Top 6 weight loss life hacks

Author: Mikhail Ziborov - author of the site makefitness.pro.
2021-11-30

Below are 6 effective techniques that will enhance your weight loss efforts. By the way, these methods have already been discussed for a while in our Telegram. Check it out and stay informed.

1. Don't go grocery shopping hungry.

I won't back up my words with studies here; my experience and yours are enough. Have you ever noticed that you buy much more food when shopping on an empty stomach? You may crave a chocolate bar, a pack of crackers, and even a whole box of crab sticks, plus a few other items.

Sometimes, you even buy things that you wouldn't typically purchase (either too expensive or unnecessary).

In general, everything you buy on an empty stomach in the store will likely be consumed at dinner (often, people shop in the evening after work). Well, at least a significant portion of what you bought will definitely be eaten at dinner. You'll try that chocolate bar, have four crab sticks, snack on some crackers, and basically everything that you acquired (after all, you've already paid for it). Although, without all these extras, you'd have enjoyed your usual dinner, which is still tasty but not as caloric.

Now imagine this happens almost every day – five days a week after work. And this is a direct path to weight gain: you simply overeat every day. Even if not every day, you are still slowly but surely gaining weight.

Solution: either avoid going hungry at all, or gather your resolve and buy only what you need, not what you crave at that moment (train your willpower for your appearance). You can also purposefully navigate the aisles where the products you need are located, instead of wandering around the entire supermarket, overwhelmed by everything around you.

2. You eat more on weekends. Take this into account.

There are studies (on Americans, on Brazilians, on Danes) indicating that people tend to eat more on weekends than on weekdays, while being less active. This isn't just about food; it also includes calorie-laden alcoholic beverages, as many indulge in drinking on the weekends. Well, it makes sense: it's the weekend, relaxation time, what else to do but eat while watching a movie with family?

This would be fine if it weren't for our first tip, where you have been overindulging almost every evening for five days a week.

So where's the hack? It lies in the fact that you can treat yourself to your favorite goodies on weekends, provided that you've been eating less during the weekdays. This is called a cheat meal (cheat – to deceive, meal – food), meaning you've been losing weight, and here you're indulging.

For comparison: if you burned 500 kcal over the five workdays and then consumed them back on the weekend, you break even – you won't gain weight, but you won't lose any either, if that's your goal.

However, if you burned 1000 kcal over those five days (each day under-eating by 200 kcal) and then consumed 500 on the weekend, then you're down 500 kcal over the week. You will start to lose weight (1 kg of subcutaneous fat = 7500 kcal, meaning in about 15 weeks, you can shed 1 kg of fat at that rate). Here’s your option for quicker weight loss.

Solution: restrict yourself on weekdays so you can indulge in treats on the weekends, all without harming your weight loss or figure.

3. Eating speed: the faster you eat, the more you will consume.

If you can eat more, it means you will eat more than you need. The hack is to control your eating speed. Common methods to control eating speed include:

- Increasing the time spent chewing food (the longer you chew, the less you consume, and satiety kicks in before you finish your portion; research).

- Waiting (after eating 2/3 of your portion, stop, wait 10-15 minutes; satiety often kicks in, and you've left 1/3 of your portion uneaten).

Here are studies (the first and the second) confirming that the quicker you eat, the more you end up consuming. Put simply, this happens because satiation does not occur instantaneously: it takes time for nutrients to enter the cells and for satiety hormones to be produced. By the time those hormones have been released and the cells have received the substrates, you've already overindulged.

Solution: eat more slowly; control your pace with your spoon.

4. Eat with a small spoon.

This weight loss hack stems from the previous one and, if you think about it, boils down to the same idea. But it’s simpler to implement, which is why it stands out as a separate tip. Eating with a small spoon stretches the process over a longer time, causing you to consume less. Think it’s trivial? Here’s a study where participants weren't restricted in how much they could eat. Some were given regular tablespoons, while others received teaspoons. The group with the teaspoons ate 8% less than those with tablespoons.

The reason is that you chew longer: with a tablespoon, you might scoop once and chew, whereas with a teaspoon, you might scoop 2-3 times to eat the same amount of food (simply increasing the chewing time).

5. Weigh yourself more often.

The frequency of weighing is more of an additional tool than a primary one. Well, it’s clear that if you’re not adhering to any dietary restrictions, then no matter how often you step on the scales, it won’t help your figure.

However, researchers observed that those who weighed themselves more frequently lost weight faster. This is because people’s diets were reinforced by the results: after dieting for a day, they would see how much weight they had lost. They developed a clear understanding of what they were doing, why, and how long it would take to lose 1 kg, 2 kg, or 10 kg. This motivated them to lose weight more quickly. By the way, the head of our resource MakeFitness.Pro has lost 35 kg in the past (his photo and photos of our friends can be found at the link).

Solution: Weigh yourself once a day, in the morning on an empty stomach, after using the restroom. Keep in mind that your weight may fluctuate not because you’ve gained fat, but due to water retention in your body. If you eat sweet/salty foods, water will be retained. Conversely, if you haven’t consumed enough salt during the day, water will also be retained. So if yesterday you saw one number, and today it’s 1 kg more – that’s not fat (it doesn’t increase that quickly), it’s water; don’t get discouraged. In general, daily water fluctuations can range from 1 to 3 kg.

6. Support from loved ones during weight loss.

This is more about mental aspects than physiological ones. Your relatives, spouses, and those living with you can influence your weight loss results. It's simple: if you have support, guidance, and help organizing your diet (whether they cook for you or buy the necessary products), you will likely lose weight better.

If the opposite is true – if they laugh at your aspirations, or if you have to prepare food for yourself (or buy products) in order to eat healthily, being criticized with comments like “What a silly idea to lose weight; you won’t succeed anyway” – then your weight loss will be minimal (study).

Solution: Seek support from your loved ones on this matter. You might say something like, “Don't you want me to look good and be healthy? So support me, I’m doing this for you.” It’s unlikely anyone will say “no” to such a request.

Healthy weight loss involves not only shedding excess weight but also tightening your body. One of the best programs for training at home and in the gym is available at this link.