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      Exactly How Sleep Deprivation And Weight Gain Are Linked – And How To Prevent The Spread

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      Before, we thought that sleep deprivation and weight gain weren’t related. But research in recent years has shown that not only are they linked, but getting too few zzz’s can have a major impact on an expanding waistline.

      In a study by the University of Chicago, researchers determined that four nights of sleep deprivation reduced insulin sensitivity in fat cells by a whopping 30 percent. And the less sensitive your cells are to insulin, the less your body produces the hunger-regulating hormone leptin.

      “This is one of the first studies to show that a cell outside of the brain – the fat cell – also needs sleep,” says study author Matthew Brady, vice-chair of the Committee on Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition at the University of Chicago.

      Brady and a team of researchers put seven young, healthy subjects through two study conditions: First, they spent 8.5 hours in bed for four nights in a row (participants slept for roughly eight hours each night, the ideal length). One month later, they spent 4.5 hours in bed for four nights.

      Previous research has shown that getting only four hours of sleep negatively affects metabolism. After the fourth night, the subjects took a glucose tolerance test and had fat cells biopsied. And, yes, food intake was controlled and identical.

      READ MORE: Will Eating Less Really Help You Shrink Your Stomach?

      How Sleep Affects Fat

      The authors found that sleep deprivation made fat cells less sensitive to insulin, a hormone that cells use to take in glucose for energy. Brady explains that insulin-stimulated glucose uptake is proportional to the secretion of leptin, a hormone made in the fat cell that regulates hunger. The less sensitive cells are to insulin, the less leptin they produce, and the hungrier you are. And the magnitude of the decrease, in this case, was very surprising.

      “A 30 percent reduction in insulin sensitivity is equivalent to metabolically ageing the subjects 10-20 years just from four nights of four and a half hours of sleep,” Brady says.

      “It’s not that we took someone who was on the tipping point of developing metabolic disease and just pushed them over the edge. These were very young, healthy subjects.”

      Brady says the findings are important because they suggest that sleep could be a treatment for obesity. To that end, his next study will consist of trying to improve the sleep of overweight or obese subjects who have obstructive sleep apnea to see if sleep quality has any effect on insulin sensitivity and metabolism.

      He’s excited about the possible impact such a study might have: “It’s hard to get people to diet and exercise but if you could show that improving your sleep quality and duration has a positive benefit, that may be an easier therapeutic intervention for people to undertake.”

      Getting more sleep can also yield weight loss results. In a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, overweight participants who went from sleeping only 6.5 hours a night to sleeping a full 8.5 hours were able to reduce their daily caloric intake by a huge 270 calories.

      In another literature review, authors noted that sleep deprivation is linked with a higher intake of calories throughout the day. Sleeping less than six hours a night is associated with a higher BMI (Body Mass Index) and having less sleep for five days in a row can result in short-term weight gain. Even working nights and having irregular schedules is linked with a less favourable metabolic profile.

      READ MORE: Exactly How To Lose 2kg, 5kg Or 10kg, According To A Dietician

      Ways To Get Better Sleep

      While the University of Chicago study still leaves some questions unanswered – namely, if “catching up” on sleep over the weekend can reverse the effects – it’s clear that getting enough sleep is important for both your mind AND your body. Here are five ways you can improve your sleep now.

      1. Make a Bedtime Routine

      Pick an hour for shutting down every night and stick to it – on weekends, too. A regular bedtime and waking time will help you fall asleep.

      2. Power Down

      Checking your cell before bed amps up brain activity, making it harder to doze off. Plus, the blue light emitted from gadgets can suppress the sleep hormone melatonin. At least an hour before bedtime, turn off your TV and computer and don’t use your phone.

      READ MORE: 6 Weight Loss Strategies That’ll Get You Closer To Your #BodyGoals

      3. Chill Out

      A cooler body makes it easier to fall asleep. Exaggerate that feeling with a toasty, pre-bed bath or shower. Lower your thermostat a bit, then pile on the blankets—you’ll save money on your heat while you’re at it.

      4. Sip Wisely

      No caffeine after sundown and no booze before bed. While drinking alcohol may help you fall asleep faster, you could wake up in the middle of the night. Enjoy a cup of decaf or herbal tea instead.

