Slimming healthy

Counting calories of every slice you eat, carefully reading labels to see what a yoghurt contains, feeling fooled when there is no zero-fat kefir in a supermarket? And once you have managed to lose some weight, the body for some strange reason persists in coming back to its previous shape?
“What a metabolism,” you sigh. “Lucky are those who can eat anything they like and stay trim!”

Actually, it is the regular weight-reducing programmes that disturb our metabolism. This is the way our bodies are designed: when the times go hard, not a calorie to waste, when everything is all right, let's save something just in case. As soon as you start pulling yourself down, your metabolism slows down too, in order to keep the energy balance, because, in terms of energy, the times are obviously hard.

When you eat more, you gain even more weight, because your body stores the reserve for the next hard times (which, as it now knows, are quite possible to happen). Just simple and logical physiology, and there's nothing we can do with it.
That's why we need to learn how to lose weight naturally. So that your body does not suspect anything. But how to do it though? Fitness, maybe?

There are peculiarities there as well, the main one being regularity. Which means the classical three times a week, two hours in a gym. Add your working hours (plus occasional rush jobs there, birthday parties here, plus ordinary fatigue).

Add family (and forget about friends at all). Of course, there may be even more reasons, but even these are enough to realise that regularity of our workouts may be a problem. And there we go, a new weight-losing plan. With the inevitable violations and lack of belief in your own will power: “Oops! I had an ice-cream again… Oops, a colleague treated me to candies… What an oops am I…” And we live like that, step forward, step back, great if not two steps.

So how do we get a long-term effect? It's much simpler than it seems. More and more dieticians believe that the most important thing is adjusting one's way of life. Which does not mean complete refusal from little culinary pleasures.

Here are 10 hints how to lose weight correctly.

1. Do not skip your breakfasts
It seems logical that skipping a breakfast means losing certain number of calorie-filled grams. But being totally frank, don't you eat twice as much at lunchtime then? That is why muesli or whole-grain products for breakfast are just what you need for weight loss. Experts have proven that people who start their morning with breakfast cereals, rich in dietary fibres (at least 5 g per serving), eat less during the day. That's why, have muesli in the morning, and no sacrifices. Tasty, useful, keeping you full for a long time and helping you to maintain your balance of mind.

2. Eat less but... not a lot less
Do not overdo it with cutting calories. A body set to compensate for what it may be lacking will feel the hunger, slow down metabolism and begin to save the energy, functioning on a lower amount of calories. It may make the reaching of your goal more difficult.

3. A resolute “no” to snacks
Somebody treated you to a piece of cake at work in the morning, just a piece... when the dinner was cooking, you felt like a cookie... And the same story goes for the whole week, before something, in between something. A year passes and... hi, we are your brand new five extra kilos! That is why we'd better keep ourselves in hand or opt for low calories in-between snacks

4. More fruits and vegetables
It does not mean you must forgo meat. For a start, eat vegetables instead of meat with a side dish, twice a week. That slight limitation in your diet will not only purge your arteries but will also help you lose as many as five — or even more — kilos over 16 months.

5. Replacing, replace!
Some people, after they have decided to eat fat-free products, get into another trap. They replace high-calorie dishes with several low-calorie ones and as a result, get those same extra kilos. That's why, replacing a chocolate ice-cream with a low-fat cake, eat just one cake, not two or three.

6. Make your usual serving smaller
In order to reduce the amount of what you eat, many experts advise to use... smaller plates. As simple as that. It's just the majority of people is inclined to sweep their plates clean of everything that there is. A little trick like that means minus several kilos over the year.

7. How about dressings?
Nobody forces you to get rid of those altogether. The question is which exact dressings to use. E.g., changing mayo for mustard with meat, and for vegetable oil with salads, will be a great help to your weigh-reducing efforts.

8. Work fast, eat slow
If you take 15 minutes longer to have your lunch, it will not be a doomsday. When you are eating slowly, your body has time to realise that it has had enough. Just give your body more time, and you'll see that, say, two slices of pizza are absolutely enough, and have much more taste than four slices swallowed in five minutes.

9. Before going to bed read something instead of eating something
Or have something low in calories, like fresh fruits.

10. Keep moving in the evening
Go to the movies in the evening or just lie down on the couch? Instead, you can spend the evening in a fun and useful way — at a discotheque, for example. Yes, that's right, dancing is a great calorie burner. Don't forget about walks, they also help lose weight.