Do you have extra pounds? Choose from 21 actions approved by our experts and backed by studies, and turn that washing machine into a laundry room.
IF THE RIVERS SPLIT MOUNTAINS AND SEPARATE CONTINENTS, something simpler is to generate changes in that huge man who is sitting next to you in the cinema and grabs the armrest with his arm. Before we notice it, subtle changes can result in major transformations. Social scientists call this phenomenon “creeping normalcy”. It’s bad news if it’s climate change or belly growth, but you can use it as a tool to sculpt a new you, fat-free.
A drastic change in diet, by cutting hundreds of calories a day, for example, can disrupt metabolism and sabotage your efforts to lose fat. But with small adjustments, it will not decay and losing weight will be easier. This according to Scott Kahan, director of the National Center for Weight and Fitness, located in Washington, and a faculty member at Johns Hopkins University. He is one of the many experts whose contribution represents leaps and bounds for the well-being of humanity. In fact, focusing on one small modification each week can result in about four times more weight loss, after a period of four months, than if you stick to an average exercise and diet program, according to a study published in Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
Other research published in the Journal Eating Behaviors found that overly ambitious expectations for dietary changes can lead to large fluctuations in weight. Focus on taking short steps to gradually shed those extra pounds with longer-lasting results. Start by trying the following tricks, but remember only one at a time!
1 MAKE A PRE-LOAD
Before a big meal, grab a 200-calorie snack. A whey protein shake is a good choice, for example, or an apple with a slice of cheese. “With a stomach full of protein, fewer hunger hormones will circulate in your circulatory system and you will eat less food at the restaurant, reducing your total calorie intake for the day,” says Kahan.
2 DON’T GET STUCK
Imagine a gas meter in your stomach; “E” means hunger and “F” that you are full. “Try to end up feeling like you filled between half and three-quarters of full capacity,” says Matt Lawson, behavioral coach at Retrofit.
3 CHEW THIS
In a Chinese study, participants who chewed 40 times each bite ate 12 percent less. Chewing triggers the digestive process and accelerates the release of hormones associated with satiety.
4 BE A SIBARITE
Take your time to enjoy the texture, aroma and origin of your food. Doing so can create a more vivid “cymbal memory” that will keep you full longer, according to a British study.
5 READ A MAGAZINE OF FITNESS AND NUTRITION
Dutch researchers discovered that this technique, called priming, works at the subconscious level. Those given brochures with diet-related keywords, when they entered a grocery store, bought less junk food.
6 PLAN YOUR SHOPPING
Hungry people actually buy high-calorie options, reports a JAMA Internal Medicine study. “The best time of day to buy food is after breakfast, on the weekend,” says Anita Mirchandani, co-founder of FitMapped, an app with a fitness directory. If this is not a good time to go for food, find a fruit or something from the salad bar and eat it while you shop.
9 STEALS A PROFESSIONAL’S ROUTINE
Bill Hamid, goalkeeper for DC United, used this routine to reduce his body fat percentage from 19 to 10 percent. Do each exercise for 20 seconds with another 20 rest between movements. Cycle two or three times. Interval training can increase calorie burning for the next 22 hours after it is done.
1 / Shadowboxing
2 / Jump rope
3 / Walk with riders
4 / Side plyometric jumps with medicine ball
5 / Medicine ball crunches (Lie on your back and place a medicine ball between your ankles. Then pass it from your feet to your hands keeping your torso taut).
6 / Box jumps
7 / Lizards with oar
8 / Abdominals with torso rotation
9 / Burpees
10 / Dominated
10 CHANGE OF ROUTINE
Substitute rowing for running or free weight for apparatus. “The new movements can help speed your heart rate from 60 to 80 percent of your maximum so you burn an extra 120 calories an hour,” says Scott Danberg, director of fitness at the Pritikin Longevity Center and Spa.
11 RUN IN THE SAND
You can force yourself to spend 30 percent more energy than doing it on grass, according to a study in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. The result is more calories burned because the muscles will have to work harder to stabilize the body. Don’t have a beach nearby? No problem. Just choose the least stable terrain you can find nearby, such as soft grass or a mountain dirt road, instead of the hard asphalt.
12 MAKE SERIES FOLLOWED
“To trigger your metabolism, rest only 30 to 60 seconds between sets of weights,” says coach Marc Perry, founder of BuiltLean.
13 TRAIN BEFORE BREAKFAST
You’ll force the body to burn more fat, according to a 2013 British study.
14 MAKE CARDIO FOR THE WHOLE BODY
The more muscle groups you involve, the more calories you will burn. A 79-pound man burns approximately 335 calories in 30 minutes of vigorous rowing, 138 more than in an elliptical routine.
15 MOVE OUT OF THE GYM
A 79-pound person doing any of these activities burns about 40 calories in 10 minutes.
Wash the dog
To cut wood
Play the guitar
Clean the kitchen floor
Make the bed
Cut the grass
Dance waltz or tango
16 WALK 2KM
Doing so, instead of traveling that distance by car, can result in a comparable reduction in body mass index, which would reduce 100 calories a day, suggests a study by Preventive Medicine.
17 COMPETE WITH FRIENDS
Cyclists who competed against a slightly faster opponent rode intensively for an additional nine minutes, compared to those who did it alone, experts at Michigan State University say.
18 LISTEN TO YOUR PAST
Music that inspires you helps you train harder, according to research. “You will be more motivated by songs that remind you of your first kiss or when you won something,” says Lee Brown of California State University in Fullerton.
19 BET ON YOU
In a Mayo Clinic study, people on a weight loss plan earned $ 20 if they dropped a few pounds a month or paid $ 20 if they didn’t. They lost 3.5 kilos more in a year than those who took the challenge without money involved.
20 REGISTER ALL YOUR MEALS
A mobile application can make you lose more weight than a paper newspaper, reveals British research. Try MyNetDiary Pro ($ 4). It has a super-fast scanner that allows you to enter calorie data by scanning the barcodes on food packages. “Keep it handy on the weekends, when the risks of eating poorly increase,” says Leslie Bonci, director of sports nutrition at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
21 REMOVE MEASURING SPOONS
Only fill them every certain number of weeks. “Serve yourself a portion that you calculate is correct and then measure it to see if you have exceeded yourself,” says Allison Stowell of the Guiding Stars nutrition program. Look to the right for the foods that people eat in excessive portions more frequently, without knowing it.