5 Easy Smart and Simple Strategies to Lose Weight

Easy Tweaks In The Morning So You Lose Weight And Feel Better Than Ever

1. Get Moving Early. Kansas State University researchers found that exercising on an empty stomach burns 12 percent more fat than exercising after lunch. And Dr. Smith assures it doesn't have to be strenuous to be effective.

Simply going for a stroll, climbing the stairs in your house or trying a beginner's-level workout DVD will do.

2. Snack every 3 hours. People are so programmed to think that dieting means eating less and going hungry, says Dr. Smith.

The advantage to eating every three hours: According to UCLA researchers, doing so shuts down your brain's starvation protection mechanism (SPM), a biochemical system designed to shield you from famine by slowing metabolism and triggering a 27 percent increase in appetite.

In fact, studies at Queen's Medical Center in the United Kingdom suggest that people who deactivate their SPM with frequent mini meals are slimmer, stronger and more muscular and energetic than people who eat three square meals daily- plus, they have the highest metabolic rate and the lowest percentage of body fat of all study subjects, even if they're eating the same number of calories.

3. Keep meals light. Studies at the Harvard School of Public Health and elsewhere suggest that simply opting for smaller meals can cut blood sugar and insulin by up to 66 percent. This reduces food cravings by as much as 81 percent and doubles energy levels and fat burn in as little as 48 hours.

4. Eat 90 minutes before bed. This advice turned out to be so much more successful when applied to real life than I thought it would be, reveals Dr. Smith. And that's because the tip isn't as stringent as it sounds: While your dinner should be a mini meal 90 minutes before sleep, you are allowed to have one or even two small healthy snacks up to 15 minutes before going to bed.

Keep it light so that your body will be able to properly spend sleeping time building and repairing calorie-hungry lean muscle tissue, cautions Dr. Smith.

5. Sip herbal tea. While herbal teas don't contain any appetite-stimulating caffeine, the real reason that drinking them helps keep food cravings at bay is that the heat of the brew forces you to take slow sips, explains Dr. Smith, which provides satisfaction for quite a while.