Many people believe that losing weight is a painful process. To lose those stubborn pounds, you must constantly go hungry. Many people are afraid to even set a weight loss goal because they can’t bear the thought of going hungry and experiencing the frustrations that come with it.
For many people, being overweight is preferable to experiencing hunger pangs.
Who could blame them?
If the only way to lose weight or stay slim was to starve yourself all the time, very few people would be at their ideal weight, and the vast majority of the world would be extremely overweight! It isn’t required.
Our body is an amazing machine. It’s truly incredible! Its internal workings and natural rhythm alert us when we are hungry. It has a self-protection mechanism that alerts you when you need to refuel. A hunger signal is your body’s way of telling you that you need to eat in order to maintain a healthy level of energy and have the reserves needed for cell healing, repair, and maintenance.
Serious hunger pangs are a strong self-preservation signal from the body that it is in danger and requires food right away to restore balance. These signals should not be overlooked!
Your body has no idea that food is abundant and one of the cheapest commodities in the twenty-first century. Your body is behaving in the same way that the bodies of your forefathers did. Since then, the general design of the human body has remained unchanged. When your ancestors lived in caves, they relied on their ability to hunt for food to survive.
They would sometimes go days or weeks without a kill, and the body would send them warning signals that they were in grave danger. When they did eat, the body immediately stored as much energy as it could in reserve as FAT, still in self-preservation mode! Today, your body operates in the same manner as it did yesterday.
It Doesn't Work
Starving yourself simply does not work. It defies logic to believe that you can starve yourself and lose weight. Of course, there are exceptions when people simply do not consume enough food to sustain themselves, but we all know the consequences of this type of dieting!
So we know that starvation diets don’t work and that you don’t want to spend two hours a day at the gym. So, how do we lose weight? The good news is that you don’t have to deprive yourself in order to lose weight. You don’t even need to do a lot of exercise.
The truth is that eating nutritious meals on a regular basis and allowing your body to fill itself to satisfaction is the key to achieving and maintaining a healthy, slim body. By not allowing yourself to go hungry, you will avoid overeating, which is what usually happens when a starvation diet is broken.
Start Small
One strategy is to eat five or six small, healthy meals spread out throughout the day. Instead of eating three large meals at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, divide the same amount of food into six smaller meals and eat an extra small meal between a small breakfast and lunch, one between lunch and dinner, and another if you are still hungry later. Avoid having your last meal close to bedtime; anything up to 2 hours before bedtime is fine.
When you’re hungry, don’t put it off. Eat as soon as possible. If you wait too long before eating, your body will panic, believing that you do not have enough resources to feed it, and you will overeat! As a result, eating more frequent but smaller meals will help to keep your body satisfied and will make you less likely to overindulge.
Do not skip a meal in the hopes of burning off some extra calories. You may believe that skipping a meal will save you calories or fat, but as you have seen, the opposite is true. Furthermore, if you go for an extended period of time without eating, you are much more likely to overindulge when you get fed up and can’t take the starvation any longer.
Did you also know that skipping meals actually slows down your metabolism? Because your body believes there is a food shortage, it not only stores extra fat but also slows the rate at which it burns fat. Because your body’s natural survival instinct is activated, you gain weight and burn fewer calories and fat. You will feel lethargic and tired as your body burns fat to convert it into energy. Starving yourself simply does not work!
Eat Slow
Aside from eating smaller, more frequent meals, you should also train yourself to eat more slowly. Put down your knife and fork between bites and chew for a few seconds longer than usual. It can take up to twenty 20 minutes for us to realize that our bodies are full and satisfied.
When you eat quickly, you stuff food into your stomach before you have time to recognize the full signal your body is sending to your brain. When you eat slowly, you begin to recognize these signals from your body and train yourself to recognize them at an earlier stage.
Exercise
Spend an extra 15 minutes per day. Some of you may think this is a lot. But all you have to do is spread it out over the course of the day. Leave for work with an extra 5 minutes to spare and walk to a bus stop or park your car 5 minutes further away than usual. Take a 5-minute walk during lunch or take the stairs instead of the elevator. Instead of driving, walk to the local store. It is simple to complete 15, 30, or even an hour of exercise each day if you divide it up this way. Also, don’t starve yourself; it just doesn’t work!