Strengthening Your Hands and Fingers
Do grip exercises. One of the easiest and quickest ways to increase the strength in your hands is to do simple grip exercises. Do a few sets of 30 to 50 grips in each hand with a grip or ball of your choice. Stress balls are usually palm-sized balls that you can squeeze to exercise your hand. Don't have one? Use a tennis ball. Spring grips, stretchy bands, spring-gloves, and other hand-exercisers are common on the market. Check out what's available at a sporting goods store in your area, or online. Baoding balls are Chinese stress-relief balls that can be used to exercise your hands. To use them, you rotate two balls around in your palm. They make nice sounds and help you exercise your hands.
Do wrist exercises. Wrist-strengthening exercises have the added benefit of increasing your grip strength, as you hold the weight that you're using. You can do wrist-strengthening with bands, hand-weights, or other household items. Hand weights:Grip a small amount of weight (3 to 5 pounds) in each hand, your palm facing toward the ground. Flex your elbow up so your arm comes out straight, letting your wrist hang down. Flex your wrist slowly, making your arm straight. Then let it back down slowly. Do three sets of 10 to 15 reps with each hand. If you don't have hand-weights, use cans of soup, bricks, or any other hand-sized objects. Exercise bands:Stand on one end of the band and grip the band with your hand, palm facing down. Lift your arm until it comes out straight, then flex your wrist slowly as you grip the band, making your arm straight. Do three sets of 10 to 15 reps with each hand.
Do finger push-ups. If you're in relatively good shape but still struggle with slightly fatty fingers, start doing more advanced push-ups. Instead of doing push-ups with your palms flat on the floor, do them with your palms raised and your weight on your fingertips. Shoot for doing a few sets of 5 to 10 reps. Do a couple more sets of regular push-ups in addition to your fingertip push-ups. Push-ups help to strengthen your wrists and your pectorals, both good for all-around upper body strength and weight loss.
Work on your dexterity. Dexterity is your ability to use your fingers and hands to perform complex tasks quickly. It's just as important to hand health as strength. To work on your fine motor skills, you can exercise your dexterity, doing hand and finger-oriented tasks on a regular basis. How many words a minute can you type? If you're still hunting and pecking, check out this wikiHow article to learn more about typing more comfortably. Playing an instrument, especially piano, violin, or guitar, but also certain woodwinds like flute, clarinet, and other instruments, are all excellent for working on your fine motor skills. Never learned? Good time to start.
Stop cracking your knuckles. There's some debate about whether or not cracking your knuckles is harmless or harmful. Many people, however, think that cracking knuckles leads to "fat" knuckles. Since there's little to be gained from cracking your knuckles, it can't hurt to stop. While there's no data to suggest that cracking your knuckles causes arthritis or significant knuckle swelling, some research seems to suggest a connection between long-term knuckle-cracking and decreased grip strength.
Changing Your Diet
Eat less salt. Excess sodium can cause water retention, which results in mild swelling, specifically in the hands and feet. If you want slimmer hands, cut the salt from your diet. The less salt you consume, the less water weight you will retain. Check those nutrition labels! Eating less salt doesn't just mean dumping less salt onto the food you eat. Many packaged and frozen foods, even vegetables and sweet snacks, are extremely high in sodium. You can eat a lot of salt without even realizing it. Pay attention to the serving sizes as well. Many "Reduced Salt" or "Reduced Sodium" options are basically the same product with a manipulated serving size, to reduce the sodium content per serving.
Drink 8 glasses of water a day. Staying hydrated helps to rid your body of salt more quickly. Drinking eight glasses, or up to two liters of water each day is essential for all-around health and weight loss. Drinking extra water can help suppress your appetite, prevent headaches, and aid your circulation and waste management. And it's free.
Swap red meat for mushrooms. Mushrooms have less than half the calories and fat compared to even the leanest beef, and a recent study reports that people who substitute mushrooms for beef in recipes are just as satisfied after meals. It's a healthy, delicious, and easy switch. Check out this wikiHow article to learn more about cooking with mushrooms. Note that mushrooms do not have as much iron or protein as red meat.
