Is your ever-increasing weight or the stubborn belly fat an issue of concern for you? Are you tensed for your obesity and overweight? It is but natural to be scared because of the fatal diseases associated with overweight; such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and so on. While you might have tried everything from visiting gyms to performing acrobatic exercises, cutting your regular diets, but do nothing seems to work? No worries, because simple habitual changes in your lifestyle can do the wonders for your health. Let’s see how.
- Prioritize your breakfast
Do you often tend to skip your breakfast just because you’re running late or have an important meeting to attend, or because you are too lazy to cook? Well, no matter what, never ever skip your breakfast. A good choice of breakfast would keep you satisfied the whole day and would keep your food cravings under control, thus helping you in losing weight. It is highly recommended to track your expected calorie intake while you have your breakfast. Opt for a breakfast that is full of lean protein and fiber. Thereby, you will find yourself satisfied and will be motivated to make better food choices throughout the day. Avoid taking carbohydrate rich foods like cold cereals, muffins, and bagels. The best breakfast choices include eating scrambled eggs along with whole grain toast, or an omelet loaded with veggies, or a cup of Greek yogurt with a cup of fruit, you like the most.
- Grab your snacks smartly
Yes, snacks can help you in losing weight. Consuming one or two healthy snacks between meals would help you in curbing hunger when you sit on your dining table, although to an extent. Most of the fruits and vegetables are low in calories and contain a lot of water that helps to feel you full. Thus, it goes without saying that you should eat fruits and drink lots of water in between your meals. This ensures that your body is getting all the required nutrients but with relatively fewer calories. Aim to have less than 100 calories, here is a quick calorie chart to help you:
A medium apple has 95 calories, a small banana corresponds to 90 calories, 20 grapes have 68 calories, 20 medium baby carrots contain 70 calories, a medium orange has 65 calories, two kiwis have 84 calories and a medium peach has 58 calories.
This should sort out your eating schedule.
- Snatch the opportunity to walk
If you tend to drive a car just for reaching nearest of distances, well, this is where you are wrong. Seize the smallest opportunities to walk, whether it is by preferring stairs over lift, or by going grocery shopping and the likes. Don’t save those precious hours of yours by riding, especially when they come at the cost of making you obese and lazy. Walk on to your friend’s or relative’s house if it is not too far. Inculcate a habit of covering nearby distances on feet and if nothing works, just make it a point to walk 10 rounds of your home daily.
- Quit smoking if you’re an active smoker
Best wishes on your decision to quit smoking. This is the best decision that you can ever make in order to lead a healthy lifestyle. But, are you worried that this will make you gain weight? Yes, it might, but not always! This is due to the lifestyle changes that your body recently underwent with, and further, the presence of nicotine in conventional cigarettes acts as an appetite suppressant, thus making you gain weight. The solution?
- Adopt a complimentary lifestyle
Accompany your decision of quitting smoking with a complimentary lifestyle, and you would surely be able to combat the adamant pounds bulging out from your belly and the likes. Be determinant, and actively get involved in various physical exercises which would boost your body’s metabolism. Utilize the time which you would have otherwise spent on smoking and a brisk walk while at your workplace.
- Begin with vaping
One of the many reasons because of which smokers tend to gain weight after quitting smoking is because they miss the hand to mouth activity. Now, since they have quitted smoking, they are no longer using their hand to smoke, which is an essential hand to mouth activity they are habitual of. And as a result, they start eating chips, sandwiches even when they are not hungry just to satisfy their urge of doing a hand to mouth activity which makes them gain weight. This is where vaping helps you meet the purpose.
Vaping is synonymous with smoking. But while normal smoking involves tobacco cigarettes, vaping involves electronic cigarettes that are flavored with liquids, giving an aromatic taste to your mouth. The Nicotine and Tobacco Research journal conducted a study in New Zealand and the United Kingdom and concluded that vaping helped people who were trying to quit tobacco to lose weight easily. This is because e-cigarettes help the smokers in fetching the same level of pleasure as is provided by traditional cigarettes but in a controlled manner. E-cigarettes allow the vapers to decide their own nicotine level, and even further, help vapers to meet their cravings with a range of assorted eliquid flavors. Just imagine, now you don’t have to eat fruity cereal or classic custard, but this craving can be easily satisfied with an e-cigarette. Thus, no more calorie intakes guaranteed! You getting the point, right?
Further, since e-cigarettes don’t contain tobacco, you are not tired easily and have the stamina to take up exercises which in turn helps you in losing weight. What more can one ask for?
- Catch a sound sleep
You must have read the importance of having at least 8 hours of sound sleep every day. This is because a peaceful and tight sleep ensures that your appetite hormones, namely leptin, and ghrelin are in check. You will thus be inclined to eat less and thereby lose weight. Stress, worries, and anxieties are great deterrents to good sleep. Although these are inevitable sometimes, you can make deliberate efforts to keep the office and professional issues away from your home. Make it a habit to have fun with kids, pets and other members of your family while you are at your home. Avoid taking nicotinic and alcoholic substances just before going to sleep. It is also highly recommended to avoid watching TV or working on computers for long hours just before going to bed in order to enjoy an interrupted sleep.
- Avoid extra eating on weekends
How many of us are guilty of galloping extra calories every weekend on the pretext that ‘it is a weekend!’? Yes, we’re talking about that extra pizza, extra coke, an extra pastry that we all eat mercilessly without giving any second thought. It is high time that you stop doing this, or else you’re wasting your efforts invested between Monday and Friday on physical activities. On weekends, we all tend to spend our time at home and are involved in fewer physical activities. Let’s not neutralize the efforts made during weekdays on weekend.
- Rely on smaller plates
Yes, smaller plates can actually make you eat lesser. Before taking food, if you look at the same amount of food on a large plate and a smaller plate, you will be induced to think that there are more delicious foods on the smaller dish. This is technically known as Delboeuf Illusion. Even if without eating much, if you cut back the amount of the space around your food, your brain could be tricked into thinking that it is a bigger portion than it really is.
- Add vegetables to your plate
The more the vegetables on your plate, the more fibers and nutrients you consume and that is the best proportion for losing weight. But it is easier said than done; particularly, if you are a voracious meat eater. Slowly, and gradually, add vegetables to your plate, so that you don’t feel that you have given up meat and become an austere vegetarian.
- Maintain a journal of your food intake
Just as you maintain a journal for the daily transactions of your business, maintain a “Food Journal”. By watching it on a daily basis, you can track your food and beverage intake for a week. You can then work out the extra calories that you have added and can take remedial steps for burning the extra calories out. Any overeating will bring an alert in your mind and can help you in balancing your food intakes.
- Cut back on family style serving
Avoid keeping all the dinner servings on your dining table, just to not to inspire yourself to eat more than what you are hungry for. Having more food on dining table may induce you to take more than what you need. Think about satiating your hunger and not your appetite. Before grabbing some more, think if you are really hungry and would like to eat more.
Over to You
Losing weight is a journey, a journey to live healthily and give up on junk food, and adopt a healthier lifestyle. What is your take on this? Which all steps do you adopt in order to keep your weight under control? Do let us know in the comments.
