Diets For Men: 20 INSANELY ACTIONABLE Weight Loss Tips
In reality, obesity has become a major issue, especially with men.
Did you know that nearly three out of four men are either overweight or obese according to U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?
If you are a guy, you need to know that losing weight requires discipline, strong will, and the proper plan.
And, we all know that achieving great results requires time, dedication and patience.
To help you get ready for this adventure and put your body in shape in no time, we’ve compiled a list of tips and put in these “diets for men” guide.
So, are you ready to end your relationship with fast-food and start building new healthy eating habits?
We sure are, and we are here to help you get on the right track.
Without further ado, dive right in!
1. Diets For Men – Right Fluids
We are already quite familiar with the fact that drinking water is an essential part of any healthy diets for men.
We need liquids to keep our body hydrated and get rid of waste through urination, perspiration and bowel movements.
Apart from this, drinking both water and other liquids is a bonus for people who want to lose weight.
According to the research, giving people two cups of water before a meal resulted in greater weight loss after only 12 weeks.
How?
It’s simple – liquids fill you up so you don’t feel the need to eat more.
On the contrary, you start eating less.
One of the liquids that can be quite beneficial and can serve as a substitute for a water (if you don’t like drinking water so much) is the tea.
Research indicates that drinking different kinds of tea, like green, black, white is associated with less body fat.
Besides the above mentioned, here are four more reasons why drinking fluids, in most cases it’s water, can help you lose weight in a healthy way.
Water increases calorie burning
– According to research conducted in 2014, 12 people who drank 15 ml of cold and room temperature water experienced a sudden increase in energy expenditure.
This means that drinking cold water increases water’s calorie-burning benefits, allowing the body to expend energy or calories by heating up the water for digestion.
Drinking water can help you decrease overall liquid calorie intake
– There are many liquids which can only accumulate calories in your body and increase your weight.
If you replace these liquids with water, you will no longer feel thirsty, but you will consume only healthy liquids including water and different kinds of tea.
According to some bigger study, men and women who replaced one serving of a sugar-sweetened beverage with water or some other low-calorie drink everyday for four years, gained 0.49 fewer kg more than the other group who made no changes to their consumption of liquids.
Water burns fat
– Without liquids like water, the body cannot metabolize stored fat in a proper way.
Overall, drinking water is a must if you want to burn off fat from food and drink, including stored fat.
Water helps when working out
– Another reason why you should definitely include liquids with less or no sugar in your healthy diet is that they help muscles, connective tissues and joints move correctly.
This is of particular importance when exercising.
In other words, drinking water when working out prevents side effects like muscle cramps or fatigue.
This is why you need to make sure you always drink water during, before and after the workout because this will help you avoid dehydration.
One way to do that is to keep a bottle of water always close at hand, especially if you are exercising in tricky weather conditions like when it is hot, humid or very sunny.
Water is a natural suppressant
– This means that the water sends signals to the brain when the stomach senses that it is full.
Also, some people might think that they are hungry when they are just thirsty.
This is why reaching for a glass of water before having a meal might prevent you from overeating and curb your snacking.
2. Read Nutrition Labels
Although reading nutrition labels might seem to be too demanding and boring, it is actually a must if you are planning to change your eating habits and take care about what you consume on a daily basis.
It will keep you from sabotaging a healthy diet with oversized portions and unhealthy ingredients of processed food.
The most important thing to keep in mind when checking the labels is that you avoid foods with trans fat and sugars.
Instead, try looking for high-fiber foods which contain more than 3 grams of fiber per serving.
Also, keep in mind that the more fresh kinds of foods you add to your diet, the better.
Consuming fresh food will bring you enough essential daily nutrients.
There are a few good reasons why reading nutrition labels is important for healthy diets for men:
It provides you with key information
– By reading the labels you will get an insight into key information including calories, total fat, cholesterol, protein and vitamin content.
This invaluable information will help you stay on track with your daily targets and avoid ingredients that will severely damage your health.
It helps you improve your diet
– Despite a wide range of nutritious foods available on the market, many people fail to get a regular intake of key nutrients.
It is recommended to get at least 25 grams of fiber if you are a female and 38 grams if you are mail.
If you check the labels you will get enough information on how much fiber you are consuming.
For instance, brown bread contains rich amounts of fiber, but this does not refer to all types of brown bread.
For example, some manufacturers tend to use colouring to make bread look healthier which is another reason for you to check the labels whenever you can.
How to read the labels?
Start with the serving information at the top
– This will help you get an insight into the size of a single serving as well as the total number of servings per container.
Check total calories per serving
– Make sure you have a clear knowledge of how many calories you are consuming if you eat the whole package.
For instance, if you double the servings you eat you double the calories and nutrients.
Limit certain nutrients
– Understand what you are looking for.
For instance not all fats are bad and some sugars can include both added sugars and natural.
So choose wisely.
When choosing among different brands or similar products always make sure you compare labels and go for products that have less of these nutrients.
Get enough of beneficial nutrients
– There is a list of nutrients your body needs including dietary fiber, magnesium, potassium, iron, vitamins A, C, D, E.
Understand daily value in %
– If you want to be sure you have a regular intake of nutritious foods that do only good to your body, you need to understand DV (daily value that is expressed in percentages.
If you want to consume foods with less of a nutrient, choose foods with lower % DV.
On the other hand, if you aim to consume more of a nutrient (like, for instance, fiber), choose foods with higher % DV.
3. Start Buying Fruit And Vegetables
If you are surrounded by junk food, you are more likely to eat it any time during the day.
And we have already discussed the bad impact of the processed food on your body and health.
So, the best way to end this bad relationship with processed food is to go to the nearest grocery store and buy fruits and vegetables that you can even eat on the go.
