3 Dieting Tricks

1. Drink cold tea as soon as you wake up. The caffeine in tea is a stimulant that will boost your metabolism and amp your workout's intensity. Research continues to show that a steady caffeine dose is good for fitness as well as brain health.

The chilled drink will have its own benefit.  The cold liquid will affect your body's core temp and require some burn to remain at stable temperature. A cold bottle of water will burn around 20 calories, admittedly not much in isolation. But have 8 cold drinks (ice water/tea) throughout the day and your talking about 160 calories. Imagine that 160 calories x week x month x year. I brew big bottles of green tea and keep them in the fridge.

2. Work out in the morning. And if you can't make the gym, at least knock out 100 reps of core exercises.  I know that it's tough, but the caffeine should help you spring out of bed. People who workout in the AM have healthier sleep patterns versus those who workout in the PM. Sufficient sleep is a huge part of building lean mass and losing weight.

Why is the morning better? Its pretty simple. If you lift in the morning, your body will be in a higher metabolic state and will burn throughout the day as it rebuilds the tissue  from your lift. You'll be able to recover properly with diet and by the end of the day you will be tired enough to get your necessary sleep. Conversely, the 9 pm workout will leave feeling wired at midnight. The result is a bodily conflict where you want to shut down, but your body wants to sustain the burn.

3. Eat lots of apples. The apple is a bulky fiber food which fills your gut. 1000 calories worth of apples is a lot more food than four 2.5 oz bags of Skittles.  Plus the natural sugars in apples won't make your blood sugar soar then subsequently crash so they offer much better workout fuel. Then there are the claims that apples suppress appetite. The evidence is mixed, but either way apples offer a convenient, filling food that may in fact suppress excessive hunger.