Nutrition Weight Loss

13 Solutions for Weight Loss - Part 2

We have talked in part one of this article about some ideas for weight loss, then we mentioned three solutions for it.

The first solution was about following a method that allows you to lose weight. The second solution was a way to get rid of the toxins that enter your body. The last solution was about diets and the foods that help lose weight. We will continue to talk about five more solutions in this part, which are:

1. To divide meals into:

  1. Breakfast.
  2. A light snack.
  3. Lunch.
  4. A light snack.
  5. Dinner.

When you think about the way calories are distributed throughout the day and in the evening, focus on a way to divide them into carbohydrates, fats, and proteins because the solution to lose weight is to make sure that you get the right balance between these three components in every one of your five small meals.

Determining the right balance depends on your personal goals and physical condition because:

  • Carbohydrates work on fueling the muscles during exercise. They are the only source of energy for red blood cells and the brain.
  • Fats are essential for the structure of the cells and brain functions.
  • Protein maintains muscle, promotes energy burning, and increases satiety.

The bulk of the metabolism's role in weight loss comes from protein. However, how do you determine how to control calories from carbohydrates and fats and their amount?

Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends balancing your meals within these ranges:

  • Carbohydrates: 45-65% of calories, at least 130 grams daily to maintain the functions of the brain and central nervous system.
  • Fats: 20-35% of calories.
  • Proteins: 10-35% of calories.

The diet that contains 1200 calories a day provides 45% of carbohydrates, 1335 grams of carbohydrates, which is the minimum to provide the body with what it needs, and it is the minimum for weight loss.

Therefore, you have 55% of your daily calories to allocate between healthy fats and protein, so focus on 25-30% in each category, whether you prefer focusing on protein or healthy fats. It was also mentioned that calories are important, which is why you must make every calorie work as much as possible for the sake of your body.

Your goals to lose weight:

  • Carbohydrates quality: The more complex the carbohydrates are, the better it is. Therefore, choose greens and whole grains, not processed or simple carbohydrates. Avoid sugary foods as well.
  • Protein quality: The best option is fat-free protein. Thus, choose beans, legumes, eggs, and fat free kinds of meat such as chicken and turkey.
  • Fat quality: Healthy fats, especially those rich in omega-3, are considered essential for brain functions. Therefore, choose natural unprocessed fats like the ones found in avocados, dark chocolate, chia seeds, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, and eggs.

2. Knowing the misconceptions related to food:

There is a big difference between healthy ways to lose weight and misconceptions that are related to food, so do not let the ideas mentioned below stop you from achieving your goals: 

  • Myth: Drinking 3 glasses of milk or equivalent to them everyday.
  • Truth: Most adults cannot digest milk correctly. Therefore, instead of that, choose leafy vegetables and legumes to gain calcium and drink large amounts of water.
  • Myth: Orange juice is a large source of vitamins.
  • Truth: Drinking fruit juice is like drinking liquid sugar, and it is not considered the best source of vitamins. For antioxidants, choose cranberries, green tea, walnuts, artichoke, beans, or raspberries.
  • Myth: Whole grains, especially oatmeal flour, are considered good for the heart.
  • Truth: Having grinded grains is similar to eating sugar. Therefore, choose healthy foods for the heart, such as soybeans, cranberries, nuts, legumes, tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, flax seeds, dark leafy greens, pomegranates, avocados, or green tea.
  • Myth: 3 Meals a day is the most correct way to eat food.
  • Truth: The best thing to do is to control hunger through eating five small meals or three meals and two snacks a day.
  • Myth: Eat bananas if you suffer from heart problems, for they contain potassium.
  • Truth: Starch in ripe bananas turns into sugar directly in the bloodstream. If you are looking for potassium, choose sun-dried tomatoes, beans, dark leafy greens, or avocados.
  • Myth: Vegetable or tomato juice are similar to having a vegetable meal.
  • Truth: Vegetable or tomato juice is full of sugar. Therefore, choose whole foods, especially raw cruciferous vegetables and dark leaf vegetables.

3. Water:

Any doctor or nutritionist will tell you to drink water instead of soft drinks or juice. Water is essential to gain good health and a solution to weight loss because it promotes bowel function, digestion, expels impurities and toxins from the body and hydrates the skin and hair, and stimulates the muscles.

Studies have shown that drinking water 30 minutes prior to eating food helps to lose weight. These results appeared in the people who had not made any changes in their calorie intake or their exercises. This might be because water helps fill the stomach since most feelings of hunger are caused by dehydration.

Whether you feel hungry or thirsty, your body is producing hormones to the same part of the brain, which is the hypothalamus, and you cannot differentiate between hunger and thirst, so they urge you to eat. Also, your body and brain become more confused because of the fact that the mood swings. Dizziness and fatigue are all signs of dehydration and hunger.

The right step that you must take in these situations is to firstly drink water because it is possible that you are a little bit dehydrated, even if you do not think so. Studies have shown that around 75% of Americans do not drink enough water. Therefore, it is possible that you are simply not drinking enough water either. Because water is the solution to get rid of toxins and improve digestion, this is the first change that you have to make.

4. Nutritional supplements:

Nutritional supplements can help you regain your energy and achieve your goals in weight loss naturally since most health products are designed to save vital nutrients, energy, and basic compounds to achieve the most amount of health and weight loss. 

5. Exercises:

When it comes to healthy methods of losing weight, nothing succeeds without following a comprehensive approach. Exercises and diet work hand in hand to promote weight loss, and one does not work without the other.

