How to have a slim body and look younger instantly?
Everyone is looking for that magic pill, one that can make us look slimmer and younger instantly. Some even wish for this to happen without doing any exercise. What we want is something that can immediately get us a slim body, banish our belly fat and the ‘muffin top’ around our waist. Perhaps it could also zap those flabs on our inner thighs or reduce our body weight by at least 30%!
Well, we all can dream, can’t we? However, all is not lost because with a little bit of effort and lifestyle changes, we might just achieve the dream body that we wished for. Furthermore, when we maintain a healthy and slim body, we will definitely look younger.
Can I lose weight in 1 week?
Yes, it’s possible for us to lose some weight within a week. However the amount of weight loss will depend largely on our age, current weight, gender, genetics, medical history, fitness level and lifestyle.
How do I lose some weight and look slimmer?
As the saying goes, “no pain, no gain”. The pain here refers to the action that we need to take in order to gain the reward of looking younger with a healthy, slim body.
4 Easy Ways to get a Slim Body: Avoid Bloated Belly and Have a Flatter Stomach
The first and easy way to start looking slimmer is to reduce the tummy bloat. Following that, we can build healthier habits without resorting to crazy (and dangerous) dieting techniques. Avoid going on a crash ‘starving’ diet as this can be detrimental to our body and remember to consult with our doctor before we decide to go on any form of diet.
Tip 1 Reduce stomach bloating with some lemon: This is an easy step to follow; simply sip on warm water with some lemon juice at the start of your morning routine. Lemon juice can help reduce inflammation in the gut and de-bloat our stomach.
Tip 2 Avoid Cruciferous Vegetables: Avoid taking too much cruciferous vegetables such as kale and broccoli, legumes, and leafy greens. Even though they’re a nutritious choice, these fibre-rich foods can lead to some gas discomfort in our belly. Read more below about cruciferous vegetables.
Tip 3 Add Epsom Salt in Bath: This is a fantastic trick for those days when we need our tummy to look flatter. The next time you take a bath, simply add a couple cups of Epsom salt as it helps reduce bloating by drawing excess water from your tum.
Tip 4 Stop Chewing Gum: When we chew gum, we tend to swallow extra air which leads to bloating. The chewing process ‘tricks’ the body into thinking that there will be food intake and starts preparing itself with stomach acid. However, when there is no food intake, then the excess stomach acid will result in bloating. If you need to freshen your breath, you’re better off sucking on a mint.
Dos and Don’ts: Lose weight and get that slim body with these healthy habits
3 rules to maintain healthy weight and a slim body
In order for us to have a healthy, slim body – all we need to remember are these three rules:
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Eat wholesome foods
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Maintain healthy habits
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Remain active every day
We can do this – we just need to take one step at a time. So let’s have a look at the simple changes we can do today. Soon we’ll be on our way to living a healthier life and looking youthful for a long time.
17 Easy Ways To Lose Weight
Make simple changes to our eating and lifestyle habits
#1 How to look slimmer instantly with good posture
A good posture not only makes us look slimmer and taller but it also engages our stomach muscles, too. Avoid hunching over our desks or phones and try sitting or standing with our back straight and shoulders back. One of the ways that can help us achieve a slim body is to create a healthy habit by setting a reminder every half hour to check on your own body posture.
#2 Reduce weight with healthy snacks
The easiest place to start is by making sure that our daily snacks are fruit- and veggie-based. Also, try increasing natural sources of potassium, calcium and magnesium into our diet while cutting back on sodium.
Healthy Snacks Suggestion: If you cannot resist snacking, then have some apple slices with nut butter; crudités with hummus and tzatziki or berries with yogurt. This naturally increases the mineral content and provides extra fibre for fewer grams of sodium.
#3 A fast way to lose weight: Avoid fast (junk) food!
A quick way to have a slim body is to avoid unnecessary weight gain – and avoiding junk food is one way to do that. Junk food contains an incredibly high amount of salt and trans fats. By simply eliminating foods like potato chips, French fries, cheese burgers or processed foods can significantly reduce the total number of calories that we consume. This in turn will lead to weight loss.
When we stop eating such foods, we’ll also decrease the risk of heart and kidney disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. And another good news is – cutting back on junk food can help make our skin look and feel better (younger, too!).
