Losing weight doesn’t have to be complicated or difficult. By making small changes to your lifestyle, it can be much easier to create good habits that promote fat-burning to help you achieve your weight loss goals. Losing weight effectively has a lot to do with your eating and exercise habits, as well as other lifestyle factors. Read the list below to learn fat-burning tips that can help you lose weight sustainably:

1.       One of the first things that you should do once you embark on a weight loss program is to clean your kitchen. Toss out any foods that will not help you lose weight or are unhealthy. These include junk and processed food, soft drinks, and sugar food. Refined foods also promote fat storage in the body; this includes enriched flour products such as whole wheat tortillas, pita, and bread.

2.       Shakes and smoothies shouldn’t replace breakfast. While you are resting during sleep, the body is busy doing several processes to ensure your growth and healing this is why in the morning it should be replenished with proper nutrients and vitamins in the form of a real meal which should be high in fiber. Otherwise, foregoing fiber as part of your breakfast can cause your sugar levels to spike.

3.       Losing fat doesn’t mean that you have to be eating less food or going on a “diet” because it will have the opposite effect on your body. Nourish yourself with dishes that are rich in vitamins and minerals as opposed to foods that are low in calories but don’t contain any nutrients. Reducing your food intake dramatically can have a negative impact on your metabolism and make it more difficult to burn fat for weight loss. Starving yourself sends signals to your body that will cause it to slow down your metabolism in order to preserve energy. In addition, if you continue restricting your food intake or go on a crash diet, your body will be forced to use muscle tissue for energy which will instead give you visceral fat and slow down your metabolism even more.

4.       Getting enough sleep is one of the most underrated yet important fat-burning tips. When you lack sleep, your body produces more cortisol which is a stress hormone because your body is preparing for fight or flight mode. Going on extreme diets puts stress on the body because you consume fewer calories than what is needed for normal functioning. This leads to an increased risk of muscle loss which occurs when you have high cortisol levels. Additionally, lack of sleep leads to impaired glucose control because sleep deprivation leads to hormonal imbalance resulting in increased appetite as well as hunger.

5.       Add more protein to your diet in order to help your body store lean muscle. The recommended daily intake of protein if you are working out should be between 0.54 grams to 1 gram for every pound of body weight. Since your goal is to lose weight, this calculation should be used with your ideal weight in mind. Consuming protein after a workout can also increase the amount of calories you burn by as much as 35%.  Good sources of protein include nuts, lean meat, and low-fat yogurt.

6.       Eating organic food whenever possible has also been shown to have an effect on fat loss. Research shows that individuals who consume organochlorines, which are toxins from pesticides that are stored in fat, experience significantly slower metabolism because the chemicals found in conventionally made food disrupt the fat-burning process. In short, consuming any foods that use pesticides can make it much more difficult to burn fat.

7.       If you work a desk job or spend most of your day sitting down, taking short breaks that allow you to stand up and stretch can help you burn fat. Spending over 12 hours of inactivity in a day causes the enzymes that are responsible for promoting speedy metabolism to shut down, so if you want to increase your fat-burning levels, spend time standing up or better yet go for a walk.

8.       Add more chilies to your dishes because its capsaicin content, which is responsible for giving chilies its spicy flavor, can boost your metabolism.  Consuming just one tablespoon of chopped chilies per day has been shown to speed up metabolism by as much as 23%. Keep stock of chili peppers in your kitchen to add to a wide variety of dishes.

9.       Consuming healthy stimulants such as coffee and tea can help the body burn fat more efficiently. Caffeine can help mobilize fat and speed up metabolism throughout the day. Studies show that drinking 1 or 2 cups of coffee can increase metabolism by up to 8% while a cup of tea can boost metabolism by 12%. Aside from stimulating the central nervous system, coffee and tea also contain catechins, which are a form of antioxidants that aid in improved metabolism.

10.   Load up on fiber because it’s one of the most important nutrients that can help you lose fat and fight obesity. It can only be found in plant sources this is why you need to eat more dietary fiber which is derived from fruits, oats, and grains. Ideally, we should be consuming at least 35 grams of fiber each day for optimal health and fat loss. Fiber assists in fat loss because it reduces the calories that you consume by keeping you full for a longer period of time.

11.   Make sure that you are getting adequate iron because it is essential in helping your muscles carry the oxygen that they need to burn fat. Iron deficiency can result in a slow and inefficient metabolism, so add more shellfish, spinach, and lean meats to your diet.

12.   Drinking a cup of green tea every day can help you burn more calories and speed up your metabolism. It is loaded with powerful antioxidants that help the body digest food more efficiently, which results in a speedy metabolism. All the nutrients in green tea can also help you feel better even while doing intense workouts because it is rich in healthy plant vitamins.