If you are home for long periods (working from home or in lockdown or isolation) weight loss and fitness may be a problem. Here are some handy tricks and tips to keep active at home.
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Weight loss and Fitness at Home
Losing weight at home is easier than you may think. After all, people gain weight when they put too much food in their mouths.
Home is the place where many of us normally do most of our eating.
When we are confined to the house (for any reason) it will be where we do all our eating.
Weight loss, at home or anywhere else, is primarily a case of calorie control.
Some people may argue they can’t lose weight because they are unable to get to the gym or go running. That’s just an excuse—a cop-out. Motivate yourself to lose weight – you feel better for it!
Getting your diet right is the key to weight loss. Exercise helps but diet is more important.
If you eat too many calories per day you can still gain weight no matter how much exercise you do. You should avoid eating high calorie foods before bed time.
Even when you can’t hit the gym or pound the sidewalk; if you want to exercise you can do it at home and you don’t need any special equipment.
Still think you can’t lose weight at home? Here are some ideas that will prove you wrong.
12 Things You Can Do to Lose Weight at Home
1. Don’t Comfort Eat
Being stuck at home all day can be depressing.
That makes it very easy to comfort eat or snack.
Don’t do it.
A moment on the lips could be a lifetime on your hips.
When temptation strikes divert your attention by getting busy with cleaning, decorating, or other household tasks.
Meditation or yoga are also good ways to keep your mind busy. As is reading a book.
2. Avoid Alcohol
If you are a drinker, avoiding alcohol can make a big difference to your waistline. Pure alcohol contains 7 calories per gram. It can also give the appearance of a fat face.
Most drinks contain other sources of calories as well so don’t hit the bottle. All those extra calories soon add up, making it easier to gain weight than lose it.
Again, throwing yourself into positive activities is a better option.
Even light activity will burn extra calories. Sitting drinking will only serve to top your levels up.
3. Count Calories
Most people have no idea how many calories are in the food they eat.
When you don’t know how many calories you are getting, how can you know you are not getting too many?
If you don’t know how many calories you need or how many your food contains there are several websites and apps that can help.
4. Eat More Protein
Adding more protein to your diet is another thing you can do to try and lose weight at home.
Sources of lean protein, such as chicken breast meat and white fish are good for keeping hunger away.
Protein can also be sourced from plants.
Protein also builds muscle.
Extra muscle increases metabolism. That means you burn more calories per day.
5. Try Intermittent Fasting
It’s not for everyone but intermittent fasting is another good way to lose weight in the comfort of your own home.
There are several versions of this diet.
All of them involve restricting your eating to specific windows of time and spending the rest of the time eating little or no food.
Try Googling “intermittent fasting” and see what the various options entail. Arguably one the most popular is the GP4:3 diet from Gabriella Peacock.
6. Start Keeping a Food Journal
Food journals are a handy item if you are serious about losing weight. There are many different types, some of them very advanced.
All of them provide a way to track the calories you are eating throughout the day.
You need to log things accurately but you may be surprised what your food journal reveals and you can’t argue with the evidence when it’s there in black and white.
7. Drink More Water
There are many reasons why it’s good to drink more water.
Your body needs around three liters a day but too many people fail to keep adequately hydrated.
One of the good things about water is it flushes toxins out of the body. Drinking more water can also reduce appetite.
It works especially well if you drink a couple of glasses before meals.
8. Make Green Tea Your Favorite Beverage
Green tea contains antioxidants that boost immune function and benefit the health in many ways.
Research shows the antioxidants in green tea can also help you to burn fat.
9. Workout at Home (With or Without Equipment)
You don’t have to workout in a gym. It’s easy to have a workout at home and you can do it with or without equipment.
If you already have the equipment you will probably know how to use it.
If you don’t, there’s a lot of excellent information online.
A home workout without equipment can be as simple or as complicated as you wish it to be.
Most people know how to do simple exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, star jumps, and touching their toes.
If you suffer from a fat stomach or flabby arms then there are exercises that can target these areas and give you some pretty quick results.
Alternatively, why not use your time at home to learn about Charles Atlas’ dynamic tension.
10. Exercise with YouTube
If you are looking for a good home workout, YouTube is the place to go.
Apart from video tutorials to help you make your muscles bigger and stronger it also has videos that provide cardiovascular workouts and help you improve your endurance.
Try this 20-minute full-body workout by Pamela Reif.
It’s more hardcore than it looks. Regardless of what sex you are or how good your level of fitness is, I bet you won’t be able to keep up.
11. Dance Your Heart Out
If you want to lose weight and have so much fun you don’t feel like you are working out, Zumba could be right up your street.
You can buy Zumba workouts on DVD or dance along with YouTube.
You don’t have to do Zumba. Any type of dancing will do and the average person can dance away 300-800 calories per hour.
The heavier you are, the more calories you will burn.
12. Do a Skype Workout with a Friend
If you find it hard to commit to regular exercise at home, try making a Skype workout appointment with a friend who is stuck at home too.
It could be the extra inspiration you need.
You will also be able to encourage each other to work harder, just as you would do with a training partner in the gym.
You could also get a little friendly competition going as you work out face to face via your computer screens.
