Striking Weight Loss Blog

Cutting your daily calories consumption is an essential for successful weight loss. There’s no need to become fanatic about what you eat, because some very simple changes in your everyday routine can virtually make wonders.

Ten kisses per day, for example, can burn up to 120 calories. But let’s see what else is on my list of 9 great and (some of which) unusual ways to reduce your daily calories intake.

Note that you can’t start putting each of the following tips in practice from day one. So why not try to introduce one fat binding lifestyle change per week, so that you can get used to doing it regularly, and then start with another. That’s a fitness system that I’ve been using for more than an year and it’s really effective.

1. Get more (quality) sleep. A recent study by the University of Chicago says that people who get less than six hours of sleep eat more throughout the day. Around 1,000 calories more, to be precise.

So make your room as dark as possible when bed time comes. Turn off completely your TV and any other appliances that have red or blue LED lights, as they tend to distrupt your sleep. Install a set of curtains if light enters your room during the night. Only by doing these two simple things, I personally managed to increase the quality and quantity of sleep, keeping me fresh in daytime and relaxed at nights.

2. Use smaller plates. It’s a universial dieting rule that small meals appear bigger in small plates than they do in big ones. This trick is deeply psychological and it works for everybody. So start fooling yourself that you’re eating more when you’re actually cutting down portions.

3. Go sugar-free. When possible, drink Coca Cola Light instead of ordinary Coke. If possible (depending on how much will you have), avoid Cola at all. It contains a lot of sugar, sweeteners and many other unneeded-calories sources.

Instead, drink much more water so that you don’t get thirsty enough to want a Coke. I always carry a bottle of water with me so that I have something to sip.

4. Drink green tea. Lots of it. Did you know that only one cup of green tea can accelerate your metabolism by 3% helping you burn more than 65 calories daily? I have many friends whose daily portion of green tea is between 4 and 6 cups. They have less fat than others, feel better and look healthier. I won’t get into the depths of tea benefits for the human body but I will say that many studies have proved what I was just talking about tea.

5. Prepare your food properly. Choose steamed or grilled food using healthy fats like olive oils. Don’t go for fried foods, white-bread sandwiches and burgers. When in need of a quick snack, eat whole-grain toasts with ham, cheese and vegetables.

6. An apple a day keeps the calories away. Nuts taste great, but they’re rich in calories, so they’re something to avoid for most dieters. Instead, choose an apple which is much healthier, light and just as tasty. An ordinary apple contains no more than 110 kcal, nothing that ten simple kisses can’t burn.

7. Chicken time! This is probably something you’ve already heard, but chicken contains less calories than beef or pork. Plus, it has almost no fats, which is something to consider when trying to successfully lose weight. And don’t forget about fish, your best friend in your fat binding journey.

8. Cucumbers burn much more calories than they contain. So treat yourself to a nice salad with cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes for a healthy organic meal. Watermelon and celery have the same kcal reducing effect.

9. Chewing gum help you slash calories, according to a nutrition professor named Kathleen Melanson at the University of Rhode Island studying the effects of chewing sugar-free gum on weight management.

Feel free to check out more information on the study from Science daily. To sum up, people who chew gums consume 67 calories less at lunchtime and don’t get as hungry as others between mealtimes.

Remember: small changes lead to big results. Less calories mean less excess fats and less worries. There’s no need to get freaky and mathematical about the ammount you take. Just make those nine simple and effective lifestyle changes that will eventually help you become thinner.