The sedentary lifestyle that most of us have accepted as a part of our life poses a serious threat to our health. We have gotten used to the regular late-night parties, binge-watching, addiction to sugar-filled beverages, and neglecting sleep. After all this, if you can hold your head up and function like a normal person, consider yourself lucky! While weight gain is a common problem from sitting on the ergonomic chair and ordering food from your desk, reducing the excess weight is comparatively easy (provided you know the right ways to do it). If you are a person who is not crafted for a vigorous workout in the gym or forcing yourself to diet, we have just the thing for you. Here are some easy lifestyle changes to help you get back into shape without indulging in expensive gym memberships or unappetizing diets. Read on to know them all!
1. Get Adequate Rest
Getting adequate sleep is the first step to maximizing the rest needed for weight reduction. Normal hormone and immunologic function cannot be achieved without adequate sleep. A tired or sleep-deprived mind is like a hungry mind. Weight gain is a common side effect of insufficient sleep (1).
2. Don’t Overdo Cardio
The benefits of cardiovascular exercise cannot be overstated, but it shouldn’t be done not more than thrice a week. Strength exercise, on the other hand, should be included every day. The reason is that resistance training burns calories even when the workout is done (2). So, it is possible to burn calories all night, even after going to bed, with simple strength training.
3. Use Your Own Body Weight As Resistance
No gym or weights at your disposal? Don’t fret; strength training can be done using your own body weight. For example, do 10 squats, followed by a 30-second plank hold, before sleeping. Another option is to make one lunge at a time, followed by five minutes of knee-to-floor push ups for 10 minutes before going to sleep.
4. Consider Using Ankle Weights
A set of 1- to 3-pound weights or ankle weights can be all you need to transform your daily stroll into an aerobic session. Squeezing weight training into your exercises whenever possible is a great method to maximize your calorie-burning potential throughout the day.
5. Do A Forward Fold
Some yoga asanas will help you ease your mind and calm your anxiety and stress. All you need to do is sit upright and stretch your legs in front. Feel the tension in the muscles of your hamstrings and back. Then, breathe in for a few minutes and change your position. You can research the pose to better understand how to do the asana effectively. This pose is ideal for beginners and will help calm your nervous system and give you better quality sleep.
6. Sleep In A Darker Room
All the fancy table lamps you brought into the bedroom need to go back to the drawing room! Sleeping in a room with a steady temperature helps to boost your metabolism and keeps you from gaining extra weight. Also, a room that is too bright or warm can prevent you from falling asleep. Excess light suppresses melatonin and affects the circadian regulation of metabolism (2). You can invest in blackout curtains and keep soothing sleep music on if you have trouble falling asleep.
7. Maintain An Eating Schedule
It is important to keep your mealtime and sleep time fairly consistent with maintaining your health. Our body runs on a 24-hour circadian rhythm, and the times at which you consume your food have a lot to do with how your body utilizes the energy. For example, your body processes food best when consumed between 6 am to 8 pm. This is because it produces leptin and ghrelin and helps absorb food better.
8. Eat A Lot Of Protein
Feeding the body protein every few hours helps stabilize blood-sugar levels. And this speeds up the metabolism all day (and night) long. Protein is good for building muscle, and it will fill you up, preventing overeating.
9. Consume A Light Dinner
There is a saying, ‘Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a lord, and dinner like a pauper.’ This is something you can follow if you want to shed the extra kilos and utilize the nutrition that you consume. Eating heavy meals too close to bedtime leads to feeling lethargic and accumulating fat on your abdomen.
10. Don’t Consume Alcohol Before Going To Bed
Keep a close eye on your alcohol consumption, as it might affect your sleep cycle. Even a single alcoholic beverage consumed too close to sleep might hinder the body’s capacity to burn calories, making it more difficult to lose weight. This is because the body is attempting to break down the alcohol instead of burning fat. Of course, you can have one glass of wine, but don’t go overboard.
So now that you know how to lose weight without rushing to the gym, maintaining a healthy and fit body will be easier. The trick is to watch what you eat and prioritize your health and well-being before anything else. So, is there something you would like to add to the list? Let us know in the comments section. Stay healthy!
