As a woman, you are prone to storing more fat than men: it’s just a fact of life for the gender due to nature deciding women need more fat reserves for rearing and giving birth to children. However, this certainly does not mean it is impossible to lose that excess fat. Here are some fat loss tips for women to help you lose those extra pounds.
Follow these and you will see healthy and gradual reduction of your body fat and there is a high chance that you will get your body into sexy shape before next summer!
Eliminate Trans Fats
Trans fats are found in cookies, cakes, deep-fried foods, and many takeaway style dishes, as well as ready-made meals. Recent studies have found that trans fats promote weight gain in a big way and they also are responsible for many other conditions including heart disease, joint issues, and are thought to even contribute to certain types of cancer. Therefore trans fats should be avoided altogether and especially if you want to lose few pounds. Read labels very carefully and when eating out, if in doubt make sure you ask if a food contains trans fat.
Eat Good Fats
There was a time during the 80s and 90s, when low-fat dieting was promoted as a good way to lose weight. People figured that if you eat a very small amount of fat it could not be stored as excess weight by the body. However, more recent studies have found that eating the good types of fat which are polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats can actually help promote weight loss. A small Spanish study found that participants who ate small amounts of monounsaturated fats with their meals lost more weight than a study group who ate the same amount of calories but without the monounsaturated fatty acids.
Monounsaturated fatty acids can be found in avocados, olives, flaxseed oil and seeds. Dark chocolate also has MUFAs, which is helpful if you are a woman on a diet who fancies a sweet treat, as you can indulge without feeling guilty.
Polyunsaturated fats are found in oily fish like salmon and trout, as well as certain oils, nuts and seeds.
Move More
Many women become overweight because their lifestyle dictates they are inactive for a large part of the day. If you are a woman who works from home or in an office and sits at a computer for many hours it is quite likely that you are not getting enough exercise which leads to weight gain.
Finding time to go to the gym or take an aerobics class is often very difficult for a working woman who has many other daily tasks to juggle. However, simply moving a bit more throughout the day can help. So try to take a small break every hour or two from your desk and do a few minute of fast intensive exercise such as skipping rope, or running up and down the stairs. You will be amazed at how this small amount of activity can help burn fat by speeding up your metabolism.
Play With The Children
The next time you take the children to the park or beach, instead of sitting on the sidelines watching them play, try joining in with them. A game of volleyball or Frisbee is a great way to burn extra calories as well as have some fun. Your kids will love it too!
Cut Out Alcohol
After a hard day it is tempting to enjoy a few glasses of alcohol to help you relax in the evening. Nonetheless, alcohol contains only empty calories, which means the calories consumed contain absolutely no vitamins or minerals. Furthermore when you drink an alcoholic beverage, your body will use the calories as energy before it burns any other energy stores. This means that drinking alcohol interferes with the body’s natural fat burning process. If that wasn’t enough, alcohol is very high in calories, just two servings of beer are equal to an average sized meal, and two cocktails will likely result in consuming more calories than you would eat in total at dinner.
Cut Out Soda
Researchers found that women very often don’t calculate the calories they consume in any liquids, as for some reason they feel these “don’t count.” But calories from drinks can be quite considerable. Cut out sugary soda drinks, and replace them with plain water or water with a splash of fresh lemon juice.
Drink Green Tea
Drinking four cups of green tea a day resulted in study participants losing an average of eight pounds during a six-week period. Green tea contains a component that speeds the metabolism for a short while after consumption. However, you do need to remember to drink it regularly to see any real results. A good way to achieve this is by making a large jug every morning and storing it in the fridge to drink at intervals whenever you feel thirsty.
Cut Out White Bread
White processed foods should be eliminated completely when you want to lose weight; these include white bread, bagels, white rice and any other food prepared with white flour. If you must have bread, choose pumpernickel or rye bread. These are full of fiber and will keep you feeling full for longer, and also contain vitamins and minerals which are stripped from white processed foods.
Get Support
Women who have supportive friends and family are far more likely to be successful with their weight loss attempts than those who do not have support. You may find your husband and children are not understanding, and if you have to prepare their meals every day, mindless snacking while you are cooking is a very real possibility.
If you do not have the support you need from those close to you, join a weight loss community group in your local area, or online. Use all the support facilities provided as this will help you tremendously with your diet goals.
Article resources:
British Broadcasting Corporation. (2012). “Weight Management ´Benefits´ For Mother and Baby”. Published by BBC.co.uk. (Online). Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18101423
HealthDay News. (2012). “´Yo-Yo´ Dieting Won´t Harm Long-Term Weight Loss Efforts”. Published by WomensHealth.gov. (Online). Available at: http://www.womenshealth.gov/news/headlines/667750.cfm
Yoon, B. & Kravitz, L. (2006). “Weight Loss Strategies for Women”. (Online). Available at: http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/womenweightloss.html