Lose weight without dieting

You can shed extra kilos without dieting or engaging in heavy exercise. All you need to do is understand how your metabolism works and follow these calorie-burning tricks. So why wait? Get started now and see the inches slide away from your waistline.

Your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories just to keep you alive. If you eat 2500 calories a day and your body burns 2500 calories a day you will maintain your weight, but if you eat 2500 calories and your body only uses 2000 of them, you will start to pile on the pounds. So if you want to maintain your ideal weight, you could go on a diet to restrict your calories, get into a regular exercise regime or you could take the easy option and try these tricks to boost your metabolism, and burn more calories.

1. REDUCE TV TIME

Too many hours spent in front of the TV each week is bad news for your waistline. Watching TV actually slows down your metabolism than doing absolutely nothing. So put down that remote, and do something active such as stretching on the carpet, carrying out household chores or doing a fun thing like trying on clothes or a new hairstyle, or playing cards with your spouse or children. This way you will rev up your metabolism because you will be moving your body.

2. STOP WORRYING

When you get stressed your body releases the hormone cortisol, which speeds up the metabolism of fat and carbohydrates to give you a hit of energy to deal with a stressful situation. Insulin is released at the same time to create a store of energy (in the form of fat) to help you cope with the next bout of stress. Research shows that women who get stressed regularly gain more weight, especially around the abdomen, than calmer women. This may be due to a build-up of toxins that stop your body using your stored fat.

Toxins are a natural by-product of your metabolism, but if it’s overworked by stress there will be too many toxins for your body to process. They will stop you burning off your fat reserves as energy, so you will need high-fat, high-sugar foods for an energy boost instead, which will make you gain weight. Deep breathing is a great way to switch off your stress response, so take a few deep breaths any time you feel stress coming.