Four weight loss hacks for older adults

The older we get the harder it can be to lose weight, especially if we tend to overindulge in our favorite foods due to work or family stress. While the single biggest reason for weight gain is an excess of calories, a decline in activity levels can also be a major culprit in our weight accumulation. It can be challenging to balance our calorie needs and expenditures each day.

But it’s never too late to get in shape, and there are a few easy tricks for weight loss that - especially when combined - can make quick work of an important goal. Finally losing the few pounds that are affecting your quality of life can be a big self-confidence booster.



Here are four tips that can help get you back on track, especially if you are short on time and already juggling a variety of family responsibilities.

Drink tea

Studies have shown that green tea has fat burning and metabolism boosting properties. It’s known that the active compounds in this tea when combined with the caffeine, form a synergistic super-team that can help burn more calories.

The added benefit of drinking more tea is that you’re likely to feel fuller, longer, and can maintain proper hydration levels important for other body processes like cell cleansing and detoxing.



Aside from green tea, you make your own blends with fat-fighting ingredients; you can also mix it up and consume a variety of teas that help in other ways. Peppermint, for example, acts as an appetite suppressant, and parsley is a diuretic. Both can speed your weight loss and detox goals.

Meditate

Meditation is a deeply introspective tool that you can use to get to the bottom of your stressors and fears. Sitting in quiet contemplation can help you discover what’s holding you back from your life goals or interfering with your ability to meet certain targets.

Those that enter deep meditation have also been known to break free from physical pain – a powerful experience that can spill over into other aspects of your life.

If you can seek refuge in meditation on a daily basis, if even for a few minutes a day, you’ll be better able to tackle your problems and focus on your long-term goals, without the distractions of pain, stress, and other hindrances.

Add soluble fibre

Fibre is known to be an important part of any healthy diet and is onaturally occurring in many plant-based foods. It serves to bulk our waste and slow down digestion – allowing for a more through absorption of important vitamins and other nutrients. It also feeds the healthy bacteria in our gut that aid us in converting our food into energy and the building blocks we need for cell repair and cell function.



Soluble fibre is a special type that does the most good. It’s primarily found in foods like nuts, seeds, legumes and grains, including chickpeas and flax seeds. It’s also found in smaller proportions in a few fruits as well.

Adding soluble fibre to the diet helps us feel fuller longer and avoid over eating, which can contribute to faster weight loss and a healthier and optimally functioning body system.

Get outdoors

Getting active in any way is important for full body health and wellness . Exercise should be an integral part of your daily routine, if even for only 30 minutes a day to start.

Heading into nature boosts the benefits of your daily exercise. Exercising in nature can expose you to beneficial sun rays (to get your body making vitamin D) and also help you quiet any ruminative negative thoughts that are keeping you in a stuck mindset.

Getting out and exercising in nature - by taking a walk, bike ride, or hike - connects you to time and place. It also gets you out in the open air – something that many humans don’t get enough of.

Getting out in nature and into natural light can also help promote better sleep by connecting us to our natural circadian rhythms.

Weight loss in our older years can be difficult, but it’s made a bit easier by tuning into our body’s physical as well as spiritual needs. When we reconnect to self and place, and take the time to nourish our body with nutritional and medicinal plant-based foods and beverages, we make faster progress in our life goals.

Related
{Tea therapy: Enjoy a cuppa and stay healthy}
{How to Meditate for Better Health}
{Fibre Optics}
{Quick Tip #58 : Connection between nature and wellbeing}

#natural_weight_loss


%healthyhints