#4 Lose weight easily by reducing salt intake
Cutting down on our salt intake can help reduce stomach bloating. By avoiding all processed foods, we could be reducing at least 3g of salt. This helps our body release water that it’s been retaining to dilute high salt levels in our body.
It’s worth noting that natural sea salt has lower sodium content than table salt. When buying soy sauce, remember to choose one that has lower sodium content. Alternatively, we can flavour our meal with other herbs and spices such as cayenne pepper, cumin and tabasco sauce (which can also help boost metabolism).
[Metabolism is the process by which our body converts what we eat and drink into energy. During this complex biochemical process, calories in food and beverages are combined with oxygen to release the energy our body needs to function].
#5 Choose dark chocolate for your choc-cravings
Although we all want a slim body, but for choc lovers, it can be quite impossible to avoid those choc-craving spells. It’s quite alright to treat ourselves with a square or two of the darker variety. Not only will it give us an energy boost but with the monounsaturated fat, it helps decrease LDL (bad cholesterol).
Dark cocoa also contains antioxidants and helps reduce insulin resistance (a common risk factor for many diseases like diabetes and heart disease).
#6 Tip for flat belly: Try portion-controlled meals
What is portion control? Food portion should not be confused with the serving size. A portion is an amount of food on our plate while a serving is a specific amount of food that equals a certain number of calories. Quite often we are guilty of eating a portion of food item containing more than one serving of it.
Portion controlling can prevent us from overeating or overindulging. Therefore, it’s a good habit to be aware of the portion sizes of food we consume at any time. Below are 3 useful tips to help us get started with portion-controlled meals.
3 Useful tips to make it easier to start portion-controlled meals:
Tip 1: Use smaller plates or bowls: By using smaller dishes, we can lower the amount of food we consume. the smaller the plate, the fuller the plate would look when we put our meal on it. In one study, people using a large bowl ate 77% more pasta than those using a medium-sized bowl.
Tip 2: Use our hand as a portion guide: An easy way to gauge food portion size is by using our hand. For example, a palm-sized portion for meat, fish, poultry or beans. A fist-size portion for veggies or salad. A cupped-hand portion of whole grains and starchy foods and a thumb-sized portion for butter, oils and nuts.
Tip 3: Start all meals with a glass of water: By drinking a glass of water 30 minutes before our meal will make us feel less hungry. This will help reduce food intake and prevent obesity.
Remember, portion-controlled meals should include whole-grain foods and monounsaturated fats (MUFAs). MUFAs are plant-based fats that can be found in avocado, nuts and seeds, olives and dark chocolate, and research has shown that they help target fat in your tummy. Whole grains contain magnesium and chromium, the two nutrients that combat cortisol. [Cortisol is a stress hormone that directs fat to be stored around the waist (and stomach area) and keeps insulin production down].
#7 Go green and lose weight
Why not include green tea in our daily fluid intake because there is a link between green tea and smaller waists. Green tea contains compounds called catechins, which increase the release of fat from fat cells. This helps boost energy expenditure and speed up the burning of fat by the liver.
#8 Go slow on legumes and cruciferous vegetables
Legumes, beans and cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower and brussels sprouts are highly nutritious. Unfortunately, they can make us feel ‘gassy’. However, we should not exclude them from our diet entirely. Instead, try introducing them slowly to allow our body time to adjust to the digestion of these types of carbohydrates.
#9 Another quick way to lose weight: Eat slowly
Slow and steady, slims the waist. Instead of rushing our meal, take time to enjoy the food that we put in our body. This may take practice, but we must learn to eat with our mouth closed and avoid talking while chewing (plus this is also good table manners).
If we eat too quickly, we’ll be taking in excess air (which can cause bloating) and swallowing large pieces of food (which can slow down the digestion process). Rather than scarfing down our food, try chewing each bite at least 15 times (if not, more) before swallowing.
Eating slowly can reduce our calorie intake
By chewing more, it slows down our eating speed, resulting in eating less. As a result, we will also reduce our calories intake by at least 12%. This process helps our digestive system to function properly as well as giving time for the body and brain to register that we’re actually full.
Also remember that our stomach size is about the size of our clenched fist. Therefore, don’t over eat and use that as a gauge to limit the amount of food we eat per meal.
