When you’re dieting or trying to lose weight, it feels like food temptations are everywhere. But to naturally thin people (who may also be more metabolically blessed), these temptations aren’t a big deal.
What’s their secret? Michelle May, MD, author of Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat, explains it this way: “People who don’t struggle with food or weight use their natural signals of hunger and fullness to guide their eating. They don’t need to think about food all the time because they trust their bodies to let them know when and how much to eat.” But if you weren’t born that way, May says there’s still hope. “There’s no secret to thinking skinny, but there is a natural process to relearn how to do it,” she explains.
With that in mind, here are thin-person strategies you can use from the moment your alarm clock sounds until you slip under the covers at night.
Eat Breakfast for Weight Loss
No matter what happened the night before, naturally thin people start the day with a solid breakfast (just a cup of coffee doesn’t count). “That’s one of the most important behaviors we’ve identified in people who have stayed slender,” says J. Graham Thomas, PhD, associate professor at the Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical Center, which runs the National Weight Control Registry of more than 10,000 successful people who slimmed down and have kept the weight off.
The best breakfasts contain a mix of protein and carbohydrates: Think steel-cut oatmeal, yogurt and fruit, or egg whites and mixed vegetables. And there’s yummy news if it’s sweets you crave: You might be able to get away with a bit of chocolate or pastry in the morning as long as you make it part of a balanced meal, according to researchers from Tel Aviv University. Over the course of a 32-week study, participants who added a small dessert to their breakfast lost an average of 40 pounds more, kept off the pounds longer, and felt more satisfied than the group who ate a smaller morning meal and tried to avoid sweets entirely.
Build Exercise Into Your Day
Whether you’re washing dishes or walking to the bus stop, people who are naturally thin naturally move more, so make a point to get active after your morning meal.
“Most of the people in our registry exercise vigorously for about an hour every day, but they found they don’t have to do the hour all at once," Thomas notes. "They can do it 10 minutes at a time.” Here’s another benefit of breaking up your exercise minutes: Recent research done at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia, has shown that short bursts of exercise done at regular intervals throughout the day can lessen the negative health risks of sitting at a desk all day.
Take a Water Break Before Lunch
Swap your usual soda or sugary juice for water and not only will you lose weight, you’ll start to feel better, too. Drinking water consistently aids weight loss in both adults and teens because it both fills you up and spares you the calories from other beverage choices, a review of various studies published in the journal Nutrition Today found. Drinking a glass of water before lunch, as well as drinking more throughout the day, makes sense, says Sue Gebo, RD, MPH, an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut Medical School in Storrs. Drinking water keeps you from being dehydrated, she says, and "sometimes your body misinterprets thirst for hunger, so while you may feel hungry, you’re actually thirsty.”
Fidget for Weight Loss
A now-famous Mayo Clinic study found that fidgeting, moving around, and changing posture might be the reason why some people gain weight and others don’t. So if you’re sitting at a desk job all day, try to move a little bit more throughout the day.
When the afternoon slump hits and you want to reach for your neighbor’s candy bowl, get up and take a brisk walk around the office instead. “A lot of people have times during the day when they’re at high risk of overeating, but if you’ve put in hours of work at your desk, you may simply be craving a break," May says. As an alternative to unhealthy snacking, she suggests creating a “recharge” ritual to relax or unwind late in the day. Try leafing through a magazine or book or calling a friend. During the workweek, pick a ritual that fits into your break time and won’t disturb your routine or your co-workers.
Opt for Fiber When Hunger Strikes
When you eat, think not only about the calories you’re about to consume, but also about the quality of the calories. Are they nothing but sugar, or do they also contain essential nutrients, such as protein, fiber, and antioxidants?
“Eating a high-fiber snack like an apple or a handful of almonds is an excellent way to feel full,” Gebo says. In fact, research published in the journal Appetite found that people who snacked on an apple — as opposed to apple sauce or apple juice — consumed on average 15 percent fewer calories when they ate their next meal. Besides curbing your appetite, the filling fiber in foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains also reduces your risk for heart disease and cancer.
Do a Reality Check at the Candy Machine
Learning to eat like a thin person means learning to eat by instinct. They don’t turn to the vending machine at 3 p.m. on the dot out of habit; they only go if they truly feel hungry. The good news is that the rest of us can learn to do this as well by asking ourselves questions — such as, “Am I really hungry?” and “What am I hungry for?” — to see if what we really want is a break, the companionship of a friend, or a stress-reducing activity.
Keep It Moving After Dinner
Observe people who are naturally thin, and you’ll find that they are also naturally active. One of the best ways to mimic this healthy thin-person habit is through walking. Over the course of a 13-year study of 34,000 women, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston found that those who walked for at least 60 minutes a day were the least likely to gain weight.
If you don’t have time for an after-dinner walk, household chores are a great activity, too, because a clean house could make you fitter: Owners of tidy homes are more likely to be physically fit than those who live in messy environments, researchers at Indiana University found.
Skip TV in the Evening
Television watching promotes weight gain in two ways, through inactivity and temptation from the barrage of ads for snack foods, sweets, and restaurants. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that watching TV encourages snacking during viewing and unwise food choices at other times of the day as well. According to Thomas, limiting TV time is one of the consistent habits of successful dieters tracked by the National Weight Control Registry. More specifically, about 63 percent of the registry members have cut their TV viewing to fewer than 10 hours a week. So use your time like thin people do — be active and participate in fitness options such as walking, running, aerobics, weight training, and biking.
Sip a Cup of Tea
Most people who struggle with their weight often overeat at night or when they’re feeling emotional. Try creating a ritual around having a cup of tea instead. May discovered how well this works when she visited a spa. “I learned that I can recreate the feeling of being nurtured anytime,” she says. And there’s more to tea than just relaxation — it also may help you lose weight. According to a study in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism, Japanese scientists reported that white tea contains large amounts of chemical compounds that counteract the absorption of fat. So try tea for the after-dinner munchies — just make it herbal or decaffeinated so it won’t interfere with sleep.
Turn in Early for Weight Control
Evidence is mounting that chronic sleep deprivation is a major reason for weight gain. In research published in the journal Circulation, a small group of men and women deprived of just an hour of sleep for eight days in a row ate an extra 550 calories a day, an amount that can translate to a weight gain of a pound in just one week (and the extra hour awake didn’t use up any extra calories). Blood tests showed increases in ghrelin, the hormone linked to hunger, and decreases in leptin, the hormone that tells you that you feel full. This makes sense to fitness expert Jim Karas, author of The Petite Advantage Diet. “I always ask my new clients about their sleep habits," he says, "and I tell them very simply, 'If you are not going to get enough sleep, you are going to be obese.' "
Subscribe Today for Free
Post a Comment