Diet & Nutrition

Surprising tricks to help you lose weight

You're already cutting back on junk and hitting the gym, but have you tried these sneaky tricks?

Drink three more glasses of water a day

This simple tweak can see you consuming 860 fewer kilojoules a day. Drinking more water makes it less likely you’ll consume sugary drinks packed with kilojoules and helps control feelings of hunger and the desire to eat, says Professor Ruopeng An from the University of Illinois in the US.

Set a curfew

People who changed nothing about their diet except the fact they only ate during a 10-hour window each day (say 8am-6pm or 10am-8pm) cut their kilojoule intake by 20 per cent, and lost 3kg in 16 weeks.

The reason is simple; the average person eats during 15 hours of the day, say doctors at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, so losing five hours of potential eating time cuts out a lot of food and kilojoules.

Find your Adele food

Singer Adele attributes her recent weight loss to giving up tea; she was drinking 10 cups a day with sugar.

“Using a food diary app like MyFitnessPal that shows the kilojoule count and nutritional breakdown of a food is a good way to spot foods that are giving you plenty of kilojoules but little nutrition,” says trainer Carlos Elysee.

For more simple weight-loss tips that work, check out our July issue.

Words: Helen Foster

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