If you are in a hurry and don’t have time to prepare some fresh fruit or vegetable salad, you can even take some canned fruits and vegetables.
The worst thing you can do is to eat a lot of junk food.
However, you need to make sure you consume just the right amount of vegetables and fruits on a daily basis.
In other words, try to consume fruits and vegetables during all three meals per day.
Here are some simple ways you can cut down on calories and substitute them with some nutritious veggies:
Breakfast
– Substitute one of the eggs or half of the cheese with spinach, onions or mushrooms in the early morning omelette.
Vegetables will most certainly add flavour and volume to the meal but decrease the number of calories as well.
Also, if you like eating cereal in the morning, try to cut back on the amount and make room for some peaches, strawberries, cut-up bananas and other ingredients.
You can definitely eat the whole bowl but you will consume less calories in this way.
Lunch
– Ensure that you lighten up your lunch by substituting 2 ounces of cheese or meat in your sandwich or burrito with some vegetables like tomato, lettuce, cucumbers.
This new version will fill you up with fewer calories than usual.
When it comes to soup or stew, make sure you replace noodles or 2 ounces of meat with one cup of chopped vegetables such as carrots, beans, broccoli, red peppers.
This will surely add up to the taste and help you stay on the right track.
Dinner
– Choose your favourite dish and add one cup of chopped vegetables instead of one cup of rice or pasta.
It will be just as satisfying but prevent you from putting more weight.
If you take a good look at your plate you should see that vegetables, grains and fruits take up the largest portion of your plate.
If they don’t replace some of the meat and cheese with asparagus, greens and other favourite vegetables.
However, do note that none of this makes sense if you use a large platter, and not a regular plate.
In other words, if you are planning to start consuming more vegetables and fruits, it’s very important to take smaller portions and not overeat.
Every calorie counts even if it comes from fruits and vegetables.
Besides these three regular meals, you can also have snacks. Snack can be an apple or a banana with only 100 calories.
Here are some fruits and vegetables with about 100 calories or less:
– A mid-size apple (72 calories)
– A mid-size banana (105 calories)
– 1 cup steamed beans (44 calories)
– 1 cup blueberries (83 calories)
– 1 cup grapes (100 calories)
– 1 cup carrots (45 calories)
And, remember, substitution is the key!
4. Dip Into Calcium
According to a study published in the Journal of Nutrition overweight study participants on a high-dairy, calcium-rich diet lost more visceral fat than those who ate low amounts of dairy.
By adding some calcium to your meal, you will strengthen the bones and enjoy more weight loss.
One possible reason why people who eat calcium-rich foods and seem to manage their weight more effectively is that they go for healthy and filling foods that are high in calories but low in nutrition.
While there are no specific recommendations when it comes to the amount of calcium that could aid weight loss, the studies were based on national guidelines for healthy adults of 1000 mg daily, and 1200 mg a day for those over 50.
Also, a review of studies on the link between dietary calcium intake and body weight suggests that calcium seems to bind more fatty acids in the intestine, thereby inhibiting the absorption of some fats.
The review concluded that “calcium and dairy food intake can influence many components of energy and fat balance”.
Here are some good sources of calcium you should consider in your diet:
– Broccoli
– Cheddar cheese
– Canned sardines, in oil, with bones
– Dark leafy greens
– Calcium fortified juice and other foods
– Tofu with calcium added
– Non-fat dairy products such as yoghurt or skim milk
Here are a few more ways you can add calcium to your diet:
Buy low-fat or skim milk.
For example, around two cups of skim milk has only 190 calories and a higher calcium content than full-fat milk.
So, if you drink at least three cups of skim milk during the day, you will get just the right amount of calcium you need.
Have yoghurt as a snack
– Another way how you can easily add some calcium in your diet is to include yoghurt which is also a significant source of calcium.
You can even add some berries, dried fruit to your yogurt without decreasing its benefits.
For instance, an eight-ounce serving of fruit yoghurt has approximately 345 milligrams of calcium.
Also, you can add calcium-rich nuts to increase the calcium value in your yoghurt.
Eat mature cheeses
– Despite the popular belief that you should not eat cheese when on a diet, it is actually advisable to eat some of them.
For example, mature cheeses such as Parmesan or aged cheddar can help you lose weight and are a huge source of calcium.
Just pay attention to your serving sizes.
If you check the nutrition labels, you can easily calculate the milligrams of calcium in food by finding the daily value percentage and adding a zero.
For instance, if you read that the yoghurt will provide you with 30 percent of calcium, you will know that it contains around 300 mg of calcium.
Apart from foods that contain calcium, you can also choose calcium supplements.
However, it is always a better option to choose calcium-rich foods over supplements because they will bring you much more benefits to your entire body and health.
5. Cut Back On Alcohol
According to American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, men put additional 433 calories a day when consuming alcoholic drinks.
We all know that drinking alcohol can do nothing but harm to your body as it has a negative impact on the liver, skin, and numerous organ systems.
But, did you know that it can significantly increase your weight?
Energy content of one gram of alcohol is 7.1 kcal which means that it can significantly boost your weight.
For instance, weight gain can be easily seen in heavy drinkers.
Also, different kinds of alcohol have a different impact on the body weight.
Male drinkers are much more prone to gaining weight from alcohol than women.
You can gain weight when consuming alcohol regardless of what age you are.
On top of this, keep in mind that almost any kind of alcoholic drink except for red wine can lead to weight gain.
But how can alcohol lead to gain weight?
Here are a few facts you need to be aware of:
Alcohol consumption leads to a positive energy balance
– However, you should keep in mind that not all calories are equal.
For instance, fibre is much healthier than alcohol and there is a difference in how your body treats calories that come from fibre.
