Guide : How To Lose Weight When You Have No Time

The modern lifestyle is sometimes too hectic and hurried to have any time for a weight loss commitment. When you don’t have time to catch your breath due to flurry of daily activities, it is a tall order to even think about joining a gym. Without doubt, a healthy weight loss is a huge time commitment, especially when you have gained too much fat due to a sedentary lifestyle. It is a real challenge to lose weight when you have to snack on unhealthy foods due to your job schedule.

However, that doesn’t mean, you will never be able to lose weight. With some lifestyle changes, you can torch fat successfully without the need of finding extra time from your busy schedule. Here, are some smart strategies that will make a sustainable weight loss possible while doing your regular duties.

• Get rid of all or nothing mentality

Often people believe that they can only lose weight with all or nothing mentality. To lose weight, they believe that they will have to spend hours in gym and consume diet that is crammed with superfoods. Such a level of dedication and commitment is very difficult to attain even for those who are professionals in the fitness industry. So, to expect such level of dedication from someone who has several other pressing commitments in life is plain foolishness. Instead of making the wide ranging changes to your lifestyle, start by changing one or two things in your daily routine. Once you are comfortable with the changes made, then start introducing other things that will make your overall lifestyle healthy. Never lose heart or hope when you don’t get everything right. A couple of things going wrong way doesn’t make your day a failure. Remember, every decision you make or thing you do is a chance to make a healthy choice. So, if you have unwillingly made a mistake, it doesn’t mean you won’t get a chance to improve it later. If you have missed a gym session, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep an eye on the calorie intake. In fact, missing a workout makes it even more important.

To lose weight, you don’t have to completely overhaul your daily diet. It isn’t like you are eating fries, burgers, cheesecakes and pasta for every meal. Well, if you are, it is the time to make a change pal. Usually, we consume unhealthy food items once in a day and that also as an emergency snack to plug sudden hunger pangs. So, often, the main culprit behind weight gain is bigger portions we consume for our every meal. And, by eating smaller portions, you can take a huge step towards weight loss. And, doing so doesn’t take any extra time or cost more money. If you want to lose weight in a sustainable way, you have to create a calorie deficit without going hungry. You can reduce your calorie intake by skipping desserts, avoiding sugary drinks and not going for seconds. This is the easiest way to do so.

Yes, it is important to create a calorie deficit to lose weight. But, skipping a meal isn’t the right way to do so. In fact, skipping a meal is one of the biggest mistakes that leads to weight gain. You have to space out your calories throughout the day. You need to eat every four to five hours, the failure to do so could slow down metabolism, affect hormones and insulin levels. It can also lead to unexpected sugar cravings, which is the root cause of snacking on unhealthy food items. It is often found that overweight or obese individuals aren’t overeating, but they have very erratic and unhealthy eating patterns. For example, many have nothing in the morning other than a cup of coffee and consume loads of unhealthy food in the late afternoon. And, if you are following such eating habits, you are bound to gain weight. Instead, follow a consistent diet schedule. Eat three traditional meals with couple of snacks. Or, you can go for five mini-meals. Anything that suits you, but ensure you aren’t skipping a meal.

Doing a 30 to 60 minute daily workout is great. It can help you burn a lot of calories and would help in improving your fitness levels. But, if you can’t find time for a complete workout in your daily schedule, it doesn’t mean you can’t torch fat. You can break a single workout into shorter routines that you can squeeze them here and there in the daily schedule. You can do a 10 minute workout in the morning, another of similar duration in the noon and another in the evening. If you manage to do so for five days in a week, you would be there.

And, you don’t need to do anything special in these short workouts. Doing regular bodyweight exercises will do the trick. For example, in the morning you can do pushups, squats, mountain climbers and couple of pull ups, you can do the same in the evening workout. For a noon workout, make it a point to climb stairs for 10 minutes during the lunch break. See how simple it is. The calories you will burn for each short workout will add up to fuel a healthy weight loss.

As I said earlier, you can make a huge impact with little changes. You can make small changes in the food items you are eating daily, such as leave the cheese off a hamburger or instead of ordering mayo dip, go for a honey mustard. Then, instead of snacking on salty chips while watching your favorite TV show in the night, you can eat hard boiled eggs. And, there are tons of recipes available to make delicious boiled egg delicacies. For the starters, here are ten excellent ones.

