Written by Menswear Style in Health & Fitness on the 3rd March 2021

It’s not surprising that, given how gyms are closed and we’re all kept indoors throughout the day, a lot of us have started to see our healthy living standards slip. Even if you weren’t particularly on top of your game before, you might be noticing that you have been putting on the pounds a lot faster as of late. If you’re taking charge and taking the initiative to start losing it and to get down to a healthy weight, then good for you. However, while there’s no effective way to lose weight quickly without working for it, there are ways to make sure you maximise the fruits of your effort.

Eat your breakfast 

Your body’s metabolism is going to play a major role in how effectively you burn energy throughout the day and one of the important parts of getting that metabolism kickstarted is that you eat your breakfast. Your body gets into the mechanisms of processing food earlier, meaning that it can more effectively help you burn energy that you intake later in the day. Eating a decent, hearty breakfast, such as Greek yoghurt or oats with chia seeds and blueberries, can help you stabilise your blood sugars, and help you avoid cravings until lunch. Even if you are limiting what times of day you eat, you should never cut breakfast out of the equation.

Tracking the numbers makes a huge difference 

If you’ve been listening to just about any health expert, then you are likely to have heard about how diet is 80% of weight loss, and exercise is only 20%. Well, it’s true, and the closer you pay attention to what you eat, the better the results you’re likely to see from it. It’s not enough to simply say to yourself that you’re cutting out empty carbs, unhealthy fats, sugar, and the like. With the help of apps like MyFitnessPal, you can hold yourself accountable by tracking what, exactly, you eat throughout the day, and how it contributes to not just your calorie count but also your nutritional needs from day-to-day. Once you can better spot the bad habits ruining your diet, you can more easily correct them, too. 

Strength training is better than cardio alone 

One of the big issues with the gym cancellations that have been a big part of the pandemic pudginess we’re all seeing is that we lost access to the great gym equipment that helps us create a much more well-rounded gym routine. You might be able to do aerobic fitness exercises in the comfort of your own home and to go for a run, but the truth is that strength training exercises aren’t just good for building muscle, they help you lose weight more quickly, too. You can check out some of the must-buy home fitness equipment that can help you keep up with such exercises, or you might want to look into whether any options for swimming are open to you nearby.

Choose better beverages 

Believe it or not, a lot of the most common dietary habits aren’t strictly related to what we eat, but what we drink. If you like an alcoholic drink on the weekends, it might be worth considering looking at cutting the beer or wine down and opting for lighter spirits, but even then you should limit your intake. Sugary beverages such as soft drinks are the worst culprits of all since it’s easy to drink them throughout the day. Alternatively, you should make sure you’re drinking enough water with the help of apps like Waterminder, and consider adding a little more coffee to your day. Antioxidants can, amongst other things, help burn fat faster by increasing your metabolic rate. 

The right foods can speed up the process 

Now, there’s no such thing as a diet that will burn fat for you. You need to make sure you’re utilising proper diet and exercise to do the bulk of the work. However, there are foods that can make your body much more efficient at burning energy, such as Shake that Weight meal replacement drinks. High-protein and low-carb meals take more fat to burn, but it’s important to make sure that you’re choosing options that still help you maintain all the daily vitamins and minerals your body needs to sustain its good health.

Eat fewer processed meals 

Even “healthy” processed meals can come with their share of caveats. There are some that can fit into your diet just fine, but you have to get used to reading the labels to make sure that they’re not high in added sugars, fats, and calories. What’s more, processed foods tend to be more addictive, meaning that you’re likely to eat even more of them. Even if you’re not a great cook, there are plenty of apps like Forks Over Knives that can help you put together some basic meals using whole, single-ingredient foods. Whole foods tend to not only have fewer extras in them, but they also offer the greatest nutritional yield.

We suggest eating your breakfast, tracking the numbers, strength training, and eating fewer processed meals in this blog post on How to Easily Lose That Lockdown Weight.