It’s January & you must be having guilt feeling of consuming too much of animal protein & fat & various other vegan /vegetarian alternatives. You must be wondering how to get that fit body & flat stomach before the summer holidays for that perfect beach holiday. Do not worry there are ways to lose weight fast but it is not going to be easy. Before we discuss these excellent strategies in detail, please beware of fat diets & quick fix solutions that claims to get flat stomach in some days. There has been a lot of buzzwords about ketosis & intermittent fasting & it has been gaining popularity. However these sort of diets are not for everyone since each body is different & such diet may or may not suit their lifestyle. We are going to share a very simple tips which shall help you lose weight fast. We cannot guarantee you 6 packs in days or weeks but we can assure that following these simple steps, you can lead a fit & healthy lifestyle.
Appropriate strategy for weight loss is sticking to a steady & manageable plan. Do not think if someone had shed a number of pounds in some number of days, you can also do that. You should not target to lose more than 1.5 to 2 lbs( 0.75 to 1 kg) per week. Any weight loss rate beyond 1kg a week is not considered sustainable.
The following are some strategies to achieve that sustainable weight loss goals:
- Consistently maintaining calorie deficit: If you are consuming daily recommended limit of 2200 calories( however it may vary depending upon you height & weight) & burning 2700 calories , you are in a calorie deficit. If you are doing a regular & high energy workout & burning 3000 calories while you are consuming 3500 calories, you are not in calorie deficit. What you need to ensure that you are eating healthy & nutrient rich food & doing the right kind of workout so that you are consuming less than you are burning.
- Structural changes in diet: So what we generally do when our fitness goals is weight loss? We indulge in heavy & high energy workout & consume a lot of food( high calories) to keep our energy levels high. What is net effect: positive energy balance or no deficit. We recommend structural changes in diet & shift from calorie dense to nutrient dense food items. Instead of consuming high carb food, consume more fruits ,vegetables & whole grains that increases your fibre, protein & healthy fat intake. Such a diet makes you feel full & you end up consuming less than you usually did. Having a nutrient dense & high protein & healthy fat diet keep your glucose levels stable, reducing your cravings for sugar & instances of overeating. So you should strive to have similar( or low) calories with high nutritional value. It is important to note that cutting on sugar reduces your waist line.
- Do not cut one single food group: Some food groups are healthier than others but we need every type of food in our diet. The problem is in wave of reducing weight, we do away with consuming some food groups & are not able to strike a balance. The best way to reduce weight is to have a balanced diet without refusing some foods. If you even do away with consuming certain foods, make sure that you get the right kind of nutrients to strike a balance. Until your objective is to build heavy muscle, there is no harm in consuming carbs ( some may advise you to adopt ketosis). However, you should try to stay away from simple carbohydrates. You can find more about complex & simple complex in our blog.
- Try intermittent fasting: Intermittent fasting is a way of cutting calories or even fasting for a particular portion of the day or week. However some folks adopt 5:2 diet pattern which essentially means that you follow intermittent fasting for 5 days & rest of 2 days you eat whatever you want to. Flaw which such kind of eating pattern is whatever calorie deficit or benefit you have generated from intermittent fasting over 5 days is washed away by junk &/or sugary retreats you follow for the rest of 2 days. We recommend having fast for one portion of day- we would prefer skipping any meals after 6 pm in the evening. You can have one cheat meal but make sure that cheat meal should not be all sugary foods or all fried stuff. Whatever you eat should also give you some sort of nutrients. The benefit of intermittent fasting as recommended by us is your body runs out of carbs & use stored fat as a fuel to generate energy thereby leading to burning of belly fat.
- Drink more of water & less alcohol: Drinking more water especially before meal makes you feel full & help us to consume something sooner or consuming less calories. Replacing fruit juices, fizzy drinks & even tea & coffee with water helps us save a lot of calories for good foods. Keep a reusable water bottle with you & restrict everything else you drink. This may sound tough but once you develop a habit, it is quite easy to maintain zero calorie drink. Drinking alcohol has a handful of negative impacts. Alcohol has a high calorific value & it also increases our appetite. Therefore we end up consuming more calories. Not only that it also impacts our ability to function well & make healthy choices the next day.
- Increase calorie output through exercise: Having discussed about consuming healthy & nutrient rich diet, it is also important to realise that exercise is equally important since it helps you burn calories consumed. Further, it also helps in revving up metabolism & keep up active whole day. Exercise can in various forms: Cardio/functional training , weight/strength training & NEAT( our blog on Neat). NEAT is a form of physical activity which we indulge into when we when we are not sleeping or exercising. In other words, when we are doing normal daily chores or household work, climbing stairs, walking or even going to buy groceries from the supermarket, we expend energy. Both cardio & strength training burn calories, however it serve various other functions as well. When you do cardio, your burn calories during workout & when you do strength training you burn calories/fat even after workout. So higher your muscle fat ratio, the more fat/calories you will burn even if you are standing or you are still. Besides, if you want to build muscles as well as burn fat, use cardio to create calorie deficit & strength/weight training to build muscles. It is important to note that you do not need to subscribe to gym to do weight training.
There are lot of ways in which you can indulge in strength training. One of them is using dumbbells at home. However, one of the most prominent ways is calisthenics or using your body weight. Besides, you should also focus on increasing the intensity of the workout by increasing sets & or number of repetitions. In case you are looking for a curated weight loss solution, join calisthenics training by signing up here & avail 2 weeks free trial offer.
