While staying fit and eating healthy is essential, we have to accept that it can be time-consuming. When you are working 12 hours a day AND bringing work home, you are not going to have time to hit the gym or cook a healthy meal. No matter how hard you try, every now and then you will find yourself eating takeout food. Here are five ways to lose weight that you can follow and easily fit into your busy schedule:
Blue Dishware
Research shows that eating foods from dishware that contrasts with our food prompts us to eat less. For example, a grilled cheese sandwich on a white plate will make you eat more than if it were on a blue plate. Blue dishware is proven to be the least appetizing to eat in, so suppress your appetite by using blue plates.
Snacks
It is a myth that snacking between meals causes weight gain. Research suggests that wolfing down three large meals in a day causes delayed insulin response and after being hungry for hours you are more likely to overeat. Snacking helps balance your metabolism as you are consuming calories slowly. It is recommended to eat five to six small meals throughout the day rather than two or three large meals. Your snacks do not have to be junk. You can make it healthy with nutritious foods that are high in protein and fiber.
Breakfast
There are still contradicting results when it comes to breakfast but most studies indicate that breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day. If you have dinner around 7 pm and then breakfast at 7 am, there is a 12-hour gap. If you skip breakfast, you are depriving your body of energy and lack of energy will make you feel tired throughout the day. As a result, when lunchtime hits, you are likely to overeat because you have been hungry for so many hours. So, eat a healthy, high fiber breakfast that will keep you full for a long time.
Smaller Plates
In the past few decades, plate sizes have actually increased. Studies show that our brain associates empty space on a plate as less food. If you take a smaller plate and fill it with the same amount of food, your brain recognizes it as a larger serving. So use appropriate sized dishware to avoid overeating.
Eat Slowly
It takes about twenty minutes for our ghrelin level (or hunger hormones) to drop when eating. High ghrelin levels indicate hunger while low ghrelin levels indicate that the stomach is full. So eat slowly, taking breaks between courses to allow your body to tell you when it is full. This is among the best ways to lose weight without doing anything.
Simple as they sound, these 5 ways to lose weight are backed by science. Try them and you will see the results!