30 Easy Methods to Lose Weight Naturally (100%Backed by Science)
I am sure you know there is a tons of bad weight loss information on the internet.
Much of what is recommended is questionable at best, and not based on any actual science.
And yes, there are several natural methods that have actually been proven to work.
Here are 30 easy methods to lose weight naturally.
- Add Protein to Your Diet
When it comes to losing weight, protein is the boss of nutrients. Our body burns calories when digesting and metabolizing the protein you eat, so a high-protein diet can boost metabolism by up to 70–100 calories per day.
A high-protein diet can reduce your appetite and also make you feel more full. Some studies show that people eat over 300 fewer calories per day on a high-protein diet.
Something as simple as eating a high-protein breakfast (like eggs) can have a powerful effect.
2. Eat Whole, Single-Ingredient Foods
You can become healthier if your base your diet on whole, single-ingredient foods.
Hence, you eliminate the vast majority of added sugar, added fat and processed food.
Most whole foods are naturally very filling, making it a lot easier to keep within healthy calorie limits.
Furthermore, eating whole foods also provides your body with the many essential nutrients that it needs to function properly.
Weight loss often follows as a natural side effect of eating whole foods.
3. Avoid Processed Foods
Processed foods usually are high in added sugars, added fats and calories. Processed foods are engineered to make you eat as much as possible. They are much more likely to cause addictive like eating than unprocessed foods.
4. Stock Up on Healthy Foods and Snacks
Having healthy food available, you reduce the chances of you or other family members eating unhealthy. The food you keep at home greatly affects weight and eating behavior
There are also many healthy and natural snacks that are easy to prepare and take with you on the go.
These include yogurt, boiled eggs, carrots, whole fruit and nuts.
5. Limit Your Intake of Added Sugar
Eating a lot of added sugar is associated with some of the world’s leading diseases, including cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart diseases.
On average, Nigerians eat about 10 teaspoons of added sugar each day. This amount is usually hidden in various processed foods, so you may be consuming a lot of sugar without even realizing it.
Apparently sugar goes by many names in ingredient lists, it can be tricky to figure out how much sugar a product actually contains.
Minimizing your intake of added sugar is a great way to improve your diet.
6. Drink Water
Water is particularly good for weight loss when it replaces other beverages that are high in calories and sugar.
It’s true that drinking water can help with weight loss. Drinking 0.5 liters (17 oz) of water may increase the calories you burn by 23 — 32% for an hour afterward.
Drinking water before meals leads to reduced calorie intake, especially for middle-aged and older people.
7. Drink (Unsweetened) Coffee
However, people are now realizing that coffee is a healthy beverage that is packed with antioxidants and other beneficial compounds.
Coffee drinking supports weight loss by increasing energy levels and the amount of calories you burn.
Caffeinated coffee may boost your metabolism by 3 — 11% and reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by a whopping 23 — 50%.
Black coffee is very weight loss friendly, it can make you feel full but contains almost no calories.
8. Supplement With Glucomannan
Glucomannan is one of many weight loss pills that is known to work.
This water-soluble, natural dietary fiber comes from the roots of the konjac plant, also known as the elephant yam.
Glucomannan is low in calories, takes up space in the stomach and delays stomach emptying. It also reduces the absorption of protein and fat, and feeds the beneficial gut bacteria.
Its exceptional ability to absorb water is believed to be what makes it so effective for weight loss. A single capsule is able to turn an entire glass of water into gel.
9. Avoid Liquid Calories
Liquid calories come from beverages like fruit juices, sugary soft drinks, chocolate milk and energy drinks.
They are bad for health in many ways, including an increased risk of obesity. One study showed a drastic 70% increase in the risk of obesity among children, for each daily serving of a sugar-sweetened beverage
It’s important to note that your brain does not register liquid calories the same way it does solid calories, so you end up adding these calories on top of everything else that you eat
10. Limit Your Intake of Refined Carbs
Refined crabs are carbs that have had most of their beneficial nutrients and fiber removed.
The refining process leaves nothing but easily digested carbs, which can increase the risk of overeating and disease
The main dietary sources of refined carbs are white bread, white flour, sweets, sodas, pastries, snacks, pasta, white rice, breakfast cereal, and added sugar.
11. Fast Intermittently
Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern that cycles between periods of eating and fasting.
There are different ways to do intermittent fasting, including the 5:2 diet, the 16:8 method and the eat-stop-eat method.
These methods make you eat fewer calories overall, without having to consciously restrict calories during the eating periods. This leads to weight loss, as well as numerous other health benefits
12. Drink (Unsweetened) Green Tea
Green tea is a natural beverage that is filled with antioxidants.
Drinking green tea is tied with many benefits, such as increased fat burning and weight loss.
Green tea increases energy expenditure by 4% and increase selective fat burning by up to 16%, especially harmful belly fat.
Matcha green tea is a variety of powdered green tea that may have even more powerful health benefits than regular green tea.
13. Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are very. healthy, weight-loss-friendly foods.
Aside being high in water, nutrients and fiber, they usually have very low energy density. This makes it possible to eat large servings without consuming too many calories.
Studies have shown that people who eat more fruits and vegetables tend to weigh less
14. Count Calories Once in a While
Being vigilant of what you’re eating is very good when trying to lose weight.
There are effective ways to do this, including counting calories, keeping a food diary or taking pictures of what you eat.
Using an app or another electronic tool may be even more beneficial than writing in a food diary
15. Use Smaller Plates
Studies have shown that using smaller plates helps you eat less, because it gives a different perspective on how you see portion sizes
Many seem to fill their plates the same, regardless of plate size, so they end up putting more food on larger plates than smaller ones
Using smaller plates reduces how much food you eat, while giving you the perception of having eaten more.
