Being fit means that you are being responsible for your own body. With the availability of social media, modern trends not only helped in raising awareness about fitness but also played a great role in motivating people to get fit. It has suddenly become a global movement that has inspired young and old people alike.
No matter what kind of excuses you hear (or say), being physically fit is tantamount to being healthy. There are certain parameters to determine your overall health index, and one of them is done by measuring your waist line. Your waist circumference could give you an insight of the risks that you might develop from being overweight or being obese.
According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH), if the majority of your body fat is present around your waist instead of your hips, you have a higher risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes. If you are a woman and your waist size is more than 35 inches, the likelihood of developing these diseases increases. If you want more information on the reasons why you need to watch your waist size, we’ve got you covered. We have discussed them thoroughly in a separate article which you can find here.
Unfortunately, no matter how much you want to improve your health and your figure, you just don’t have enough time to go to the gym. You have responsibilities left, right, and center and you sometimes just can’t figure out where you can squeeze gym time in your schedule. Luckily, going to the gym and doing exercise are not the only ways to lose weight. Here are some alternative tips you could try.
- Watch your posture.
Having a good posture makes you abdominal muscles firmer and tighter. Avoid slouching and stooping down. These positions could make your stomach bulge out. If you catch yourself in this position, correct it at once. It would be harder to do so if you are already used to it. With a little self-conscious efforts and constant practice, you would have an effortlessly straight figure and tighter abs in no time.
- Hydrate your cells.
Drinking adequate amount of water will not only make your cells healthy, it will also get rid of toxins and flush out waste products from your body. Sufficient water intake also facilitates metabolism so that you could digest your food better. It also increases the amount of calories you burn. The good news is water has no calories. Drinking a glass of water before meals could reduce your appetite, making you eat less.
- Cut your carbs.
Consuming carbohydrates and sugar is not really a problem. Yes, you read it right. It doesn’t contribute to weight gain. What contributes to weight gain is when there is an imbalance in your carbs intake and the calories you burn. This happens when your intake highly exceeds the calories your body uses up. When this happens, the excess carbs will be stored in your body, making you grow in size around your belly.
- Stop stressing out.
Stress is a significant cause of weight gain. This is due to the body’s fight or flight response, which tunes your brain into survival mode. Your brain would think that you need to eat because you’ve already used up your calories to deal with the stressor. Another culprit is the surge in the amount of your stress hormone, Cortisol. This hormone is activated as a response to stress. It could, in turn, increase the level of insulin in your blood, which could lower your blood sugar and make you feel hungry.
- Massage your front.
Giving your tummy a nice, warm, relaxing massage has been shown to reduce the amount of fat stored in your belly.
- Buy a mirror.
Putting a mirror in front of your office desk or your dining table would be a great way to remind you of your goal. It has been shown that setting up a full-length mirror in front of your dining table could make you cut the amount of your food intake.
- Coffee OR tea.
Coffee and tea are antioxidants and laxatives. They both facilitate digestion and excretion so drinking some could somehow help you slim down. However, it is not advisable to consume too much coffee and too much tea, or to drink both in a single day because they could lead to too much acid production in the stomach. Likewise, coffee and tea are diuretics. They make you pee a lot so drinking too much could make you dehydrated.
- Love the greens.
Green-leafy vegetables are your best friend when it comes to weight loss and shredding those love handles. There is a reason why they are called glow foods. They make you glow with their antioxidant properties. They are also rich in fiber so they could speed up your digestion and cleanse your stomach.
- Trim your waist.
You don’t have to do sit ups and curl ups to do this tip. Waist trimmers could do the trick. Using waist trimmers could help in toning the loose muscles in your abdomen. They don’t only make your tummy firmer; they also facilitate sweating while providing ample support for your abdomen. Wearing one could make you sweat it out without doing much effort and consuming time. For more information, click here: https://www.vivehealth.com/blogs/resources/best-waist-trimmer-belt
Although fitness is about being sexy and confident, most of the time it should be about being healthy. Invest in your health because as the saying goes, your health is your wealth. And rightly so.
Have you tried other ways to slim your waist without doing exercise? Feel free to share what you know in the comment section below.
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