A major bane of months of COVID-19 lockdown and work from home is that it has cut down massively on our outdoor activities and added extra unwanted kilos to our couch potato selves. While regular exercise and working out is crucial to seeing a difference in our weighing scale, some achievable changes to our diets and simple tricks can speed up the weight loss process.
The number of food challenges and the competition to flaunt culinary skills on social media platforms during the quarantine made one and all succumb to the pressure of binge eating calories. Those who tried to stick to a diet plan were left feeling hungry or unsatisfied.
Since sticking to the diet becomes very difficult when one is trying to do low carb and low fat at the same time, it is important to tweak how and when we intake some meals and use some simple tricks differently in our lifestyle pattern to lose weight quickly. Check out these strategies that are quite effective:
1.Drink water before meals
Make water your bae especially half an hour before meals. While water helps burn off calories apart from boosting metabolism by 24–30% over a period of 1–1.5 hours, a study found that those who drunk half a litre (17 ounces) of water, half an hour before meals, ate fewer calories compared to those who didn’t drink water before. The former party even lost 44% more weight in comparison to the latter as per the study.
2.Lemon water or water of fenugreek seeds
Both lemon and methi seeds (fenugreek) are handy is losing weight without any cons. While lemon is full of nutrients, keeps one hydrated, provides with essential nutrients, promotes fullness and boosts metabolism which are important when trying to lose weight, methi or fenugreek seeds contain an ingredient which can help to burn belly fat and can also treat various health conditions like diabetes. Instead of choosing either of them, go for both at different or same time during the day. One can drink methi water in the morning and replace beverages throughout the day by sipping lemon water instead or include both methi seeds and lemon in the form of healthy beverages. One tablespoon or 11 grams of whole methi seeds contain 35 calories, 3 grams fibre, 3 grams protein, 6 grams carbs and 1 gram of fat.
They can either be chewed directly or soaked overnight in two cups of hot water and drunk the next morning on empty stomach after straining the seeds. As for lemon water, a 48 gram squeezed lemon contains 10.6 calories, 9.6 mcg folate, 18.6 mg vitamin C, 49.4 mg potassium, 0.01 mg vitamin B1, 0.01 mg vitamin B2 and 0.06 mg vitamin B5. It should always be had fresh by squeezing half a lemon into 8 ounces of warm or cold water and can be drunk topped with a few leaves of mint or mixed with a teaspoon of raw honey or a slice of fresh ginger.
3.Eating spicy food
While spicy food can boost metabolism and reduce appetite slightly due to chilli peppers’ spicy compound ‘capsaicin’, it may limit its long-term effectiveness as people may develop tolerance to the effects of capsaicin over time.
4.Cardio and weightlifting
A common side effect of losing weight is our metabolism slowing down. A bit of muscle can be gained while losing significant amounts of body fat when on a low carb diet. All of this can be prevented by lifting weights which also burns a lot of calories or doing some cardio workouts like walking, jogging, running, cycling, or swimming which can help with weight loss.
5.Prioritise sleep
One of the strongest risk factors for obesity is taking sleep for granted and not prioritising it as much as eating healthy and exercising. Since sleep is highly underrated in accelerating weight loss, a study was conducted to understand its link with obesity and it was found that while among adults it is linked to an 55% increased risk, in children it’s linked to an 89% increased risk of obesity.
There are many other techniques that can aid in reducing weight quickly but it is important to make significant lifestyle changes like improving sleep quality or adding a workout routine along with dietary tips to be well on your way to your weight loss goals.
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