Who doesn’t want a slim and lean body that we often see on the internet? But people often find themselves following the wrong information circulated on the internet, which might be pretty harmful to many people.
However, there are tons of methods, foods, and exercises to get the dream body you desire.
In this article, I will mention various foods, exercises, and methods that can help you get slim, along with the foods you should avoid to get your dream body.
17 FOOD HABITS THAT WILL HELP YOU SLIM DOWN
Include more vegetables and fruits in your meal
If you want to get slim, then you have to invest in healthy vegetables and fruits to keep your body healthy and fit. Due to this, you should eat vegetables and fruits as they are high in water, fiber, and nutrients.
They usually contain very low energy density, making it easy for you to consume large servings of these vegetables and fruits without taking in too many calories.
Since they are filled with nutrients, they won’t cause any health issues; instead, they help make you healthier and fitter.
Avoid having processed food.
If you want to get a slim body, it’s essential to remove refined or processed food from your meal.
Frozen foods, canned foods, fries, cakes, potato chips, crackers, pre-made foods contain high amounts of sugar, salt, artificial coloring elements, and preservatives.
Therefore, you should avoid having processed foods. These foods are extremely high in calories and low in nutrients, which can cause high weight gain.
Have Green Tea
You might have often heard people switching from their regular sugar tea to green tea in order to lose weight.
The reason why you should consume green tea is as it contains antioxidants known as catechins which can help boost your metabolism and improve your fat-burning process.
Catechins help detox your body. According to studies, having green tea can help burn an additional 75 to 100 calories every day.
Have your dinner early
Late dinners and sleeping right after having food can cause improper digestion. If you want to get slim, then it’s crucial you have your dinner by 7 pm.
By having your dinner early, your body will be able to get around two to three hours to digest your food before you sleep.
Also, if you are planning to have carbs, then it’s better to have your dinner even before seven to make sure your food gets digested before you sleep.
Avoid having late-night snacks
It’s always better to sleep after two to three hours of having your dinner, as staying awake can make you feel hungry, resulting in tons of unhealthy snacks.
These late-night snacks can be led to weight gain. Therefore, it’s always better to avoid having these snacks late at night.
Drink Water
Consuming plenty of water is a great way to keep yourself ahead in your weight loss journey. The majority of the time, people mistake their hunger for thirst with a hunger for food, resulting in high food intake.
Drinking water when you feel hungry can help in increasing your lipolysis (fat breakdown) and decrease your extra food intake. Also, having plenty of water temporarily can also increase your metabolism by 24 to 34%.
Avoid having alcohol
Excessive consumption of alcohol can lead to weight gain as alcohol is high in terms of calories. Calories found in alcohol don’t meet any of the human nutritional requirements as they are empty calories.
Also, having alcohol might lead to overeating as alcohol relaxes your inhibitions. Therefore, it’s better to avoid having alcohol if you want to get slim.
Have Black Coffee
Black coffee contains caffeine, and there are various studies that have found that caffeine found in black coffee might assist you in decreasing your BMI along with helping in losing fat, which makes black coffee a good option for you if you want to get slim.
However, if you are some who is caffeine sensitive, then you should avoid having black coffee as it might be harmful to you.
Try controlling your food portion.
Controlling your meal portion size is a great way to lose weight. Not only will it help reduce fat, but it also makes sure you have the right amount of food required for your body.
You should have around half of your plate filled with healthy veggies, while one-fourth of your plate should include whole-grain while the other one-fourth section should have a good source of lean protein.
Cook your meals at home
By cooking healthy food at home, you can ensure you are not taking any extra calories.
At various times restaurants or outside food tend to hide the actual calorie count in the form of salad dressing, sauce, dips, and more, leading to consuming more calories. This makes outside foods extremely bad for you.
Therefore, you should invest in home-cooked food as you can note down how many calories you are taking on a daily basis. Make yourself a healthy salad or a soup for a quick meal.
You can also add grill fish/ tofu/ chicken with veggies—this way, you can quickly check the amount of salt, sugar, and oil you are taking.
Avoid Added sugar foods.
Removing refined sugar from your diet can help you lose weight faster and make you slim. Some foods containing added sugar are diet soda, pastries, candies, pancakes, bagels, marshmallows, and more.
Eat more often
Having food oftenly can help your body in using the calories as energy which helps in making your body slim. In order to become slim, it’s essential to eat every two to three.
This helps give you a full stomach feeling and helps handle your digestive system. Having regular meals can activate your metabolism. Therefore it is suggested to have five to six meals in a day.
In order to avoid overeating, lunch and dinner should be kept light, and your mid-meals snacks should include various healthy fruits and vegetables, which can help keep you full.
Eat Eggs
Eggs are considered the ideal weight-loss food as they are highly affordable, easy to get, high in protein, and are provide you with tons of nutrients.
High protein food like eggs is excellent in helping you feel full and reducing your appetite, which can help you from overeating or prevent intaking too many calories.
