Busy men often find it very difficult to schedule a weight loss regimen. The weighing scale doesn't care how busy you are or how healthy you eat. The scales will show you how much you weigh! What can you do? Is it really possible for busy men to lose some weight? Here is the list of the best weight loss tips for busy men, which is certainly doable!
Health is Wealth - no matter how busy you are!
Why this preaching? Because the first thing you need to lose weight, in spite of your busy schedule, is to understand the importance of health and be willing to change what is needed. Where there's a will, there's a way!
Just a common scenario that many of you encounter lately! You work day and night, more than 8 hours per day with a lots of pressure. When you are young, you can easily meet the work requirements. Your body takes it all. However, the tampered health shows up during the mid 30s. After all, your body too has limits! You should spend all your hard earned money on what! Medical bills of course!
Extremity of stress eats away your life, leaving nothing for you and your beloved family!
This is not something to scare you, but to make you realize not to compromise your health due to busy schedule. In fact, the top CEOs, and billionaires are quite healthy despite their extremely busy schedule!!! So, why can't you be!
Why there is so much fuss about health? Obesity is the major cause of a majority of health issues, chronic diseases and autoimmune disorders.
Regardless of the ailment you suffer from, you hear these two phrases from your doctor, quite often.
- Lose your weight
- Reduce your stress
Realize why should you lose weight
There are many reasons why you should lose weight.
- Losing a few extra kilos make you look younger and smarter.
- It improves your self confidence.
- It makes you smarter in your performance.
- It prevents developing chronic ailments, especially life style disorders like heart problems, bone disorders, etc.
- A study reported by Neurology Journal revealed the fact that those who lost around 20 pounds weight find immense improvement in their concentration power and memory!
- Active people do smart work instead of extremely hard work.
- You reduce the risk of getting chronic depression and anxiety, the major killers of happy life.
- You don’t fall sick very often.
- You can really enjoy your sleep for better.
- You don’t have the guilty feeling of eating some heavy foods or treats (but rarely)
You aren't really busy!
Don’t fool yourself that you are literally busy 24 x 7 x 365. Nobody really isn’t that busy! If you sit before computers for hours, may be you lack proper execution and scheduling of your work.
Small Things that Make Big Differences - 15 Best Weight Loss Tips for Busy Men
Every small step you take towards leading a healthy lifestyle and losing weight matters a lot. Take some small steps that can lead to big differences.
1. Stay away from this attitude - Do all or Do nothing
When it comes to weight loss in men, most men often think that they should spend a couple of hours at the gym, eat nothing but the super foods, and load themselves with proteins.
This context is quite wrong. Of course, this is impossible for all busy men. Those who cannot even meet the necessity of sleeping adequately may never find time to hit gym.
When they cannot meet these basic requirements, they obviously give up and don’t even care to try something. It's all-or-nothing approach! Besides, they mostly pickup food on the go or order online and get it delivered at their workplace. Just because you don’t find time to hit the gym, you should not give up on healthy eating! When you are not doing any workouts at gym, you should watch the calories and not doing vice versa.
2. Eat Smaller Portions
Eating smaller portions is one of the best ways to lose weight by men, in fact by all. It doesn't cost you anything. You don’t need to cook some weight loss foods or ask your family to cook special foods for your weight loss program. You just have to eat smaller amounts of what you have been eating always.
Eat what you eat daily, but reduce the quantity of foods by 10 % to 20%. That’s not a big deal, isn't it? Eating less won’t cost you any money or even consume more time. In fact, it saves time!
Those busy men who are looking forward to lose weight should reduce the calorie intake by about 300 calories per day. This ensures healthy and sustainable weight loss. And for a lots of busy men, eating less is quite an appropriate way to cut back on calorie and lose weight.
- Reduce the portion size
- Reduce the serving size or number of servings
- Skip heavy desserts or just eat a teaspoon or two to satiate your sugar cravings
- Don’t go back for the second round if you find something delicious. Resist the temptation. You can always eat it later the next day or on some other occasion.
(A famous Chinese saying – something that is delicious to your taste buds isn't delicious to your health!)
You don’t need to completely avoid your favorite foods. Just reduce the portion or size or quantity. You cannot really avoid eating cakes or pizzas at an office party. But don’t reach out for the second, satiate yourself with the first bite itself.
