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10 tips to lose weight faster and easier
No magazine, no bestseller list and no health website without new, revolutionary, unprecedented diet suggestions: Losing weight quickly made easy, is often promised. Sometimes some of these diets achieve a certain amount of success. And after a short time, the painstakingly saved pounds inevitably return to their original place. The yo-yo effect is the name of this vicious circle on the stony path to the ideal figure.
Probably the one, perfectly fitting, diet can never be found. A change in diet for a few weeks simply cannot bring lasting success. A more sensible alternative, on the other hand, is to rely on two proven virtues: patience and persistence. Sometimes even minor changes in eating habits are enough, but they must then be adhered to in the long term with a fixed diet plan. The route to a new, easier life is anything but complicated. Ten simple commandments set the direction:
The best tips:
1. Abstaining from sweets
2. Prefer whole grain products
3. Eat less animal products
4. More vegetables and fruit instead
5. Less sugary drinks
6. Less alcoholic beverages
7. Eat more slowly, chew longer
8. Stop when you’re full
9. More physical exercise
10. No crash diet, losing weight takes time
Get to know your body properly
Many people who have never had any problems with their body weight suddenly notice in their middle years that the clothes from last summer just don’t fit anymore. From a certain age, the need for nutrients gradually decreases. The body gets by with a lower food intake. If we then continue to eat our usual portions, this inevitably results in weight gain. A change in living conditions can also lead to weight fluctuations. Just like some diseases that affect the metabolism.
Hormone balance
A persistent deficiency of thyroid hormones (e.g. due to an untreated hypothyroidism) can lead to a significant increase in body weight. The falling level of female hormones during menopause is also often reflected in noticeable weight changes. In men, similar effects have an effect in old age, only the processes are less abrupt in them.
Blood values
Obesity can have an impact on the results of the blood test in the long run. The values for blood sugar, cholesterol or uric acid are often elevated. These may already be the first harbingers of diseases that can be triggered by obesity or an unhealthy diet. Diabetes 2 and coronary heart disease are typical examples.
Metabolism
There are individual differences in the energy requirement for the provision of a certain service. The basal metabolic rate (the basic requirement to maintain vital functions) also differs considerably from person to person. Last but not least, metabolism is also a matter of type. If you are constantly on the move and can hardly stand moments of rest, you will probably not have any problems with severe obesity. Pronounced phlegmatics, on the other hand, have a higher risk of becoming fat.
A permanent change
The calorie intake must fit the living conditions and personal constitution. The stable balance between food intake and demand must be approached carefully. The goal is a diet plan that can be implemented in the long term. Brute fasting cures are rather counterproductive, because the organism adapts to a supposed deficiency situation by starving and is more economical with the available nutrients. The faster the weight gain occurs when you eat more again. But the sheer amount of calories is not the only factor. Incorrect or unbalanced nutrition can also lead to obesity.
Eating habits
We often eat too much and too fast. And we often eat the wrong things. Many people have long since lost their original sense of what we need and what is good for us. In the timed daily routine, people eat when it’s time. And not when hunger makes itself known. And it is best to do it as quickly as possible. Even before the natural feeling of satiety can set in, we have already consumed far too large a portion. In addition, many fast food dishes and snacks contain too much sugar and fat. We find the combination of the two nutrients particularly tasty, but it only gets us in very small portions.
Stress
Stress increases the hectic pace of eating. It feels like we don’t really have time for that. And so, in a hurry or briefly in between, random snacks are consumed indiscriminately that have little to do with healthy eating. In addition, stress is an emotional burden. Delicious food is supposed to comfort us over a situation that is perceived as frustrating. Eating becomes a substitute satisfaction. In the long run, eating disorders can even develop that require comprehensive treatment.
Lack
“Sitting is the new smoking,” they say. We don’t move enough. For many, the world of work is dominated by office work. And after a long day at work, we usually make ourselves comfortable on the sofa. A healthy balance is missing. Movement changes self-perception and improves body awareness. This also has a positive influence on our eating habits.
