diet Archives - Malebasics blog

Losing weight without doing exercise?

Is it even possible? For sure, everyone’s dream is to eat “like a pig” without gaining weight. Is very easy to gain a few kilograms, but very difficult to lose them. Once a friend of mine told me “one minute in your lips, forever in your hips” and it cannot be truer.

But losing weight is not as difficult as everyone says, so keep calm. Actually, is a matter of subtracting calories. To lose weight you need to intake 500 calories less per day and to do it sustainable you need to understand that to lose weight in a healthy way you must lose 2.5 kg per month, maximum.

Let’s be clear, if you want to lose weight, the most recommendable is to do at least 30 minutes of exercise every day and combine it with a healthy diet, but we have good news for you: 80% of this process is about this, so it’s what we need to focus most our energy on.

I must mention that exercise is not just about going to the gym. The idea of doing exercise is to keep your body active and to be able to turn this into a lifestyle, you need to find joy on it.

How can we do it?

Get off the bus further than you are used to or walk home after work. Use the stairs instead of the lift and when you go to a mall, park your car as further as you can. Remember that every little counts!

Depression and your eating habits

We have always been told about the need of having to watch our eating habits in order to look good, but is the food just linked to our physique? For sure, we know it is important for the correct function of our body too, but nowadays there are more and more studies linking this with our mental health.

are the eating habits linked to depression?

Is not uncommon to see how every day the number of people revealing that are suffering from depression is growing. Is it just a coincidence that we are discovering more foods every day that are not sugar-free as we used to think and the big businesses don’t want us to know that?

You might be also interested in: You’d Be Surprised at How Many Foods Contain Added Sugar.

Of course, these two facts are linked and have been affecting our mental health during the years in so many ways we didn’t even suspect they could. We know very well that sugar and fats cause bloated tummies, but did you know it actually does cause the whole systemic inflammation?!

And what does a systemic inflammation really mean? Depression. Psychiatrists should be talking about the importance of a healthy lifestyle in companion of the medicine that they ask us to take.

But we need to take into account the other factors that lead into the illness too, such as genetic, stress or traumatic experiences, however nowadays there is no doubt about the big part that a good diet plays on it.

I know it is difficult to always get organic food at the supermarket as it is more expensive, nevertheless, you don’t necessarily need to do that in order to have a healthy lifestyle. A good tip is to think about the place where the food comes from before adding it to the shopping cart. If it comes right from the ground is good, if not, think it twice or try to reduce its consume.

Intermittent fasting

I bet this word sounds very familiar and like a nightmare for you. We see all the influencers on social media talking about this, but do you really know its meaning? Is it as good as everyone says? We will tell you all you need to know about intermittent fasting and so you can make the decision whether to follow this diet or not.

Intermittent fasting means fasting for a specific period of time. If you are planning to lose weight this is a good alternative. We suggest you to try this diet daily instead of weekly. You basically will be able to have food within 8 hours of your day and the other 16 you will be restricted to just have certain drinks.

The truth behind diets

Losing weight is a matter of adding and subtracting calories and with this diet the number of calories that you intake will decrease as the time is shorter. Your body needs energy and when you fast, it will take it from the reserves instead of the food you are having.

The downside of diets has always been the rebound effect; however, the secret is to have nutritious meals during these 8 hours. Remember, good quality and high protein meals are key.

Hunger is something that you can control in your mind too. It appears, increases, decreases, and then leaves. Keep that in mind! So during the 16 hours of fasting you can have either water, coffee, or tea without milk and sugar.

When you plan to include a new habit in your life it is very important to be able to make it fit inside your routine. This is another extra bonus of this. You can choose to either do it in the mornings or afternoons. Your choice must be subordinated to the time you go to sleep, as it will do it more bearable.

Try it and see how it goes. For sure you want to look your best this summer and we still have plenty of time to lose those extra pounds.

Men and diets: do they both fit in the same hand?

What’s the first thing appearing in your mind when I say “diet”? For sure you though straight after about reducing the amount of food you intake and to be honest, this is a huge mistake we all make because the word it’s not necessarily linked to it. So, do men normally go on diets? Of course, we do!

It’s not a big deal to mention that we normally have bigger portions than women and that we are not organized enough to prepare, during the weekends, the food we plan to have at lunch time during the week. We rather opt for take-aways! Am I right? So, it’s not hard to understand why we can gain a lot of weight in a short period of time.

The good stuff…

I have got good news for you. When it comes to lose weight, men can win the race! We don’t suffer from water retention and don’t face the massive amount of hormonal changes that women have every month. These extra points are our allies, we just need to make sure we keep in mind our priorities.

The decision of going on a diet is never easy. You are normally asked to cut out carbs in general and sugar, which is probably the kind of food you intake the most, however it is very important to be realistic when you are deciding how your new diet will be like.

Please do not expect to be very “well behaved” from the very beginning, it must sounds funny, but remember: one day at a time! When you have a big aim in mind you need to keep it simple, especially if you want to convert yourself to a healthy lifestyle, so don’t be too hard on yourself and start with little changes!

Friendly reminder: the journey must be felt the same as the goal in itself!