Lose weight for women: Make small changes for huge results
You’re making healthy choices, frequent exercise and are tantalisingly close to your goal weight, but those last few kilos appear to be stuck to your body like chewing gum on your shoe. The reason why we get stuck in weight-loss Groundhog Day? "Kilojoule restriction triggers powerful compensatory responses because of your body’s metabolism," says Dr Nuala Byrne of the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation at Queensland University of Technology. "Your body senses modifications and decreasing fat stores so brings out the artillery to guard your energy. This is known as the famine reaction, made to store that excess energy." Don’t panic. It is possible to turn your own body in to a fat-burning machine.
Take a break If you’re seriously restricting your kilojoules in an attempt in losing weight, be warned: whenever your body does not get enough food it is going into starvation mode, preventing further weight-loss. The remedy? "There is a few evidence that alternating between weeks when you consume less than you need to maintain weight (energy restriction) with weeks for which you don’t "diet" (energy balance) may help. Our body works hard to find strategies to slow burn fat if it senses we are continually dieting. This alternating diet approach minimises these biological defences to being on a diet."
You could try yoga. Yoga teacher Maureen O’Keefe says: "Your metabolism is regulated by the endocrine system, especially the thyroid, and the postures in yoga strengthen, stimulate and regulate the endocrine system, boosting your metabolism."
Portion distortion Australians are eating more than ever and it isn’t all our fault. An average slice of bread was 30 grams but is now usually 40 grams. Dietitian Melanie McGrice, from Health Kick Nutrition, says we tend to consume large servings of recommended food groups such as meat, breads and cereals, however, not an ample amount of others which include vegetables - just 6.6 % people meeting our vegetable requirements of 5 serves each day.
Minimize portion sizes and eat more plant-based foods, which are lower in kilojoules and high in nutrients and fibre. A serve of protein need to be the size of your palm, rice or pasta one cup per serve and a serve of vegetables is one cup of salad or half a cup full of cooked vegetables.
McGrice recommends eating small meals every four to five hours and says to remember that your mind only starts registering that you’re eating after about 10 minutes. The slower you eat, the better chance your brain has of telling you you’re full.
Daily dairy Studies show that when people slim down on a low-kilojoule diet that includes adequate low-fat dairy foods, they shed more fat and fewer muscle, which will help to maintain a rapid metabolism in the long term.
"This helps produce long-term weight-loss rather than a quick fix," says McGrice. "This is because low-fat dairy foods are loaded with protein, which will help to encourage adequate muscle tissue. They are also good at satisfying hunger as they are low GI. Milk and yoghurt contain the least amount of kilojoules and are probably the most nutritious."
Take a stand Standing for an hour or so burns 400 more kilojoules (100 more calories) than sitting, according to a study from Iowa State University in the usa. Taking every chance to move could make quite a difference to the quantity of kilojoules you burn. Researchers at the US’s Mayo Clinic found slimmer people burned up to 1465 more kilojoules a day through toe tapping, muscle clenching and pacing.
Change coaches If you were training with a fitness instructor or friend for months, it can be time to enlist a new motivator. "Sometimes the familiarity of the relationship causes you not to try very hard," says health and fitness coach Amelia Burton. "A new motivator will assist you to look at your goals in a new light, give you new tools, call you out on your excuses and enable you to identify the final roadblocks [that are] stopping you from proceeding."
Veg out On average, vegetarians weigh 20 per-cent lower than non-vegetarians, and George Washington School of Medicine researchers found out that women who followed a vegan diet for 14 weeks lost 2 1 / 2 times as much weight as individuals that limited their fat intake. Cut out meat three nights a week.
Exercis smarter After you reduce weight, your own body uses fewer kilojoules as there is less weight to move around, and as your fitness level increases you have to continue to work harder to get rid of off the same amount of kilojoules. Health and fitness coach Amelia Burton says you will need to shake things up by changing the consistency, type, intensity, time or location of your exercise.
"Aerobic or cardio exercises such as walking, swimming and cycling increases the heart rate and burns fat, especially in short, sharp bursts," she says. "Weight lifting, strength and conditioning work increases lean muscle mass.
"Interval and circuit strength training are a good combination of both. The cardio blasts kilojoules immediately, while weight training exercise increases muscle - your body’s most powerful tissue for losing weight."
For that extra push, Burton advocates the ten % rule. "Increase your intensity by 10 per cent, so if you usually run at 10km/h, run at 11km/h. If you run for 60 minutes, run for 66 minutes. Decrease your rests by 10 per cent, so if you normally rest for 60 seconds, rest for 50 seconds." Make sure you get plenty of fluids. You burn kilojoules more efficiently when the body is hydrated.
Train before breakfast Say you decided to exercise every morning and want to lose belly fat, it’s best to train on an empty stomach, says Amelia Burton. "You won’t get rid of fat until your sugar stores are depleted and morning is the best time for that." But make sure you have brekkie afterwards, as research has shown individuals that eat breakfast maintain weight-loss more readily.Quick weight loss