It is no secret that the United States has an obesity problem. It has been estimated that about 33% of American adults are considered to meet the criteria for obesity. At least one in every 20 are considered to be extremely obese. This problem, however, is not confined to adults. At least one in every six children from the age of six through 19 is obese. At least 33% of these kids are overweight. Many people try to follow a weight loss plan but do not succeed. There are a lot of reasons for this.
One of the things people need to understand is how people gain weight. When people are overweight, their fat cells have grown but they have not necessarily added fat cells to their bodies. The problem with obesity is that for many people in this category, not only have their fat cells gained mass but they have added new fat cells to their bodies, making weight loss even harder to achieve. This is the reason that so many obese individuals are helped by medical weight loss programs.
There are some things you can do to make your weight loss plan more effective, here are some tips for that:
- Get more water in your routine. Many people will think they are hungry when they are actually thirsty. If you drink more water, you can help your body lose weight several ways. In the first place, drinking water before you eat a meal may help you eat less. In the second place, being well hydrated just helps your body work better. Thirdly, research shows that water will increase your metabolism by between 20 to 30%. It is worth noting that by the time you notice thirst, you are already dehydrated so drinking more water than you think you need can make a real difference in how you feel.
- Make protein you main ingredient for breakfast. Many people grab a bagel or eat cereal in the morning but eating a healthy protein, such as eggs, can be a weight loss tool. When you start your weight loss plan, add eggs to your morning meal. Research on weight loss shows that people who eat eggs in the morning will eat fewer calories throughout the day and will lose more weight.
- Coffee can help with weight loss. In addition to being packed full of healthy antioxidants, there are other benefits to the caffeinated beverage. Drinking it can increase your metabolism by between 3 and 11%. To get the most from the beverage, drinking it black is your best bet. It is important to not undo all the good the coffee does by loading it with additives that just add fat and calories. Some coffee drinks can have more of both than a Big Mac.
- Try some green tea. This has many of the same health benefits that come along with drinking coffee. While it does have a little caffeine, the real benefits, in terms of weight loss, come from the catechins that can help your body burn fat. If you really do not like to drink the tea, you can also take supplements to get the same results.
- Get more spicy foods into your diet. Any weight loss plan that has more spicy food can help speed up weight loss. The substance that makes the food taste more spicy is capsaicin. This can also give your metabolism a boost. When you eat spicy foods, you trigger your brain to see that you are full sooner, which leads to eating smaller portions. That is always a good thing when you are trying to lose weight.
- Use coconut oil. There are hundreds of things you can do with coconut oil. It is a very healthy pol to cool with. This is because it is treated differently by the body than other fats. Eating it can increase your metabolism to make you burn an extra 120 calories each day. At the same time, it acts like an appetite suppressant and can help you eat less.
The problem with most weight loss plans is that people expect results sooner than is reasonable. That leads to people giving up. Although it may not be as rewarding initially, gradual weight loss is more sustainable in the long term.