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This bare minimum workout guide for lazy people includes 6 smart ways to maintain good nutrition and 7 tips for staying physically active.
If you have a full work schedule or you are someone who finds regularly hitting the gym an overwhelming chore, then you may be looking for easier and less tiresome ways to stay healthy and fit.
Although there is no better alternative to regular exercises coupled with adequate nutrition, a few tips can help you maintain your fitness.
Here is a bare minimum workout guide for lazy or busy people.
6 smart ways for a lazy person to maintain good nutrition
Six smart ways for a lazy person to maintain good nutrition include:
- Have nuts or pulses as snacks: Nuts such as walnuts and almonds can make you feel full for a long time apart from being nutrient-dense sources. Replace calorie-dense foods with a serving of nuts. Like nuts, eating pulses such as beans, peas, chickpeas, and lentils can make you go longer between meals.
- Change the sequence of foods during the meal: When you start your meal or order food at a restaurant, have your salad first, followed by soup, and then finally with the main course. Salad and soup can provide you early satiety so that you consume less of your main course.
- Prefer zero-calorie drinks: Sweetened juices, sodas, and alcohol are filled with calories and can make your fitness journey difficult. Switch to bland liquids such as water, unsweetened tea, unsweetened juices, or diet beverages. Remember that low-calorie soft drinks or those with synthetic sweeteners mess up your hunger–satiety cycle in the long run.
- Do not give up on the things you love to eat: If you are head over heels for French fries, creamy pastries, or doughnuts, do not give them up at once. This will only increase your cravings. Instead, consume smaller portions of these foods. Follow them with healthier food options such as yogurt or fruits.
- Sip an extra cup of black coffee: A 2020 study published in the Journal of Nutrition reported that women who consumed two to three cups of coffee a day are more likely to have decreased accumulation of fat in their body, including the abdomen.
- Drink green tea: Green tea contains a lot of the powerful antioxidant compound epigallocatechin-3-gallate, which appears to reduce the formation of new fats. Caffeine in green tea can curb your appetite so that you consume fewer calories during the day.
7 smart tips to stay physically active
Seven smart tips to stay physically active include:
- Try to take stairs instead of using escalators. If you live on the 15th floor, build the pace gradually by making it to the 7th floor first. Then each day, try to increase the level of floors until you can take the stairs to the 15th floor every time. Avoid this if you have knee problems.
- Try to park a little away from the mall or shopping center. This may not only help you from struggling to find a parking spot but also force you to walk a little more.
- If you take the bus or subway to reach your workplace or grocery, get off a few stops earlier and walk toward the destination.
- Indulge in household activities more. These include vacuuming, mopping the floor, and cleaning the bedsheets more frequently than usual.
- Listen to music while you exercise. Turning on your favorite tunes can make you feel happy and exercise for longer. This will help you sweat and burn that extra fat while you enjoy music and exercising together.
- Sex is not only a pleasurable activity but can also be just as effective at burning energy as moderate-intensity exercises. Have some me time and intimacy with your partner to shed off those extra pounds.
- Sitting at your work desk for most of the day may leave you too tired to hit the gym. The least you can do is to get up and move around a little every hour. Take the long way when going to the bathroom, make a trip to the water cooler or get up for a round of tea or coffee, and indulge in some productive or even leisurely talks with your colleagues.
