Losing weight - it’s all about maths!
When actress Renee Zellweger was asked how she gained the weight for her role in the movie the “Bridget Jones’ Diary,” and lost it after the movie, she said, “It’s really just maths.”
In other words, if you eat more calories than you use, in the long-term, it will lead to weight gain; and if you eat less than what you expend, you’ll lose. It’s pretty simple: it’s all about calories in and calories out.
Now who doesn’t know that? But though this formula is simple in theory, most people find it difficult to put into practice. Mostly because not many of us understand how to go about it.
It’s easy. Read on.
It takes eating about 3,500 calories extra to gain a pound (about half a kg). That means all you have to do is eat 100 extra calories a day (100 x 365 days) and you’ll put on about 10 pounds (4.5 kg) a year. That’s a scary proposition.
But the good news here is that the same rule holds good when you are tying to loose weight. Meaning eating 100 calories less each day for a year or using up 100 extra calories every day will make you lighter by four and a half kgs.
Doing both - eating less and burning more (100 calories each) per day will net you 20 pounds (9 kg) loss. Similarly you could slash 250 calories a day to lose about 25 pounds, slash 500 calories a day to lose about 50 pounds in a year.
It’s plain and simple maths.
Listed here are 15 simple weight loss hacks that really work. Choose the ones that work for you. Or do them all by rotation. Trust me your body won’t even notice the loss.
Cut 100 Calories
1. The good news is that minus 100 calories = one dietary change. Yes, that’s all it takes!
After all what’s 100 calories - just a pat of butter (15 gms believe you me). It really does boil down to a few nibbles less of the burger or forgoing a couple of cookies or 2000 extra walking steps every day.
The Salad Trick
2. Start your meal with a salad always.
Research is clear on this: when we begin our meal with salad we eat fewer calories, compared to when we don't eat a salad. Cut back the salad dressing (use 1 1/2 tablespoons of dressing or less per one and a half cup salad).
Just coat your salad; it’ll taste best if dressed, not drowning in dressing. Also when eating out ask for the salad dressing on the side rather than on your salad, then dip your fork into it before stabbing your greens.
This little manoeuvre could cut loads of calories.
Check Portions
3. Bigger portions are always a big culprit. Please check the portion sizes of all the foods that you are eating, or better still take a smaller bowl to eat and eat slowly.
4. Have an open sandwich – one slice less.
Snack Right
5. Choose your snacks carefully. A hard-boiled egg (about 75 calories) will be anytime more filling than a biscuit and a half (about the same number of calories).
6. Print out a list of these really low calorie munchies – about 25 calories each – on your fridge – and grab them whenever you want to simply munch something:
- 1 large carrot
- 1 tomato
- 1 plum
- 1 stalk broccoli
- 1/2 cup spinach (cooked)
- 2 whole cucumbers
- 1 cup cauliflower
- 2 large olives
Switch Your Drinks
7. If you drink alcohol, limit your daily consumption to one drink for women and two drinks for men as recommended by experts.
8. The fancy concoctions that are now the javas of choice for many people can contain as many calories as an entire lunch. So watch your coffee calories.
9. A can of soda contains approx 150 calories. Three of these a day is an extra 450 calories. Add juice and sugary lattes to your diet and you practically need a calculator to tally your liquid calories – and what’s worse is that these don’t fill you up either.
That’s because your body doesn’t register calories from liquids the same way it does those from foods, so you won’t get those “stop eating” signals.
So stick to water and green tea and get your calories from more filling and satisfying food.
Eat Out Wisely
10. When eating out, try these tactics - order the smallest portion of fries or split them with a friend; enjoy steamed rice rather than fried rice; sip on water, or if at all, a diet drink.
11. Always order from the ala carte menu, give the buffet a skip; settle for broiled, grilled, steamed, poached, roasted and lightly sautéed dishes and steer clear of phrases like fried or crispy, au gratin, creamed, escalloped, cream and cheese sauces, breaded or battered, hollandaise and gravy.
12. Have clear soup instead of noodle soup or thick soup.
Don't Eat 2-3 Hrs Before Bedtime
13. When you down some pasta, are you hungry a few hours later? Try tossing it with some vinegar. Vinegar's acetic acid slows down how quickly you digest and absorb glucose from starchy foods, so your blood sugar rises and falls more gradually. That helps control hunger.
14. A tablespoon of mayo has 100 calories, whereas equivalent amount of hung curd would give one-fourth that number. Make the right choice for spreads.
15. Stop eating by 7 pm or two to three hours before bedtime and give your body a ‘mini fast and cleanse’. Don’t stuff yourself at night. Allow your digestive juices to burn excess waste material which will help in promoting weight loss and digestion.
(Kavita Devgan is a weight management consultant, nutritionist, health columnist and author of ‘Don’t Diet! 50 Habits of Thin People’.)
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