Counting solely on exercise without following a disciplined diet can lead to eating food to compensate for the huge amount of calories that you lose, which stands in the way of losing weight. Counting solely on limiting calories causes the metabolism to slow down, and this leads to not losing weight once again. 

Your body works on maintaining its natural state and energy preservation. Therefore, you have to regulate the consumption of the calories and do exercises to force your body out of this adaptive mode. The longer your metabolism malfunctions, the harder it will be to recover and return back to the natural state.

If you are working on losing weight, you are allowing your metabolism to go back to its right path. In this case, you have to combine exercises related to strength, endurance, and flexibility. Therefore, focus on working on these kinds of exercises along with assigning days for rest in between. You also have to maintain your energy even during rest days, such as going out for a walk, swimming, or doing an activity of your choice.

For every complex exercise mentioned below, alternate between the recommended groups with taking a period of rest between 30 to 60 minutes:

Squat with lifting weights:

This exercise focuses on the abdominal and hip muscles, hamstrings, quadriceps, and shoulder muscles:

  1. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and elbows bent. Lift a two-kilogram weight in each hand. Your palms shoulder high, and lower your body to the squat position, which is ducking. Make sure not to bend your knees in such a way that exceeds your toes. Then hold for a second.
  2. Stand up by pressing on your heels, and lift the weights above your head. Then return to the squat position
  3. Repeat the exercise 15 times in 3 groups. 

Lifting weight in your hand along with raising your leg:

This exercises focuses on abdominal and back muscles, biceps, hip muscles, hamstrings, quadriceps, and shoulder muscles:

  1. Put a chair in front of you in a way that the back of the chair is facing you. Hold a two-kilogram weight with your left arm and bend forward where your right hand lands on the back of the chair. Make sure that your back is flat and parallels the ground
  2. Lower your left hand towards the ground, where your palm is facing the ground. Raise your left leg behind you and keep it straight so that your body makes a (T) shape.
  3. Bend your left elbow slowly to lift the weight up so that your elbow is on the same level as your torso. Hold for a second, then lower the weight.
  4. Repeat this exercise 15 times in 3 groups for each side. 

Lifting weights towards your shoulders with raising your legs:

If you want to work on your abdominal muscles, your biceps, quadriceps, hip muscles, and hamstrings, this exercise is for you:

  1. Stand and hold a two-kilogram weight in each hand. Put your left foot on a step or seat where your knee is bent in a 90 degree angle.
  2. Put all of your weight on your left foot, and raise your body so you stand on the step with your left leg straight and your right thigh raised in a 90 degree angle and parallel to the ground. While doing this, bend your hands with the weights upward towards your shoulder. Then go back to the beginning position.
  3. Repeat this exercise 15 times in 3 groups, and switch legs. 

Plank:

This exercise focuses on the abs, back, and shoulder muscles:

  1. Lay down with your face to the ground. Put your toes beneath you, and keep your forearms laid flat on the ground. Try to suck in your stomach. Raise your hips in a low position.
  2. Take a deep breath while raising your hips upwards to make an upside down (V) shape. Then hold a little bit, and go back slowly to the beginning position.
  3. Repeat this exercise 15 times in 3 groups. 

Lunges:

 Your abs, hamstrings, hips and quadriceps will work in this exercise:

  1. Stand up with your hands on your hips and your feet hip width apart. Go a step back with your left leg and put it behind your right leg. While bending your knees, you can extend your left hand towards the ground on the outer side of your right leg.
  2. Go back to the beginning position.
  3. Repeat this exercise 15 times then switch sides and repeat the exercise 3 groups for each exercise.

Superman:

This exercise focuses on the lower part of your body by tightening your back and hips:

  1. Lay down facing the ground, and extend your arms in a way that your palms are facing down. Extend your legs so that the bottom of your feet is facing upwards. Take a deep breath while lifting your legs and arms together as high as you can.
  2. Exhale while going back slowly to the beginning position.
  3. Repeat this exercise 15 times in 3 groups.

Pushups:

Exercise your arms, chest, and shoulders in this traditional exercise that you can do anywhere:

  1. On the ground, put your hands directly under your shoulders. Fix your toes on the ground in a way that allows you to lock the lower part of your body, and straighten your back.
  2. Lower your body and keep your back and neck straight until your chest touches the ground.
  3. Exhale while going back to the beginning position.
  4. Repeat this exercise 20 times, or as much as you can correctly.
Read also: Can Your Diet Relieve Chronic Pain?

Crunches:

This exercise focuses on the abs:

  1. Lay on your back while bending your knees. Make sure your feet are flat on the ground and hip width apart.
  2. Put your hands behind your head, and do not cross your fingers.
  3. Pull your left knee towards your right elbow, and the opposite with your right knee in a way that allows you to lift your head, neck, and shoulders off the ground.
  4. Hold for a second.
  5. Go back slowly to the beginning position.
  6. Repeat this exercise 20 times, or as much as you can correctly.
Read also: Top 6 Healthy Eating Habits That Every Athlete Should Adopt

In conclusion:

After talking about 3 solutions for weight loss in the first part of this article, we mentioned in this part five other solutions. We talked about dividing meals and misconceptions related to food. Then we mentioned the importance of drinking water and the role of nutritional supplements. In the last solution, we mentioned some helpful exercises to help you lose weight. As for the third and last part of this article, we will talk about five other solutions. Stay tuned.