With summer just around the corner, its time to get the beachwear out of the closet and see if those mini-shorts still fit from last year. But when that waistband does not stretch and the buttons wont close, an uneasy truth starts to sink in: you have gained weight.
Everyone wants to look great around this time of year, and many turn to quick-fix diets and debilitating exercise programs to get rid of that stubborn winter flab. Health gurus, osteopaths and nutritionists say that we dont necessarily need to go to the gym for hours and hours or starve ourselves to lose weight; there are much more natural and less complicated ways to get you to look your best. Here are some of the healthiest ways to lose weight this spring:
The right foods
It may seem obvious, but the most basic thing you can do to shed a few pounds is to eat the right foods. While carb counters monitor what they eat down to the nearest Tic Tac, it is important to remember that the body depends on carbohydrates to get the energy to function.
So what type of foods are recommended? Acidic fruits such as grapefruits, oranges, and lemons are great for detoxifying the body, while foods such as oatmeal, green tea, and broccoli enhance your metabolism. But dont just monitor what goes into your mouth ” how much you consume is also of vital importance. If you have many light and nutritional meals throughout the day, you should start feeling better and fitter before you can say diet.
Regulate your metabolism
While it is a good idea to minimize your food intake, dont starve yourself in the process. Many people mistakenly believe that skipping meals makes them slimmer. This is not the case; each time you skip a meal, your bodys natural response is to slow down your metabolism to keep you energized. You need a fast metabolism in order to lose weight, so slowing it down is not going to help you. You need to speed up your metabolism in order to avoid gaining weight ” not slow it down.
By boosting your metabolism, you speed up the rate at which it is able to convert food into energy, which gives it less time to store that food as fat. It is also important to regulate your metabolism, and this is best accomplished by eating five light meals a day; it keeps your metabolism busy creating energy instead of fat.
Sleep and weight
Dont underestimate the power of a good nights sleep when it comes to losing weight. Many people might be surprised to hear that in those eight hours we spent lying in our beds every night, our bodies are working hard to regulate the hormones that impact our appetite. Research has revealed that when we deprive ourselves of sleep, these hormone levels get disrupted, causing you to gain more weight. And sleep is important for recharging the entire body ” so what do you have to lose (other than weight, that is) by turning in early?
While this is a very general overview of natural solutions to weight problems, it does provide insight into how our bodies work to aid the weight loss process. As long as you keep eating the right foods, get plenty of sleep and regular exercise, that button on your surf shorts might just be able to close by the end of spring.
The content of this page is informed by feedback from a practitioner in London and also clinics in Exeter. Further input was received from osteopaths in the Edinburgh area and practices in Glasgow. Finally a contribution was made by osteopathic practitioners in Brighton.