Judy Kean shares her tips to shed those pesky 5kg of winter weight in time for summer
KEY POINTS:
1. Start your meals with soup or salad
They'll fill you up meaning you'll eat less. Choose soups and salads containing heaps of vegetables which are high in fibre, meaning you'll eat a smaller main course.
By preference choose broths or tomato-based soups, rather than cream or milk-based. Japanese miso soup is a good option.
Make your own own soups with chunky vegetables, adding spices to enhance taste and help shed weight. How you ask? Well, a Dutch study has found spices aid fat burning by creating body heat. They also curb the appetite helping you feel full quicker. Best results come from black pepper, turmeric, coriander, red chilli, cumin, ginger and onion.
If you're having salad make sure it includes "negative" calorie foods such as celery and raw cabbage. You burn more calories eating these than they contain.
Don't drown salads in high-fat dressings. Use balsamic vinegar or a squeeze of lemon juice, or try them bare and enjoy the pure taste of fresh, crisp vegetables.
2. Use smaller plates
Portion control is often the key to weight loss, so simply use smaller plates. Often we eat more than we actually want because it's in front of us.
Eat slowly, taking care to chew each mouthful. This gives your body time to register it's full, and signal your brain to tell you to stop eating. And you burn extra calories as you chew! Remember, it's not a crime to leave food on your plate.
3. Take an early morning walk every day
Aerobic activity such as a brisk walk every morning helps burn fat more quickly. Exercising before you eat makes your body burn stored fat.
Strength training that builds muscle, such as weight lifting, can also help you lose weight. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn.
4. Drink only water and green tea
Lots of hidden calories lurk in what we drink - soft drinks, alcohol, sports drinks and coffee with milk and sugar all add to the calories we consume daily.
Cut out all drinks other than water and green tea. Six to eight glasses of water a day is good for your general health and aids weight loss because it's calorie-free and makes you feel full. Drinking it ice cold prompts your body to burn extra fat heating the water up to body temperature.
Green tea is the best hot drink. It helps increase your metabolism, burning more fat.
5. Love those lentils
Lentils are a great slimming food being low-fat, full of fibre and filling. They provide healthy, low GI carbohydrates and protein. The latter helps curb your appetite and is important to build muscle through weight training.
Cut down on carbohydrates (but don't cut them out altogether, your body needs them). Choose the low GI variety in rolled oats, basmati rice and wholemeal pasta. Don't eat them after 7pm.
And remember this : If you try to lose weight by drastically reducing food intake, all you'll do is lose fluid and muscle. not body fat. You may end up thinner but you'll be flabbier, and send your body into "starvation mode". As soon as you eat more food again, you'll quickly gain any weight you've lost - and probably more.
- Detours, HoS