16. Try a Low-Carb Diet
Studies have shown that low-carb diets are very effective for weight loss.
Limiting carbohydrates and eating more fat and protein reduces your appetite and helps you eat fewer calories.
This can result in losing weight that is up to 4 times greater than that from a standard low-fat diet.
A low-carb diet can also greatly improve many risk factors for disease.
17. Eat More Slowly
When you eat too fast, you eat way too many calories before your body even realizes that you are full.
Fast eaters are much more likely to become obese, compared to those who eat more slowly.
Chewing more slowly may help you eat fewer calories and increase the production of hormones that are linked to weight loss.
18. Replace Some Fat with Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is high in fats called medium-chain triglycerides, which are metabolized differently than other fats.
Studies show that they can boost your metabolism slightly, while helping you eat fewer calories.
Coconut oil is especially helpful in reducing the harmful belly fat.
Note that this does not mean that you should add this fat to your diet, but simply replace some of your other fat sources with coconut oil.
19. Add Eggs to Your Diet
Eggs are almost the number one ultimate weight loss food. They are cheap, low in calories, high in protein and loaded with all sorts of nutrients.
High protein foods have been shown to reduce appetite and increase fullness, compared to foods that contain less protein.
In addition, eating eggs for breakfast may cause up to 60% greater weight loss over 8 weeks, compared to eating bagels for breakfast. It may also help you eat fewer calories throughout the rest of the day.
20. Spice Up Your Meals
Chili peppers and jalapenos contain a compound called capsaicin, which boosts metabolism and increase the burning of fat.
Capsaicin can also reduce appetite and calorie intake.
21. Take Probiotics
Probiotics are live bacteria that have health benefits when eaten. They can improve digestive health and heart health, and may even help with with weight loss.
Overweight and obese people tend to have different gut bacteria than normal-weight people, which may influence weight.
Probiotics help regulate the healthy gut bacteria. They block the absorption of dietary fat, reducing appetite and inflammation.
Of all the probiotic bacteria, Lactobacillus gasseri shows the most promising effects on losing weight.
22. Get Enough Sleep
Having enough sleep is incredibly important for losing weight, as well as to prevent future weight gain.
Sleep deprivation disrupts the daily fluctuations in appetite hormones, leading to poor appetite regulation.
Studies show that sleep-deprived people are up to 50% more likely to become obese, compared to those who get enough sleep. This number is even higher for children.
23. Eat More Fiber
Fibre rich foods aid with weight loss.
Foods that contain water-soluble fiber are especially helpful, since this type of fiber can help increase the feeling of fullness.
Fiber delays stomach emptying, make the stomach expand and promote the release of satiety hormones.
Ultimately, this makes us eat less naturally, without having to think about it.
Furthermore, many types of fiber can feed the friendly gut bacteria. Healthy gut bacteria have been linked with a reduced risk of obesity.
Just make sure to increase your fiber intake gradually to avoid abdominal discomfort, such as cramps, bloating and diarrhea.
24. Brush Your Teeth After Meals
Many people brush or floss their teeth after eating, and it can help limit the desire to snack or eat between meals.
This is because most people do not feel like eating after brushing their teeth. It can make food taste bad.
Therefore, if you brush or use mouthwash after eating, you may be be less tempted to grab an unnecessary snack.
25. Combat Your Food Addiction
Food addiction involves overpowering cravings and changes in your brain chemistry that make it difficult to resist eating certain foods.
This is a main cause of overeating for many people, and affects a significant percentage of the population. A recent 2014 study found that almost 24% of people fulfilled the criteria for food addiction.
However, some foods are likely to cause symptoms of addiction than others. This includes highly processed junk foods that are high in sugar, fat or both.
The best way to beat food addiction is to seek help.
26. Do Some Sort of Cardio
Doing cardio — be it is jogging, running, cycling, power walking or hiking — is an awesome way to burn calories and improve both mental and physical health.
Cardio has been known to improve many risk factors for heart disease. It can also help reduce body weight.
Cardio seems to be effective at reducing the dangerous belly fat that builds up around your organs and causes metabolic disease.
27. Add Resistance Exercises
Loss of muscle mass is a common side effect of dieting.
If you lose a lot of muscle, your body will start burning fewer calories than before.
By lifting weights regularly, you’ll be able to prevent this loss in muscle mass.
As an added benefit, you’ll also look and feel much better.
28. Use Whey Protein
Most people get enough protein from diet alone. However, for those who don’t, taking a whey protein supplement is an effective way to boost protein intake.
Study shows that replacing part of your calories with whey protein can cause significant weight loss, at the same time also increasing lean muscle mass.
Be sure to read the ingredients list, because some varieties are filled with added sugar and other unhealthy additives.
29. Practice Mindful Eating
Mindful eating is a technique used to increase awareness while eating.
It helps you make conscious food choices and develop awareness of your hunger and satiety cues. It then helps you eat healthy in response to those cues.
Mindful eating is known to have major effects on weight, eating behavior and stress in obese individuals. It is especially helpful against binge eating and emotional eating.
By making conscious food choices, increasing your awareness and listening to your body, losing weight should follow naturally and easily.
30. Focus on Changing Your Lifestyle
Dieting is one of those things that almost always fails in the long term. In fact, people who “diet” tend to gain more weight over time.
Instead of focusing only on losing weight, make it a primary goal to nourish your body with healthy food and nutrients.
Eat to become a fitter person, happier, healthier — not just to lose weight.