      5. Drown Out Noise

      Sleep with a fan on or invest in a sound machine that can produce white noise to block the racket of the outside world. More

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      Will Eating Less Really Help You Shrink Your Stomach?

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      We’ve all heard that ‘old wives-tales’ about how cutting kilojoules will cause your appetite to reset. That eventually, your stomach will actually shrinks, so tinier portions will fill you up.

      READ MORE: Exactly How To Lose 2kg, 5kg Or 10kg, According To A Dietician

      Ok, yes, your stomach does shrink… temporarily

      If it sounds like a bit of a stretch, that’s because it kind of is, according to experts. Yes, your stomach does boast rubber band-like properties that allow it to change size. This elasticity makes it easier to get your feast on when presented with an epic spread, and it also helps us avoid starving in times of famine. (Something most modern humans don’t have to worry about. But back in our cave-people days, it was rather useful.)

      As for shrinking? Your stomach can quickly snap back to normal size after a huge meal. But, FYI, it’s not going to continue to get smaller—even if you start eating less.

      How the stomach really works

      Think about it, if eating less was all it took to shrink the size of your stomach, it would follow that normal-weight people have smaller food pouches than people who are overweight or obese. But it’s not true, according to findings published in the journal Gastroenterology. Everyone’s stomach is pretty much the same size, regardless of how much they weigh.

      READ MORE: 5 Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes When They Start New Year’s Resolution Diets

      If you’re still not convinced, consider this: Your body was designed to take in enough kilojoules to keep it going, even during times when there’s no food to be had. So you better believe that it’s not going to make your stomach smaller when you start rationing portions.

      Shrink your portions

      Let’s face it, most of us tend to feel hungrier when we slash our kilojoule intake (your body thinks it’s starving). Your system gets flooded with the hunger hormone ghrelin, making food even harder to resist. At the same time, your body temperature and metabolic rate slow down in an attempt to conserve precious energy.

      It’s the science-y way of basically saying: Drastically cutting your portions not only won’t shrink your stomach—it’ll probably backfire. And if you actually managed to drop weight, you’ll probably just regain it and then some.

      READ MORE: 6 Weight Loss Strategies That’ll Get You Closer To Your #BodyGoals

      Losing weight is not impossible, and research has found that your body can adjust to less food and register fullness from it, over time. But in order to do it (and be successful), you need to cut back on food slowly—so your body doesn’t suddenly freak out and think that it’s starving. That means instead of embarking on a crash diet, try cutting back by just 418 or 836 kilojoules a day. It’s enough to help you lose weight slowly and sustainably, but not so much that your body mistakenly thinks that you’re depriving it of nourishment. More

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      Exactly How To Lose 2kg, 5kg Or 10kg, According To A Dietician

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      Whether you’re trying to lose 2kg, 5kg or 10kg, there are simple tips to follow that’ll shift your mindset and get you on the path to success.
      Enhance your weight-loss efforts by following these diet tips from dietician Leslie Bonci, the co-author of Run Your Butt Off!
      Losing 2kg
      Eat often. Eat small amounts every few hours. It can help your body burn kilojoules instead of holding on to them.
      Pick protein. Protein keeps you feeling full longer, burns kilojoules and helps your muscles recover. Include it at every meal.
      Beat bloat. Avoid excess salt, limit food like broccoli and beans and add lemon to your water (it acts as a natural diuretic).
      READ MORE: 6 Weight Loss Strategies That’ll Get You Closer To Your #BodyGoals

      Losing 5kg
      Scale back. Serve dinner on a salad plate and pour cereal into a mug rather than a bowl. Experts say you’ll think you’re eating more than you actually are.
      Slow down. Sip water and set your fork down after every few bites. There’s lag time between your stomach feeling full and your brain getting the message.
      Slurp your starters. Opt for a broth-based soup as your appetiser. It can curb cravings and also help prevent overeating during your meal.
      READ MORE: This 17-Day Slimdown Plan Will Help Get You Back In Shape

