Want to tweak things a bit or have a special event coming up? I am happy to present 5 simple ways to drop 1-3 kilos in two weeks. For those of you who want to gain weight, I have some tips for you too – please read on.

You can do all or one of these things and see some results. This is not something that should be done forever as the body is smart and catches on fast. These are just short-term steps to jumpstart the metabolism. Just like changing your work-out routine, the body needs variety when it comes to what you eat. If you can recite your daily menu from start to finish without even thinking then it may be time for a tweak.

Variety is the spice of life and why not get your metabolism humming?

1) Cut down or abstain from alcohol for 8-14 days
This is a controversial topic. Many of you may or may not agree with drinking in moderation. My answer is that it really depends on who you are. If you have been sober for “X” amount of years then ignore this tip. If you tend to party it up every weekend then this could be helpful. Alcohol in moderation has been shown to help decrease your cholesterol; however, not drinking at all is excellent as well.

Cutting down on alcohol means no more than 3-4 drinks per week or abstaining entirely for the 8-14 days. You will see results since the liver tends to expand and hold extra weight if it has to work harder, such as when you drink. Alcohol is burnt in the body before fat is burnt, and hence it slows down the metabolism. Moderation is key. If the liver isn’t working so hard on cleaning your body from alcohol consumption, it will freed-up to work on burning fat and that’s exactly what happens when you take a break from the bottle. You may even build some muscle!

I enjoy a glass of wine or cosmo every now and then and it can be fun to get tipsy but if you want to drop some extra weight, this is the easiest way to do so. When you go back to your consumption of alcohol you will feel the effects faster as a result of cutting down, your tolerance will have decreased. This means you will be drinking less and even saving money for other things in life! Sounds like a win-win situation, right?

2) Eliminate white bread
White bread lacks fibre and B vitamins. You will be amazed how how much more satisfied and fuller you will feel after making the switch to whole wheat, spelt, oat or any other type of whole grain variety. I am not saying that you should never eat white bread again but why not try it and see how you feel. Check out the vitamin-rich, fiber laden stuff and see if it works for you. I still enjoy French baguettes and croissants in moderation. How boring would that be if you never ate white bread again? Yawn.

3) Add leafy greens to at least two meals per day
Yes, it is true! Leafy greens are not only vitamin rich, but they also help speed up your metabolism. The fibre in the leafy greens helps make the digestive process more efficient and everything runs like a well-oiled machine. The fibre makes you feel full at each meal as well. Add the leafy greens in addition to what you are eating. You may be eating more but feeling fuller and more satisfied after every meal and less likely to have dessert or that midnight snack.

4) Cut down or abstain from coffee for a week
I hate this one because I love love love coffee! The thing about coffee is that it raises your insulin levels, and thus your blood sugar, causing the body to store fat. It can also make people feel more hungry and eat more calories during the day. It really depends on what your experience with caffeine has been but why not try it and see how you feel? You don’t have to go through the messy withdrawal symptoms of curbing your daily coffee intake if you substitute with black tea. The caffeine in tea is different from the caffeine in coffee so it actually will stimulate you with a slower, steadier hum rather than the fast jolt followed by a crash from consuming coffee. I am actually buzzing on caffeine as I write this. I didn’t say to forgo coffee forever. Life is short and we are allowed to enjoy the little things in life. Ah, the french press!

5) Cut down or eliminate soft drinks (both diet and regular) and substitute with water or club soda with lemon or lime
You may not believe this but all soft drinks, especially diet, is the enemy to your body. Regular soft drinks contain tons of sugar that the body processes very quickly because simple carbohydrates are broken down too fast. Once they are broken down, your insulin levels go up and your body stores the excess sugar as fat.

Diet ones is the devil. Not only causing bloating and increased acidity in the body, resulting in the break down of calcium stores to balance out this acidity, but some research has linked it to tooth decay as well as cancer. If this doesn’t make you think twice about drinking diet soda, it actually makes you hungrier so you eat more and gain weight in the process. This is because the sweet taste of diet sodas causes the body to release insulin because it thinks there is sugar to break down. Since there is no sugar to process the body needs calories to outweigh the skewed balance of no sugar but high insulin, resulting in eating to compensate for the lack of calories.

Remember for the majority of the time that humans have existed on the planet there was no aspartame, splenda or any of that other crap. We have not yet evolved to process these poisons and that is exactly what they are, poison. If you do nothing else on this list, cutting out soft drinks will save you from disease and even make you a bit slimmer. Now doesn’t a simple tweak like that seem worth it? On a personal note, I used to down a diet cherry Pepsi every single day and when I cut it out, I lost 2 kilos without even trying.

Weight Gain
OK now for those of you who want to gain some weight – organic milk and bananas will do the trick. Why organic milk? I don’t know about you but I don’t want antibiotics or bovine growth hormones swimming around in my system and mucking up my liver. I need that for when I drink my wine! I am serious. This doesn’t mean that milk and bananas make you fat. It just means that if you are a little vitamin deficient and maybe need some extra sturdiness in your frame then you will be benefiting from the potassium in the bananas, and the calcium and protein from the milk. For those of you who are lactose intolerant try almond milk. It’s filled with wonderful healthy fats.

My second tip is to refer to option #1 and include weigh-bearing exercise. You will build muscles a lot faster if you take some time off from drinking alcohol.

Happy slimming or bulking – whichever floats your boat!

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Featured Contributor: Stephanie Siemion

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