Did you know you can lose a pound a week easily? You don’t have to put yourself through some ridiculously harsh routines that can affect your health.
Is losing a pound a week worth it?
1 pound per week for a year, means 52 pounds (23.5kg) in one year – about 1/3 of the weight of an adult man.
Sounds like a great deal?
Here are 7 smart ways to lose a pound a week without even trying too hard.
1. Stay Hydrated
Water is essential for our daily life and makes up to 70% of our body mass. Good! But can water help you lose weight?
Research shows that drinking more water can increase the amount of calory you burn (resting energy) by 25%.
And that’s not all. Staying hydrated increases satiety and reduces cravings for high-calorie drinks that can beef up your weight.
2. Cut back on snacks
It may not be what we want to hear, but the thing is, all the tiny bites in between meals add up big time to big calories and weight gain.
So, taking bites in between meals is one thing you have to avoid when you are trying to lose weight.
Calculate your calories
When you are trying to lose weight, it’s important to track your calory intake. Tracking your calorie will go a long way to influence your weight loss progress.
When you eat more calories than you use, your body stores the excess as fat.
On the other hand, when you lose more calories than you eat, your body goes for your body fat reserve to power up its daily activities.
With that being said, your goal is to burn more calories daily than you consume.
You can use the Mayoclinic Calorie calculator to estimate the amount of calorie intake you need for your age, height, and gender.
3. Eat Healthy fruits and vegetables
I agree that it’s a fast world and most of the food we see around are fast junks. But fast food will do no good if you need to burn some fat.
They would rather ramp up our calorie intake and blow up our weight over time.
To keep fit, reduce your fast food intake and replace them with high fiber alternatives like vegetables and fruits.
4. Cut the lunch
Another way to meet your goal to lose a pound of weight a week is to just say bye to that Lunch.
Okay, you don’t have to bye-bye to lunch. But you can replace it with fat burning smoothies.
Green smoothies are packed with fewer calories, and they have high satiety which can help you reduce food cravings.
You can make quick green smoothies by just blending 2 cups of spinach, 1/4 cup of mint, and 1 avocado fruit.
5. Exercise more
You can’t lose calories by sitting all day and making positive confessions “I’m burning it”. Sorry, you need a different formula.
Scheduling and sticking to a regular exercise routine is a fast way to burn fat and get that lean figure.
Some exercises don’t even require you to visit the gym:
1. Climb the stairs instead of the lifts.
2. Don’t hail the taxi. Take that 15 minutes to walk instead.
3. Don’t sit for more than 2 hours at a stretch. Take a few minutes and walk around.
6. Sleep well
A good number of zzz’s time is one of the most important aspects of our daily life.
Sticking to a regular sleep pattern won’t only make you feel refreshed for the next day, it can boost your internal body chemistry and helps you burn fat quickly.
Studies show that skipping sleep can affect your ability to lose weight or keep fit by 55%.
Here are 5 tips to help you get those hours of shut eyes:
- Have a sleep schedule: That means having a fixed time to go to bed and get out of bed.
- Practice a bedtime relaxation routine e.g slow music, a relaxing shower, or a comic novel.
- Avoid coffees, chocolates, soda, or any caffeine 3 hours before bed.
- Don’t eat late. Have your dinner at least 3 hours before your zzz’s time.
- Don’t nap for more than 30 minutes and later than 3 pm during the day.
7. Be consistent
The final tip to losing weight is being consistent. You won’t see a big difference by stalking your weight every day. Rather, it can get you discouraged quickly.
A better strategy is to check your progress weekly. By doing that, you can see appreciable gains in your strategies and motivate yourself to work harder.
Yes, it can take time and hard work on your part. But if you are consistent and stick to the plan, you will reach it.