This is something really possible for busy men, just to lose weight, isn't it?
3. A 20 Minutes Run to Lose Weight
This is crucial if you really want to lose weight. Weight gaining and losing patterns in men are completely different from women. While women can lose weight with moderate physical activity, men needs to push themselves more.
It is not a big deal to steal 20 minutes from your busy schedule. Just skip the time watching television or browsing online. Wake up a little bit early or take out a little time after you reach back home. 20 minutes run everyday can really bring change in your appearance and you will start losing weight soon. If you haven't run in your life, read this, How to Start Running to Lose Weight – for Beginners
Even if you are overweight, you can just run. It will be somewhat difficult during the initial days. When you do it regularly, you won’t find any trouble.
- It is a good cardio workout and burns a lot of calories.
- Running makes you physically active and energetic.
- It enhances the metabolism of your body.
- Running burns calories for several hours at a medium phase, even after you have stopped running.
Start running for 20 minutes every day. If you cannot run for a complete stretch of 20 minutes, jog for a couple of minutes, power walk, walk and run.
If you cannot run in the morning, you can do it in the evening but do it at least 3-4 hours before you sleep. It helps you sleep tight.
4. Never Skip Meals
Yes. Everyone is talking about not skipping any major meal. Well, this may seem that it is against eating less for lower calories. However, skipping meal to reduce calorie intake isn't the right way. If you skip a meal say breakfast, you tend to snack heavily (rather madly!) in the mid morning or you eat more during your lunch. Besides, you may feel hungry throughout the day just because you lacked the energy in the morning. It makes you eat frequently. Moreover, your metabolism becomes sluggish if you do not kick-start it early in the morning by eating a little. Of course, you don't want this, a slow metabolism is a cause for obesity. These are the major reasons to not to avoid any meal. Eat all the meals, just make the portions smaller.
Besides, busy people need to eat at periodic intervals to equally space out the calories throughout the day. You should eat or drink something every 4 to 5 hours. If you fail to re-fuel in this gap, it slows down your body metabolism and also leads to mild hormone fluctuation. Besides, it also affects your insulin and makes you deprived of energy. All these contribute to unhealthy eating. So, have 4-5 small meals instead of 3 big meals!
You cannot really make a choice and choose healthy foods when you are really hungry or don’t feed yourself for more than 6 hours. You will be like, grab something and put in your mouth, whatever it is! Avoid this condition by not skipping meals and by having frequent smaller meals throughout the day.
5. Set a consistent schedule
Eating isn't a major problem in most of the overweight people. The culprit is erratic eating schedule.
You wake up late, have a cup of coffee before you rush to office and no breakfast. You don’t eat anything till noon or just sip a few cups of coffee or tea before lunch. You eat big and a heavy lunch. Otherwise, if you eat breakfast, you skip lunch during noon and eat lunch early evenings, which delays your dinner time.
The key to avoid this erratic eating pattern is keeping an eating schedule. Busy men always stick to schedules and follow the schedules meticulously. Why not follow an eating schedule too! Remember, health is wealth and you need to take care of your body! So, schedule your eating time. It won’t take much time.
You can go for three meals a day (this is must and you cannot ignore it, keep the portions smaller though!) and a couple of snack schedules or just any drinks (though healthy ones!). This will make 5-6 small meals a day for you. Have a look at this List of Healthy Snacks for Weight Loss. It will be easier for you to keep snacks handy in your office table drawer or in your bag!
- Also, make sure you eat at the same time every day. If you cannot make it for lunch, try to stick at least with breakfast and dinner. Wherever you are, you will certainly have breakfast and dinner.
- Ensure that your lunch time too is not delayed more than an hour.
- Whether you are hungry or not, follow this schedule.
- In a few days, your body will get adjusted to this schedule and you can regulate the hunger.
Eating right at the right time is the key to good health and it will reduce hunger pangs that may lead to unnecessary snacking.
6. Don’t eat until your stomach is full
In olden days, people used to practice the habit of eating half stomach full, fill quarter stomach with water and leave the rest empty. So, don’t just go on eating until you fill the stomach with food. Remember, you should have space for drinking water. In fact, begin your meal with a full glass of water and after a while start eating the meal. This way, your stomach is halfway full already when you start having the solid food. Water is also the best detox drink, also for weight loss. In fact, you can also have some other Detox Drinks for Weight Loss.
