By When I want to lose weight, the most frustrating part of the journey was the initial first steps.
I’ve done this long enough to know how hard the 1kg club is. It pains me to see that it’s relatively easy for most people to lose such a small amount of weight. For me, the first kg is the most annoying part of the process. Every one of us has a particular genetic makeup for weight gain and loss. The same goes for building muscle mass. Do you know of anyone who eats large amounts of food and never seems to gain any weight? I know several, and while I cringe at their food choices, I do envy their metabolisms speed and efficiency. Unfortunately, we’re not all built this way, and I missed out in the genetic fast metabolism pool. The good news is that there are several things you can do to enhance your capabilities to lose weight and perhaps at a faster rate.
The beginning of fat loss
Anything you consume in terms of food and drinks is calculated towards your overall calorie intake. It gets a little complicated when we break down the different aspects of energy uptake and output but stick with me as I bet you’ve already heard of a few.
- Resting metabolic rate (RMR). It’s the number of calories your body needs to maintain normal bodily functions, such as breathing and pumping blood.
- Thermic effect of food (TEF). This refers to the calories used to digest, absorb, and metabolize food.
- Thermic effect of activity (TEA). These are the calories you use during exercise. TEA can also include non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which accounts for the calories used for activities like housework and fidgeting
These are the three main ways you can burn off stored fat and consumed calories.As you may have guessed, it’s not a matter of consuming less food and doing a lot more activity to help you experience success. If this were the case, everyone would be thin. We need to get a bit smarter with the things under our control – like the foods we eat and our activities. These are achievable and will give you some pretty good results (without sacrificing the foods you love)
Top Five Ways To Increase Your Metabolism & Lose Weight Without Subjecting Yourself To a 1200 Calorie Diet
1 Eat protein! Yes, you guessed it, protein has a thermogenic effect, which means it uses calories to digest. Protein causes the most significant rise in TEF and increases your metabolism by 15–30%. Protein also helps you feel full for more extended periods, causing you to eat less overall. Your daily protein intake should match your general daily food intake requirements, and that should be based on the activity you do and if you are a male or female. There is no harm in eating a little more protein than recommended – please don’t go overboard. You can overconsume protein, which will end up in fat cells for storage. I would recommend low caloric sources of protein more often, such as eggs, chicken and fish. If you are vegan, go for tofu or tempeh. 2 Lifting weights. This is my favourite thing in the world. Lifting weights is essential for anyone trying to lose weight and maintain that loss. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue, which helps to increase your metabolism. After the age of 30, our muscle mass decreases by 10% every single year. Unfortunately, this explains why many people begin to put on weight, which can steadily increase every year. As you lose muscle, your metabolism decreases. Using weights 3–4 times per week will help maintain that muscle mass and keep you in great shape. 3. Move a whole lot more. Most of us have dreaded desk jobs. I’m also guilty of forgetting to stand up regularly, walking to the kitchen, speaking with a colleague instead of using Teams. You will be surprised how many extra calories you could burn just by standing up regularly and moving around. If you can’t get yourself a standing desk, why not walk in your lunch break, and find ways during the day in which you can move more. I prefer to walk to and from work if I can. It does make a huge difference. 4 Add some spice to your life. There is a lot of different add ons to food that can help to boost your metabolism. Peppers is one of them. I would start off using smaller amounts until your body becomes accustomed to it. The great thing about adding spices is that it can make your food taste more appealing, and after eating a meal with pepper, it can decrease your appetite quite substantially! I add cayenne pepper to my oats in the morning, and that fills me up completely. Use this as a fat burning and appetite decreasing strategy throughout the day. Pepper is also perfect for your digestion. If you have gut sensitivities, then I would recommend using pepper in your foods. 5 HIIT for cardio a few times a week. HIIT is effective because of the short bursts of activity and their intensity. It increases your metabolic rate and lasts well beyond the end of your workout. This is called the “afterburn effect” You don’t need to waste time running for hours. Short bursts for weight loss are a lot more beneficial – especially if you want to lose belly fat. Twenty minutes per session is all you need, and don’t forget to allow for recovery afterwards.These have served me well during my competitive days and today. When you use all of these together, you will give yourself the perfect environment for weight loss to occur. It may take a bit of time to create that deficit, but it will be well worth it. These techniques are very realistic for anyone, and not once did I mention eating less food. The trick is to manipulate your metabolism by eating higher thermogenic food, use effective exercise techniques, and then implement incidental movement throughout your day. All of these simple strategies will see you losing weight and maintaining it for life. Just stick with it and watch those results start to occur. I always say, one day at a time, one meal and a time and one workout at a time.