7 Scientifically Proven Ways to Lose Weight Without Exercise Only Diet
There are lots of different ways to lose weight, and while diet and exercise work best, the truth is time is the main aspect preventing people from achieving their goals.
Spending an hour a day in a gym can be challenging for those who work a lot, as well as those with families.
The good news is plenty of people lose weight without actually going to the gym. Indeed, there are quite a few easy ways to lose weight with nothing but dieting.
In fact, even PTs agree that 75% of your fitness journey happens in the kitchen, and only about 25% of it takes place in the gym.
With these thoughts in mind, here are a few scientifically proven ways to lose weight without exercise, only diet.
Intermittent Fasting Works for Celebs
Celebs like Jennifer Aniston, Kourtney Kardashian, or Halle Berry have lost weight with intermittent fasting. The diet is basically a pattern of eating.
You need to fast for most of the day and only eat within a certain window.
Such diets should extend over long periods of time for successful results, such as 24 weeks.
There are more options for intermittent fasting. Alternate day fasting is one of the most common ones. You need to fast every other day. On eating days, stick to a healthy diet.
The 5:2 diet implies fasting for a couple of days a week. You can still eat, but not more than 500 calories a day. Make sure these days are not consecutive.
The 16/8 method is another common one. You have to fast for 16 hours, and this period includes your night sleep too. For example, you can stop eating at 9PM and eat again after 1PM.
Get plenty of Protein for Breakfast
Have some random cereals for breakfast, or perhaps a sugary breakfast rich in unhealthy carbs, and chances are you will feel hungry again in a few hours, looking for a snack.
Get a high-protein breakfast, and it will last for hours.
Protein is not just useful for your fitness journey and energy, but it will also work on the hormones that make you feel full.
At the same time, protein will reduce the so called hunger hormone, hence the sensation of satiety in no time.
Not only is it healthy for good functionality throughout the day, but it will also reduce cravings and keep you full for a longer period of time.
There are lots of choices and food combinations you can make to boost your breakfast with lots of protein.
According to FitnessBaddies, taking two protein shakes a day with one meal gives you good weight loss results. You can also include eggs and oats. Seed and nut butter is great if you want a bit of fat. Similar to oats, go for porridge or maybe chia seed pudding.
While difficult to have in the morning, quinoa, sardines, and beans will also help.
Keep an Eye on your gut Bacteria
According to Karger, managing the gut bacteria can help you lose weight in a natural way. There are about 37 trillion bacteria in there.
Some of these bacteria can exceed others in growth, leading to weight gain and extra fat deposits.
Add lots of fruits and vegetables to your diet, and you will bring a bit of variety to the gut bacteria. Fermented foods will also help, such as kimchi, yogurt, or kefir. They are right in probiotics.
Prebiotic foods are not to be overlooked either, as they add to your weight control. Opt for leek, banana, garlic, avocado, or asparagus.
How about mindful eating?
Mindful eating is a psychological trick. The practice implies to pay attention to how you eat, as well as where you eat.
These days, more and more people eat on the go, while they drive, while watching something, or even while working.
To practice mindful eating, you need to sit down at a table. You need to do it by the book. Look at the food, pay attention to it and focus on the taste.
Forget about distractions, your phone, TV, or music. It may sound boring, but you need full focus on the food.
Take your time. There is no need to rush. Chew properly and stop when the hunger is gone.
Finally, for this technique to work, you obviously need foods rich in nutrients, rather than crisps or junk food.
Drop refined carbs and sugar
These days, they put sugar in pretty much everything. Ketchup, mustard, chicken wings, processed foods, you name it…
Turn the product around, look at the label, and you will see sugar in pretty much everything. This is because sugar is a good preservative. Sugar rich beverages are just as harmful.
As for refined carbs, these are processed foods.
They no longer have nutrients due to the intense processing results. Such foods include pasta or bread, not to mention white rice.
Long story short, they work on insulin, which promotes fat deposits.
Some good alternatives to sugar rich foods and refined carbs include:
- Wholegrain alternatives to pasta, bread, or rice
- Teas and fruit base water instead of soda
- Fruits, seeds, and nuts over unhealthy snacks
- Homemade smoothies over fruit juices from commerce
Track your diet
Tracking what you do or eat can be challenging and time consuming, but it will definitely give you an idea about how well you are doing.
The best way to do it is to log items you have on a daily basis, including drinks. You can get a journal or perhaps an app.
A mobile app is the most convenient way to do it.
There are lots of health, weight loss, diet, or exercise apps out there, and their popularity has skyrocketed over the past few years.
There is obviously a reason behind all these. People are more aware of the dangers associated with fat and excessive weight, not to mention the rubbish available in supermarkets these days.
Tracking everything you eat will help with weight loss.
Assuming you have some goals in mind or a diet, logging everything will count calories or nutrients for you, so you will know precisely what kind of changes to make the next day.
Even a fitness watch or a pedometer could be a good option to track what you do throughout the day.
Add dietary fiber to your diet
Most foods have certain amounts of dietary fibers, but many of them have less than desired.
You might have heard of dietary fiber before, but what is it?
It mostly consists of plant carbs. Unlike starch or sugar, these carbs cannot really be digested while in the intestine.
As a direct result, they will not be broken down, so they will give you a feeling of satiety. You will eat less, meaning you are more likely to lose weight in the long run.
Some popular foods rich in dietary fiber include fruits, vegetables, beans, seeds, nuts, wholegrain foods, barley, or oats.
Conclusion
Bottom line, exercise does help in your weight loss journey, but diet is more important.
This is where everything begins. Without a proper diet, you can exercise all you want, your weight loss journey will stagnate.
On the same note, you can focus on the diet only, and you can still see extraordinary results if you are consistent and follow some simple rules.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3833266/
https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/443356
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4799744/
https://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.e7492.long
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4704965/