, and limiting your eating hours from breakfast until dinner time. It has proven highly effective for a lot of people in aiding their weight loss.
Plan your meals
Aside from eating less and eating better, you should also be eating smarter. If you’re simply trying to rely on your discipline alone to change your ways, then it’s easy for momentary laziness, tiredness, or poor planning to get in the way, and make you more prone to ordering a takeout. Meal planning can be vital. It involves you making your meals in advance so that you don’t have to worry about preparing them at the moment. Do it when you have the energy and time, then either chill or freeze them until you’re ready to heat them up for dinner.
Rather than trying a short-term fad, you want to make sure that you are implementing habits because, above all else, habits stick. Make your efforts something that you can repeat time and time again without majorly straining yourself for the best results.