      Losing 10kg
      Take note. A study found that those who kept daily food logs lost twice as much as those who didn’t. Many people underestimate how much they eat – seeing it all in black-and white can be a reality check.
      Find balance. Experts say that people with a lot of kilos to lose get overwhelmed by counting kilojoules and give up. Keep it simple by divvying your plate into thirds: one-third protein, one-third veg and one-third whole-grains.
      Swap smart. Restricting food can increase your cravings and lead to off-the-wagon binges. Craving a biscuit? Have it, but swap it for your afternoon hot chocolate or pretzels.
      READ MORE: 28 Easy Food Swaps That’ll Help You Lose Weight More

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      5 Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes When They Start New Year’s Resolution Diets

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      A New Year’s resolution diet comes but once a year, offering you a fresh start to get it right, get it tight, and finally reach your weight loss goals (if that’s what you’re working on). It also arrives right after you’ve inhaled your grandma’s famous (at least in your house) Christmas cake. Also, those Christmas cookies that your boss makes. Oh, and the latkes at your Chrismukkah party… and the list goes on.
      Needless to say, it’s understandable that you’re toying with the idea of starting a restrictive New Year’s Resolution Diet for the year – and until kingdom come.
      But we’re going to be real with you here, a super-restrictive New Year’s resolution diet can actually be a recipe for failure — no matter how much you ate over the holidays, says registered dietician Brooke Alpert. “Following a diet that cuts out food groups and allows for zero wiggle room puts you in a worse situation that you started in,” she says. Alpert says that yo-yo dieting will damage your metabolism, putting you on track to rebound binge and then start yo-yo-ing again. “That means you’ll get stuck in that vicious dieting cycle,” she says.
      That being said, if you want to lose weight, there’s no shame in cleaning up your diet in hopes of a healthier 2020. But to successfully transition from two weeks of cocktails to 30 days of kale smoothies, make sure you’re not making these mistakes:
      1. Eating foods you don’t actually like
      If you think you’re suddenly going to become a fan of Brussels sprouts because it’s January 2nd and you haven’t eaten anything green in the past three months weeks, you’re setting yourself up to fail. “One reason why diets don’t work is that they force people to eat things they don’t like,” says registered dietician Cassandra Suarez. “So if the kale smoothie isn’t working out for you, try sautéed kale, kale chips, or better yet, ditch the kale and try spinach, Swiss chard, or another vegetable.” Another key to eating healthy without hating life is to experiment with spices. “Don’t be afraid to try different seasonings or ways of cooking,” says Suarez. For example, pick up a Cajun spice blend or Chinese five-spice and sprinkle it on top of your veggies or chicken.
      READ MORE: “Here’s How I Got My Fitness Back After The Pandemic”
      2. Expecting immediate results
      The celebrating you did over the holidays is not going to be undone after a week — or even a month of getting your sh*t together (i.e. healthy eating). “The surest way to fall short of your goal or resolution is to make it unattainable,” says registered dietician Rene Ficek, lead nutrition expert at Seattle Sutton’s Healthy Eating. “For instance, resolving to never eat your favourite takeout food again or aiming to lose 5 kilos in one month will backfire,” says Ficek. That’s because not allowing yourself the foods you enjoy leads to eventually bingeing on them when you can’t take the torture anymore. And trying to lose too much weight too fast will certainly lead to disappointment and a rebound bag of Dorritos.
      The key is to set smaller goals that build up to your end goal, he says. That means you can try to avoid that takeout joint more often than you do now or aim to lose one to 500g to 1 kilo per week — until you eventually reach your goal, she says.
      3. Not making your meals ahead of time
      One of the reasons why we overeat around the holidays is that there’s an abundance of food out that’s easy to grab. When the celebrating is over, make it easy to stick to your New Year’s Resolution diet and choose healthy options by preparing healthy food ahead of time. That way you can get to it when you’re hungry, instead of making a game-time decision when you’re ravenous. “Meal preparation is key to eating a balanced diet,” says registered dietician Lily Chen. “Cut up vegetables and make extra servings of a meal for the week ahead. This way, you can quickly put together dinner on a busy week night.”
      READ MORE: 4 Core Moves That’ll Create A Stronger Body All Over
      4. Not checking labels at the supermarket
      Being a bit more particular about the foods you buy at the store can help you get back on track after eating everything without question. Read the food labels on the ingredients you’re using to make a more informed decision about whether or not it belongs in your diet. Chen says it especially important to pay close attention to serving sizes. “A bottle of juice may actually contain two servings,” she says. That means it contains twice the sugar and calories as what’s listed on the label. And since you’re probably not in the habit of only drinking half of a juice, that could keep you from losing weight, says Chen. Other important factors to consider are the amount of fibre and protein in your meals. Shoot for eight grams of fibre and 20 grams of protein in every meal to stay full and satisfied.
      READ MORE: Here’s How To Pick A Retinol For Your Skincare Routine
      5. Not having a backup plan
      Putting a plan in place to change your diet is great. But you’ve also got to plan for roadblocks, says Ficek. Take stress eating during a particularly annoying day, for example. If you know you’re tempted to make yourself feel better with the help of ice cream, find a backup plan, says Ficek. Maybe you decide to get a 20 minute massage at a spa, or blow off some steam in that yoga class. “Both would be welcome changes to a healthy new lifestyle, and you will feel much better in the long run.”
      This article was originally published on www.womenshealthmag.com  More

