Sweat-Free, Fast Ways to Lose Weight
By John McCalister
When was the last time you eagerly stepped on to the weighing machine but became soon disappointed by the meager 1-pound loss in weight, even though you worked your guts out at the gym for a whole month? How many days have you run in your nearby park before you found out that there was no apparent change in your waist size? After walking for miles, have you ever wondered whether losing weight could be easier so that you had more time and energy to do things you like?
The goal of every weight loser is burning out more calories than eating in, or vice versa. Exercising is just a way, albeit a very difficult one, to achieve calorie deficit. Usually, a deficit of 3500 calories means a loss of one pound of fat.
So, what are the other ways that you can adopt to achieve a significant calorie deficit? Now fanatic exercise believers will roll their eyes and say “Please don’t ask us to be anorexic.” However, I am absolutely aware of the harmful effects of starvation. Neither will I recommend the ineffective, and sometimes detrimental, diet pills which have been overly hyped by many spurious advertisements. What I am asking for is balanced and healthy diet habits that help our body lose weight naturally. Here is a pick of the 3 best ways that smart dieters use to lose weight easily and healthily:
1. Having a “big” breakfast: Ignore all those fraudulent diet programs which advise you to eliminate all traces of carbohydrates from your diets. In a recent research carried out in Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr Jakubowicz found that women who gorge down rice, breads, cereals and other high-carb, high-calorie foods early in the morning lose a fifth of their total body weight, 4 times more than those who forsake their breakfasts in pursuit of weight loss. What an irony! Does not it defy the law of “Greater- Calorie-Deficits-lead- to- Greater-Weight Losses”?
However, a closer inspection into the case reveals that these big-breakfast eaters have lower food cravings for the rest of the day and thus actually consume less calories per day. On average, they lose a whopping 40 pounds in just a year. A swimmer will have to spend about 15 hours in the water to lose as much weight!
2. Eating slowly, Yes AGAIN: Before you say, oh no – not again! Let me re-assert this.. Do you want to be naturally thin like Nora Ephron, the famed American film director and screenwriter? Then try to eat “slowly” in “small, tidy” bites. Chewing your food well gives your brain ample time to find out when your stomach is more-than-enough full and thus prevents the No. 1 hurdle to losing weight, overeating. In fact, research at the University of Rhode Island, Kingston, found that people who eat slowly consume almost 70 fewer calories per meal than people who don’t. Multiply that by three squares a day and you’ll drop 20 pounds by this time next year. According to Calorie Control Council’s “Get Moving! Calculator”, this Is equivalent to 360 hours of working in the gym.
3. “Swapping” out meat for fruits and vegetables: Vegetables and fruits contain a high percentage of water and are low in energy density (E.D.), and so provide relatively few calories for the volume of food consumed.
For example, in one of the experiments of Volumetrics Eating Plan, a popular weight management plan, Dr. Barbara Rolls found that young men who consumed 14 ounces of vegetable juice before lunch (88 calories) reduced their calorie intake by 136 calories at lunch, a net savings of 48 calories. By following this method before both lunch and dinner, dieters can successfully manage to have a deficit of 100 calories. On the other hand, work-outers need to walk for about 30 minutes every day to burn the same amount of calories.
By now, you will probably understand that losing weight need not be painful. Researchers have found the above ways make up the key components of a healthy lifestyle, which, in turn, leads to fast weight loss and a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI). In addition, simple activities such as drinking at least 8 glasses of water and sleeping for at least 8 hours facilitate the weight loss process. To know more about how to reach a healthy BMI, subscribe to our blog!
