Permanent weight loss is not easy, infact 95% of people who lost weight eventually gained them back. I'm proud to say I'm one of the 5% group, it's been 4 years and counting. Want to know my secret? Read on!

Appetite is not the same as hunger, it's a psychological process that demands more food. And more often that not, your body does not need this extra food.

One of the single and most effective means of weight loss is through manipulating your appetite, or rather suppressing it down. Just think about it, the last time you felt very sad, did you ate much? Chances are you didn't, you were hungry but you didn't feel like eating, that was when you have defeated your appetite, temporarily.

Imagine if you can control your appetite daily, knowing when to stop eating, wouldn't that be great? The good news is you are able to achieve that! Without having to feel sad everyday. Appetite can be controlled by some simple changes, many of these changes should be practiced together in order to be effective.

Satiety index
The satiety index is a gauge to measure how much and how long a particular food makes a person feel full, in other words satisfied from the food. The higher the food is in the satiety index, the more and the longer a person will feel full after eating the food.

The major food nutrients affects this index
Fats - Highest satiety
Protein - Medium satiety
Carbohydrate - Low satiety

Higher fibre content will also increase the satiety index.

I'm not advocating on a low carbohydrate diet, although many advocates love to use this index as basis of their argument. The satiety index is not an excuse to eat high fats and high protein food while avoiding carbohydrates.

As I've mentioned, Fibre affects the satiety index as well, and fibre are found mainly in Carbohydate foods.

This is the plan

1. Avoid low-fat diets

2. Eat Carbohydrate foods that are high in fibre - eg. Wholemeal pasta, fruits, vegetables, oats, barley

3. Eat moderate amount of protein, there's no reason to avoid protein unless your kidneys are not functioning well

4. Always include healthy oils in your diet. Oils derived from nuts, olives, avocados, fish are all good sources of oil.


Nutrition data has recently launch a new method of measuring satiety, which is known as the Fullness factor. This is better gauge because it take notes of both the calorie contribution and satiety factor at the same time. Visit the link to read up on it.

Exercise
Did you know that exercise affects your appetite as well? Exercise regulates some of the hormones in your body that suppresses appetite. Two of which are Ghrelin and Peptide YY.

But which kind of exercise? Studies have shown that Aerobic exercises(jogging, cycling, walking) are more effective in suppressing appetite than Anaerobic exercises(weight lifting, sprinting).
There, another point to pick up your shoe and start exercising.


Habits
Keep nice food out of sight - Hide them, avoid them, give them away. Nice foods and smells are known to stimulate appetite. Even the sight or smell alone can be strong enough to evoke such senses!

Keep an eye on yourself during Celebrations - A very likely situation, you'll lose track of yourself from all the joy and merry making. This is also the time where many people binge and where many diets fail. Don't notice the food, don't anticipate about what you should eat next! Socialise and shift your focus elsewhere.

Avoid buffet or all you can eat events - Self-explainatory. If you're on a diet but you persists on going to such events, please pray before you do. That's all you can do because even I fall victim to this.

Dish food out on a plate - If you're having a humongous plate or bowl of something, dish it out into a smaller plate or bowl. You'll eat less than you are going to, this is physchological doing but it really does helps.


Hot Tea
This is my personal experience. I've realised that my appetite is much easier to control after some cup of green tea. I have no idea why, but i'll look up for it soon.




How does weight loss help overweight diabetics? Will write up on this soon!

Reference
1. Broom et al. The influence of resistance and aerobic exercise on hunger, circulating levels of acylated ghrelin and peptide YY in healthy males. AJP Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 2008; DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.90706.2008