Having trouble shifting those COVID kilos? You’re not alone. A recent survey regarding the impact of COVID-19 in 30 countries revealed that in Australia 35% of us have gained weight during the pandemic.
Gulp.
Respondents to the Ipsos online survey were seeking to use weight loss methods such as exercising more (56%), followed by dieting (53%) and eating more healthily (51%) to address the issue.
While their responses were on the right track, research shows that a holistic approach is more effective when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off. Having the right mindset, combined with exercise, resetting your metabolic clock, focusing on sleep hygiene and making healthier food choices all contribute to better results.
The Power Of The Mind
It’s important to shift your mindset when you embark on a lifestyle change. It should be about exercising or eating healthily because you want to do it, rather than feeling you have to.
A study in the International Journal of Obesity, for example, found that the motivational intervention therapy is extremely effective in encouraging weight loss.
Functional Imagery Training (FIT) was developed by researchers at the University of Plymouth and Queensland University of Technology, teaches people to visualise achieving their goal of weight loss and what it will allow them to do or experience that they are currently unable to do.
“Most people agree that in order to lose weight, you need to eat less and exercise more, but in many cases, people simply aren’t motivated enough to heed this advice — however much they might agree with it,” explained Dr Linda Solbrig.
“So FIT comes in with the key aim of encouraging someone to come up with their own imagery of what change might look and feel like to them, how it might be achieved and kept up, even when challenges arise.”
Click here to view FIT motivational videos.
Reset Your Metabolic Clock And Get Moving
According to the University of Colorado Boulder, studies reveal that nearly every tissue or organ in the body has an internal timing device, dictating when we secrete certain hormones, how our heart and lungs function throughout the day, the cadence of our metabolism of fats and sugars, and more.
The university is working to create a blood test that determines those individual body clocks.
“If we can understand each individual person’s circadian clock, we can potentially prescribe the optimal time of day for them to be eating or exercising or taking medication,” said senior author Christopher Depner.
In the meantime, Harvard Medical School suggests boosting your metabolism by adding high-intensity interval training to your regular routine, upping your protein intake and doing weight training.
After a period of interval training, your metabolism can stay revved up for as much as a full day; while combining adequate protein intake with building muscle mass through weight training can also give it a boost.
“You can manipulate your metabolism to a degree,” said Dr Chih-Hao Lee, professor of genetics and complex diseases at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “It is often a small change that may help you burn more calories. That, along with adopting a healthier diet and making sure you get enough exercise, may give people the extra push they need to lose and maintain weight.”
Supplements can also help increase your protein intake. IsoWhey Complete is a formulated supplementary sports food that can be used either as a meal replacement to help support weight loss or as a general protein supplement. It’s gluten free, containing no nasties, but packed with health promoting vitamins and minerals. Additionally, IsoWhey provides a variety of work out videos that can be done from home.
Sleep Well, Shed Kilos
New research by the Chinese University of Hong Kong has found that going to bed late and having less than five hours of sleep a night could increase your risk of obesity.
More than 130,000 participants were included in the analysis, with a bedtime of midnight or later classified as a “late night”.
“Compared with a bedtime between 8pm and 10pm, late bedtime was associated with general obesity and abdominal obesity, particularly among participants who went to bed between 2am and 6am,” the study found.
Researchers said the findings suggest staying awake at night may suppress the secretion of melatonin, which is associated with an increased risk of obesity and cardiovascular diseases.
Change Up Your Diet
Making healthier food choices is an important step when improving your lifestyle.
As Health Direct notes: “Carrying extra weight increases your risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and stroke, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. If you are above a healthy weight, losing just a few kilos can lower your risk of health problems.
“To lose weight, you need to be physically active and follow a healthy eating plan with only enough nutritious foods and drinks to meet your energy needs.”
Its tips for losing weight include:
- Swap foods high in fat, sugar and salt with foods from one of the 5 healthy food groups
- Cut down on takeaways
- Eat regularly and plan ahead with healthy snacks
- Choose smaller portions
- Eat breakfast
- Enjoy a wide variety of foods
- Eat plenty of fibre to fill you up
- Eat more vegetables
Do your research before choosing meal replacement shakes, as many are packed with sugar and carbohydrates.
IsoWhey Complete has a 5-star health rating and contains no added sugar, just the natural sugar found in whey protein. This is important for people trying to lose weight to help break the cycle of sugar addiction by satisfying their cravings with lower sugar, but still delicious options. This becomes a sustainable solution that doesn’t feel like a sacrifice.
It’s not a total diet replacement, so it’s recommended to only replace a maximum of two meals a day with IsoWhey Complete plus one healthy, low carb meal and snacks.
It can also be simply added to your regular daily diet in place of breakfast as a smoothie base or to make healthy snacks such as bliss balls.
Brought to you by IsoWhey.
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