Of course, exercise also burns calories. But it is hardly possible to compensate for excessive food consumption through exercise alone. This can only be achieved by competitive athletes in extreme endurance sports.
Lifestyle
An active and fulfilled lifestyle helps in the fight against obesity. Listlessness, on the other hand, can become a problem. Becoming slim is a challenge. Health can also be a major hurdle. Certain medications can promote obesity. These include cortisone and some psychotropic drugs. There is also a family predisposition to obesity. But genes alone are rarely the trigger for obesity. Excessive calorie intake or wrong food must be added as factors. On this occasion, drinking should also be mentioned. Alcohol and sweet drinks are proven fatteners.
Diets, yes or no?
Diets promise successful weight loss through a temporary change in diet. In most cases, however, it turns out that the successes achieved do not last. There is probably no real alternative to a permanent change in diet on the way to a sustained normal weight. A consistent diet plan or a permanent nutrition plan serve as a reliable guideline for this.
What diets are there?
- Atkins diet: hardly any carbohydrates, fat and protein, on the other hand, without restrictions. Possible side effects include bad breath, headaches, constipation and fatigue. Due to the unbalanced diet, this diet plan may also contain too much salt and too few vitamins and fiber.
- HCG diet: Combination of hormone injections and strong calorie reduction to 500 kilocalories a day. Health damage caused by deficiencies and regular doses of the pregnancy hormone HCG are questionable with this diet plan. HCG is not approved for body weight reduction.
- Intermittent fasting: Eat for 8 hours a day and then take a break for 16 hours. Intermittent fasting is considered a gentle method with a health-promoting effect. However, a new study states a small influence on weight loss.
- Shake diets: pre-made diet drinks replace meals. Safe diet plan if it contains all the necessary ingredients for the body. In some cases, there are problems with switching to solid food after the diet.
- Low-carb diet: This diet plan focuses on the reduction of carbohydrates. Vegetables, meat, fruit and dairy products may still be eaten. Under certain circumstances, low-carb recipes are too meat-heavy. This could lead to health problems in the long term.
- Low-fat diet: The classic. However, nutritionists are increasingly questioning this diet plan. Fat probably has its reputation as the number 1 fattener unjustified.
Weight loss and healthy eating
With a healthy diet, it is possible to reduce excess weight and maintain the desired weight permanently. As a rule, this does not require any drastic changes in lifestyle. However, the direction taken must be adhered to with a clear nutrition plan.
Weight Loss Tips
These foods will help you lose weight
Many foods that are already used regularly play a major role in healthy eating. However, the chosen diet plan must not neglect enjoyment and enjoyment of food. However, you can’t lose weight quickly with this strategy. On the other hand, it is possible to lose the excess pounds permanently. Tip: Some spices, such as cinnamon, for example, can alleviate feelings of hunger that may occur at first. Recommended foods include:
- Whole grain products
- Vegetable
- Fish
- Nuts
- natural yoghurt (low fat)
- Low-fat quark
- Oatmeal
- Chia seeds
- Lettuce and tomato
- Cinnamon
You should definitely eliminate these foods from your diet plan
Very high-sugar recipes are basically a problem for anyone who wants to lose weight. The problem: Some foods contain a lot of sugar without it being obvious at first glance. On the list of ingredients on the packaging, sugar also has a confusing number of names: glucose, fructose, malt extract, lactose, sucrose, maltodextrin… The combination of fat and sugar is also critical. Even people of normal weight should only consume them in moderation. Even a diet that is heavily carbohydrate-heavy (lots of baked goods, pasta, white rice) can lead to weight gain in the long run. These foods should be avoided:
- Ice cream
- Chips and Flips
- Heavily sugared fruit yoghurts
- Cream cakes
- Ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, barbecue sauces
- Dried fruit
- Sausage
- refined vegetable oils
Weight loss and detoxification
Under buzzwords such as “detox” or “purification”, regular and active detoxification of the body is often propagated. However, such a cleaning action cannot be scientifically justified. The only exceptions are medical emergencies, for example if toxic substances have been ingested. The metabolic products produced in the organism, on the other hand, are excreted without external support. Therapeutic fasting, which is often associated with detoxification, does not serve as a diet plan for the long-term loss of body weight. Rather, the proponents see it as a general, health-promoting cure.
