1. Eat breakfast within a one-hour time frame of waking up. This will help your metabolic rate stay high. Missing the first meal of the day will prompt your body to conserve energy, slowing down its ability to burn fat.
2. Feeling stressed? Take a chill pill. High levels of the stress hormone cortisol can make it harder to keep your metabolism in check.
3. Get enough sleep. This is also a good way to de-stress. Being sleep- deprived alters levels of the hormones ghrelin and leptin, which are connected to appetite. Is it starting to make sense why, when you don’t sleep enough, you feel hungrier the following day.
4. Exercise regularly. It goes without saying that regular exercise sessions, such as interval training, are a powerful way to pep up your fat burn. These increase the amount of energy you’re expending and, according to research published in the US journal Cell Metabolism, alter your DNA to include extra metabolism benefits.
5. Eat right. This is probably the most important of them all. Cakes, sweets and fizzy drinks are the ultimate belly- bulging foods, so try to save them for treats. If you have a sweet tooth, try fruits, as they have a better nutritious profile.
A healthy diet boils down to three macronutrients – lean protein, complex carbs and good fats – along with a generous helping of fresh fruit and vegetables.
6. Get your portion sizes right. When it comes to portion sizes, we should be aiming to fill half of our plate with fresh veggies, and the other half with one quarter lean protein (such as chicken, lentils or beans) and one quarter made up of good fats (salmon and olive oil) and complex carbs (brown rice or wholewheat pasta). The easiest way to control your portions is to serve meals on a smaller plate.
7. Never skip meals. When you’re trying to lose weight, skipping meals is one of the worst things you can do. Passing on lunch actually makes your body hold on to extra calories when you do eventually eat, as you’re tricking the body into thinking it isn’t getting enough food. Eat five small meals throughout the day in order to curb hunger pangs.
8. Sip on green tea. Green tea helps prevent the body’s fat absorption and boosts metabolism by up to 4%.
