Are you more of a gym foe than a fan? That’s fine. You can lose weight without doing any workouts or worse-doing any cardio.
Losing weights isn’t rocket science. But it takes a lot of self discipline. Social media is filled with people showing off their workouts who are meant to provide you some fitness inspiration. Being active will cause you to burn more calories and help you lose weight, but it might not be necessary. You might have come across the phrase “exercise-20% and diet-80%”. This is true. Dieting is more important than exercise when it comes to weight loss. If you eat less, you won’t have as many calories to burn.
Although I am a big believer of not counting calories, it plays a vital role when your only method for fat loss is dieting. The basic principle is to keep your intake calories less. But, keep in mind that you cannot go less than a certain amount of calories per day which is known as Basal Metabolic Ratio(BMR). It tells you the calories required when you are at rest. Eating below the BMR will slow your metabolism down and hence will be difficult to burn fat. Just google, “BMR calculator” to know your basal metabolic rate.
Don’t worry. There is still hope.
Now, lets see.. Our objective is to burn fat. If there is a limit to the number of calories that you can reduce, then we can work on the type of food that provides these calories, right? That’s what I’m going to talk about. Now, let’s dive into the topic, shall we?
To put it simply the stored fat is a storage for energy(ATP) producing substances like glycogen. In order to utilize the storage sites, we can eat foods that require a lot of energy to digest. These foods are called thermic foods and some examples are:
- Lentils
- Broccoli
- Chilli
- Green tea
- And so on….
You may ask me, ”this is all fine, but I want a proper diet!!”. The truth is, there isn’t a common diet for all. But, there are some guidelines that you can follow.
1.Cutoff desserts: Now this may seem difficult. But, it’s very important, especially if you don’t want to workout. Desserts contain refined carbs and a lot of unhealthy fats which would result in a sudden increase in your calorie intake.
2.Fried foods:
Fried foods are typically coated in batter or flour prior to frying. Furthermore, when foods are fried in oil, they lose water and absorb fat, which further increases their calorie content. Generally speaking, fried foods are significantly higher in fat and calories than their non-fried counterparts.
3. Include complex carbohydrates:
Complex carbs like sweet potato, corn, and oatmeal are high in starch and keep you full for a long time and also require more energy to digest.
4. Skip the fruit juice and go straight to the fruit:
The fiber content is removed when a fruit is made into a juice and hence the sugar content increases. This will obviously increase your calorie consumption and will lead to weight gain.
5.Get enough sleep:
Whenever you feel sleepy, you tend to eat more. We find food more rewarding and satisfying and that creates a reinforcing cycle, i.e., you eat and then you want to eat more. This adds further more calories which will be very hard to burn. If you are in a position where you aren’t able to sleep and tend to feel hungry, eat fruits or nuts as that would be more filling.
6 Have a protein rich breakfast:
This helps to control your hunger as protein takes a long time to digest. This also means that protein requires more energy to digest as well.
Although these guidelines may sound difficult, they will definitely have a profound impact on your life. In order to stick to your diet plan, you got to keep it flexible and fun. Remember, consistency is the key. So, who’s ready to eat an apple?
