While it is not possible to focus weight loss efforts around your fingers alone, you can slim them along with other parts of your body by dieting and exercising. You can also incorporate exercises to strengthen your grip and strengthen the muscles, to have strong and fit fingers that are both efficient and good-looking.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Strengthen Hands and Fingers
Step 1. Enhance your grip
One of the quickest and easiest ways to increase hand strength is to do exercises to strengthen your grip. Do 30-50 reps for each hand using a special tool of your choice, such as a stress ball.
- Stress balls are usually just the right size to hold in the hand for the purpose of exercising the muscles. Alternatively, you can use a tennis ball.
- In sporting goods stores, you can find several tools designed to exercise the muscles of the hands, including calipers, gloves, and elastic bands. Ask the clerk for advice or search online.
- Chinese Stress Balls (or Baoding Balls) are steel balls that you can use to exercise your hands. They are used by rotating them both around the palm. They make a nice sound and are a good workout for strengthening your hands.
Step 2. Strengthen your wrists
Exercises that strengthen the wrists have the added value of improving your grip at the same time, since you will have to hold a weight to train. You can practice using elastic bands, dumbbells or more simply some heavy objects you have at home.
- With Dumbbells: Grab a dumbbell weighing 1-2 pounds in each hand with your palms facing the floor. Raise your arms by bending your elbows out, letting your hands dangle. Now slowly raise your forearms too, until your arms are fully straightened, then lower them slowly to return to the starting position. Complete 3 sets of 10-15 reps each. If you don't have a pair of dumbbells, you can use two bottles of water, two full jars, or anything else that you can hold easily.
- With elastic bands: Place your feet over one end of the elastic and grab the other with one hand, keeping the palm facing down. Raise your arm and bend your elbow to let the hand holding the elastic band dangle, then slowly straighten your arm outwards, lifting your forearm as well. Complete 3 sets of 10-15 reps with each hand.
Step 3. Do finger pushups
If you are relatively fit but would like to have slimmer fingers, try an advanced version of pushups. Instead of placing your entire hand on the ground, support your body weight solely with your fingers, keeping your palm raised. Try to complete several sets of 5-10 reps each.
When you're done, do a couple of sets of regular pushups as well. Both versions are useful for strengthening the wrists, pectorals and in general all the muscles of the upper body and can help you lose weight
Step 4. Improve finger agility
Having good manual dexterity means knowing how to perform movements that allow you to carry out complex activities quickly. Having nimble fingers is as important as having them healthy and strong. The most effective way to improve fine motor skills in the hands is to perform manual exercises on a regular basis.
- How many words can you type in a minute? If you are extremely slow, read this article to learn how to hit the keys more comfortably.
- Playing an instrument, especially the piano, violin, or guitar, but also some wind instruments, such as the flute and clarinet, is an excellent practice for improving fine motor skills. Have you never deepened the study of any instrument? It could be the right time to learn.
Step 5. Stop cracking your fingers
A debate is still ongoing between those who argue that cracking the joints of the fingers hurts and those who believe that it is a harmless practice. However, many agree that it can cause fat to accumulate around the knuckles. Either way, it seems to have been proven that cracking your fingers is of no benefit, so the best thing you can do is stop.
While there is no data to suggest that finger cracking can cause arthritis or cause the tissues around the joints to swell, some studies seem to indicate that there is a connection between the habit of cracking the fingers and a weakening of the grip
Part 2 of 3: Changing Your Diet
Step 1. Eat less salt
Excess sodium can cause water retention, a disorder that causes numerous symptoms, including moderate swelling of the skin tissues, particularly those of the hands and feet. If you want your fingers to be slim, cut back on your salt intake. The less salt you take in, the less water your body needs to hold.
- Read the nutritional values on the labels! Taking less salt doesn't simply mean using less to season your dishes. Many packaged and frozen foods, including vegetables and sweets, contain a lot of salt. You may be taking too much sodium without even realizing it.
- Also pay attention to the portions. Often the only factor that differentiates a normal product from a "low sodium" one is the weight of the single portion, which has been reduced to decrease the amount of salt as well.
Step 2. Drink eight glasses of water a day
Keeping your body hydrated helps you excrete salt more quickly. Drinking two liters of water every day is essential to ensure the general well-being of the body and to be able to lose weight. Starting to drink more can help you keep your appetite under control, prevent headaches, improve blood circulation, and facilitate the expulsion of waste. This is a very inexpensive and incredibly effective practice.
Step 3. Replace red meats with mushrooms
They are less than half the calories and fat of even the leanest cuts of beef. What's more, in a recent study it was found that people who tried replacing beef with mushrooms while cooking after a meal felt equally satisfied. It's a simple, delicious and healthy transformation.
- Read this article to learn more about how you can use mushrooms in cooking.
- Note that mushrooms contain less iron or protein than red meats.
