Tired of running for those daily jogs but still failing to lose weight? There are various ways of losing weight quickly, but how many of them are effective?
In this article, we will be talking about the four easy steps that will definitely help you lose weight, which includes cutting back on some high-calorie items in your diets along with some lifting exercises.
However, dieting often feels like starving yourself, right? Wrong! If that’s what you think, you’re doing it wrong. The proper diet is meant to fill your belly through fibrous and healthy food items, replacing the bad fats and carbs in your regular diet.
Here are the 4 steps to boost your weight loss journey:
- Follow a low carb diet.
- Include proteins, fats, and vegetables
- Lift weights at least 3 times per week
- Sleep like a baby
Following a low-carb diet has been scientifically proven to:
- significantly reduce your appetite
- cause weight loss faster
- improve your metabolism rate
How to Lose Weight Fast in 4 Easy Steps
1. Follow a Low Carb Diet
Carbohydrates or carbs refer to the sugar, starches & fibers found in fruits, grains, vegetables, and milk products (1).
Cutting back on your carb intake allows your body to burn the stored fat for energy, making your hunger levels go down.
Multiple studies have also shown that low-carb diets help control diabetes better by managing their blood sugar levels, in addition to helping reduce fat faster. (2)
When it comes to the typical ‘how to reduce weight fast‘ question, a low-carb diet has been the answer to many. An individual following a low carb diet can quickly shed up to 4.5 kg and more within the first week of their weight loss diet plan, which includes both the body fat as well as water weight.
Some other benefits of cutting back on carbs on your how to lose weight journey are (3):
- lowers insulin levels
- reduced bloating
- shedding of unnecessary water weight
- kidney shedding excess sodium and water
How to reduce weight: Bad Carbs vs. Good Carbs
Good carbs refer to food items that contain high fiber amounts and take longer to break down by the body & used for energy. These include food items like,
- Unprocessed food items
- Whole grain bread
- Beans
- Cereals
- Vegetables
- Fruits
On the other hand, bad carbs are food items that are digested rapidly but contain refined carbohydrates with lower fiber amount, containing mainly white flour and sugar.
Some of the food items including bad carbs are,
- White bread
- Cakes
- Cookies
- White processed rice
- Other processed food items
Good carbs help reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes, prevent obesity, and helps in keeping the digestive system healthy while bad carbs do the exact opposite (4).
Average carb intake: 20-50 gm/day
Therefore, while following a low carb diet, cut off the bad carbs from your diet entirely and consume smaller portions of good carbs.
2. Include Proteins, Fats, and Vegetables
You need to build your meals in a way that each consists of a source of protein, fat, and low carbs in it.
According to a report published by Harvard (5), eating three times per day helps in keeping you full and reduces hunger at the same time, making it perfect eating frequency on how to lose weight fast.
Eating fewer than three meals a day might put you at risk for binging on less healthy foods.
Proteins
Proteins form an essential part of the low carb diet.
Protein-rich diets help give you a fuller meal experience and reduce cravings and thoughts about food by up to 60%. According to a study, people with a higher protein diet ate over 441 lesser calories per day (6).
Some of the high protein food items (7) that you can include in your diet are:
- Plant-based: Black beans, Lima beans, corn, legumes, chickpeas
- Poultry: Whole eggs and cottage cheese
- Meat: Beef, pork, lamb, and turkey
- Fish and seafood: Salmon, Tuna, shrimp, and trout
Fats
While talking about fats to be included in your ‘how to reduce weight fats‘ diet, we’ll be talking about healthy fats that aid in the weight loss process.
It’s a common myth that inducing a diet with zero fats help you lose weight when, in reality, it makes dieting much harder and can affect the regulation of bodily functions negatively.
Some sources of healthy fats are:
- Coconut oil
- Olive oil
- Butter
- Avocado oil
Vegetables
Vegetables will be your best friend for this diet. There are various low carb vegetables available that are packed with nutrients that you can consume in large quantities, without going over your 20-50 gm net carbs target per day.
Such vegetables are low in calories but rich in minerals and nutrients required to maintain a healthy body.
Some of the low carb vegetables (8) that you can include in your ‘how to lose weight fast’ diet plan are,
- Bell peppers
- Broccoli
- Mushrooms
- Spinach
- Cauliflower
- Cabbage
- Avocados
- Green beans
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Kale
- Brussel sprouts
- Lettuce
- Tomatoes
One thing to note is that low carb vegetables majorly comprise of green vegetables.
3. Lifts Weights At Least 3 Times Per Week
You can boost your ‘how to reduce weight fast’ journey by adding an exercise routine to your diet.
While it is not exercising while following this how to lose weight diet, adding it will help in increasing the efficiency of your weight loss plan.
Lifting weights help you burn calories and prevents your metabolism from slowing down, which in many cases, is a side effect of losing weight.
Lifting weights is not the only form of exercise that can help you in your ‘how to lose weight’ journey. You can also engage in jogging, running, cycling, or swimming.
A 20 minutes beginner exercise routine for three or more days per week for those following a low carb diet can include (9):
- Squats- 10 reps
- Wall push-ups- 10 reps
- Crunches- 10 to 20 reps
- Spine stretch
- Relaxing and breathing exercises
4. Sleep Like a Baby
Poor sleep is one of the most significant risk factors associated with weight gain (10).
If you follow your low carb diet strictly along with exercise, yet you fail to get an adequate amount of sleep, your weight loss journey can be hindered drastically.
According to a study (11) by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, late-night snacking increased in sleep-deprived people, with an obsession with picking the feel-good high-carb snacks over healthy snacks.
Sleep is like nutrition for the brain. People who have a quality 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night are able to follow diets strictly, with lesser or no cravings to binge eat.
Having a good 7-9 hours of sleep helps by,
- decreasing adverse health conditions
- recovering tissues and reproducing cells during sleep
- managing hunger levels
- maintaining immunity
- retaining memory
Conclusion – How to reduce weight fast
Overall, cutting out on your carb intake and creating an exclusive low carb diet plan for you will not only help you in your ‘how to reduce weight’ journey but will also mark its place in making healthy lifestyle changes in your life for a greener and better body.
One key point that is equally important while embarking on your weight loss journey is that of building a strong will power that helps keep you focussed on your weight goals. Initially, while beginning your low-carb diet, the body tends to lose the water weight before burning the fat down.
However, remember that being on a diet does not mean eating tasteless food. Mix it up and bring in the chef in you and cook delightful happy meals for you, making your weight loss journey a delicious one.
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