The body needs water to process calories. If you are even mildly dehydrated, your metabolism may slow down. In one study, adults who drank eight or more glasses of water a day burned more calories than those who drank four.Choose Better Snacks
Try munching on fresh vegetables, which are full of fluid rather than pretzels or nuts.
Drink Your Drinks Cold On An Empty Stomach
Cold beverages prompt the body to burn more calories during digestion. Research suggests five or six glasses of cold drinks can use up to an extra 10 calories a day. That might not sound like much, but it adds up to a pound of weight loss per year (without dieting). You can get the same benefit by drinking iced tea or coffee, as long as avoid the cream and sugar.
Drink Your Drinks Hot On A Full Stomach
Cold will solidify the fats that you just ate and slow down digestions. However, consuming hot drinks aids in the assimilation of food and helps detoxify the body.
Eat More Often
Eating more often really helps you lose weight. Having a small meal or snack every three to four hours keeps your digestive system cranking, so you burn more calories over the course of a day. Studies have also shown that people who snack regularly eat less at meal times.
Eat It Hot
Spicy foods contain chemical compounds that kick the digestive system into high gear. Eating a tablespoon of chopped red or green chili pepper can temporarily boost your metabolic rate by 23%. Some studies suggest the effect only lasts about 30 minutes, but if you eat spicy foods often, the benefits may add up.
Eating more protein will not only help you build more muscle (which in turn burns more calories), but your body burns up to twice as many calories digesting protein as it does for fats or carbohydrates.
In one study, the caffeine in two cups of coffee prompted a 145-pound woman to burn 50 extra calories over the next four hours. Again, just remember to avoid the cream and sugar.
Drinking green tea or oolong tea offers the combined benefits of caffeine and catechins, substances shown to rev up the metabolism for a couple hours. Research suggests drinking two to four cups of either tea may push the body to burn an extra 50 calories each day. That adds up to 5 pounds of weight loss in a year.Plan Ahead
If you plan what you’re going to eat (and stick to it), whether your brown bag it or check out the menu online (if you know where you’ll be dining), you’ll make fewer impulsive decisions.