#10 Frequent eating can help Improve our metabolic rate
It may sound counteractive at first, but by eating frequently, i.e. every three to four hours can help improve our metabolism. Also, avoid missing breakfast because this can cause a surge in a hunger-related hormone later in the day. Regular snacking (must include fibre-filled complex carbs and protein) will keep us feeling full and keep our body burning calories at a steady rate.
#11 How to slim down the belly? Drink water!
Hydration is key to maintain a healthy weight. Increased water consumption can lead to reduced body weight, waist circumference and body fat. When our body is ‘thirsty’ and dehydrated, it starts to hoard water. This can result in our body carrying excess weight around your midsection.
Drinking at least eight cups of water a day can also help increase our metabolic rate. However, avoid drinking too much more than that because this can lead to water intoxication.
Remember that fluids from soup, fresh fruits and vegetables constitute our daily fluid intake. Eating high-water foods like fruits and veggies will fill us up faster, i.e. starting our meal with soup and salad.
Food suggestion: A good pre-dinner nibble could include some sliced crudité and spicy hummus. The combination of capsaicin (a spice in hot peppers) and the soluble-fibre from chickpeas can help curb hunger.
#12 How to get a slim waistline? Go nuts with nuts!
Research has linked eating nuts with having a lower waist circumference. Nuts are rich in monounsaturated fats, making them a more satisfying pick than pretzels. Make sure we stick to the unsalted versions to stave off sodium-induced puff, and keep in mind that one serving is about a small handful.
#13 Some milk goes a long way
Diets high in calcium-containing foods have been linked with healthier body weight, i.e. low-fat milk with morning cereal. Plus, the minerals found in dairy products such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium can help to counter balance bloat-inducing sodium.
#14 Probiotic for a flatter stomach
We need to have ‘good’ bacteria from probiotics in our digestive system to break down the food that we consume. This helps prevent gastrointestinal issues that can bloat our stomach. Ensuring a daily serving of a probiotic-rich food like yogurt, kimchi, miso or buttermilk will also help regulate a healthy bowel movement. By adding veggies, fruits, nuts, beans and whole grains into our diet will boost our body’s probiotics to survive and thrive for longer.
#15 Enjoy your coffee to lose weight
Isn’t this good news for coffee lovers? It is found that coffee stimulates ‘brown fat’ in our bodies, burning sugar and fat to produce body heat.
Caffeinated coffee is also a natural (mild) diuretic, which helps us ‘de-puff’ by eliminating excess water in the body. It also has a stimulating effect that keeps moving in our gut, regulating bowel movements which can help make the belly flatter.
So, go ahead and start the day with a cup of black coffee. It’s actually good for us and will help keep our tummy trim. However, remember to give that cream and sugar a miss!
#16 Early bedtime can help reduce weight
When we go to bed early, we avoid the temptation for unnecessary late-night snacking. Getting under the covers a little sooner also helps our mind and body to wind down for a restful night’s sleep. With at least 7 hours of rest, our body can maintain a healthy metabolism.
Reduce belly fats with good sleep
Disturbed sleep can cause obesity, and vice versa. When we don’t have enough sleep, we tend to gain weight and will feel hungry more often. Sleep deprivation can also increase insulin resistance and the accumulation of visceral or abdominal fat.
When our body doesn’t get enough sleep, our stress hormone (cortisol) level will increase. This tells our body to conserve energy by preserving our body fat rather than burning it off. As a result, we will store more fats, especially in the belly area. Therefore, we need to make sure we have enough rest as part of our plan to have a slim body.
Note: Switching all the lights can help induce the production of melatonin; a sleep hormone that will promote better sleep.
#17 Relax and destress – a way to stop fat storage on our waistline
Remember cortisol? That stress hormone that we want to avoid? When we feel anxious and frazzled, our body increases the production of cortisol. This “fight or flight” hormone sends excess fat directly to our midsection in its attempt to protect our vital organs.
This also has a negative effect on our digestive system as it can make us feel constipated and bloated. Take time to relax whenever possible, even if it’s just for a few minutes a day.
Conclusion
It is possible for us to lose weight and have a slim body. However, it should not just be a one-off, short-term effort. Making those changes, keeping healthy habits and staying active with regular exercise should be our on-going goal. Therefore, let us all aspire to remain healthy and look fabulous for a long, long time, regardless of our age!
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