Step 4. Go for slow-release carbohydrates
There are two forms of carbohydrates: simple and complex. The former, those contained in industrial foods rich in fat, turn into fat faster and many people suffer from abdominal bloating after ingesting them. Simple carbohydrates include foods and drinks such as candy and sodas, and ingredients such as sugar and corn syrup. Complex carbohydrates, on the other hand, are those contained in whole grains and are absorbed and metabolized more slowly. They provide more nutrition and energy to the body than simple ones. Complex carbohydrates are contained for example:
- In the oat flakes;
- In sweet potatoes;
- In wholemeal bread, pasta and rice;
- In beans and lentils;
- In leafy vegetables.
Step 5. Make healthier choices at snack time
The high-fat, high-sugar snacks you eat between meals can put you on a lot of weight. A handful of chips may seem harmless, but if you really want to lose weight, you need to try to replace all sorts of junk food with healthier options. Throw away chips and snacks and keep only fresh fruit and vegetables on hand, so you will have no other choice.
- Eat an apple. It is a fruit that provides a lot of fiber and very few calories.
- Don't skip dessert, but make a healthy choice. For example, eat low-fat Greek yogurt with blueberries after dinner instead of a bowl of ice cream. If you like to eat a slice of chocolate cake from time to time, have a fudge bar handy and eat a square (just one) to get your fill of antioxidants and satisfy your sweet tooth.
Step 6. Eat slower
The results of the studies carried out suggest that the best way to satisfy hunger is to chew more and eat more calmly. If you have a tendency to overeat, slow down and wait for your body to tell you that it is full.
- Start your meal with a small portion of soupy soup or eat a handful of almonds 15-20 minutes before sitting down at the table. It has been shown to reduce the amount of food consumed during the following meal.
- Don't skip meals. The results of several studies show that this is a bad habit, especially if the meal in question is breakfast, as it causes the body to store, rather than burn, the calories you will eat for the rest of the day. In other words, skipping breakfast will make you fat instead of losing weight.
Part 3 of 3: Losing Whole Body Weight
Step 1. Take long walks at a brisk pace
Walking is the easiest and cheapest way to exercise and start losing weight. No particular equipment is required and not even a lot of time and the results you will get will depend only on the efforts made.
- Start by walking briskly through the streets of your neighborhood and then gradually increase the distances. Start by trying to walk 1 or 2 kilometers, or set a goal in terms of time, for example 15-20 minutes. Maintain a brisk pace and repeat the workout twice a day.
- If you're not a big fan of exercise, don't treat your walks as such. Simply consider them an opportunity to stroll in the fresh air, perhaps listening to an audiobook or your favorite music.
Step 2. Practice a light cardio activity
If you want to step up your workouts a little, add some cardio exercises. Increase your heart rate and keep it slightly accelerated. You can sign up for a class at the gym or take one online conveniently. For example, you can evaluate the following disciplines:
- Yoga;
- Pilates;
- Spinning;
- Zumba;
- Acquagym;
- Not everyone feels it or is able to train at a fast pace. Maybe spinning and zumba aren't your thing. Talk to your doctor to plan a workout routine that's right for you.
Step 3. Gradually increase the intensity of your workouts
The "plateau" phenomenon is quite widespread. If you initially lost weight at a steady pace, but suddenly stopped losing weight, maybe it's time to shift up to a higher gear when exercising. Most people experience a deadlock in weight loss at some point.
- Try "circuit training". Select 5-10 exercises you like and do them one at a time at a brisk pace for 40-60 seconds, trying to complete as many repetitions as possible. Rest for 20-30 seconds, then move on to the next exercise.
- Complete three sets for each of the selected exercises, taking a 5 minute break between sets. If you repeat this workout three times a week, while following a healthy diet, you will quickly shed the extra pounds.
Step 4. Learn to relax
When you are stressed, your body produces cortisol, a hormone linked to various ailments, including weight gain. During times of intense stress, the body can struggle to lose weight even more, which is why it is important to learn to relax if you want to get rid of excess fat.
- Your mental health should be at the top of your priorities just like your physical one. You should set aside 15-30 minutes each day to sit quietly and clear your mind. Don't feel guilty that you need to take some time for yourself.
- Take a warm bath, read a good book, or listen to your favorite music. Practice any activity that can help you calm your mind and relax.
Step 5. Focus on losing weight throughout your body
Nobody likes to hear that, but it is scientifically proven that you cannot select a part of the body and reduce fat only in that place without losing weight elsewhere. You can train specific areas to develop certain muscles and by doing targeted exercises you can strengthen your wrists, hands and fingers, but the fact is that there are only a few muscles in that area. The only way to lose fat between your fingers is to change your diet, exercise regularly, and burn more calories than you consume to lose weight evenly throughout your body.
Advice
- In some people, fat tends to accumulate on the fingers more easily than others, it's a matter of genetics.
- If you bring your body fat percentage below 20% if you are a man, or 16% if you are a woman, your fingers will be perfectly slim, as will the rest of your body.
- A certified nutritionist or personal trainer can help you determine the right approach to losing weight.
- Some people believe that getting Omega 3 fatty acids, for example through fish oil, can help them lose excess fat more easily, even around the fingers.
