5 ‘hacks’ to eat less
Let’s face it, getting leaner is a simple task. Eat less than you need.
A calorie deficit, that’s what we call it in the fitness world.
Time and time again, scientific research shows a calorie deficit IS the be all and end all of weight loss.
But you know what, I find it hard to eat less than I want to eat.
So I’ve found a few simple tricks to eat less without noticing the effort.
These might help you, but above all try to understand the concepts, then you can make up your own hacks!
1 - GO DAIRY FREE
There are so many dairy substitutes in the world that you won’t notice going dairy free.
Go to starbucks? >>> almond or oat or coconut milk
Like cups of tea? >>>> change to teas that don’t jive with milk, e.g. green tea, mint tea.
On cereal? >> almond milk, you won’t notice the change
Dropping out dairy will reduce your daily calorie intake….so weight loss!
2 - GO LOW CALORIE
I must confess - after years of playing rugby and trying to be HEAVY and strong…I kinda felt like low calorie food options like diet yoghurts or low fat cheese were somehow…less macho.
But now I am older and wiser - and want to be less fat - low calorie food options are amazing!
4 calorie jelly? I’ll have some of that
Low fat greek yoghurt? Yup.
Skinny caramel macchiato at starbucks with almond milk and sugar-free syrup - hell yes
After all, whilst it may feel less manly to order these foods, I’d rather have manly abs than a wobbly belly.
Believe me, eating/drinking foods that taste amazing but are low calorie is a game changer.
3 - SLEEP ONE EXTRA HOUR PER DAY
Everybody can sleep more.
Everybody tells me that they can’t.
I wake up at 5-6am and go to bed around 10pm. My days are long and busy and I used to not sleep very much at all.
But when you don’t sleep, you’re tired.
When you’re tired, your mood is crap.
When you are tired and in a crappy mood - your willpower is low.
When your willpower is low, you eat more.
Not to mention the body burns fat better when fully rested and not in a stressed state.
Sleep one extra hour - or - sleep 7 hours as an absolute minimum.
The knock on effects of better sleep could be the key to being lean for you.
4 - SWAP YOUR CARB SOURCE
Simple trick, but having a lot of boiled potatoes, or mashed (with no added butter!) rather than rice, pasta or chips will reduce your carb intake massively.
Less carbs = less calories
So check what you are currently eating that contains carbs, and swap for the same WEIGHT of food but with less carbs.
E.g. swap rice for potatoes, swap bananas for blueberries etc.
5 - DRINK MORE WATER
Drink at least 2 litres of water per day NOT for all the boring reasons of hydration, but because you are filling your stomach and will feel less hunger.
Carrying a water bottle around with you may not be cool, but it will help you get leaner.
You can get used to being hungry, arguably I had to do this over the past few months.
When my calories dropped on my latest diet I got very hungry and worried I’d lose muscle mass, lose strength, worried that I’d be unable to stop eating at my next meal!
None of these things happened, in fact, there’s no research showing that ‘fasting’ for any stretch of time reduces muscle mass.
As my grandad always says - “You gotta get used to being hungry”
- Dairy free
- Low Calorie
- Sleep More
- Check carb source
- Drink more water
Go get lean and rise above
Ant
Anthony Shaw
Head Coach
Raw Strength Gym, Warrington
PS - Remember - join our FREE Facebook group for daily motivation and advice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thefitlifecommunity/
Email me back to get an info pack explaining the FREE trial of our program at anthony@rawstrength.co.uk
Hope your week is going great!