7.When you can stand, why do you sit?
You know it very well! Sitting is the new smoking. Sitting too much for longer hours is a bad habit. It adds to sedentary behavior. It is bad for your heart, bad for your brain and bad for your stomach. You tend to gain a lot of flab around your belly when you sit for hours. Moreover, it gives you real severe back pain! So, just try to convert sitting into standing time or walking time whenever possible. This will not have any bigger impact on losing weight on its own, but will add to your weight loss efforts. It will be a humble effort to substitute the exercise regime that you can't follow, thanks to your busy schedule.
- Standing is not a valid option when you have a computer and a work desk, where you don’t have a standing desk setup.
- Think about other options that can make you move.
- When you visit washroom, just take a walk.
- Go for the stairs and skip using elevator.
- When you are attending a phone call (cellphone), ‘walk and talk!’
- Walk for 5 or 10 minutes inside your home instead sitting before television or computer
8. Sip water throughout the day
Water is the best drink to manage your health and weight loss. Sip water throughout the day. Needless to stress about the importance of drinking water. It is a core element that regulates the functions of the body. Often, thirst is mistaken as hunger. When you are thirsty, you don’t really realize it is thirst and go for a juice or even bad, soft drinks or sodas. When you feel you are hungry, drink a big glass of ice cold water. Within a few minutes your thirst gets satiated, which means you are not really hungry. You can easily avoid this early noon cravings by drinking water.
9. 5 Minute Plank for Busy Men to Lose Weight
Now don't say, you can't give even 5 minutes in the morning for exercising! You may not know how a five minute plank can change your body! Just do it! 5 minutes are wasted a lots of time during the day. Save it once to do planks and get fit as well as in shape.
Kick start your day with 5 minute plank. It tones the muscles of the whole body and helps you burn a lot of calories and extra fat.
- It is quite difficult to hold in this position for 5 continuous minute.
- Try to hold in the position for 30 seconds.
- Get a break and repeat.
- It improves your stamina.
- Gradually increase the counts.
- Do this for 5 minutes every day.
- Sparing 5 minutes for this workout isn’t a big deal.
Planks are also good when it comes to toning up your abdominal muscles. Professionals do not look good with fat all around their abdomen, do they? If you are really worried about fat around your stomach, you can have these Best Weight Loss Tips for Belly Fat Reduction
10. Get adequate sleep
It is something unavoidable for busy men to work late night or wake up super early to get all the work done. For many, even 24 hours day isn't sufficient. But know that all your weight loss efforts may turn vain and backfires if you don’t get quality sleep. Lack of sleep affects most of the body functions.
If you are changing your diet, improving your lifestyle for better, doing some physical activities and moving a lot, you can easily achieve the weight loss goals with better sleep.
When you lack sleep, you are more likely to suffer from,
- Exhaustiveness
- Tiredness from morning to night
- Excessive eating to get rid of the tiredness
- More coffee or cola to increase energy and resulting into more calories intake!
- Sugar cravings
- Poor metabolism
Beyond these, you are more likely to perform poorly in your work when you don’t get proper sleep. When you sleep tight, you wake up fresh and get the energy throughout the day. Don’t miss sleep and make sure you get adequate sleep.
When you sleep, the body repairs itself. If you lose one night sleep, it will take a minimum of 30 days to get back to routine and achieving optimal brain functions.
Just schedule your day properly, organize your work and meetings in such a manner that you get a good night's sleep, everyday!
11. Eat Fiber for breakfast
Fiber helps in releasing the carbs slowly and it keeps you fuller for longer. Eat fiber for breakfast. If you are not sure about the multiple options, go for multigrain porridge. A big bowl of multi grain porridge topped with whole nuts or fruits make a fulfilling breakfast. You get a lot of fiber along with many nutrients.
12. Learn about food swaps
There are healthy alternatives for every unhealthy or high calorie foods.
You don’t need to jump start from top of the building to the ground. Gradually reduce the intake of unhealthy foods and find the alternatives.
- If you are a coffee lover, reduce the quantity of sugar you put. In fact, coffee with mild sweetness tastes good.
- If you are a tea drinker, choose ginger or herbal tea. Add palm sugar instead of sugar. The best thing is green tea.