The fact is that your body has a limited capacity to digest fibre which is why it absorbs a very small amount of calories from it and get rid of the rest.
On the other hand, calories coming from alcohol are much different.
Due to its different structure, alcohol is much more easily absorbed and broken into energy by your liver.
This means that most of the alcohol you consume is instantly turned into energy creating a positive energy balance inside your body.
When you add alcohol to your daily diet, it does nothing but add some weight.
It increases your appetite
– Other things you should definitely keep in mind is that drinking alcohol increases your appetite making you eat more even if you are not hungry.
To prove this theory the researchers at the University of Liverpool conducted a research which proved that those people who consumed energy of higher strength ate much more than those that didn’t.
For instance, people who drank alcohol consumed 30% more calories at lunch.
Overall, researchers are still not sure why alcohol increases appetite but they presume that’s because it has an effect on hunger hormones.
It triggers snacking
– Besides making people want to eat more and have more meals per day, alcohol also makes people have frequent snacks.
According to research led by the university in Liverpool snacking was much more frequent among heavy drinkers.
Also, people tend to have more snacks when they are out in some bar drinking than when they are at home.
On top of this, there is an important link between alcohol and binge eating.
Based on the research 71% of drinkers are binge eaters too.
It alters fat distribution in the body
– The fact is that alcohol decreases fat breakdown and can even stimulate fat synthesis and its deposition.
Drinking beer for example can cause beer-belly and sometimes even the chances of man-boobs because alcohol increases the level of the feminizing hormone “estrogen”.
6. Avoid Going On Magic Diets For Men
No matter how attractive some diets for men may sound, fad diets don’t work in most cases because they function as deprivation diets which essentially means that they keep you away from consuming enough calories that your body needs.
For example, if you one day decided you want to lose 50 pound in just one day, it’s not going to happen.
Why?
Because once you deprive yourself of the food you like to eat, you will instantly want to eat more and more frequently.
While you may lose some weight in no time, you will also gain it back more easily and maybe put some more additional pounds that you definitely don’t need.
Here are a few essential reasons why you should definitely avoid fad diets for men:
The first and the most important thing you need to know is that fad diets simply don’t work!
Essentially, they give short-term results and don’t bring any good to your body or mind.
So, you will fail to establish healthy eating habits and end up thinking only about food.
You start living a yo-yo lifestyle
– This means that you lose and gain weight repeatedly which is considered to be extremely unhealthy as it can cause many problems with the balance in your body.
It can also place a strain on your heart which is something you want to avoid for sure.
These diets for men often cause you to lose lean muscle.
Fad diets create a drop in your metabolic rate and then decrease the number of kilojoules.
To maintain your body weight, you then have to eat less and less.
Once you finish your diet, you regain your weight quickly and more easily than ever before.
The fad diets for men can cost you a lot of money.
These magical diets often require you to spend a small fortune on meal replacements, diet drinks, appetite suppressants and diet-books.
For example, Australians tend to spend around $ 500 million each year, and another $ 18 million on appetite suppressants alone.
While it is advisable to avoid all the fad diets for men, here are the tree diets you certainly must avoid because they can have a seriously adverse effect on your body and health:
The alkaline diet
– People who support this diet believe that by changing the food they eat they will miraculously consume more alkaline and eat less acidic food which will change the PH balance of their blood and reduce health risks.
However, this diet is based on the misunderstanding of human psychology.
If you start this diet you will most likely lose weight and eat more healthy.
However, it has nothing to do with the acid or alkali content of foods.
Pioppi diet
– This diet recommends a higher level of fat compared to the traditional Mediterranian diet where deities are advised to eat more nuts, fish, vegetables, legumes and avoid food like starchy carbs and sweetened treats.
However, this diet excludes foods like pasta, rice and bread and uses the phrase “clean meat” encouraging people to starve themselves 24 hours at a time every week.
Ketogenic diet
– This diet for men include very low carb, high fat and moderate protein intake.
Also, it excludes foods like most fruits and starchy vegetables, soy, dairy.
This diet works like any other diet by cutting total calories and removing foods people tend to overeat.
There are certain side effects you need to be aware of like: digestive discomfort, nausea, increased hunger, sleep problems, poor exercise performance and so on.
The bottom line: it requires you to carefully plan your eating habits so that you would ensure balance of heart and gut health.
7. Think Twice About Protein Drinks
Younger men are the main users of protein drinks as they consider them to be essential ingredients in their efforts to put their body into shape as soon as possible.
However, protein drinks have downsides as well.
Protein drinks may cause you to pack on pounds.
Basically, any extra protein is a source of energy that can increase your weight.
Also, according to a recent study, many of the top-selling protein powders and drinks might contain substances like mercury, lead, arsenic, and other toxic metals which can have a severe impact on your health as well.
The easiest way to avoid is to get proteins from food and not from supplements or protein drinks.
Even if you decide to consume protein shakes, you need to keep track of your daily calorie intake, and figure out your daily energy budget and make sure you can afford the calories in your shake.
Without a nutritionist and a metabolic testing, it’s really hard to get the exact number.
However, you can get a good idea by using your age, sex and activity levels as guides.
For example, according to the research conducted by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a woman who is moderately active needs around 2000 calories a day.
On the other hand, a man needs around 2600 calories a day.
But, a man who is not physically active needs around 2400 calories a day, while a woman needs around 1800 calories.
Researchers recommended that an average person should consume around 0.36 grams of protein on a daily basis.
A man who is physically active needs 0.5 or 0.6 grams of protein per pound which is 64 to 103 grams per day.
However, you don’t need protein drinks to get there.
