If you are in the pursuit of losing fat there is an endless array of diets, from the high carb low fat to the low fat high carb and every variation in between. Most of these diets will work to a certain degree as long as they put you in a hypocaloric state and provide enough protein for muscle maintenance.

 

You can argue the pros and cons of different diets till your blue in the face, but one fact remains – unless you stick to your diet they are not going to work. Most successful diets have the individuals losing no more than between one to three pounds a week, depending on how much you have to lose it can be an awful long time on a diet to reach your target.
Considering this here are twelve tips that will aid in your commitment to a diet as well as aid in the fat busting conquest.

 

1. Don’t have junk food in the house.

The saying goes ‘ out of sight out of mind’ and it fits perfectly with the dieter. If you havenet got junk food in the cupboards or fridge you are less likely to be tempted.

 

Sure there are other opportunities and you could just get your coat on and go out when the siren of sugar and fat calls, but believe me if its not in easy reach you will be less inclined to go off the rails.

 

Like wise ensuring your cupboards are stocked with diet friendly foods will make sticking with the diet a whole lot easier. No doubt you have seen this piece of advise before, but that’s because it works – don’t forget the simple things which will make your dieting easier.

 

2. Shop when full

This relates to point number one. When out shopping you want to stock up on diet friendly foods, if your intestines are twisting themselves in a knot because your hungry you’ll be more inclined to choose off limit foods. Ensuring you have eaten before you go shopping will aid in making rationale food choices that enable you to stick with you diet, rather than grabbing armfuls of junk food fuelled by a hypoglycaemic altered mindstate.

 

It should be becoming clear that simple steps and adequate preparation is key, things don’t happen by chance. Remember the saying ‘failure to prepare ensures your preparation for failure’.

 

3. Calorie dilution

There’s a myriad of factors that control satiety, but one of these is probably the most simplest to control. Basically the rate at which food digest will effect satiety as fast digesting foods enter the system quickly and lead to a rebound in blood sugars as insulin levels soar and blood sugar levels drop- signalling hunger.

 

To decrease the rate the food absorbs you want to increase the amount of non starch polysaccharides (NSP or fibre) within your diet.
NSP rich foods are generally less energy dense, more bulky and lead to greater satiety than NSP free foods. Foods rich in NSP include unprocessed oats, barley, rye and wheat as well as most fruits and vegetables.

 

Increasing water intake will aid in the process, as not only will water fill the stomach itself it can work synergistically with fibre as a bulking agent.

 

4. Optical illusions

I know it sounds crazy but visual cues can have a large impact on satiety. The use of smaller plates bowls and cups will make the restricted portion of food appear bigger.

 

Many restaurants use this trick to make a mediocre sized portion seem more value which enables them to cut costs and maintain customer satisfaction.

 

Just stop and think about it, what would look better a half full large cup or a full smaller one. Considering that sticking to a diet is psychological any psychological trick is invaluable.

 

5. Maintain NEAT

Your body has a varity of homeostatic mechanisms which it can use to ensure you don’t continue to lose weight (hey your body loves being soft and podgy, it’s better for survival). One way your body decreases your daily total energy expenditure (TEE) is through cutting out all the energy wasting fidgeting termed non essential activity thermogenosis (NEAT).

 

Whilst fidgeting is a subconscious activity you can replace it with small repetitious movements that don’t require much effort. Example includes chewing gum, performing finger extensions with and elastic band, squeezing a squash or stress ball and various other ‘fidgeting’ type activities. Whilst you want notice dramatic shifts in weight from this it should help avoiding any plateaus in weight loss associated with decreased NEAT.

 

6. Cold drinks and environment.

The normal temperature of a human is tightly controlled and the body pretty much likes it to stay that way. By introducing cold you have to create heat to bring the temperature back to within the normal range so as to avoid damage to the body and ensure metabolic processes occur in the preferred range.

 

To produce heat your body needs to liberate energy, which heat is a by product of and it can do this by through shivering which is basically involuntary muscle contractions and sympathetic nervous system activation (increased epinephrine and norepinephrine) as well as increasing thyroid hormones. It has been shown that decreasing ambient temperature from twenty degrees Celsius to ten degrees Celsius increased resting metabolic rate by eight percent or around 200kcals a day.

 

By drinking cold iced water, exercising in an air conditioned environment and taking cool (not ice cold) baths frequently throughout the day you should be able to raise your energy expenditure.

 

Whilst this is not directly helping you to stick with your diet, coupled with artificial increases in NEAT should allow you to see more fat loss for the same effort which is always motivating.

 

Within part two we will look at more ways of sticking with a diet in order that you achieve the physique you crave. But remember all these tips work but only if you apply them.

 

Copyright Glen Danbury 2007