Cutting out calories is like saving money. The small gains can add up by the end of the day and make a huge difference to your overall weight loss regime. This mantra applies to your beverages as well. Instead of sugary soda, you can switch to seltzer water with lemon. Or, you can opt to add less sugar to your coffee. Small changes, but big differences.

It is often found that busy individuals cut back on their sleep time to find more time for their daily routines. Yes, it is tempting to stay up late to complete extra work so that you can have more time for other chores. But, it isn’t good for your health as well as for your already burgeoning belly. You need to get sufficient sleep for a healthy and sustainable weight loss. A lack of sleep can slow down your metabolism and among other things can make you more prone to unhealthy binge eating. Plus, lack of sleep would make you tired and lethargic, which could make it difficult for you to accomplish all your tasks. It can also lead to lack of energy needed to complete a workout. Also, to stay awake, you will have to consume copious amounts of coffee, which would interfere with your ability to sleep in the night. And, lack of sleep will lead to cravings for sugar and fatty foods that will help you stay awake, but can be disastrous for your waistline.

• Don’t sit when you can stand

Spending too much time sitting around is bad for your heart, brain and waist. And, it can be extremely bad for your back as well. Sitting for more than 60 minutes, leads to shortening of back muscles, which is a root cause of back pain and hunched over posture. You can burn calories and solve several health problems by turning some of the sitting time into standing time. Or, better yet, if you are doing brainstorming or indulging in a thinking session, you can opt to move around. This will help you think and could give you an opportunity to stretch your legs. Although, this habit won’t burn too many calories, but it will help in maintaining the weight you have already lost.

However, standing is not always possible at the workplace, especially when you have to use computer and have strict rules to follow. And, there are very few offices where you can get a standing desk to work. If you are working from home, then it is altogether different prospect. However, there are several occasions in the day, when you can opt to stand. For example, your morning train ride, staff meeting, talking to your mom in the evening or reading your favorite book.

The high interval training is best suited workout for torching fat. The best thing about HIIT workouts is that they are short. By doing 30 minutes of HIIT workout, you can torch more fat than you can with 60 minutes on a treadmill. The number of studies conducted over the past few years have revealed that short HIIT workouts are a great way to torch fat. In a study conducted by University of New South Wales, the subjects were divided into groups and were asked to do either steady state exercises or high intensity interval training. The fat mass, body mass and subcutaneous fat were measured after a period of fifteen weeks. The researchers found that doing HIIT workout in comparison to steady exercises for three times per week led to significant reductions in total body fat, subcutaneous leg and trunk fat, and better insulin resistance in young women.

The best thing about HIIT is that you can incorporate its principles in running, walking, biking, or with any type of cardio equipment. For an effective HIIT workout, try this – warm up at a moderate speed for five to ten minutes. Then, give your best for a burst of 30 seconds, return to the easier pace for 45 seconds. Do these alternating intervals of 30 and 45 seconds, ten times. Cool down by working at a moderate pace for five to ten minutes.

Even, if you have to work for long and grueling hours on the weekdays, you still have couple of days at the end of the week to relax. You can use weekends to plan for the coming weeks and can also analyze what has been working for you and what is going against your weight loss program. You can go to a supermarket to buy healthy food items that you would need for the coming week. Also, you can prepare dinner and lunch meals for the coming week. You can always store food in the refrigerator. Plus, you can hard-boil eggs and store them. The hard boiled eggs make a healthy and nutritious snack choice.

Also, you can use your off days for doing longer workouts. And, if you can get a 120 minute workout on the weekends, you will have to dedicate very little time of the weekdays to reach your 200-minute goal. Another great option is to play your favorite sport on the weekend. This way you will get a decent workout and can relax and unwind with your buddies.

This is another thing that can help you lose weight without spending any extra time. A study published in Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that something as simple as aiming to eat 30 grams of fiber each day can help you lose weight. Also, it will lower your blood pressure, and improve your body’s response to insulin. In fact, the study conducted by University of Massachusetts Medical School states that simple diet consisting of 30 grams of fiber is just as effective as diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, high-fiber foods, fish, and lean protein in losing weight.

One of the best ways to introduce fiber to your daily diet is to eat oatmeal for breakfast. Whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables are other good sources of fiber.