Instead of protein drinks, have a cup of oatmeal with a hard-boiled egg, sliced almonds, a turkey sandwich with cheese, a sweet potato, a five spear of broccoli, 4 ounces of salmon and you’re up to 93 grams.
Also, if you are not exercising, you need to make sure that protein drinks fit into your diet.
That is, you need to ensure that a protein powder contains nutritious ingredients.
In most cases these protein shakers turn into sweet calorie-rich ingredients that do nothing but bad to your body weight and health.
These ingredients quickly pack on calories, especially if you have a tendency to just throw ingredients into blender without measuring, which is what many people do.
One thing that is even worse than this are pre-formulated protein shakes.
To make them tastier manufacturers tend to add sugar and other non-nutritive ingredients.
The easiest way to avoid these proteins rich in calories is to read the labels just to make sure you are not buying desserts instead of nutritious meals.
The ideal scenario is to use fewer than 3 grams of sugar per serving.
8. Make A Date With Your Nutritionist
The first thing most people do once they decide to start a diet for men and build new healthy eating habits is to start searching for a variety of diets online.
However, what most of them seem to forget is to make an appointment with their doc and go for a checkup.
The doctor or nutritionist will help you get on the right track and set some diet-related goals for long-term health based on what you find out from test results.
Nutritionists will spend their time discussing with you your current eating habits, daily routine, food preferences, health issues and other factors that can impact your diet.
Finally, they will help you develop a strategy that perfectly suit your needs without making you starve.
Here are a few steps you need to take to choose a dietician that will guide you through the whole process of losing weight and putting your body into shape again:
Decide what kind of nutritionist you would like to meet and have consultations with.
You can consult from a registered dietitian, a degreed nutritionist, or a certified clinical nutritionist.
Keep in mind that degreed nutritionists and registered dietitians need to have at least a Bachelor’s degree in nutrition.
There are also certified nutritionist who can get certificates by attending classes and passing a test.
Once you choose your nutritionist, it’s important to prepare yourself by recording everything in your journal, from all the food you eat to the amount of food you eat on a daily basis.
You just be honest if you want your nutritionist to help you and give you the right diet.
Try to record the exact time that you ate along with everything that you ate and drank for two weekdays and one day on the weekend.
The next step is to take your journal to the nutritionist and ask them what you can do to change your eating habits and make them more healthy.
Your nutritionist will look at your meals, analyse them and try to give you a few useful tips on how you can change that routine and build a new better and healthier one.
Your nutritionist might also educate you about the foods you still haven’t tried but you should, as well as about the foods you are consuming on a regular basis but you shouldn’t.
Ask your nutritionist to provide you with a sample meal plan, including the groceries you are allowed to consume and a few recipes for preparing healthy meals.
While a nutritionist has many resources to give you to help you lose weight, it’s important that you tell him what you want so that he can be more specific.
Also, be patient and follow your nutritionist’s recommendations diligently because it’s the only way you can lose weight more steadily.
Finally, exercise at least four days a week for around 30 minutes.
Diet is an important factor on your weight loss.
However, if you don’t exercise, it would be much harder for you to lose weight.
So find an activity that you love and be active as often as possible.
9. Cut Way Back On Meat
We have already pointed out that a regular intake of fruit and vegetables is mandatory if you want to lose weight and build healthy eating habits.
Besides that, you should try to decrease the amount of meat you consume on a daily basis.
According to one research, that is meta analysis published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, people who stuck to a vegetarian or a vegan diet lost roughly 10 pounds.
Besides that, it turned out that those people lost more weight as they grew older.
Besides losing weight and getting into shape in the long run, there is also another important reason why you should cut back on meat – it has a bad impact on the heart.
The research has proved that one in three men over 40 will die from heart diseases.
So eating plant-based diets for men is the best way to optimise endothelial nitric oxide levels for cardiovascular protection and health.
What’s more, Mediterranen diet which is heavy in fats like fatty fish, nuts, eggs, olive oil lowers the risk of suffering from heart diseases and certain types of cancers.
Here are a few steps you should take to decrease the amount of meat you consume on a weekly basis:
Take proteins from other sources
– As we have already discussed, a regular protein intake is very important.
Since meat is one of the main sources of proteins, most people find it hard to cut back on meat.
However, there are many alternatives to meat that can provide you with just enough amount of proteins.
Consider the calories in meat
– To get a clear view of how many calories there are in meat, you should always check the labels.
For instance, processed meat are really high in fat, sodium na calories and are definitely not healthy for weight loss.
Unfortunately, many people tend to eat more than one serving of these meats, so starting a non-meat protein diet is a sure way to save a large number of calories.
Review the research
– Giving up meat, poultry and seafood can help you reduce the number of calories and get fit more easily and quickly.
As a matter of fact, a January 2016 review article in the Journal of General Internal Medicine pointed out that people who were practicing vegetarian diet lost more weight than the ones that practiced non-vegetarian diet.
On top of this, a vegan diet has proved to be really effective.
This diet excludes all animal products and sheds more weight than a vegetarian diet that includes eggs and dairy products.
Overall, you need to keep in mind that if you want to lose weight the right way, you need to make some other changes besides giving up meat.
For example, try eating low-energy-density foods which include salads, fruit, broth-based soups.
Cutting back on around 500 calories a day will make a difference and help you lose up to a pound a week.
Ideally, you should exercise from 30 to 60 minutes a day.
10. Eat Slowly
If you want to build new habits and start living a healthier lifestyle, you need to slow down and start eating your food with patience, especially if you are over 40.
Those meals wolfed down in your car are doing no favors to your metabolism.
BMJ journal reveals that slow eating does not only increase satiety but it also helps regulate hormonal response in your gut.
In this way you will manage to curb your cravings and prevent pounds from piling.
