With all the delicious food that’s available over the holidays, it’s so easy to over-indulge. If you have, you may feel a little bloated and your clothes a little tight. Now you want to feel skinny fast! Here are 5 slim down tips, along with a secret weight loss recipe🙂
#1 – START EATING REGULARLY THROUGHOUT THE DAY
It may seem logical to skip meals so that you can save on calories but your body doesn’t work that way. You will become uncontrollably hungry and you’ll end up over-eating and making bad choices in the end.
Your blood sugar begins to fall after 3 hours without eating. After 4 hours you’ve digested everything you ate earlier. Once you’ve crossed the 5-hour mark, your blood sugar begins to plummet, and you grab whatever you can to refuel.
Aim for 3 meals a day with 2 small snacks (morning and afternoon). Include veggies and protein with each meal. The veggies will give you fibre that will fill you up. Foods with protein (even vegetarian options) will slow down digestion and satiate you for longer.
#2 – STAY HYDRATED – AVOID ALCOHOL, FANCY COFFEE AND SODA
Stick to herbal teas and water
If you don’t drink enough water, you may think you are hungry when you are actually thirsty. This will lead to increased calorie consumption. Plus, mild dehydration will reduce your metabolism. A study in “The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism” from 2003, showed that metabolic rate increases by 30 percent after drinking 2 cups of water.”
If you feel inexplicably hungry an hour after eating a meal, try having a drink of water or an herbal tea (not black tea or coffee as it doesn’t hydrate you in the same way) and see if the feeling passes.
I love sipping on a good glass of wine and I know a lot of you do too. Wine is not something that we have to give up permanently but in order to shake off the extra holiday pounds we need to eliminate it for a few days. When we drink wine, our body stops the fat-burning and calorie-burning processes and focuses on metabolizing the alcohol.
Wine has 7 calories per gram (ounce). To put that into perspective, protein and carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram so you can see that it is calorie dense. Wine does not satisfy hunger but actually increases your appetite. To slim down quick we need to avoid it temporarily.
Fancy coffees and soda (along with juice) will add sugar to your diet. It is just empty calories that offer no nutrition – it just adds fluff to your waistline.
#3 – ELIMINATE SUGAR FOR AT LEAST 3 DAYS
Sugar has nothing good to offer your body. I’ve seen it labelled the “anti-food”. It is calories with no nutrition. Sugar leads to weight gain, imbalanced hormones and immune deficiency. Eliminating sugar and artificial sweeteners will allow your hormones to become balanced and your body to start shedding excess weight.
If you are dying for something sweet to satisfy that craving, try frozen grapes, figs or almond butter (natural, whole foods). But be careful not to overindulge. I’m speaking from experience – a soup spoon full of almond butter is NOT a good idea!!
#4 – GET BACK TO YOUR REGULAR EXERCISE PROGRAM
Get back into your HIIT workouts. High-Intensity Training is FAR better for fat-burning than conventional aerobics.
Here’s proof that HIIT training is THE BEST:
Participants in a study were divided into two teams. Group A did 20 weeks of conventional aerobics and Group B did 15 weeks of HIIT. Group A burned 48 percent more calories DURING the workout than the HIIT group, but Group B burned 900% MORE FAT in 15 weeks than Group A burned in 20 weeks.
This goes to show that the EPOC (exercise post-oxygen consumption) is huge AFTER your workout. Your metabolism is on fire for hours after an intense HIIT workout. This makes HIIT the best choice for boosting your metabolism and shedding fat.
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#5 – FILL YOUR MEALS WITH UNPROCESSED, WHOLE FOODS.
Choose, lean proteins, whole grains, healthy fats, fresh fruit and vegetables. Design your plate with a palm-sized serving of protein, 1/2 cup whole grains and 2 cups of vegetables.
Tip for eating out:
If you are eating out at a restaurant, ask for a doggie bag before your meal comes. Place 1/3-1/2 of it in the doggie bag before you start to eat. This keep you from over-indulging and will give you lunch for tomorrow🙂
Weight Loss Leek Soup Recipe
Here is a recipe from Tosca Reno that will help restore balance to your body. It will assist your body in eliminating the bloated feeling you have and shed excess water.
Drink this soup as often as you’d like for 3 days. One cup is one serving.
Ingredients:
- 6 good-sized leeks
- 1 fist-sized onion, peeled and chopped
- 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and passed through a garlic press
- 6 cups of water
Directions:
- Chop and rinse leeks. Place looks in a soup kettle or large saucepan.
- Add chopped onion and garlic to leeks. Add 6 cups water. If vegetables are not totally covered, add more water
- Bring soup to a boil on the stove. Once mixture is boiling, reduce heat and let simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and puree mixture using an immersion blender or a high-speed blender. Do not add seasoning or salt.
- Serve soup hot. Store in refrigerator for 3 days.