weight loss tips at home

How to lose weight naturally | Weight loss tips at home 

 I. Cut 100 or More Calories

Here’s the bottom line: one pound is equivalent to 3,500 calories. Whether by making slight changes to your diet like the ones listed below or exercising, a deficit of 500 calories a day will lead to the loss of a pound a week! Remember, it’s the small changes we make every single day that make a big difference in the long run!

Switch to water first thing in the morning instead of fruit juice. Fruit juice is high in sugar. Since most of us are dehydrated in the morning, the water’s the best thing to do the trick anyway.

Switch to sugar-free yogurt instead of eating regular yogurt.

Switch to a low-fat store-bought bagel instead of a bakery bagel.

Save even more — use all-fruit instead of flavored cream cheese on that low-fat bagel.

Replace bacon at breakfast with reduced-fat turkey bacon or Canadian bacon.

Steam veggies instead of sautéing them in butter or oil.

If you drink a lot of soda, switching to diet soda will probably save you hundreds of calories a day.

Switch to boiled shrimp instead of steak on shish kebabs.

Replace 1 tablespoon of regular mayo on your turkey sandwich with 1 ½ tablespoon of reduced-fat mayo.

Indulge in Sunday-morning French toast… modified. Use non-fat milk and egg whites instead of whole milk and eggs.

II. Regular Exercise

Walking – Walking is great. No expertise or equipment is required, you can do it anytime and it’s free. What’s more, provided you do it regularly and for long enough, walking can be just as beneficial as any of the more vigorous activities (like jogging, etc). Take a 10-minute walk, twice a day. Gradually extend yourself each week by walking longer and faster. Swing your arms at the same time. Start walking up gentle slope, then steeper slopes as you become fitter. Aim to walk briskly (swinging your arms) for 30 minutes, each day. This should include at least one reasonably steep slope.

Swimming – For most people, especially those who are very overweight, swimming is even better than walking. Swim twice a week for 15 minutes. Increase the length of your swim and your work rate while in the water. Aim to build up to about 30 minutes a day, or 45 minutes twice a week.

Cycling / Jogging – Start with a short easy routine, 10-15 minutes per day, and gradually work up to about 30 minutes a day. Gradually increase your work rate, without straining yourself, and if jogging, invest in a good pair of running shoes that offer cushioned support.

Exercise or Aerobics classes – These classes can be great fun. Moreover, many fitness centers offer a variety of classes to suit a variety of fitness levels.

Exercise at home – If you can’t get out, or if the weather is bad, organize an indoor exercise routine for yourself.

III. Fat Loss versus Muscle Loss

To lose body fat you must eat fewer calories than your body burns off, so EAT LESS – but you must NOT starve yourself, otherwise, you will lose more muscle than fat!

Start eating 5-6 meals per day (space them out to about one every 3 hours). You are eating more often, but not necessarily more.

Increase your protein intake. Without protein, your body cannot build new muscle. Protein also helps to increase your metabolism – which burns calories.

Increase your water intake. A good formula for this is to multiply your bodyweight by .66 to get the required number of ounces per day.

IV. Visualize Your New Lean Body

According to many psycho-babble weight-loss experts, we find it easier to lose weight when we can ‘see’ it, or visualize it. Losing weight is definitely easier when you have a clear view of how you look when you have achieved your long term weight loss goal. How to Visualize Yourself As a Slim Person

Close your eyes. Forget about your fat thighs, your excess weight, and your overweight body!

Try to imagine how you are going to feel when you reach your perfect weight and shape.

Imagine looking in the mirror and seeing a really shapely figure.

Imagine other people admiring your slim thighs.

Imagine walking around in a pair of skimpy jeans and sneakers.

Imagine your partner slipping his arms around your slim waist on the dance floor.

Imagine joining an aerobics class and exercising to music while showing off your slim figure.

Visualize your new SLIM self in as much detail as possible. See it. Feel it. Taste it!

Repeat this exercise each day, until you can really SEE your weight loss and really SEE these new situations.

The Weight Loss Benefit: Your mind is a very powerful instrument. By visualizing yourself as a new slim person who does not have a weight problem, you will make this dream seem much more REAL. Result? It becomes easier to achieve and your motivation to lose weight will get stronger.

V. Healthy Routine

Studies show that 90% of people who exercise consistently exercise in the morning. As well as helping maintain the regularity of your exercise program, a morning routine has the following additional benefits:

It “jump starts” your metabolism and keeps it elevated for hours.

You’ll be energized for the day.

Morning exercise “regulates” your appetite for the day.

Waking and exercising at the same time prompts your body’s endocrine system and circadian rhythms, physiologically your body prepares for waking ahead of time. 5. It’s easier to wake-up.

Your metabolism and hormones begin to elevate before waking, preparing your body for exercise by regulating blood pressure, heart rate, and blood flow.

Exercise increases mental alertness.

A morning schedule helps ensure you continue to exercise even when busy.

Many people find it difficult to consistently wake-up early to exercise, often because they have not slept enough and don’t wake at the time each day. If you keep to a routine, morning exercise will become easier and something to look forward to.

VI. Stay on track to lose weight and stay slim.

Did you know that simply changing the temperature of the water you drink can speed up your metabolism and burn more calories? Drink hot water!

Did you know that foods like bran cereal are denser and will make you more full because your body cannot digest fiber?

