With a variety of junk food available in the market today, and our jobs, which require us to sit on a chair for the majority of the day, it is almost impossible not to put on some extra pounds. Gaining excess weight is relatively easy, but losing it is a different ball game altogether. To lose weight, you know you have to exercise regularly and eat healthy but there are too many excuses not to work out and too many tempting treats. You may follow a strict routine and a strict diet for a few days, but the sheer effort it takes to follow them sends you into a downward spiral. After a few days or weeks of diligent effort and determination, most people end up where they started. If being strict with yourself is not your thing, then here are a few simple techniques that will help you shed those extra pounds.
1. Make Sure Your Breakfast Is Bigger Than Your Dinner
As you may already know, to lose weight, you need to expend more calories than you consume. To shed 1 pound, you need to create a deficit of 3,500 calories. It is actually easier to create this deficit by eating less than by exercising. According to a study, even if you control your calorie intake overall, you are more likely to lose more weight if your dinner is smaller than your breakfast. If you consume 1500 calories a day, split it up in such a way that the maximum calories are consumed at breakfast, fewer at lunch, and the least at dinner. Doing so is beneficial because what you eat in the morning is used up while performing various activities throughout the day. Since you rest at night, a heavy dinner often sits in your stomach and accumulates as fat.
2. Eat In Front Of A Mirror
One of the ways to motivate yourself to lose weight is to have a body goal. It should not be unachievable but something that is realistic and makes you feel good about yourself. Imagining yourself having that body should give you the rush to run that extra mile or to skip that dessert. It is not always possible to consciously keep your body goal in mind, so it is common to lose control, especially when you sit down for a meal. Eating in front of a mirror reminds you of your goals and helps you stick to that commitment.
3. Take Pictures Of Your Food
Curbing your calorie intake is a great way to lose weight, but counting calories and keeping a track of what you eat is a tedious task. Most of the time, when you note down what you ate, you cheat your mind into thinking that you ate much lesser than you actually did. Instead of writing it down, take pictures of your food. Through those pictures, you will be able to see the exact amount of fries, chips, cheese, or soda you had during the day. Pictures don’t lie.
4. Smell Vanilla After You Eat
If you are in the habit of heading straight for dessert as soon as you are done eating, then getting a whiff of vanilla will help you. You can either light a vanilla-scented candle or wear a vanilla-scented patch. It helps curb your dessert cravings, which automatically results in a lower calorie intake.
5. Eat From A Blue Plate
The color blue is an appetite suppressant. When you eat out of a blue plate or eat in a room with walls painted blue, your food looks less appealing to you. You automatically eat lesser than you normally do, without putting in too much conscious effort. Avoid the colors red, orange, and yellow while eating as they are appetite stimulants. This is the reason why most fast-food joints are painted red.
6. Tie A Ribbon On Your Waist
When you go out for a night of drinking and dining, you can easily end up overeating. One of the ways of controlling the amount of food you eat is by tying a ribbon around your waist under your clothes. You will be reminded that you need to eat less when the ribbon starts to feel tighter as the night goes on.
7. Brighten The Lights And Play Some Soothing Music
Dim lights at restaurants do 2 things – make the atmosphere romantic and lower your eating inhibitions. It’s a great business strategy but is extremely bad for your waistline. So when you sit down to eat, make sure your surrounding is bright so that you can see exactly what you are eating and how much. Your brain needs 20 minutes to register that you are full, so when you eat too quickly, you end up eating quite a lot before you experience satiety. Playing soft, soothing music helps you eat less because it encourages you to eat and chew more slowly.
Losing weight should be an enjoyable process and not something that exhausts you mentally and physically. Just make sure you have realistic expectations and give yourself enough time to reach your goals. Being healthy should be the main reason for you to lose weight.