Here are a few reasons why this method actually works;
Eating slowly helps you eat less
– After having a meal, your gut suppresses a hormone called ghrelin whose main role is to control your hunger and release fullness hormones at the same time.
In other words, this hormone tells your brain that you have eaten and that there is no need for you to continue eating.
Since this process takes about 20 minutes, you need to slow down the process so that your brain has enough time to receive the signals.
Eat slowly, chew thoroughly
– Another thing to keep in mind is that by eating slowly you chew food thoroughly before swallowing which can help you reduce calorie intake and ultimately lose some weight.
Eating too fast can cause weight gain
– If you are eating quickly, you are definitely more likely to put on some weight.
Actually, fast eaters are up to 115% more likely to become obese than slow eaters.
Plus, they gain more weight over time as they tend to eat too fast.
There are many studies that support this fact.
For example, in one study in over 4000 middle-aged adults, the ones who pointed out that they tend to eat much faster had gained the most body weight since age 20.
If you have this bad habit of eating too quickly without slowing down your pace and actually enjoying the food you consume, here are a few tips on how to overcome this problem and start eating more slowly:
Turn of your screens while eating
– Make sure that all of the electronic devices that draw your attention are turned off when you are having your meals.
Use a timer
– The easiest way to check your pace is to actually time yourself. Set your kitchen timer for 20 minutes, and make sure you don’t finish the meal before you hear the buzzing sound.
Be patient
– You need to embrace the fact that changing eating habits takes around 66 days and that you will need some patience if you want to achieve your goals.
Drink water
– Instead of eating too quickly, take some time to drink a glass of water or other zero-calorie beverages especially before your meals.
Practice mindful eating
– One of the ways you can start eating slowly is to stay focused on the food you consume and pay more attention to what you are eating. In this way you will be able to control your cravings.
Take deep breaths
– There is no need for you to eat quickly. Instead, take some time and have a deep breath.
This will help you refocus and get back on track.
Choose the foods that need chewing
– Instead of going for foods that you can eat quickly, choose the food that requires you to chew such as vegetables, nuts, fruits and others.
On top of this, fiber can also help you lose some weight.
Avoid extreme hunger
– Don’t wait for the last moment when you get extremely hungry and cannot control your cravings.
If you are feeling hungry, keep some healthy snacks on hand.
Chew more
– Try counting how many times you normally chew one bite of food.
This will help you stay focused on food.
You will be amazed at how little you actually chew.
11. Start Your Meals With An Apple
You probably know that old saying: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
Besides being extremely healthy an apple can help you lose weight and fight belly fat.
Namely, a medium-sized apple packs around 4.5 grams of filling fiber which is about 12 percent of men’s RDA.
Apples’ peels are full of pectin which is a fiber that is highly effective at boosting healthy gut bacteria.
This can help you rev your metabolism.
On top of this red apples are packed with phytochemical which can help you reduce joint pain caused by arthritis as well as resveratrol that helps you fight belly fat.
Here are a few things you need to know about the positive impact apples can have on your health and weight loss;
Low calorie density
– Apples have a lot of water.
Did you now that a medium-sized apple has around 86% of water.
Foods rich in water are quite filling which often leads to reduced calorie intake.
Besides being filling, water lowers calories density significantly.
There are also studies that support this theory.
Namely, foods with lower calorie density promote reduced calorie intake, fullness and weight loss.
Apples have high weight-loss-friendly fiber
– Apples are excellent food that can help you reach your recommended fiber intake.
For example, a medium-sized apple contains around 4 grams of fiber which is 16% of recommended fiber intake for women and 11% for men.
This quantity of fiber is extremely high when taking into account the low calorie content.
Fiber is very beneficial when it comes to losing weight because, according to many studies, it can significantly reduce the risk of obesity.
Essentially, fiber slows down digestion processes and make you feel full with fewer calories.
This is why all kinds of foods that are rich in fiber are highly recommended by many nutritionists.
Apples are very filling
– As we mentioned before the combination of fiber and water in apples make them extremely feeling.
This is why many nutritionists recommend eating one apple for a snack.
On top of this you need much more time to eat an apple when compared to the foods that do not have fiber.
And we have already pointed out that the eating duration plays an important role in losing weight.
The longer you you eat the better.
This filling effect can help you control your appetite and lose some weight.
Besides helping you reduce body weight, apples have a number of other benefits.
Here are some of them:
– They are full of vitamins including vitamin K, vitamin B6, manganese and copper.
– Apples have a low glycemic index which measures blood sugar levels after eating.
– They improve heart health – the combination of fiber, nutrients and antioxidants can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease.
– They have anticancer effect – apples are antioxidants which means they can prevent certain types of cancer.
– They improve brain function – according to many studies, apples can prevent diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and other mental illnesses.
12. Indulge Your Inner Chococolic
Most of us cannot imagine our lives without sweets, and the queen of sweets is chocolate.
However, if you are aiming at losing your weight, you should definitely cut down on sweets as much as possible because they are certainly the biggest enemies of your body.
Still, ditching dessert entirely is not an easy task.
Actually by adding some chocolate to your diet you may help you reach your weight loss goals.
Again, according to the research carried out by Louisiana State University, eating chocolate, especially dark chocolate can help improve insulin sensitivity, trigger weight loss and promote heart health.
Check out some ways how chocolate can help you lose weight:
A little chocolate can keep your cravings under control
– Consuming small amounts of chocolate can help you control your appetite and prevent the feeling of being hungry all the time.
Also, by having a chocolate bar or two can help you avoid the temptation of consuming some other sweets and foods that are much richer in calories than chocolate itself.
Chocolate lowers your body mass index
– Most nutritionists and professional dieticians use an index called BMI (Body Mass Index) that helps them determine whether the individuals have the right weight or not.
