Are you training hard, eating right, but are not losing fat and feeling great as you think it should be? Follow these five simple ways to boost weight loss and see improvements.

Boost weight loss with increased Vitamin D

Boost weight loss by making sure your Vitamin D levels are adequate Vitamin D has several important functions, among which keeping bones and teeth health and regulating processes linked to the loss or gain of body fat mass.

A recent study found that raising vitamin D levels to the adequate range led to significant fat loss: women who took D3 supplement tablets of 25 μg/d of vitamin D for 12 weeks lost 2.7 kg of fat compared to a placebo group that lost nothing, and none of the groups modified diet or includes training—the only thing different between the groups was only the vitamin D supplementation.

Vitamin D supplements are easily found in most pharmacies and supermarkets. Make sure you don’t exceed the dose of 25 μg/d.

Eating probiotic foods

Recent research suggests the microflora (or bacteria living in our guts) affects how much fat we store, how we balance levels of glucose in the blood, and how we respond to hormones that make us feel hungry or full.

To ensure a good gut profile eat plenty of probiotic foods. Probiotic foods are those that have been fermented, such as high-quality yoghurt (look for one that carries the “Live & Active Cultures”, sauerkraut, Korean kimchi, kefir, miso, kombucha tea, and pickled vegetables.

If you don’t normally eat any of those foods, consider taking a probiotic supplement. In a recent study over a 12-week weight-loss period, the women who took probiotic pills lost 9.7 pounds, on average, while the women who took placebos only lost 5.7 pounds. And then, after the 12-week maintenance period, the women who took the placebo pills maintained a stable weight whereas the probiotics group continued to slim down, losing 1.8 more pounds, on average.

There’s no doubt that a good gut profile will allow you to significantly lose belly fat, feel better and sharper.

By the way, avoid all drugs that aren’t medically necessary since antibiotics and use of other prescription drugs and NSAIDs kill your beneficial bacteria.

Boost weight loss by snacking on these 3 superfoods

#1: Yogurt

Yoghurt was recently identified as a top weight-loss-promoting food by Harvard University. In their report yoghurt was the food most strongly related to weight loss, followed by nuts and fruits.

In one study, overweight adults who assumed about 1/2 cup of probiotic-enriched yoghurt per day for six weeks, lost 3 to 4 percent of their body fat, compared to just 1 percent body fat lost in the other group who just assumed “normal” yoghurt.

Stick to plain, low-fat or nonfat yoghurt at high probiotic content for a healthy snack, without extra sugar or saturated fat. To make sure your yoghurt delivers a good number of probiotics, look for one that carries the “Live & Active Cultures” sticker.
The probiotics in yoghurt keep your gut working at its best, helping you burn fat and get rid of heaviness and bloating caused by poor digestion.

#2: Nuts

Nuts, such as almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, peanuts and walnuts, have shown over the years to be one of the best foods to snack on.

Research is strong – a report published in The New England Journal of Medicine (2013), comes from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which together have followed nearly 119,000 women and men over a period of three decades.

The more regularly nuts were consumed the less likely participants were to die of cancer, heart disease and respiratory disease. Interesting enough, although nuts are notoriously high in calories, the more often people ate nuts, the leaner they tended to be.

Nuts are easy to carry and fast to eat, which is further proof of this amazing food. The best moment to eat those would seem to be in between lunch and dinner, a handful – it will help you keep your hunger quiet and reduce the calorie intake at dinner.

#3: Avocado

Called an “anti-obesity” food by scientists, the avocado is packed with nutrients and antioxidants, and although it is rich in monounsaturated fats, studies suggest eating avocado regularly will keep you away from getting fat.

In fact, monounsaturated fats content in avocados helps reduce the levels of bad cholesterol, as well as prevent the blood sugar spikes that lead your body to store excess calories as fat.

Analysis of the diets of 17,567 Americans showed that those who ate more avocados had significantly lower body weight and waist circumference and a 50 percent lower risk of metabolic syndrome.

Moreover, an avocado contains about twice the quantity of potassium present in a cup of milk, making this fruit be particularly good to your bone’s health, and to prevent cramps.

Boost weight loss by shopping along the perimeter of the Grocery Store

As healthy grocery shopping is key to healthy eating, it’s important for you to understand how to do it, and since the way the grocery store is set up is very specific, as is where products are placed, the following technique will work great for you in most of the cases.

Concentrate most of your shopping time along the outer aisles of the grocery store, where the fruits, vegetables, meat, fish and other fresh, healthy items are found, and avoid the tempting processed foods on the inner aisles”.

If you don’t buy tempting foods, they are a lot easier to say “no” to than if they are ready to be picked from your sideboard.

Alcohol is usually found at the end of the perimeter of the store, ss well, on the end caps and at the checkout counters, you will get lots of high-carb or junk food because these are easy “impulse buy” zones. So, in these “watch out” perimeter areas, try and avoid buying.

Brush your tongue

Brushing your tongue between meals, apart from being good for your mouth hygiene, can help curb your snacking habit.

Taste buds cover the tongue, with each taste bud made up of taste cells. At the tip of every taste, the cell is a receptor. When the receptor is coated with debris, it is hampered in doing its job, and it’s difficult for flavours to trigger the taste cell receptors.

Increased difficulty in tasting can lead to increased intake of sugar, salt and fat – if your tongue cannot taste something and register its consumption, your brain is more likely to crave it.

The brushing can help improve your taste sensations, which means you’ll be more sensitive to flavours and more satisfied with natural foods such as fruits and vegetables instead of strong flavours of processed foods such as biscuits and chips.

Researchers found that subjects who brushed their tongues lowered their taste for salty foods.

So if you keep your tongue clean, it will be easier for you to cut off junk food and pick the right one – this will definitely help you lose weight.

That’s it, folks! Our top 5 tips for boosting weight loss. For further guidance and support contact our team at Nordic Balance St James’s. We offer bespoke nutrition and training plans designed to help you reach your weight loss and fitness goals.