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      6 Weight Loss Strategies That’ll Get You Closer To Your #BodyGoals

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      If you, like tons of other women around the world, are hell-bent on finally winning the weight loss battle in 2023 then you’re going to have to approach it more deliberately and with tight weight loss strategies.
      But first things first: don’t beat yourself up for not staying the course last year. There’s nothing wrong with going right back to the start and taking it from there. As long as you’ve still got time and energy, you haven’t let yourself down yet.
      And I don’t know about you, but there’s an extreme sense of newness in 2023 — it feels like the year that we’re all finally going to knuckle down, get our ducks in a row, our goals in order and finally win the wars we’ve been fighting in ourselves. With that said, life coach and author Paula Quinsee reckons that there’s very little you can achieve without the right mindset and the right weight loss strategies in place.

      “With the right mindset and a solid plan, there are very few things you can’t achieve — this is the starting point of any goal,” she says.

      We asked her to help us unpack some of the most effective strategies we can use to make this year different… to finally get to the finish line of the weight loss race.
      1/ Understand your why
      If you’re not clear on why weight loss is your goal, then your motivation to achieve it won’t stand firm. “People need to understand the why behind their goals,” Quinsee says.

      “Yes, you might want to lose weight but it’s not so much about the goal than it is about what the goal will do for you.”

      In a sense, losing weight is only but a vehicle that’s taking to you to where you want to be. And your why can be anything — you might want to lose weight to feel more confident, get healthier, become more energetic for your kids and so on. If it matters to you, it is valid.

      2/ Set a realistic time frame
      Working towards a goal aimlessly and with no time frame leaves a lot of room for excuses. A deadline, so to speak, not only encourages some form of discipline, but it’s also important for helping keep track of your progress (we’ll get to why this matters in a moment). But in setting those time frames, it’s also vital that they are realistic for the way that your life is set up. “Giving yourself an unrealistic time frame for your goal is setting yourself up for failure,” Quinsee explains.

      “You will end up feeling disappointed, let down and the self-blaming and loathing can derail you from the entire goal itself.”

      3/ Break your goals down into smaller ones
      We’re always told to dream big and what makes a big dream attainable? All the smaller dreams in between and all the little wins that eventually lead us to our big picture.

      “Often, people look at the big goal and they get overwhelmed by it. But if you break a goal down into much more manageable bite-size chunks, then you will find that the process becomes a lot less daunting,” Quinsee says.

      4/ Set yourself up for success
      It’s important to know and be extremely conscious of your weaknesses, and to make sure your strategy includes things that work around them.
      “If you know that you’re not a disciplined person when it comes to exercise then make sure that you set yourself up for success by getting a personal trainer,” Quinsee says. “In that way, you will know that someone is always holding you accountable. This could even be a workout buddy or anyone that can help support, motivate and encourage you throughout.”

      5/ Always track and measure your progress
      A lot of the time we’re so busy focused on the goal that we miss how far we’ve come in our journey, how much we’ve achieved and the progress that we’ve made.