Weight loss and intermittent fasting
There were great hopes for intermittent fasting, as a hardly burdensome and yet effective method of weight loss. At the moment, it looks as if this hope will be disappointed. A scientific study from 2020 with 116 participants showed that no significant weight loss can be achieved through intermittent fasting. In 12 weeks, the participants did not even manage to lose a whole kilo of body weight on average. The study did not investigate whether 16-hour daily fasting has other health-promoting effects. There may be other ways to benefit from intermittent fasting.
Weight loss and acidity
Ideally, the body attacks its own fat reserves when losing weight. During this desired fat loss, keto acids are formed. If the excess of keto acids causes the body to become over-acidified, further fat loss may come to a standstill. Despite further reluctance to eat, there is no further progress in losing body weight. In this situation, it is helpful to focus more on vegetables. It has an alkaline effect in the body and can thus counteract hyperacidity. Meat, sausage, cheese and baked goods, on the other hand, should be avoided. They are classified as acid-forming foods.
Recipes that help you lose weight
Good advice is very simple: cooking yourself is the best recipe. This gives you the best control over all the ingredients contained in the food. Many ready meals and highly processed foods contain too much sugar, fat or unwanted additives. Another tip: Serve the food on smaller plates. Tests have shown that smaller portions are actually eaten.
But even outside the kitchen, small changes in daily life can have a positive effect on body weight. Many short distances, which have so far been done quickly by car, should be better covered on foot or by bicycle. The small distances to the bakery, the bank and the supermarket add up to a considerable training effect. At the workplace, too, it helps to use the stairs as often as possible instead of the lift.
How is losing weight related to the drinks you consume every day?
When losing weight, most people focus their attention on food. However, many calories are also absorbed through sodas, iced tea or other soft drinks. In this case, it is the large amounts of sugar contained that act as fatteners.
Weight Loss Tips
These drinks help you lose weight
If you want to lose weight quickly, you should drink a lot, but it is best to avoid sugary drinks altogether. Vegetable smoothies are healthy snacks that contain a lot of fiber and can replace an entire meal. Tip: Yerba mate, ginger tea and green tea are said to have an appetite-suppressing or health-promoting effect. These drinks should be preferred:
- Water
- unsweetened herbal tea
- unsweetened fruit tea
- Green tea
- Ginger tea
- Yerba mate
- low-fat milk
- Buttermilk
- Vegetable smoothies
- Vegetable juice (tomato, carrot)
You should avoid these drinks
Sodas and cola sometimes contain very large amounts of sugar. Therefore, these soft drinks should be avoided in favor of sugar-free drinks for weight loss. Drinking light and diet drinks is also not harmless. The sugar substitutes it contains can stimulate the appetite and thus unnecessarily complicate efforts to lose weight. Tip: Drink water with all meals and avoid the following drinks.
- sugary soft drinks
- Fruit juices
- heavily sugared iced teas
- Ready-made fruit smoothies
- alcoholic beverages
- Light drinks
- Energy drinks
Lose weight with green smoothies
Green smoothies should ideally contain a lot of leafy vegetables but hardly any fruit. By preparing it with little fruit, the fructose content remains relatively low and the calorie count correspondingly low. The fresh ingredients are healthy and can replace an entire meal. This is exactly where the weight-reducing effect of green smoothies lies. They are also a good balance when vitamins and minerals are scarce on the menu anyway.
Lose weight with sport and exercise
These sports are calorie killers
Endurance sports are a good way to lose weight in connection with a permanent change in diet. If you haven’t done any sports before, you should start carefully. Muscles and joints may not be able to cope with high loads at first. The strain on physical performance should therefore not be increased quickly, but only very gradually. After achieving a certain training effect, sporting activity increases well-being and motivation for further weight loss. It is best to train several times a week. These sports burn a lot of calories and help you lose weight faster:
- Cycling
- Walking
- Swim
- Run
- Boxing training
- Step aerobics
- Interval training
Lose weight by jogging
Hardly any other sport consumes more calories: about 500 calories per hour. But not very many people can last a whole hour in a fast endurance run. That’s why cycling and walking, for example, can be more productive, simply because you usually get through a much longer training period. These two sports also place less strain on the cardiovascular system.