Studies have shown that an occasional consumption of dark chocolate can help you lower this number over time.
Chocolate reduces stress
– We all know that one of the things that trigger anxiety is stress that most of us experience once in a while due to the fast-paced modern times.
However, there is a solution to this!
Consuming small amounts of chocolate can increase serotonin and endorphin levels which prevents or reduces feelings of anxiety.
So, incorporating a little bit of chocolate into your everyday diet is actually advisable.
You will feel full for a longer period of time – chocolate makes you feel fuller which will make you eat during other meals.
What’s so special about dark chocolate is that it is loaded with monounsaturated fatty acids that will boost your metabolism and allow your body to burn calories and fat much more easily and quickly.
You may want to exercise more
– Exercising is an essential component of healthy living.
If you are planning to lose weight, you should include exercising in your daily schedule.
However, most people find it hard to get used to doing regular exercises.
Dark chocolate plays a major role here as well.
It contains anti-inflammatory properties that make dark chocolate that cause less pain during exercising and instantly make the whole experience of going to the gym more exciting.
All in all, if you want to lose some weight and still indulge your inner chocoholic, you should include chocolate in your daily diet.
However, make sure not to overeat.
Taking a bar of dark chocolate is enough to keep you active and control your cravings.
13. Eat More Often
One of the things many people who start dieting do wrong is starving themselves.
Or even worse – they overeat when they get hungry.
Instead of eating a whole box of donuts at once, try eating healthy food a few times during the day.
This can help you prevent metabolic lulls which will keep your body work like a well-oiled machine that burns off extra calories in your body and helps you maintain your energy.
In fact, the research suggests that heavier people seem to eat less often.
On the other hand, again based on the research, people who have normal weight or are slightly obese eat more frequently during the day, at least 5 or 6 times a day. Here are some potential benefits of eating a few times a day:
If you eat a few times a day, you increase a sense of fullness and you don’t feel so hungry.
In reality, once people feel hungry, they will start eating great amounts of unhealthy food like pizza or sweets.
This can lead to eating too much at one sitting.
If you eat more frequently during the day, there’s more chance that you will consume healthier food like vegetables, whole grain, fruits, etc.
Keep in mind though that you have to pay close attention to the kind of food you eat.
Eating a few times during the day will not have any positive impact on your body weight if you choose foods that are rich in calories.
Here are some steps you need to take to build a habit of eating more frequently during the day:
Choose healthy foods that satisfy hunger such as fish, vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains.
Be mindful
– You need to learn to make a difference between feeling a real hunger and feeling boredom that makes you want to eat more in quantity.
Keep track of what you eat
– One way to always know what you’re eating and how much is to keep a diary of what you eat and how many calories you consume daily.
Plan ahead
– To have a clear view of the meals you will have in the upcoming period, it’s advisable for you to plan your meals. In this way you will not skip your meals and you will avoid overeating.
Join a community
– Try eating with someone who also follows the same mission as you do and who is also focused on changing their eating habits. Making lifestyle changes is always more fun when other people are involved in this process.
With all this in mind, go ahead and stock your kitchen fridge with healthy foods that will add tons of diversity to your meals and keep your diet healthy.
Also, make sure you indulge in a few treats from time to time so that you would not feel anxious or stressed out.
If you stay determined to achieving your goal, and focused on eating less but more frequently, you are on the right track of getting into shape in no time.
14. Make Whole Grains A Priority
Swapping processed foods in favour of whole grains will put you on the right track and help you get rid of those not so lovely handles.
This way you will get your weight where you want it to be as you are getting older.
Based on a study conducted by Tufts University, consuming three or more daily servings of whole grains can reduce your belly fat by almost 10 percent.
What’s so good about whole grains is that they pack more fiber than their counterparts allowing you to feel full.
On top of this, whole grains also promote the growth of metabolism-boosting bacteria in your stomach.
Check out a few ideas on how you can integrate whole grains into your everyday diet:
Have a bowl of whole-grain oatmeal for breakfast
– Choose old-fashioned oats or steel-cut oats without added sugar to get the full flavour and a maximum nutrition your body needs.
You can even try cooking them old “growing oatmeal” style.
Snack on whole-grain crackers
– Make sure you find whole-grain crackers that have simple ingredients and lots of fiber.
You can add some veggies, avocado, nut butter or hummus as well.
If you want to get sandwich substitute, add turkey slices, yellow mustard or tomato slices.
You can also use whole-grain cereal to “clean” your favorite foods.
Experiment with a clever kitchen hack by trading hot oil and white flour for high-fiber cereal and eggs.
Create crunchy “fried chicken” the healthy way.
Here are some examples of whole grain:
– Whole oats/oatmeal
– Triticale
– Millet
– Quinoa
– Sorghum
– Brown rice
– Whole rye
– Popcorn
– Whole wheat
– Whole-grain corn
– Wild rice
Keep in mind that foods with labels with words like “multi-grain”, “cracked wheat”, “bran”, “seven-grain”, etc.in most cases are not whole-grain products.
Also, colour is not something that will help you recognise whole grain.
For instance, bread can be brown because it has molasses or some other ingredients that create that colour.
According to doctor Collins, two weeks should be enough to see the first positive results of consuming whole-grain products.
Also, if you are not comfortable with consuming the above listed whole-grain foods, you can experiment and find the ones that work best for you and your family.
Once you find the various brands of sandwich bread, hot and cold breakfast cereals, and pasta you like, you will easily get used to eating whole-grain foods as often as possible, and therefore change your eating habits.
15. Consume Less Processed Food
Of the biggest dangers of processed food is sodium that most of them contain.
In a nutshell, too much sodium can have quite a negative impact on your heart and can even cause a lot of future health problems.