      “Every small little step forward is success and it’s so important to not only note, but to celebrate those little victories and small signs of progress,” Quinsee says. “The acknowledgement of these is what will keep you going.”

      6/ Put incentives in place

      A strategy that works really well is creating a personal rewards system for every time you achieve a small goal or objective.

      “You can even reward yourself for just being disciplined and attending all the workout classes you planned to attend that week,” Quinsee says.  “The key is to always seek out the positive sides of your experience and to acknowledge them.” More

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      28 Easy Food Swaps That’ll Help You Lose Weight

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      There’s a simple hack that can boost your weight loss, leave you feeling fuller for longer and have you feeling more regular. It’s called fibre and this often-overlooked food can deliver major benefits to your body. Not only does it keep your system nice and clean, fibre has a genius move in its arsenal: the ability to keep you feeling fuller for longer, boosting satiety. That feeling of fullness is a major key in weight loss, prompting you to eat less instead of more. These genius food swaps find the high-fibre substitutes of other foods, which are often healthier, too.
      Why you need to switch up your food
      We all know our bodies need calcium for bones, vitamin C to fend off colds and chocolate to save relationships. But when it comes to losing weight, the nutritional information is a little more confusing. The mighty trilogy of nutrients – protein, carbohydrates and fat – garners most of the food industry’s attention, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that fibre needs to be the fourth leg of the dietary table.
      Study after study shows that not only does fibre help lower your risk of cancer, heart attack and high blood pressure, it also keeps you full and helps you decrease the total amount of kilojoules you consume every day. Trouble is, most of us think that getting the recommended 30g of fibre a day means eating cereal that tastes like the box it comes in. But that isn’t the case. You can sneak fibre into your diet anywhere…
      Food Swaps At Breakfast
      1. Spice up your eggs: A third of a cup of chopped onion and one clove of garlic will add one gram of fibre to scrambled eggs.
      2. Drop a whole orange into the blender to flavour your morning smoothie. One peeled orange has nearly three grams more fibre than even the pulpiest orange juice.
      3. Make your own fruit juice. Blend peeled, sliced and cored or pitted fresh fruit with a little cold water in a food processor. Drink immediately for the best nutritional value. A 250ml glass has more than one gram of fibre.
      4. Cook a bowl of oat bran instead of oats; it has nearly two grams more fibre. Add even more flavour and fibre by stirring in a quarter of a cup of raisins or chopped dates before popping it into the microwave.
      5. Sprinkle ground flaxseeds over your favourite cold cereal or stir a few spoonfuls into a cup of yoghurt. Two tablespoons of ground flaxseeds deliver almost an extra two grams of fibre.
      6. Grab an Asian pear. Similar in taste to other pears, the red-coloured Asian variety has an apple-like crispness and shape and, at four grams a pear, it delivers significantly more fibre.
      7. Buy spreadable fibre, like peanut butter, for your wholewheat toast. Two level tablespoons add three grams of fibre, along with a healthy dose of heart-protecting fats and nutrients like vitamin E.
      8. Make a smoothie using fruit or oats, as these contain at least two grams more fibre than blends that aren’t fruit-based or don’t include oats.
      READ MORE: 5 Ways To Measure Healthy Portion Sizes Without A Scale
      At lunch
