Sometimes our busy lives make it difficult to be healthy. We know it takes effort but it doesn't all have to be MASSIVE efforts, little efforts add up too! Here are little things you can do in your day that will help you burn fat!
1. Get your vitamin D
Vitamin D deficiency is a huge problem for lots of people. What's worse? Vitamin D, we are starting to see, is pretty key in weight management. So, go for a 10-30 minute power walk outside! it is that easy.
2. Power up breakfast
Skipping breakfast can lead to weight gain. Two scrambled eggs on toast is all you need. In one study, overweight women who had two eggs a day for eight weeks lost 65 per cent more weight and had an 83 per cent drop in their waist measurements than those that ate plain bagels. Eggs are full of protein which takes more energy to digest -- meaning it burns more calories!
3. Drink your workout
Drink your green tea! Lipton has found that drinking 4 cups a day of green or white tea can boost your metabolic rate by 100 calories a day. This is due to catechins which have a stimulating effect on metabolism.
4. Slimming spritz
Have a 30 second cold shower. A study from the New England Journal of Medicine has found that making yourself cold can activate brown fat which is a good fat that increases metabolism.
5. Sneak in activity
Take the stairs at work. 5 times. Research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that women who ran up and down the stairs at work for two minutes at a time, five times a day boosted their fitness over an eight week period.
6. Get your calcium
Calcium isn't just good for your bones, it is good for weight loss. One study found that those who had 1500 milligrams a day lost more weight than those who didn't.
7. Don't forget your magnesium
Eat beans and legumes, spinach, mackerel for example. All these foods are high in magnesium which is needed to burn fat. Magnesium is essential to muscle and nerve reaction as well as energy production.
8. Fidget
It might annoy those around you but never mind them! Tapping your foot or playing with your pen are great examples of ‘non-exercise activity thermogenesis' or NEAT. One of the differences between overweight people and those who aren't is the amount of NEAT that appears in their day. Moving is moving.
9. Have a quick gym session
A short little HIIT session will do you a world of good. Research at the University of New South Wales has found that high-intensity interval training twice a week – that’s where you do eight to 12, 60 second bouts of exercise with one minute in between in 25 minutes – has effects on the muscles that are comparable to those you’d get if you were working out for an hour.
10. Have a bath
Epsom salts have been used for a very long time to draw toxins out of the body. Add a mug or two of the salts to your hot bath and it might just speed up your weight loss.
11. Get plenty of sleep -- with blackout blinds.
Blackout blinds could very well be the best investment you'll ever make. If you aren't getting enough sleep, you are robbing your body of the hormone leptin which is key in fat burning and appetite regulation. And not getting enough sleep can also cause a spike in cortisol which can lead to fat build up around the middle!
How many of these can you add to your routine starting today?
h/t:
Daily Mail
