Losing weight is one of the most popular New Year's resolutions, but it's one that most of us struggle with. By the second or third week of January, many of us find it challenging to stick to the lifestyle changes required to lose or maintain weight. But one strategy that may work better when managing weight is the "calorie deficit". This starts with the understanding that you don't need to restrict eating; all you need to do is to start consuming fewer calories. So, if you're new to dieting or trying to lose weight, here's a five-step beginner's guide to calorie cutting.
1 Start With A Small Number
If you've spent time scrolling through health and fitness posts on Instagram, you've probably come across the 1000-calorie or juice diets. These diets help you lose weight quickly, but they are extremely harmful in the long run. Restricting calories all of a sudden acts as a shock for your body. If you have been consuming 2200 calories per day and suddenly reduce it to 1000, your body will struggle to adjust. Moreover, these calorie-restricted diets are deficient in essential vitamins and minerals that the body requires on a daily basis. Instead, cutting 200 calories per week is a good place to start, and as you lose weight, you can start cutting another 100 or 200.
2 Reduce Portion Size
It is often not the food that makes us fat, but our habit of overeating. When we sit down for dinner, we end up filling our plates with everything on the menu. However, if you want to lose weight, you should eat no more than 80% of your hunger and try to eat in small portions. Using a smaller dinner plate can be helpful in reducing your portion sizes.
Also Read: Diet Vs Exercise: What Comes First For Weight Loss?
3 Limit High-Calorie Beverages
High-calorie beverages can easily lead to excessive calorie consumption. Beverages with a lot of sugar, in particular, increase calories while often providing no nutrition. Moreover, it doesn’t even satiate your hunger and drinking your calories rather than eating them may result in excess calorie consumption. Lastly, whether you are physically active or not, drinking soft drinks is associated with weight gain, indicating that it is unlikely you will be able to offset the calorie intake from soda by exercising.
Pro Tip
When you are trying to lose weight, you are already consuming fewer calories, and when you consume the majority of those calories through drinking, your mind does not recognise it. As a result, your goal should be to eat more calories than you drink, as this will help you feel fuller for longer.
Also Read: 5 Ways To Measure Your Fitness Progress Other Than Scale Numbers
4 Use Calorie Counter Apps
Weight loss is one of the simplest, yet most difficult goals to achieve. When we first start dieting, we either overestimate or underestimate calories, which hinders our progress. Using a calorie counter app, on the other hand, provides you with all of the healthy suggestions as well as a number indicating how many calories you have consumed.
5 Make Food Swaps
Why consume paranthas when oats contain more essential vitamins? Moderate consumption of higher-calorie foods can be part of a healthy diet and a happy lifestyle. If you want your overall eating pattern to encourage weight loss, keep these higher calories, less nutritious items to an occasional indulgence rather than a sizable portion of your regular diet.
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