How To Jumpstart Weight Loss: 3 Easy Methods
Search the internet for weight loss goal advice, and you’ll find tons of articles imploring you to cut calories. In other words, eat as you usually do — but less — to achieve optimal wellness.
Yes, this can work to help you lose weight. But is it necessarily the best way? We don’t think so. Cutting calories can leave you feeling hungry, tired, and undernourished — hardly how we want to show up in life.
Fortunately, there are far easier ways to lose weight. In this guide from Sweetkick, we’ll go over three effective strategies for melting away the fat that won’t leave you feeling deprived.
1. Ketogenic Diet
What Is It?
Normally, the body uses glucose as its primary source of fuel. You get glucose from your diet, but you also have glucose stored in your muscles and liver. However, these glucose stores become depleted when your sugar intake is low for one or two days.
So, how is your body supposed to get energy? Ketones.
Ketones are molecules produced by the liver. They can supply energy to your body and brain.
A ketogenic diet capitalizes on your body’s metabolic flexibility and allows you to use ketones as your main energy source. Once your blood’s ketone levels reach a certain threshold, you are considered to be in ketosis, which is the hallmark of the ketogenic diet.
A ketogenic diet is generally low in carbs, moderate in protein, and high in fat.
How Does It Help You Lose Weight?
One of the first things people notice on a ketogenic meal plan is that their appetite decreases significantly. In fact, being in ketosis releases various chemicals that can suppress appetite. Plus, blood sugars become more stable, preventing the dip in blood glucose that spikes sugar cravings.
The ketogenic diet also relies mainly on protein and fat, which are super-satiating. They also have a higher thermogenic effect, meaning it takes more energy to break them down, leading to a higher calorie burn and better weight management.
Another reason why the ketogenic diet is excellent for a weight loss plan is that it increases fat burning. And while everyone seems to be saying that you can’t spot-reduce fat, the ketogenic diet may target fat specifically in the belly region.
How Do You Do It?
To get into ketosis, reduce your net carb intake to less than 20 grams. Reducing your portion sizes is one simple way to do this, or you can use a food journal to track your diet plan. This is the total carbohydrate count minus fiber, which the body metabolizes differently. Within two or three days, you should enter nutritional ketosis.
But keep in mind: When you drop your carb intake, you’ll lose a lot of water. You might also lose important electrolytes, like sodium and potassium.
Make sure to up your water intake and consume extra minerals, which you can find in our Body Balance Powder. This can help you avoid symptoms like fatigue, dehydration, and headache, referred to as “the keto flu.”
2. Intermittent Fasting
What Is It?
Intermittent fasting (IF) refers to any eating schedule alternating between fasting and eating.
There are many different IF plans, such as those that restrict food intake for certain hours of the day or those that restrict food intake for entire days.
Unlike calorie restriction diets, IF doesn’t change how much you eat — rather, it changes when you eat.
How Does It Help You Lose Weight?
When you go a long time without food, your blood sugar levels remain stable, your insulin sensitivity improves, and your body gets a chance to undergo the process of autophagy, which clears up damaged proteins. Aside from its many health benefits, IF can make the body use calories from food more efficiently.
IF can also decrease your appetite. So, when you sit down for your first meal, you may have less appetite, leading you to consume fewer calories.
How Do You Do It?
If you’re new to IF, try to give yourself plenty of adjustment time. You can move your breakfast back by an hour or two or eat your last meal just an hour earlier. As your body gets used to this new way of eating, you can gradually shorten your feeding window.
The most popular IF regimen is 18 hours of fasting followed by a six-hour feeding window. Focus on healthy snacks, hydration, and lean protein sources during your feeding window. Once you become a pro at intermittent fasting, you can fast for the entire day and have just one meal.
To get extra benefits, you may even consider doing multi-day fasts. However, for these, we recommend getting your doctor or dietitian’s supervision.
3. Raising Your Metabolic Rate
What Is It?
Inside our cells, we have little energy factories called mitochondria. They use the fuel from your food to help your body carry out its many functions.
When we talk about metabolism, we’re referring to mitochondria. A fast metabolism means your mitochondria efficiently turn food into energy. If your mitochondria are not very effective, you may have a slow metabolism.
Your metabolism is not set in stone. It’s possible to raise your metabolism and to burn more calories, leading to increased weight loss.
How Does It Help You Lose Weight?
When you optimize your mitochondria, you’ll be able to use the energy from your food more efficiently. This means that you can lose weight without changing your diet at all.
How Do You Do It?
Your metabolism is a complex network of different processes. Essentially, the things you do to make your body healthier can increase your metabolism. However, some tried-and-true strategies and lifestyle changes are easier to follow.
If you needed another reason to kick your sugar habit, here you have it: High-glycemic, high-carb foods stress out your mitochondria. If you have too much glucose in the cells, you can raise your body fat, which can decrease the optimal functioning of your mitochondria.
On the other hand, healthy fats can boost your mitochondria. You can boost your healthy fat intake with Sweetkick’s Clusters.
You may also want to eat a varied diet high in colorful fruits and veggies. Antioxidants give plants their color, and they work hard to support healthy mitochondria.
Aside from your eating habits, you may also want to start a new workout routine. Two types of physical activity are superior for building new mitochondria: high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and weight training. Strength training builds muscle, which can create new mitochondria. HIIT cardio can increase daily calorie burn while enhancing mitochondrial function.
Finally, try to get enough sleep. Sleep is when your body’s major repair processes happen, including autophagy — the recycling of dead cells.
When you’re sleep-deprived, many of your body’s major functions get impaired, metabolism included. To prevent slowing it down, make sure to get plenty of high-quality sleep every night.
Cut Back on Sugar With Sweetkick
Contrary to popular advice, cutting calories isn’t the only way to lose weight. Not only that, but it isn’t even the most effective fat loss strategy. We recommend trying the ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, or various metabolism-boosting strategies as an alternative.
You don’t need to cut back on your overall food intake to jumpstart your weight loss journey — however, cutting back on foods with added sugar can support an overall healthier lifestyle while also supporting your weight loss goals.
To support your weight loss journey, Sweetkick has your back with products that are proven to curb sugar cravings, nourish your microbiome, and boost your energy levels.
Sources:
Short-Term Ketogenic Diet Improves Abdominal Obesity in Overweight/Obese Chinese Young Females | PMC
An overactive sweet tooth may spell trouble for our cellular powerplants | ScienceDaily