Choose slow-digesting carbohydrates. Carbs come in two forms: simple and complex. Simple carbs, those found in processed foods high-fat snacks, are processed into fat much more quickly and many people experience bloating from ingesting these kinds of carbs. Simple carbs include things like corn syrup, white sugar, candy, and soda. Complex carbohydrates, found in whole grains, take longer to move through your system, and they supply your body with more nourishment and energy. Complex carbs include things like: Oatmeal. Sweet potato. Whole grain breads and pastas. Beans and lentils. Leafy green vegetables.
Choose healthier snacks. You can gain lots of extra weight from eating unhealthy between-meal snacks. While a handful of potato chips may seem harmless, it's so much easier to replace meaningless junk food snacks with healthier options. Dump the snack cakes and chips and keep fresh fruits and vegetables around, so you won't have the choice. Have an apple. Apples are low in calories and high in fiber. Don't skip dessert, but make your dessert a bit healthier. For example, instead of having a bowl of after-dinner ice cream, switch to a cup of low-fat Greek yoghurt and frozen blueberries. Or, if you love a piece of chocolate cake every now and then, then keep an antioxidant-rich dark chocolate bar around, and eat a square (just one) when you get a chocolate craving.
Eat more slowly. Research suggests that one of the best ways to curb your hunger cravings is to chew more and eat more slowly. If you struggle with overeating, slow down and wait for your body to catch up. Start your meal with a small cup of broth-based soup, or eat a small handful of unsalted almonds 15 to 20 minutes before a meal. This has been shown to reduce the amount of food you consume in the subsequent meal. Don't skip meals.Some studies show that skipping meals, especially breakfast, forces the body to store the calories you consume later in the day more quickly. In other words, skipping breakfast makes you gain weight.
Losing Body Weight
Start going on brisk walks. Going on walks is the easiest and cheapest way to get more exercise and start losing weight. You don't need any gear, you don't need much time, and you'll get out of it exactly what you put into it. Start with brisk walks around the neighborhood and slowly expand your walking range. Try for a mile at first, or time it out to walk at a quick clip for 15 to 20 minutes, twice a day. If you're not a big fan of exercise routines, don't treat it like exercise. Just treat it like you're going for a walk. Cue up an audiobook or some new tunes in your headphones.
Do some light cardio. If you want to add some more intensity to your workouts, start doing some gentle cardio to prepare your body. Get your heartbeat up and keep it up. Whether you want to sign up for a class or find a series of workouts online, consider any of the following cardio and fitness routines: Yoga. Pilates. Spin class. Dance aerobics. Water aerobics. Not everyone will be up to doing heavy cardio, like the kind you might encounter in a spin class or other aerobics routines. Talk to your doctor to develop a weight loss plan for you.
Build up to more intense workouts. Plateaus happen regularly. If you start losing weight at an even clip, then suddenly stop, it's time to change up your workouts. This happens to almost everyone. Try switching to a circuit-training regimen. Pick 5 to 10 quick exercises you enjoy and do high-intensity sets for 40 to 60 seconds, during which you do as many reps as you can. Rest for 20 to 30 seconds, then move on to the next exercise. Do three full sets of your 5 to 10 exercises, with a short five minute rest in between. If you do this routine three times a week while you eat healthy, you'll be dropping pounds fast.
Learn to de-stress properly. Stress produces cortisol, which is connected to a variety of ailments, including increased body fat. High periods of stress can make it much more difficult for your body to shed pounds, which means you need to learn to relax if you want to drop some pounds. Make your mental health as much of a priority as your physical health. Take 15 to 30 minutes every day to just sit quietly and Zen-out. Don't feel guilty for needing a little you-time. Take hot baths, read good books, or listen to quiet music. Whatever chills you out, do it.
Focus on all-around weight loss. Nobody likes to hear this, but it's the scientific truth: It's impossible to pick a spot on your body and reduce the fat there without reducing the fat everywhere else. You can work out specific areas to build muscle there, and hand exercises will help you strengthen your wrists, hands, and fingers, but there's little muscle in your hands in the first place. The only way to lose the fat in between your fingers is to change your diet, exercise, and burn more calories than you consume, to lose weight from the rest of your body.
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