In an age of instant gratification, it is very easy to want fast results even at the cost of our own health.
We have all done it, starved ourselves and attempted fad diets only to gain everything back and feel even worse than before starting such diets.
The reason is that when we do such crash diets we are starving our bodies of essential nutrients, minerals, and protein. This causes havoc in our bodies and further depletes our health and vitality.
There are four simple things that you can start doing immediately, that do not cost anything, that implemented in your daily routine can have a big impact on your waist line and most importantly, in your overall health, over time.
1. Stop Starving Yourself
The first step is to stop starving yourself of nutrients, minerals, and healthy protein.
When you starve yourself, you put your body into starvation and your leptin levels decrease. Why do your leptin levels matter?
The hormone leptin controls energy and helps you keep going and burn calories. If you cut nutrition your brain thinks that you are going to run out of energy and your body goes into starvation mode. This vicious cycle not only slows down your metabolism but also tells your body to start storing fat for future use.
The problem is that most of us do this on a daily basis and our body just keeps storing fat and never gets to use that stored fat for energy and we continue to gain weight even if we are working out.
2. Crowding Out
My second tip is something called “crowding out.”
If ounce a day we add a healthy option to our daily routine, we eventually crowd out the bad stuff. Instead of dramatically changing your eating habits overnight, you will get more sustainable results by slowly crowding out that unhealthy stuff.
Doing this will allow you to change your lifestyle in a way that is manageable and achievable.
3. Increase Water Intake
The third is something we all need more of daily, “increase your water intake.”
This is the most important thing you can do for yourself, your body and your health. Our bodies are made up of 70% water therefore if we don’t drink enough daily our bodies just can not function well because water is essential for everything that our body does.
The standard rule is to drink half of your body weight in ounces daily. Drinking plenty of water will help your weight loss as it aides with proper digestion and bowel movements.
A misconception about drinking water is that if you are bloated it means that you should not drink water, but the opposite is true. If you are bloated you actually need to up your water intake so that it can help move things along and relieve you of your symptoms. So grab your refillable water bottle and drink up.
4. Interval Training
The fourth tip is to introduce some type of “interval training” into your weekly routine. Whether you are not working out or going to the gym regularly you can benefit from this.
Interval training has been proven by science to be more effective than running hours on the treadmill.
There is a great app called the 7 Minute Workout Challenge app.
The 7 Minute Workout is a scientifically proven, researched-backed workout program that you can do anywhere and do not need any equipment or a gym.
Best of all it only takes a little over 7 minutes daily or a few times a week to get in shape and become healthier right in your own home or on the go.
I hope these simple tips help you start your healthy journey in a sustainable way.
When health is the goal rather than losing weight overnight or doing a crash diet, it is easier to develop healthy choices and lose weight naturally and keep it off over time.
Make it a lifestyle rather than a diet and your future self will thank you for it.
