Scientific ways to lose weight and keep it off

Obesity has become such a common word in the current times. With our daily routines so sedentary, a diet full of readymade junk food items, and a mind filled with stress and anxiety, it is really tough to take some time out to indulge in anything healthy. These unhealthy lifestyle practices have caused many of us to gain extra kilos. Being overweight causes you to start feeling a lack of agility. And also increases the risk of a host of lifestyle conditions including diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, etc.

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That being said, you also might be looking for ways to shed those extra kilos. Search for the solutions and you get millions of answers on TV, magazines, internet, etc. But are these measures scientifically sound as well?

Get the facts right

New scientific studies that shed light on how metabolism works are right on their way, but when the discovery turns into new "tips" for losing weight, you must pay a little extra attention. The science community is also exhausted from the hype and unfounded assumptions that permeate public discourse. When it comes to the issue, the things we take for granted about weight loss are relatively simple. They are also very effective when actually done. In this article, we are shedding light on how you can lose weight scientifically and also maintain it.

Tip #1: Eat mindfully

Mindful eating is a practice where people pay attention to how and where they are eating their food. This practice enables people to enjoy the food they eat, get satisfied with less portions, and maintain a healthy weight. Research has shown that distractions while eating food like watching TV or talking to someone, causes you to eat more than the actual hunger.

Let's see what are the ways that can help in mindful eating

a. Sit calmly and eat your food on the dining table, instead of bedroom or entertainment area.

b. Keep distance from your TV, phone, laptop etc. while taking meals.

c. Take enough time to chew your food. This technique helps with weight loss, as it gives the brain enough time to recognize signals that they are full, which can help prevent overeating.

Tip #2: Combine diet restriction with exercise

Samuel Klein, MD at Washington University’s School of Medicine has said that a little exercise is a key to losing weight. Going by stairs in plce of using the lift can be as simple as that of a move and will definitely make a difference. But it’s important to keep a note on diet as well. Along with burning calories, cutting calories holds a lot of importance.

Reducing food intake is far more effective than increasing physical activity for weight loss. To understand this, let us take an example. If you want to burn your 300 calories then you have to keep yourself away from potato chips as well as walking in the park. The problem is that when we depend on exercise alone, it reverses its effect in some cases. This is partly due to the effect of exercise on hunger and hunger hormones, which make you feel especially hungry after exercise. For example, if you have burned 400 calories exercising, but because of your hunger, you have consumed food like burgers or pizza, your exercise is in vain. Therefore, along with exercise, it is necessary to have control over your food as well

Tip #3: Try to fix your broken metabolism

Heard about broken metabolism quite a few times? Although exercise alone won't make you lose weight, it can help repair your broken metabolism. NASA says in its bed rest studies that if you do not do any activity for a few days, that time your metabolism slows down. And when you do the movement again, the metabolism starts trying to work again. It doesn't come back to normal like before, but it does its best to do its job. This is why exercise plays an important role in the maintenance phase, which is considered more difficult than the weight loss phase.

Tip #4: Try intermittent fasting

Intermittent fasting in simple words is a type of diet in which you need to restrict eating for a few hours in the day. For example, you have to stay without eating for 16 hours and eat only for 8 hours a day. You can take a good diet in these 8 hours. Start taking your regular meals at around 8 o'clock and stop eating before sunset at around 5 o'clock. Many studies show that intermittent fasting can affect an obese person very fast if he follows it properly.

The most common intermittent fasting methods include the following:

a. ADF- Stands for alternate days fasting. This involves eating only 25-30 percent of the body's energy needs during fasting days.
b. 16/8 method- In this you fast for 16 hours and eat food at intervals of 8 hours.
c. 5:2 diet- Fast on 2 out of every 7 days.

While taking meals, try eliminating sugar and unhealthy refined carbohydrates from your diet.

These are highly processed foods that are depleted of fibre and nutrients. They are digested very quickly and are rapidly converted into glucose. Excess glucose enters the blood and stimulates the hormone insulin, which promotes the storage of fat in adipose tissue, which becomes a major factor in increasing your weight. As far as possible replace your processed and sugar-based food with healthy full food.

Tip #5: Never ignore a good night's sleep

Several studies have shown that getting less than 5-6 hours of sleep per night is associated with an increased incidence of obesity. Research suggests that insufficient sleep slows down the process by which the body converts calories into energy. How long someone sleeps also affects the regulation of the appetite-regulating hormones leptin and ghrelin. Leptin sends signals of fullness to the brain.

The final word

Start simple and build these as habits. It might take some time to get used to the healthy practices, but as soon as you start seeing the results and losing weight, your motivation will be you yourself. In the end, your body will act as you say.