How can you lose weight in 2012? Let us count the ways (52 to be exact). Whether you’ve vowed to lose 5 pounds or 50, the following advice will help make achieving your weight loss resolution a little easier (Search: How can you keep your New Year's resolution?). We scoured research journals and spoke with diet and fitness experts to find a year’s worth of practical and effective methods to rev your metabolism, torch fat, and flatten your belly.
The following tips are simple, but the effects will add up. “When you successfully implement one change, you’re more likely to do another. The more you’re able to stick to your goal, the greater your confidence, and the more chance you’ll have to start and accomplish new goals. These small changes can add up to a lifestyle change,” says Jessica Cassity, author of Better Each Day: 365 Expert Tips for a Healthier, Happier You. Over the next 52 weeks, use these strategies in your daily life to help you reach your goal by year’s end.
Foods That Boost Your Weight Loss Results
Hit the gas early during your workout. College of New Jersey researchers found that men who started a 30-minute running workout at high speed, working at 70% of their VO2 max, and then eased up to 50% of VO2 max burned 5 to 10% more fat than those who started slow and then revved up the pace. The after-burn of the high-intensity workout seems to carry over into the lower-intensity period, increasing overall fat burn.
Use public transportation. Turns out taking the bus or train is as good for your body as it is for your wallet and the environment. In one recent study from two Pennsylvania universities, researchers found that people who switched from driving everywhere to using a light-rail system lost an average of about 6 pounds in a year. “The theory is that by walking the extra blocks it takes to get to and from bus stops and train stations—instead of pulling up right in front of a destination—you naturally increase your activity level enough to result in weight loss,” says Cassity. Find out how to burn 100 calories right now!
Drink two cups of coffee, black. A study in the journal of Physiology & Behavior found that drinking two cups of caffeinated coffee can boost your metabolism by 16% compared with the decaf kind. Make sure to drink it black though. The 67 calories in a spoonful of sugar and a tablespoon of cream can negate caffeine’s calorie-burning benefits.
Blot your pizza with a napkin. You’ll dab off about 4.5 g of fat—or close to 30 calories per slice. Of course, depending on the pizza and your toppings, the amount of excess oil you can remove varies, notes Keri Gans, RD, author of The Small Change Diet. If you want a healthier slice, she prefers one loaded with veggies.
Pick the smartest foods on the menu with our Eat This, Not That! guide
Have a glass of wine. Rat studies show that resveratrol, a compound in red wine, may help fight weight gain when eating a high-fat diet. The same seems to hold true in humans. Harvard researchers found that women who drank about two glasses a day gained less weight and were less likely to become overweight than teetotalers.
But avoid vodka. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that drinking even as little as 1 ounce of vodka can slow your metabolism by as much as 73%. (Video: Craft a slimmer cocktail)
Douse your food in Tabasco. Capsaicin—the spicy compound found in the white membrane of chili peppers—has been shown to rev up your metabolism and can torch somewhere near an extra 50 calories. Eating salsa may boost fat burn a little bit, says Cassity, but don’t let that give you license to pile on the chips and guac. You still need to watch out for overall calorie intake.
Fuel up on fiber. In addition to making you feel full, longer (and therefore helping you eat less), fiber can help you burn through as much as 30% more calories, according to a study in the Journal of Nutrition. “Fiber has roughage,” says Gans. “And roughage takes a longer time for your body to break down and requires more energy to digest.”
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Sleep more. Researchers found that dieters who logged 8.5 hours of shut-eye burned more fat than those who slept 5.5 hours. While both groups lost a similar amount of weight (6.6 pounds), the ones who got a full night’s rest dropped the majority of their weight from fat while those who slept less lost most of theirs from muscle.
Increase physical activity outside of the gym. In a recent U.K. study, 34 overweight women completed the same 150-minute-a-week exercise program, and while some women lost up to 7 pounds of body fat, others gained up to 5. The researchers think that the women who lost the most were the ones who maintained or increased their physical activity beyond the gym; those who gained weight had cut back on their everyday activity. “If you’re going to the gym, you don’t want to negate it by eating a lot afterward or no longer taking the stairs,” says Cassity. “You have to live the same life—if not improve on it—when you pick up exercise.”
Eat breakfast. A study conducted by the U.S. Navy found that people who ate breakfast daily helped boost the metabolisms of its personnel by as much as 10 %.
Pump iron. Lifting weights can help you torch a few more calories even after you finish your session, according to a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Women who did an hour-long strength-training program burned 100 more calories in the next 24 hours than when they didn’t hit the weights.
5 Smart Strength-Training Shortcuts
Choose tuna swimming in water. Stick to tuna packed in water not oil. Three ounces of water-packed chicken of the sea contains 109 calories and 2.5 g of fat compared with 158 calories and 6.9 g of fat in the oil-soaked kind. Plus, it’s a good protein source that’s rick in omega-3 fatty acids, which can help reduce your risk of heart disease and help prevent depression, says Gans.
Drink chocolate milk. McMaster University researchers compared the effects of downing low-fat chocolate milk, fat-free soy protein drink, and a traditional carbohydrate recovery drink after exercise. Not only did the milk drinkers gain more muscle than those who drank the soy and carbohydrate beverages, but they also lost twice as much fat.
Drink cold water. German researchers found that your metabolism can increase by as much as 30% during the 10 minutes after you drink a cold glass. Why? They speculate that your body burns more calories as it tries to warm the water. (Search: How many glasses of water should you drink a day?)
Brew a cup of green tea. A 2010 Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics study found that after 3 months, people who drank two glasses of decaf green tea a day lost 2.6 more pounds than those who drank an herbal brew. Researchers believe that catechin compounds in green tea may prevent fat formation and stimulate your metabolism.
Say yes to yogurt. A study in the International Journal of Obesity found that eating yogurt as part of a low-calorie diet may help burn more fat. People who tucked in three 1-cup servings a day lost 22% more weight and 61% more fat than those who dieted without including yogurt. Even better—most of the fat lost was from the belly.
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Eat an orange. People who don’t get enough vitamin C burn 25% less fat when working out than those who have adequate levels, say researchers. They also found that people who are vitamin-C deficient can quadruple their fat burn after taking 500 mg of the nutrient.
Do intervals. You’ve probably already heard it, but doing interval training—alternating between periods of intense exercise and recovery—burns more fat and calories than exercising at a steady rate. University of Guelph researchers found that cyclists who switched between cycling for 4 minutes at 90% of their max and 2 minutes of recovery for an hour burn up to 36% more calories after their workout than those who biked at a moderate pace for the same amount of time.
