Three ‘minimal effort’ habits to tick off before breakfast for effective weight loss
Getting adequate sleep supports weight loss
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Most of the habits in discussions around weight loss relate to diet and exercise, but that's not the whole picture.
Sometimes, it's the other things we do throughout the day that boost our chances of success, like hydration and sleep.
Drinking water
Harnessing hydration may be one of the easiest - and most overlooked - ways to tackle unwanted weight.
Like many experts, Naheed Ali, MD, PhD, physician and nutritionist writing on behalf of Sweat Block, drives home the importance of consuming sufficient liquids.
The importance of adequate hydration cannot be overstated for weight loss
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“Hydrating properly is key,” declared the expert. “Just two extra glasses of water daily may help to boost weight loss power!”
This statement was confirmed in a 2016 mini-review highlighting a connection between increased water intake and weight loss.
Experts at Healthline note: “Starting your morning with water and staying well hydrated throughout the day is a great way to boost weight loss with minimal effort.”
Hydration is an important aspect of weight loss journeys because water is 100 per cent calorie-free and decreases a person’s appetite for food.
Exercising before breakfast
Squeezing in exercise before breakfast is recommended for weight loss because it boosts metabolism for the day, even if it's just a walk.
It is also significantly easier for the body to tap into its fat reserves when it’s in a fasted state.
Doctor Javier Gonzalez, of the Department for Health at the Univerity of Bath, commented on a 2020 study that proved the favourable effects of working out before breakfast.
The expert said: “Our results suggest that changing the timing of when you eat in relation to when you exercise can bring about profound and positive changes to your overall health.
“We found that the men in the study who exercised before breakfast burned double the amount of fat than the group who exercised after.
“Importantly, whilst this didn’t have any effect on weight loss, it did dramatically improve their overall health.
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Working out before breakfast could boost the rate of weight loss
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“The group who exercised before breakfast increased their ability to respond to insulin, which is all the more remarkable given that both exercise groups lost a similar amount of weight and both gained a similar amount of fitness. The only difference was the timing of food intake.”
Sleeping longer:
It is generally advised that individuals get between seven and nine hours to help their brain perform its best. This is crucial for weight loss because sleep has a unique effect on the brain and how it responds to hunger.
Experts at WebMD explain: “Skimping on sleep sets your brain up to make bad decisions. It dulls activity in the brain’s frontal lobe, the locus of decision-making and impulse control.
“So it’s not so much that if you sleep, you’ll lose weight, but that too little sleep hampers your metabolism and contributes to weight gain.”