      9. Try rye bread if you don’t like wholewheat for your sandwich. One slice has almost two grams of fibre – twice the amount found in white bread.
      10. Opt for quinoa instead of white rice and you’ll get six times more fibre per serving. Mixing in half a cup of lentils with the quinoa will add a nutty flavour, another six grams of fibre and a boost of folate and manganese.
      11. Stow a tin of microwavable soup in your desk for when you need to work through lunch. Woolworths’ Chunky Vegetable Soup packs as much as five grams of fibre per 400g portion.
      12. Shower your pasta with origanum or basil. A teaspoon of either chopped herb adds one gram of fibre. Order it with mushrooms and you’ll get an extra gram.
      13. Build your burger with a sesame-seed roll instead of the plain variety. Sesame seeds add half a gram of fibre per roll.
      14. Order your boerie roll with tomato-and-onion relish Every quarter-cup of the relish you pile on adds up to two grams of fibre to your meal, and having a wholewheat roll tops that up with another three grams.
      READ MORE: 3 Meal Prep Hacks That Will Make It Way Easier To Eat Healthily
      In the afternoon
      15. Drink chocolate milk, not plain milk. The combination of chocolate and the compounds needed to keep it suspended in the milk provides a gram of fibre in every 250ml serving.
      16. Pop a pack of reduced-oil popcorn instead of popping open a bag of potato chips. There are eight grams of fibre in every bag of popcorn.
      17. Enjoy a tomato juice and its two grams of fibre per 200ml tin. Go with the plain juice and avoid the cocktail version, which is high in sodium from the added salt and Worcester sauce.
      18. Graze on trail mix instead of a granola bar. Most granola bars have only one gram of fibre, while trail mix with dried fruit has nearly three grams.
      READ MORE: ‘Keto Crotch’ Might Be A Surprising Side Effect Of A Low-Carb Diet
      At dinner
      19. Toss half a cup of chickpeas into a pot of your favourite soup. They’ll absorb the flavour of the soup and tack six grams of fibre onto your bottom line.
      20. Swap a sweet potato for your standard spud. Sweet potatoes have two grams more fibre per tuber than the typical variety. Not a fan? At least eat the skin of the regular potato – that alone contains one gram of fibre.
      21. Go wild when you make rice. Cup for cup, wild rice has three times more fibre than white.
      22. Add some green to your red sauce. Doctor your favourite pasta sauce with half a cup of chopped spinach. The spinach will take on the flavour of the sauce and pad your fibre count by more than two grams.
      23. Cook wholewheat or spinach pasta instead of the usual semolina kind. A cup of either contains five grams of fibre.
      24. Cook broccoli, cauliflower and carrots and you’ll take in three to five grams of fibre per serving – nearly twice what you’ll get out of them if you eat them raw, as heat makes fibre more available.
      25. Add beans to give your bolognese a fibre boost. Substitute one part chopped, cooked beans for one part lean-beef mince. Cook both together to allow the beans to absorb the juices and seasoning. For every 100g of cooked beans, you get seven grams of fibre.
      READ MORE: Calories Vs Nutrients: What You Need To Know About Losing Weight
      For dessert
      26. Say nuts to chocolate bars. Bars with nuts, like Cadbury’s Whole Nut chocolate bar and Lunch Bars, have up to two grams of fibre – almost twice the fibre content of bars without nuts.
      27. Top a bowl of ice cream with sliced fresh berries in lieu of a chocolate topping. Half a cup of raspberries provides four grams of fibre; strawberries and blueberries pack half that amount.
      28. Try a slice of apple tart or a bowl of fresh fruit salad and you’ll add at least an extra three to five grams of fibre. Cake doesn’t have nearly as much. More

