One of the few disadvantages of our modern, technologically-advanced world is how easy it is to gain unnecessary body fat. Do you feel as if you have packed on some extra pounds over the years? Unfortunately, you are not the only one. Millions of men around the globe are either overweight or obese. Luckily, there are several tried and true methods to help you start shedding unwanted fat and permanently keep it off.
As most of us already know, diet and exercise are two primary components that need to be controlled in order to effectively lose undesired weight and body fat. However, the difficult part is trying to figure out what the most effective principles of each aspect are and how to build a sustainable lifestyle around those principles that are best suited for you. We will first take a look at how to lose weight fast by the dietary component of it and then move on to exercise.
Diet Weight Loss Tips for Men
The best way to lose weight for men is to be very conscious of what they intake into their bodies through their diet. Believe it or not, weight loss experts estimate that at least 80 percent of your weight and body fat results are based on your dietary choices. That might sound quite surprising to hear, especially since the most focused-on aspect of fitness in previous generations was the exercise component. However, watch the pounds start shedding right off once you clean up the things you eat and drink with these following tips.
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Cut out Sugars and Refined Carbohydrates
In the past, people believed it was eating fat that made people gain weight. While this can be true, research studies have revealed that consuming sugars and refined carbs (which are also known as high-glycemic carbs) are a far bigger culprit to growing unwanted inches on our waistlines. This is due to a few different factors:
- Refined Carbohydrates and Sugars Keep You Hungry More Often. Refined carbs, such as pasta, rice, and white bread, are digested by the body very quickly. Unfortunately, the faster your body digests food, the faster it will get hungry again. These factors usually lead to binge eating or bad food choices in the long run. As a result, calories from these types of foods are colloquially known as āempty calories.ā
- Refined Carbohydrates and Sugars Affect Insulin Levels. Ingesting sugars and refined carbs causes spikes in blood sugar levels which then causes your pancreas to produce more insulin to balance your overall blood chemistry. Unfortunately, this release of insulin causes your body to start converting carbohydrates into stored body fat (often in the belly area). To make matters even worse, if sugars and refined carbohydrates continue to be regularly consumed, the continually high insulin levels will drastically reduce your metabolismās ability to burn off the same stored body fat.
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Eat Enough Lean Protein and Healthy Fats
Healthy proteins and fats do almost the exact opposite of refined sugars and carbs to your body: they help you stay feeling full and satiated for a much longer period of time. They also donāt cause the fat-storing insulin response that carbohydrates do. Examples of these foods include:
Healthy Proteins
- White meat – chicken and turkey
- Lean beef and pork
- Lean fish (such as salmon and cod)
- Shrimp and oysters
- Eggs
- Tofu and tempeh
- Lentils, beans, and peas
- Yogurt
Healthy Fats
- Nuts and seeds (in natural, dried, or butter form)
- Olive oil
- Avocados
- Dark chocolate
- Fatty fish (such as herring, mackerel, sardines, salmon, trout, and fresh tuna)
- Yogurt
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Eat More Green, Leafy Vegetables
Leafy green veggies are a central component of a clean, healthy diet. They are packed with a variety of vitamins and minerals that are essential for maintaining good health and typically contain a low amount of calories. These types of vegetables also contain a lot of fiber that is slow to digest and doesnāt affect insulin levels negatively.
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Create a Sustainable Diet
When most people (especially men) hear the word ādietā, they start thinking about how they have to eat as little as possible, be hungry all the time, and consume things that have very little flavor.Ā However, none of these conditions need to be true! There are many tasty food and beverage options available when you change up your eating habits for the better. You just need to find the ones that you like the most and keep experimenting until you find the right balance. No one can maintain a diet unless they truly enjoy eating it!
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Incorporate the Occasional Cheat Meal
You can actually enjoy your favorite, unhealthy foods occasionally and still maintain a very healthy weight. You simply canāt eat them every day. As a matter of fact, nutritionists estimate that you can maintain your desired figure if you maintain a healthy diet more than 80 percent of the time. That means you can eat whatever else you want to without much worry for the other 20 percent. Bonus tip: if you are having a really hard time avoiding some fattening foods that you love, limit the portion size that you eat.
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Drink More Water and Avoid Alcohol
One of the liverās main functions is to eliminate fats from the body. Water not only hydrates us and makes our metabolisms work faster, but it also radically improves the liverās body fat processing capabilities. However, drinking alcohol slows this fat-eliminating process down by burdening the liver with additional toxins to eliminate. On top of this, alcohol eventually gets metabolized into sugars within our body that turn into stored fat. Want to lose weight fast, men? This tip is the easiest place to start!
Exercise Weight Loss Tips for Men
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Lift Weights
In the past, it was thought that cardiovascular exercise led to most body fat loss. However, research has shown that building up the muscles by weight lifting radically improves the rate of metabolism throughout the entire day (not just while working out). This overall increased fat-processing ability leads to much faster weight loss.
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Make Exercising Fun
It is difficult to exercise regularly unless it is something you are looking forward to. Unfortunately, going to the gym regularly is not appealing for many people especially after having to work and run errands all day. That is why it is a good idea to think outside the box and do some activities that you already enjoy that are physically rigorous. Some of the best non-gym related weight loss workouts for men include:
- Active sports (such as basketball, tennis, football, etc.)
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Rowing
- Golf
- Gymnastics
- Dancing
- Bicycling
By now, you should understand the core principles regarding fast male weight loss. However, if you want some more information or think you could use some professional help to enhance your weight loss, please contact us at Biofit as soon as possible. We are located in the greater Miami, Florida area and specialize in a variety of medical weight loss solutions that might be perfect for you!