Six weeks of social distancing and your pants no longer fit? or maybe the scale keeps going right! smh, I know, the struggle is very real but corona must go! ( in my African accent)
A lot of us have had to make sacrifices during this period and the gym is one of them. As painful as it may be to be away from the gym, it helps to know that we can still control our weight through our diet and working out at home. This week, I want to share with you two diets that may help you maintain your weight or even loss some pounds while you are staying at home. These diets may be intense, so please check in with your doctor before you begin.
1. Intermittent fasting: Intermediate fasting is a practice of cycling your meals. It is not necessarily a diet but it focuses on a pattern. The concept behind intermediate fasting is avoiding food consumption for an extended period of time thereby reducing your caloric intake. The reason I believe this is a great quarantine diet is because many of us are not as active as we use to be. Even when you exercise at home, we are not going out to parties, church, dates or events so our bodies are not requiring much energy. Additionally, Fasting has been practiced by religions for centuries and many people choose to fast for clarity especially during times of crisis. I strongly believe that it might help in regaining spiritual strength during this difficult time.
Most popular methods of fasting out there:
The 16/8 method: Also called the Leangains protocol, it involves skipping breakfast and restricting your daily eating period to 8 hours, such as 1–9 p.m. Then you fast for 16 hours in between.
Eat-Stop-Eat: This involves fasting for 24 hours, once or twice a week, for example by not eating from dinner one day until dinner the next day.
The 5:2 diet: With this methods, you consume only 500–600 calories on two non-consecutive days of the week, but eat normally the other 5 days.
By reducing your caloric intake, all of these methods should cause weight loss as long as you don’t compensate by eating much more during the eating periods. Most people prefer the 16/8 method because it is easier and less stressful.
The Keto Diet
The keto diet is not new. The concept behind this diet is reducing and consuming very low amounts of carbohydrates. The reduction of carbs puts your body in a metabolic state known as ketosis where your body starts burning fats for energy. It also turns fats into ketones in the liver which can supply energy to your brain. Keto is definitely easier and more sustainable than intermediate fasting.
Notice that the picture above has meat, which is a protein, vegetables which are believe it or not, sources or carbohydrates. The salad dressing is a source of fats.
This picture has a better presentation and shows details of your meal. This is how your plate should look like especially if you are still starting and trying to figure out what you should or should not eat (but go heavy and crazy on your greens!)
When you start, you will feel hungry most of the time, you will feel weird for a couple of days, but your body will adjust to this new normal.
Want to learn more about other popular diets out there? click here
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