5. Sweat Away Hunger ?
When you lose weight rapidly, your hunger hormones don't adjust to your curtailed food intake. You crave the calorie amounts of your fatter former self. That's one reason why extreme diets can cause weight fluctuations. To avoid that fate, shift your personal energy-balance equation delicately: Reduce your intake by no more than 500 calories a day, and burn more calories by exercising more often and more intensely, says Brad Schoenfeld, M.S., C.S.C.S., author of The Max Muscle Plan.
More: How Many Calories Do I Need?
And when you add activity, you can eat a little more, which helps normalize your hunger hormones. A 2010 review in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that exercising for an hour (or more) can lead to decreases in leptin, the appetite-inhibiting hormone. This may sound like a negative thing, but it's not. Here's why: The release of leptin from your fat cells sends a message that you don't need more food. But people with high levels of leptin (due to obesity) can suffer from leptin resistance; their brains are overwhelmed by the signals, so no message to put down the fork is sent out. However, exercise appears to help fine-tune your leptin sensitivity.
More: What Does a Stomach Growl Really Mean?
6. ... and Cravings
Working out may also help you improve your food choices. According to research by Miguel Alonso-Alonso, M.D., a neurologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, exercise helps you stick to a plan by enhancing your brain's executive function. "This means you're better at both inhibiting the temptation to overeat and resisting the impulse to eat junk." He notes that these benefits accrue over time, so it's critical to keep exercising even after you hit your target weight.
More: Common Food Cravings and What They Mean
Winning Strategy
Joe Dowdell, C.S.C.S., founder of Peak Performance in New York City, advises doing a mix of strength training and intervals for a total of 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours a week.
7. Fill Up on Sleep
The rise in obesity is mirrored by an epidemic in sleep deprivation: Nearly one in three Americans log less than six hours of pillow time a day. A study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recently confirmed that sufficient sleep is critical for weight loss. Tired people tend to overeat, says MH advisor W. Christopher Winter, M.D., medical director of the Martha Jefferson Hospital sleep medicine center in Charlottesville, Virginia. "Your brain likes being awake. It will take great measures to promote activity, even if it has to eat itself awake." These great measures include decreases in leptin and increases in appetite-boosting ghrelin, a weight-loss gremlin because it tends to push you toward simple carbs, fats and sugars, says Dr. Winter.
More: How Much Sleep Do You Need?
Winning Strategy
In the short term, sip coffee or green tea, says Dr. Winter. They're low in calories, and the caffeine helps tamp down tiredness. Of course, the real solution is enjoying at least seven hours of shut-eye nightly. The key is to figure out your wake-up time and stick to a routine no matter what. Count the hours back to determine when you should already be asleep. So if your alarm squawks at 7 a.m., then you should be relaxed, with the lights out and your head resting on your pillow, by 11:45 p.m.
More: Eat to Sleep Better This Race Season
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