10 Ways To Beat The Bulge

10 ways to beat the bulge

1 TIME IT

Only eat when your stomach tells you to. If you find yourself craving food when you are not physically hungry stop and ask yourself what’s behind these feelings? Are you bored, tired or upset and address these issues rather than feeding them.

2 SLOW DOWN

It takes 20 minutes from when you start eating for your stomach to register food. The slower you eat the more chance you have of recognising and meeting your body's exact needs.

3 GO FOR PROTEIN

Foods such as quorn, fish, eggs and tofu are full of protein which helps to switch on the "I'm full" centres in the brain so helping to control appetite naturally.

4 BE ACTIVE

Use the stairs instead of the lift, get rid of the remote control, walk to the next bus stop, cycle instead of drive. Every extra step you take helps to burn calories.

5 GO GREEN

Make green tea your daily cuppa. Studies show one of its compounds catechol may help to boost metabolism and reduce the amount of fat your body absorbs by as much as 30 per cent.

6 REST UP

Make sure you get a good night's sleep. Studies show that a lack of sleep can disrupt your hormones, triggering changes in your metabolism, which result in you not processing food as efficiently as you could.

7 WEIGHT MATTERS

Don't jump out of bed straight on to the scales. It could put you into a negative calorie-counting mood for the rest of the day making you more likely to give up and reach for the biscuit tin. Instead weigh yourself once or at the most twice a week.

8 CHEW GUM

Chewing sugar-free gum can help to speed up your metabolism with research showing that people who chew gum continuously burn 11 calories more every hour than those who don't. It can also help to keep snack attacks at bay.

9 CHEAT

Good posture and the right clothes can make you look as though you've dropped a dress size. Walk tall with your head up high, keep your shoulders back and hold your stomach in.

10 CUT THE CALS

The secret is to eat less. Mix juice with water to cut up to 85 calories per glass, swap a chocolate bar (250 cals) for an apple (50 cals). Add a 30-minute walk to your day plus 20 minutes of gardening or housework and you could burn up to 200 calories, adding up to a total loss of around 485 calories in a day.