Under certain circumstances, the higher load on the pre-damaged hip and knee joints when jogging is an obstacle for overweight people. Swimming or water aerobics are particularly effective alternatives that are healthy and easy on the joints.
Strength training
Strength training helps you lose weight. The muscle gain theoretically leads to weight gain. But the newly gained muscles also consume a lot of energy, even at rest. In practice, this increases the daily basal metabolic rate (energy consumption without stress). With the same diet, body weight is effectively reduced and the weight achieved is easier to maintain.
What other alternatives to losing weight are there?
An entire industry lives from the fight against obesity. The number of diet products is incalculable. Not all of them are helpful. Some light products even stimulate the appetite even more. In addition to the specially tailored food, offers from the pharmacy or drugstore are also available.
Laxative
Laxatives are not suitable for weight loss. They are only used to remedy temporary indigestion. Continuous use in particular leads to constipation and other health problems.
Anorectic
Since the 60s, preparations have been coming onto the market with great regularity that are supposed to curb appetite and hunger. Initially, they were amphetamine derivatives. Currently, the preparation Cathine, among others, is still available. The drug acts on the sympathetic nerve and can thus increase the heart rate as an undesirable side effect. Interest in appetite suppressants has now waned somewhat. Instead, drugs that interfere with fat metabolism became fashionable. Currently, even a drug from diabetes treatment is being propagated as a “diet injection”. The weight-reducing effect of all these remedies is rather manageable. However, the temporary weight loss is paid for by sometimes significant side effects. After discontinuing the preparations, the well-known yo-yo effect usually sets in and the original weight is quickly reached or exceeded. What may remain, however, is persistent damage to health.
Weight Loss Drinks
In most cases, these are powdered agents that must be dissolved in water or low-fat milk. They replace daily meals. The weight loss effect here is caused by reduced calorie intake (between 800 and 1200 calories a day). The use of the weight loss drinks usually extends over several weeks. Medical supervision during the duration of the respective diet plan is recommended. You can lose weight quickly with this diet. However, whether the body weight achieved can be maintained depends on not falling back into old eating habits afterwards. Some users suffer from digestive problems or the monotony of this liquid diet. Alternatively, comparable weight loss can only be achieved with a high-protein but low-carbohydrate diet.
Dietary supplement
Fiber-rich products that fill the stomach but contain hardly any calories themselves are common. These supplements relieve the feeling of hunger and can facilitate the first steps towards weight loss. In the case of radical weight loss, it can be useful to take vitamins, minerals and trace elements. However, this should not be done on your own, but only on medical advice.
When gastric surgery is necessary
If extreme obesity (grade III obesity) cannot be controlled in any other way, the doctor may suggest surgical reduction of the stomach. If there are other health problems, a partial removal of the stomach is also useful in the case of obesity grade II. Due to the reduced stomach volume, only small portions of food can be eaten and the feeling of satiety sets in earlier. Following the operation, weight loss of 30 to 50 kilograms is possible within two years. Like any surgery, this procedure is also associated with a risk of complications. Patients also need supportive follow-up care so that no deficiency symptoms (vitamins) or other problems arise due to the rapid weight loss.
Alternative methods for stomach reduction are gastric banding and gastric balloon. Here, too, the absorption capacity of the stomach is reduced in principle. Before deciding on one of the procedures, detailed medical advice should be sought.
How does the doctor define the degree of obesity?
In addition to waist circumference and age, the well-known body mass index (BMI) is used as a yardstick for classification. The BMI is calculated from the ratio of body weight in kilograms and height in meters squared:
- Obesity grade III: BMI 40 and above
- Obesity grade II: BMI 35 to 39
- Obesity grade I: BMI 30 to 34
- Overweight: BMI 25 to 29
- Normal weight: 18.5 to 24