People over the age of two should consume around 2300 mg of sodium a day.
Even though this might seem like a lot, it actually isn’t.
Once you start checking the labels, you will instantly realise that sodium is quickly adding up.
So, why does highly processed food make you fat?
Basically, processed foods tend to go through a number of manufacturing steps before they are produced.
These foods contain ingredients like hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, flavoring agents and emulsifiers.
One of the biggest advantages of highly processed foods is that they are ready to be eaten and require almost no preparation which comes pretty handy to a large number of people in today’s fast-paced modern age.
On top of this, they do not cost much, they are pretty affordable to the masses and can substitute a regular meal.
Here are some examples of highly-processed foods:
– Energy bars
– Flavoured yoghurt
– Candy
– Chips
– White bread
– Store-bought ice-cream
– Soft drinks
– Infant formula
– Sweetened breakfast cereals
– Hot dogs
– Instant noodles
Consuming whole foods instead of highly processed foods can significantly improve your health and help you live a healthier lifestyle.
They can even reduce your risk of suffering from serious conditions like cancer.
However, as we have mentioned above, the biggest problem with processed foods is that they are everywhere around us.
They are generally more convenient, affordable and tastier.
This is what makes them very popular.
If you want to lose weight you need to make some changes in order to limit the amount of processed foods you consume daily.
Researchers also found that ultra processed food made people feel hungrier at the hormonal level.
To help you make these changes, we’ve compiled a list of tips you can implement in your daily eating plan:
Cook food at your home using fresh ingredients.
This is the best and most surefire way you will reduce the amount of processed foods you eat.
Whenever you are eating out, ensure that you think carefully about what kind of food you will choose.
For example, choose veggies and light foods keeping sodium in check.
Skip sweet drinks, cut down on desserts and manage your portions.
Whenever you go to the supermarket, make sure you fill your basket with fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and other nutritious and healthy kinds of food.
Build a habit of checking ingredient lists and nutrition facts so that you would know what kind of food to focus on when shopping for groceries.
Read labels diligently and opt for products with fewer ingredients.
Also, be aware that eating highly processed food unquestionably makes you want to eat more.
So try to avoid it as much and as often as possible if you are aiming to get into shape.
16. Spice It Up
If you are virtuous and eating healthier food is leaving you gastronomically unfulfilled, maybe it’s time you started adding some spices to your meals.
In this way your food will not be so plain and light and you will enjoy it much more. In other words, if you can make your diet taste, there won’t be no reason not to diet, right?
If you want to add flavour, you need to look for some new spices and herbs.
They will be perfect substitutes for sugar, junk, sodium and calories.
This will encourage you to continue dieting.
Herbs will make your food tastier, but they will also boost your metabolism, which will ultimately burn your fat and decrease your body weight significantly.
Here are the eight herbs that will help you on your road to success:
Cayenne pepper
– The best thing about this pepper is that it raises the body temperature which speeds up your metabolism turning your body into power machine.
The higher the metabolism the more calories your body will burn.
In fact, adding these herbs to your body can help you burn up to 100 calories per meal which is quite a good amount of calories when you consider the impact this will have on a monthly basis.
Just sprinkle cayenne pepper on nuts, eggs soup and dips to add that extra flavour.
Cumin
– If you want to burn three times more fat than usual, try adding cumin to your meals whenever you can.
On top of this, cumin can create an amazing flavour to your food and can be added to literally any food you want including bread, veggies, dressing, pulses, soups, etc.
Rosemary
– Another way to increase metabolism rate is to use rosemary as one of the primary spices.
What you need to know is that you should soak these green pointed leaves in boiling water for a few minutes before you add them to your food.
This strained water can be consumed lukewarm during any part of the day but not on an empty stomach.
Overall, this spice aids digestion and weight loss and should be used as frequently as possible to get the best results.
Ginger
– Ginger is well-known for its ability to control blood sugar levels and prevent a spike in your glucose levels after taking a carb or a sugar rich diet.
Just like cayenne pepper and turmeric, this amazing spice has thermogenic effect, meaning it can burn fat easily and quickly. You can add ginger to various kinds of foods like fish, salads, fruits, tea and many others.
Black pepper
– Black pepper is another indian spice worth mentioning.
This super powerful spice is a cousin to cayenne pepper and it is rich in piperine, an ingredients that gives black pepper its unique flavour.
The most amazing thing about this spice is that it prevents the formation of fat cells and helps you lose a lot of weight in the long run. If you want to achieve the best results, try combining black pepper with cayenne pepper.
Cardamom
– Cardamon is also known as elaichi.
It has the most unique flavour you can imagine, which is why you should definitely use it in your everyday meal.
Like cayenne pepper and turmeric, it also has thermogenic power which can have a great impact on your body weight loss.
Another thing that you need to take into account here is that cardamon prevents formation of gas which makes you feel uneasy and bloated.
To lose weight faster, feel free to add a pinch or two of cardamon to your food.
Turmeric
– Based on the study conducted by Tufts University, this great spice can help you lose weight instantly.
In this study, there were two groups of mice.
One group was fed with curcumin and the other one was not. In the end, the mice that had curcumin lost more weight than the other one that didn’t.
Like a few previously mentioned spices, turmeric also increases body heat which consequently boosts metabolism and provides various health benefits.
Cinnamon
– Cinnamon is known as a spice that curbs cravings making you feel full the whole day. It is advisable to add cinnamon to your oatmeal and mix it with yoghurt or even put it in your tea.
Also, it’s good to add cinnamon to your chicken and other kinds of meat.
17. Add Probiotics To Your Diet
Probiotics are a type of beneficial bacteria that can have a very significant impact on your health, especially digestive system.