- If you sip cola, sorry, there's no alternative. less or more, it is bad for you. Ignore it. Instead you can choose fresh fruit juices or simple lemon juice in place of cola.
13. Hunt for some time to do some workouts
If you can find some time at least a few minutes at your home, do some pushups. It will be fun to practice at home.
Invest in a treadmill if you are too busy to find your workout schedule. When you are at home, say in the morning or evenings or on weekends, walk a couple of hundred steps on treadmill. It is not a big thing, but certainly adds value to your weight loss efforts.
14. Use your weekends wisely
You will definitely have a weekend, every week. It is essential, not just for weight loss, but for a much needed break from the grueling work schedule. So, use your weekend wisely to enhance your weight loss efforts. Don’t just spend all your Sundays before the computer or TV or just inside your bed.
Spend at least a couple of hours actively. This is also essential for you to get away from the pressing work schedule and stress relief.
Avoid planning eating out on weekend. You are more likely to eat up too much on weekend to overcome all those work pressure and tension.
Instead, if your family stresses more about dining out, plan it on a working day. If you cannot do it, go for a restaurant that serves healthy or organic stuff. Go for mindful eating. In fact, weekends are the only days when you can literally enjoy the food and eat without rushing. Go for healthy food choices.
What can you do on your weekends?
- Enjoy a good sleep
- Help cleaning your house
- Play with kids
- Go for an evening walk
- Take your pet along with you for a walk
- Exercise more on weekends. If you can do some extra workouts during the weekend, you can do it less during weekdays.
15. Avoid mindless eating at night
Avoid mindless eating at night. Be very choosy about the night time snacking. Busy men often go to bed in wee hours. They don’t get good sleep and tend to hunt fridge or kitchen for some snacks. Just drink water. Eat a whole banana after dinner before you sleep or drink a glass of skimmed milk before you sleep. It promotes good sleep. If you are hungry, grab a piece of fruit and eat. Don't go for that packet of potato chips or any other fried or processed junk food!
16. Cheat Day
Oh yes, you need it! You have been following the healthy schedule for many days. So, reward yourself with a cheat day. Eat your favorite stuff on a cheat day. Probably, make it on a Friday, a couple of times a month. Once the work is wrapped, you can really dive into some of your favorite foods.
Top Weight Loss Foods for Busy Men
List of healthy and weight loss foods you can rely on:
Vegetables
- Broccoli / Cabbage / Cauliflower and cruciferous vegetables
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Bell peppers
- Mushrooms
- Celery / cucumber
- Onion / Shallots
- Spinach
- Carrots
- Beans / broad beans / double beans
Choose three to four of them everyday and make a filling salad for your lunch. Eat this salad before your main meal and not with it. This way, you'll feel full even before you start eating all that fattening food!
Fruits
- Pineapple
- Apple
- Berries
- Bananas
- Oranges
- Guavas
- Papayas
- Grapes
What about having a big bowl full of variety of fruits as breakfast everyday!
Starchy foods and carbohydrates
- Legumes and lentils
- Brown rice
- White potatoes – as long as it is not fried
- Sweet potatoes
- Yams
- Whole wheat bread
- Unpolished organic rice
- Millet and grains
Proteins
- Egg white
- Chicken breast (not fried)
- Salmon
- Tuna
If you are in, go for this Surprising Fat Burning Food List!
Quick Tips for Busy Men to Lose Weight
Drink fruit flavored or herbal infused ice cold water. It is almost zero in calories and you don’t really get bored by drinking it all the day.
Eat more water fruits and vegetables. They are low in calories and also keep you fuller. Eat a few pieces or slices of cucumber after every meal. You don’t put extra weight.
Spices, spices and spices! Kick your metabolism with spices. Add a lot of spices in your diet. It not only enhances the flavor profile of the foods, but also helps you lose weight.
Drink barley at home, thrice a week. It helps you reduce the excess fat and help you lose weight. It is also good for relieving water retention.
Eggs are packed with proteins and you can eat it almost every day. Remember if you choose egg for your breakfast; don’t make it a part of breakfast. Eggs actually form your breakfast.
Losing weight is quite an addiction. Once you lost the weight, you will enhance your efforts to shed more and more or do something to manage weight loss. Get addicted to losing weight and your life will be better, howsoever busy it might be!
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