7 Ways To Cut Down On Your Calories & Lose Weight

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inally, there comes a season for COVID-19 closures; it’s time to get back to the office. Have you been taking out the work clothes that you had put away in the dark recesses of your closet? Oh, nothing fits!! Is that what you’re exclaiming?  It seems like the less active and more eating period has caused the population to gain unwanted weight.

When it comes to weight loss, you’ll hear so many plans out there, some of which could leave your head spinning.

Although regular exercises contribute greatly to healthy weight management, lengthy workout session isn’t always the solution for losing weight.

Here are some easy-to-adopt tips that you can follow for dealing with weight gain…

Also read: Whey Protein For Weight Loss - Does It Work

HEALTHY CALORIE INTAKE

An important; part of healthy weight loss is eating healthy calories, which means balancing the energy you put into your body with the energy you use.

A calorie is the energy content in food expressed as kilocalories (Kcal). You consume calories by eating food and utilize calories by burning energy. Fats have an energy density of 9 Kcal/g, and proteins and carbs have a value of 4 Kcal/g.

Burning more calories than you eat in a day will create a calorie deficit that is the basis of weight loss. As per studies, an average man needs around 2500Kcal a day; and an average woman needs around 2000Kcal a day. If you aim to reduce 0.5 to 1Kg in a week, it is essential to put your body into a calorie deficit state and reduce your intake from 500 to 600Kcal in a day.  

Also Read: 5 Simple & Easy Weight Loss Exercises For Men & Women

REDUCE SNACKING

Snacking is highly subjective; most people reach for a snack or two in-between meals. Unless you practice mindful snacking, snacking has its downsides. Sometimes a small indulgence in snacking can grow bigger and even become a meals replacement. Munching on a bowl of sugary foods or a large bowl of potato chips will only get you a couch potato image. The packaged snacks are formulated to have a longer shelf life, often they’ll be heavily processed, they are calorie-dense, and they are storehouse of unhealthy fats, sodium, sugar, and preservatives that not only cause you to gain weight but are devoid of nutrients and are harmful to your health. If you can’t resist snacking, choose to eat negative-calorie foods and fruits.

Also Read: Cravings – What Are They? How To Beat Them?

SKIP SECOND SERVING

As per research studies, people tend to eat more when they’re served more, even if they don’t need the extra calories. Your modern-day mantra of bigger cars, bigger houses should not be applied to eating. Generally, the family-style dining (with someone who serves food lovingly), buffet meals at the office cafeteria, or parties invite people to go for a second helping. The visual aspect of how the food is arranged on the table is appealing to your eyes and hence extends to your stomach. This is not to say that you should limit yourself to just one serving, but if you are eating more than one serving, you should remember to double, triple, or quadruple the calories based on how many servings you take.

Also Read: How To Start Eating Healthy? 6 Tips For Healthy Eating                                                                                                       

USE BOWL OR PLATE

Make it a practice to eat all foods from a plate or bowl, including snacks. As per research, the consumption of all foods whether; vegetable soups, ice creams, pasta, chips increases significantly in proportion to the size of the serving. Placing a portion of chips in a bowl will limit you from eating more calories compared to eating chips straight from the bag in which it comes. When food is available in excess, you’ll tend to eat more. Also, food that fills out of a bowl can make you feel satiated sooner than food that is scattered across a plate. The simple logic is bigger the available portion size, the more tendency to eat, leading to more energy consumed.

Related Article: 10 Ways To Boost Energy Naturally & Quickly

USE SMALLER PLATES

Limiting the portion size will no doubt make you consume less. Imagine putting a bowl of rice on a large plate Vs putting the same quantity of rice on a small plate. What is the difference you can find? Your food portions will look considerably larger on smaller size plates and presumably feel more filling whereas the same amount of food appears little on a big plate. It’s not enough if you just monitor what you eat, monitoring how much you eat is important. Whenever you serve food on your plate, avoid filling your plate up, also use small size plates to curb overeating.

Related Article: Faster Weight Loss With Fasted State Workout – Is It Possible?

PRACTICE MINDFUL EATING

If you’re eating in front of the TV, computer, or smartphone, you tend to eat mindlessly. Your mind is more into what’s happening on the screen than how much food you’re putting into your mouth. Practice mindful eating which involves limiting mealtime distractions when sitting down for a meal and paying close attention to food texture, taste, and smell. Paying closer attention to the body’s hunger cues and learning to savour the food can change unhealthy eating patterns and cut down calorie intake. Mindful eating will let you focus on what you are eating, and lets you stop eating when you are sufficiently full.

Related Article: Intermittent Fasting Is On The Rise – Does It Work For Weight Loss?

COOK MEALS AT HOME

People want more for their money, so restaurants serve supersized foods, and pile on the food with no regard to portion sizes. Restaurant foods are often of poor nutritional quality, they have more salt, fat, and contain some manipulating ingredients that enhance the taste of food. Most restaurants pay emphasis on quantity of food over quality, they only want to leave the diner feeling stuffed. People typically eat 20 to 30 percent more calories in restaurants compared to what they eat at home. Cooking your meals at home can save you hundreds of calories per meal while increasing the nutritional quality of your diet.

Related Article: Low-Carb Diet For Weight Loss – Does It Work?

ADD MORE PROTEINS TO YOUR DIET

High protein diets are touted as a successful strategy to prevent weight gain, increase satiating hormone and to see improvements in body weight management. Increasing your protein intake might be helpful for those looking to shed pounds or to manage healthy weight. Protein rich foods will enhance feelings of satiety, promote fullness, decrease hunger. Protein helps maintain muscle mass, increase metabolic rate, which leads to reductions in calorie intake and cravings. You can increase your protein intake by adding more eggs, meat, nuts, dairy, Whey, legumes, soy to your diet.

Related Article: 4 Major Benefits Of Protein Bars For Fitness Freaks       

These simple tweaks are easy to adopt to your life style to achieve healthy weight loss goals…

When life is finding its way back to what it was once before, may you enjoy your time getting back to your desk at the office and may you be committed to fitness…good luck!

Also read: Top 10 Natural Detoxifying Foods That Cleanse Your Body

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