Did you know that certain foods like rice work very well with liquids to expand in your stomach making you more satisfied?

Did you know that if you cut 3 tablespoons of butter per day from your diet you could drop 1 pound every 12 days just for not eating butter? Let’s hope you don’t actually eat 3 tablespoons of butter every day though!!!!

VII. Tips for success:

1. Stay away from table sugar Things like powdered sugar, chocolate, ice cream, and syrup are not good for getting thin and losing inches. Suggestion: Try sugar substitute, or maybe sugar-free chocolate, syrup, and soda. Light on any food package only means that there is less food coloring added, not all “light” food is good for you!

2. Sit-ups don’t give you that six-pack…. running does! Sit-ups are great for building the muscles in your stomach. However, they don’t do a thing for the fat that is covering them up! EVERYONE is born with a twelve-pack muscle system in their stomach / eight straight up and down and two on each side of the center group. Our own levels of body fat determine how many of those muscles we get to see. If you want that washboard abs-go to buy running shoes. If not then imagine wrapping a rock in a piece of chewed bubble gum. There is solid strength underneath but everyone only sees the bubble gum. That’s what crunches without running produces.

3. Don’t get discouraged. Most adults give up on losing weight within the first month because they haven’t seen big enough results on their scale at home. If you are working out you are gaining muscles and muscle weighs more than fat. You can lose a ton of fat and never see the difference on a scale. If you want a measuring tool use your clothes. If your pants and shirt are looser then things are working! If nothing has changed after a month tries something else. Keep in mind the best way to lose inched off the tummy, butt, and thighs is to run at least 35 minutes three times a week.

4. Stretch your meals to, at least, 20 minutes or longer. Your stomach, mouth, and brain are all connected and it takes 20 minutes of chewing before your stomach signals your brain that you are full. To feel full and successfully lose weight on any weight loss program, you need to eat slowly for 20 minutes or longer.

5. Drinking 8 glasses of water a day is important to your health, your normal diet and to help lose weight. Water is necessary for the metabolism of your stored fat. Weight loss cannot occur without an active metabolism which requires large quantities of water. Another way to use water to lose weight is to drink a large glass of ice water just before meals. The cold causes your stomach to shrink slightly which will make you feel full faster.

6. The more positive your self-esteem, the better you feel about yourself, the faster and easier it will be for you to lose weight. When you are self-confident, you are better able to take charge of your life. It also means that after you lose weight, it will stay gone permanently. For help building your self-esteem, check out Dr. Yarnell’s self-help and personal growth CDs and cassette tapes for adults, adolescents, and children.

7. When you go fat-free or low fat, you also cut out much of the taste of the foods you eat. Add the flavor back with herbs and spices. Strong flavors such as vinegar, garlic, chili powder, cayenne, curry powder, rosemary, and tarragon can be used to doctor up any food you are eating. For your low fat and fat-free diets, experiment with different herbs and spices until you find some you like. Staying on your fat-free or low-fat diet will be easier and your weight loss will be speeded up.

8. Increase your metabolism by as much as 40% by using hot and spicy foods such as hot peppers of all varieties and mustards. Research shows these foods all increase your metabolism. For double duty, give up fat-filled mayonnaise for mustard and add hot peppers to your food for greater flavor and increased metabolism.

9. To lose weight faster, reduce your intake of caffeine. Caffeine leads to an increase of insulin in your body which retards the burning of your stored fat. This is a simple chemical reaction in your body that you can change. Reduce your caffeine intake by 50% and see what happens. Here is a rough guide to use when looking at the amount of caffeine you currently take in: Brewed coffee (6 oz. cup) – 100mg; Instant coffee (6 oz.) – 70mg; Tea (6 oz.) – 50mg; Soft drinks (12oz.) – (Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew) – 50mg; Dark chocolate (1 oz.) – 20mg and Milk chocolate (1 oz.) – 6mg.

10. Increase your intake of fiber-rich foods. They will help fill you up faster and will help all the food you eat pass through your digestive system more easily.

11. Exercise is probably the most important key to increasing your metabolism and burning off excess fat. Research shows that you burn more stored fat for energy when you do aerobic exercises on an empty stomach than on a full stomach. Research also shows that you burn more stored fat when you exercise late in the day rather than in the morning. Put together, the best time to exercise to lose weight by burning your stored fat is in the late afternoon/early evening before dinner. Second, best is in the morning before breakfast. Our metabolism naturally starts to slow down about 8 hours after we wake up. Thirty minutes of aerobic exercises in the evening, before dinner, will not only burn off stored fat but it increases your metabolism for about two to three more hours just when it was starting to slow down. This produces a significant increase in fat burned off, even after the exercise is over.

12. To lose weight quickly, never skip a meal. Your first meal after waking starts your metabolism. Your metabolism then speeds up for about eight hours and then starts slowing down until you go to sleep when it goes too low until you wake and eat and start the cycle again. Skip breakfast and your metabolism doesn’t get started until lunchtime. You’ve just missed three or four hours of fat-burning time. When you skip meals during the day, your metabolism also slows down. Weight loss through the burning of stored fat is all about eating enough of the right kinds of foods so you stay full and your metabolism stays as high as possible. Remember, if you feel hungry, your metabolism slows down. Stay full of healthy, nonfattening foods and your metabolism will continue to burn your stored fat as fast as your body will allow.