In a nutshell, bacteria in your gut play a major role when it comes to your body health – they affect everything from the immune system to mental health.
Including probiotics in your daily meals may increase fat burning and help you control your weight.
According to one review where around 15 people were involved in the experiment, the group that took probiotics experienced larger reductions in body weight, body mass index and fat percentage compared to the group that didn’t take any probiotics.
While you can take a concentrated dose of probiotics on a daily basis, it’s always better to consume real food rich in probiotics instead.
Foods that are probiotic-rich include kefir, yoghurt, tempeh, natto, kimchi, kombucha, sauerkraut, etc.
Here are a few tips on how you should take probiotics daily:
Eat on an empty stomach
– When you are hungry, your stomach acid levels are lower.
This is just the right time to consume probiotics as they will allow for the most digestion possible. In other words, less will be lost in the process.
Eat prebiotic fiber
– This kind of fiber allows probiotics to be as effective as possible. Some of the prebiotic fibers include the following foods: onions, leeks, garlic, jicama, etc.
Find foods that have multiple bacteria
– Luckily, there is a wide range of foods that contain plenty of healthy bacteria that you can easily find on today’s market. Focus on finding these kinds of foods.
They will help you a lot in your efforts to reshape your body and start living a healthier lifestyle.
Don’t drink chlorinated water or even use it for cooking
– Do you know that chlorine is added to water to kill bacteria?
Be mindful that if chlorine kills bacteria in your water it will also kill bacteria in your gut leading to imbalance.
Here are some of the probiotics you should definitely include in your daily meals:
– Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus amylovorus: According to research these two probiotics are best probiotics for weight loss.
– Lactobacillus gasseri: Research shows that this kind of probiotics can have a huge impact on body weight and can significantly decrease body fat.
– Lactobacillus acidophilus: Interestingly, this probiotic does not decrease body weight. However, when combined with some other probiotics it can lead to amazing results and help you reshape your body in the long run.
– Lactobacillus rhamnosus: We mustn’t forget this one as it is directly linked to weight loss, probably more than other probiotics listed above.
More and more research proves that getting the right probiotics into your system can have an enormous impact on your body shape, especially when they are combined with a healthy diet and staying active.
So, yes, probiotics can really supercharge your weight loss and make your journey to a better looking body much easier and stress-free.
To find out which probiotics suit you and your body the best, do thorough research and find out what benefits they can bring to your body.
18. Increase Your Iron Intake
Unquestionably, one of the most important minerals you should regularly consume through food or supplements is iron. Iron is highly beneficial as it controls your thyroid gland whose role is to regulate metabolism.
So, the lack of iron will have a bad effect on the thyroid gland which may cause fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath and other unwanted body reactions.
According to many studies, people who were treated for iron deficiency experienced reductions on body weight as well as body mass index.
So to avoid a number of health issues and decrease your body weight in a healthy way, make sure you incorporate plenty of iron in your diet.
You can find iron in a variety of foods like paulty, seafood, fortified grains and cereals, leafy green vegetables, beans and dried fruits, etc.
19. Start Your Meals With Soup
According to Penn State Research, beginning a meal with a low calorie soup can help you consume up to 20 percent fewer calories in general.
Now you’re asking how this is possible! Well, soup is liquid which means that it will fill you up much faster than any other food.
However, make sure you go with low-cal kinds of food like French onion or spinach-and-tomato soup.
N the other hand soups like creamy potato and white-bean chilli will take tons of calories which is something you want to avoid.
20. Make The Most Of The Gym
If you are already going to the gym, then you are on the right track!
To achieve even better results and make the most of your training, go to the gym with a plan.
If you can afford it, work with a fitness professional to develop a workout plan tailored just to you.
Going in with an idea as to what kind of workout you want to do will help you a lot in your efforts to stay fit and shape the body the way you want to.
Losing weight can seem like an uphill battle, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
By implementing some effective but simple tips, you can help your body work with you instead of against you when it comes to reaching your ultimate weight loss goals.
So, give these tips a try. You will be surprised at how much easier you will lose weight and how much better you will feel both physically and mentally.
Here are a few activities you can do:
Lift weights.
Develop an exercise plan that includes heavy weights.
Build more muscle, burn more calories.
Make sure to cut down on rest time between sets.
This keeps your heart rate elevated, causing an increase in calories burned.
Use these tips to lift heavy the smart way.
Do intervals.
Study after study continues to show intervals are more effective and time efficient than longer activity performed at a lower intensity.
This super-simple partner interval workout gets the job done quickly.
Do full body exercises.
Whether you’re aiming to lose weight or not you shouldn’t just focus on one area of your body.
Instead, incorporate exercises that use your whole body.
Think: pushups, deadlifts, chin-ups, squats.
You’ll get more bang for your buck out of each workout. If you have trouble hitting the gym after work, wake up early to exercise.
But, whatever you do, make sure you stay active, because it is a surefire way to burn more calories.
This means not sitting in front of a computer, TV, phone, etc all day. Just by standing you’ll burn more and be more productive.
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator can help burn more calories, too.
Naturally, this won’t make or break success, but every little bit is helpful when it comes to physical activity.
Wrap Up
We hope that the tips we have compiled in this article will bring you a load of benefits and be of huge help on your journey of losing weight and getting your body back to shape again.
However, none of these tips make much sense if you don’t show your willingness and determination to stay disciplined and do whatever is in your power to achieve your goals.
Not only will you get the body you have been dreaming of, but you will also change your eating habits and start living a much healthier life.
All in all, you will feel much better which will reflect on all other aspects of your life.
So, don’t wait up!
Start implementing these amazing diets for men tips, and you’ll feel much better in no time!
These tips are your checklist!