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      5 Genius Treadmill Hacks That Shave Off More Kilos

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      If you’re trying to lose weight but run at the same speed and incline every time you hit the treadmill, you can run right into a rut that’s boring and lacking in kilojoule-torching power. The good news is jogging on the treadmill can go from a tedious trek to a quick fat-burning session. All it takes is a bit of know-how and strategic programming that’ll not only improve your speed, but your weight loss capacity, too.
      1. Mix It Up
      Exercise’s role in weight loss may seem easy: To lose weight, you need to burn more kilojoules, says Janet Hamilton, an exercise physiologist at Running Strong. You can do that by upping your intensity or your duration. The problem is that if you work too close to your maximum heart rate, you might tire out too quickly. But if you run slow and steady you’ll have to go a long time to see results.
      The happy medium is variety, says Hamilton. On some days, take your usual 20 to 30 minutes a little bit faster. On other days, go longer and slower – for about an hour or so.
      READ MORE: 10 Ways To Motivate Yourself To Hit the Gym After Work
      2. Master Your Speed
      Intervals – or short bursts of sprinting sprinkled throughout a workout – are one of the easiest ways to cut time off your workout (score!) and centimetres off your waist. In fact, a study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that ladies who ran hard for two minutes (then slowed down for three minutes) burned more kilojoules the day after their workout than those who went the slow and steady route.
      What’s even better: They dropped four per cent of their body fat in the coming weeks. The group who did low-intensity, steady workouts didn’t lose any.
      Start with intervals in 1:2 or 1:1 ratios, says Hamilton. That means upping your speed for 30 to 60 seconds, then dropping it for the same amount of time or double that. Choose a speed that’s an effort you could hold for between two and five minutes, says Hamilton. You want to feel invigorated, not exhausted. You can build up to higher intensities, but how hard to go all depends on your experience – so first check out where you fall with this new treadmill workout you have to try.
      3. Do Hills the Smart Way
      Up your incline, up your kilojoule burn – it sounds simple. Unfortunately, running or walking on a steep incline can be hard on your body. “Most people instinctively know that, but when we get on the treadmill, we lose that common sense, crank up the incline, and hold on for dear life,” says Hamilton.
      READ MORE: How To Get A Strength-Training Workout On The Treadmill
      Instead of setting the incline and forgetting it, pretend you’re outside, says Hamilton. Learn to go up a hill at the same effort you’re going at a flat road. That might mean dropping your speed a little, but “this is an opportunity to build strength in your hips and legs, working them a little harder.”
      You can also try incline intervals, she says. Crank the incline up between 2 and 4 per cent for one to two minutes, let your speed drop 0.1 or 0.2, then bring your incline back down to 0 for that same amount of time and repeat. Once you’ve mastered maintaining your effort on a hill, work to maintain speed.
      4. Some Days, Just Keep Going
      We’ve all had those miraculous days where eight kilometres feels like four. “Just doing a longer workout will burn about 50 percent more kilojoules,” says Hamilton. Instead of running for 30 minutes, going for 45 increases your duration and calorie burn by 50 per cent. While this isn’t a good everyday technique (hello, boredom and plateaus), switching up your routine with some longer runs is a great way to up your kilojoule burn without a ton of effort.
      READ MORE: 19 Slider Exercises That Will Make Your Abs And Glutes WORK
      5. Don’t Ditch Other Workouts
      Research published in The Journal of Applied Physiology suggests that the best way to lose weight isn’t doing the same routine over and over again. Finding the perfect mix of resistance training, intervals, endurance, and stretching will help you meet your goal faster. More

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      5 Ways To Measure Healthy Portion Sizes Without A Scale

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      The Association for Dietetics (ADSA)  in South Africa held a Twitter Talk on #HealthyNutrition4All, which highlighted how South Africans are becoming one of the most obese populations in the world! Some of that is attributed to unhealthy lifestyle habits, but a hefty portion can contribute a lot to the statistic. Here, dietitians, The Heart & Stroke Foundation SA, FoodBank SA, Soil For Life and the Department of Health share tips on measuring your meal’s healthy portion sizes – without a scale.
      Use The Plate Model
      The Heart Foundation recommends using a plate to estimate how much starch, meat and vegetables you should eat. Half your plate should be veggies, a quarter starch and the rest protein.
      READ MORE: 5 Portion Control Tips You’ve Probably Never Heard Before
      Use Your Hands
      Dietician Maryke Gallagher advises that you should measure food with your fist. One portion of fruit should be the size of your fist. Also use your palm to measure how much protein, etc. you should be eating. A palm is the size estimate of your protein portion, your fist is the size of a starch portion and your full hand (or more) is the size of a veg portion.
      Know When You’re Full
      Dietician, Karlien Duvenhage, believes it’s important to be in tune with your body and start learning when you are hungry or full.
      READ MORE: What Really Happens To Your Body (And Brain) On A Detox Diet?
      Go Mini
      The Heart Foundation suggests you eat out of a small bowl, with smaller utensils and cups to make the meal appear ‘fuller’. Use a smaller bowl for rice and noodle dishes instead of a giant one; try eating your regular meals from side plates instead of full-size plates. This tricks your brain into thinking you’re eating a bigger meal and also makes you feel more satisfied with what you’ve eaten if it looks like a large portion of food, when really it’s a healthy portion.
      Your Portion Size Go-To Guide
      Meat should be the size of a deck of cards; carbohydrate portions (rice, bread, noodles and spaghetti) the size of a tennis ball; fat (bacon rind, oil, mayonnaise), the size your thumb; and veg is a free for all, according to dietician Jade Seeliger.
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