If you’re struggling to get started with your weight loss quest, try bringing these three simple things into your day to get yourself moving in the right direction.
Increase Your General Activity
Any activity which isn’t actual structured exercise is worth increasing; although the efforts sound small, the extra calories you can burn every day add up quickly and will make a big difference over a few months.
Consciously plan to get a bit more activity into your day; deliberately park as far away from the shops as you can, take the stairs rather than the lift, and go to the supermarket rather than arranging a delivery.
Get The Stress Down
Stress has a massive impact on our ability to lose body fat. Not least, because when the stress hormone cortisol is released, another hormone called ghrelin is released too. Ghrelin is responsible for stimulating your appetite and also effectively reduces energy expenditure and promotes retention of fat.
The knock on effect of high stress levels is poor sleep. When you don’t sleep well, it is another form of stress on your body – and this leads to more cortisol being produced, and the cycle continues.
Bring de-stressing activities into your day, something active and something inactive is ideal. These might be taking a calm walk in the morning and making a point of enjoying the views, and spending half an hour reading a book in the evening.
Eat More Protein
Protein is the most satisfying food you can eat; it keeps hunger away for longer than any other food, and this is helpful when trying to eat less. It also requires more energy to digest, and while this on its own won’t make much difference to the results you see, it does add to the bigger picture.
Protein will also allow you to hold on to muscle more easily when you’re losing weight – and muscle is a really important thing.
Aim for 1-1.7g protein per KG bodyweight a day, depending on the exercise you’re doing.
If you can consistently add these small things into your day, you’ll find yourself well on the way to a leaner you.