Consuming eggs for breakfast might help in providing around 65% or more weight loss in over eight weeks compared to eating bagels in your breakfast. So, you should definitely say yes to having eggs in your diet.
Fast Intermittently
Intermittent fasting is basically a pattern of eating that rotates in between the duration of eating and fasting. There is various way of doing intermittent fasting, such as the 5:2 fast method.
In the 5:2 fast method, you take a regular meal with regular calorie intake for five days while you limit your calorie in the other two days or the 16:8 method and more.
All these methods make you consume overall fewer calories with you consciously removing calories from your meal during the eating period.
Eat whole, Single-Ingredient Foods.
A whole, single-ingredient food is a great way to decrease a large amount of added sugar, fat, and processed food. Majority of whole foods are incredibly filling, which makes it easier to keep them within the calorie limitations.
Also, whole foods contain tons of nutrients that can help you keep up with essential nutrient needs in order to function your body correctly.
Invest in Whole grain foods
Investing in whole grains foods might help burn fat and reduce various heart-related diseases risk. Therefore, you should include whole grain foods in your meal, such as brown rice, buckwheat, oats, barley, and more, as these are great foods for maintaining your weight loss strategy.
They help keep you full by incorporating less amount of calories and also help in improving your cholesterol.
Take Probiotics
Probiotics are microorganisms that can help provide several health benefits when taken. These probiotics are known for improving your gut flora, heart health, and digestion.
Apart from health benefits, probiotics can also help with losing weight as well. According to studies, overweight people and people who face obesity are likely to have different gut bacteria compared to people with normal or average weight.
By consuming probiotics, one might be able to regulate their gut bacteria. While reducing inflammation and appetite, it might also block the absorption of dietary fat.
Lactobacillus gasseri is considered the most effective probiotic in losing weight compared to all the other probiotic bacteria.
8 Exercises that can help you get Slim
Even though limiting your food intake and restricting certain foods can be highly beneficial in reducing your weight and getting slim.
Yet if you are someone who wants to get in shape faster, then you have to perform various exercises to get slim. Here are some of the exercises mentioned below that can help you get slim:
Burpees
Begin with standing straight with both your arms on your side. Then take a squat position all the way down to the floor while keeping your hands on the ground. Then kick both your legs back, almost like a push-up position.
Then bring your legs back in by coming back to the squat position. Then take a jump as high you can from the squat position while raising the hand above your head.
You can perform around fifteen burpees every day. If you are a beginner, you can try taking one minute break after performing five burpees but with time, decrease this break duration to fifteen or ten seconds to no break.
This exercise is excellent for strengthening your body as well.
Note: If you deal with any kind of knee injury, it’s always better to refer a doctor before performing this exercise. Burpees involve jumping, which can create a high thrust for ankles and knees, which might be bad for anyone suffering from a knee injury.
Plank Jumps
Plank jumps are great for building your core strength and burning those fats. First, get into the plank position with both your shoulders positioned directly over your elbows.
Then jump your feet towards your hands as far as you can. Then jump back to the position you started with and then repeat again. You can perform around two to three sets of plank jumps.
Straight Jumps
Start with slightly bending both your knees while keeping both your hands on your thighs. Then take a jump as high as you can while raising both your arms above your head. This is a easy exercise to perform but can be highly beneficial in burning fat.
Sit-Ups
Sit-up is an exercise that provides your core with a perfect workout. This exercise will help tighten your core and provide you with the lean body you desire. Apart from reducing belly fat, sit-ups are equally beneficial for thigh muscles as well.
In order to perform sit-ups, you need to lay down on your back by placing both your hands above your head. Now you need to curl up your entire body into V-shape by touching your fingers to your feet.
You can begin with performing 30 sit-ups a day and then gradually begin to increase these sit-ups over time.
Squats
Squats is an exercise that works on your core muscles and thigh muscles. This exercise also helps in building up your strength along with improving your digestive system.
Start by standing straight with your feet width apart. Make sure your back is completely straight, and then start bending your knees, ankles, and hips until it reaches a 90-degree angle.
Once you get the perfect angle, then return back to the original position and repeat it again. You can perform around twenty squats daily.
If you want, you can even include breathing exercises with your squats as well by taking your breath in when you bend your knees and breathing out while returning to the original position.
Push-ups
Push-ups are great for building your upper body strength. This exercise works the shoulders, triceps, and pectoral muscles along with strengthening your lower back and your core.
To perform a perfect push, you need to first lie down on the floor and rest your body on your palms.
Now bring your body down without touching the floor and then bring your body up and repeat this process. Push-ups are great for building your strength muscles as well.
Plank
Plank is assesed as one of the best exercises for burning calories. It can help engage tons of muscle at the same time. It also boosts your metabolic rate and helps build core strength.
Begin with laying down on the floor with your back straight while facing the floor. Bring your shoulders and elbows in line while keeping the back straight this might come across as similar to the push-up position.
Now hold this position while keeping your abs and stomach engaged. Try to stay in this position as long as you can.
Lunges
Lunges is an exercise that can help make your back, thighs, and abs muscles stronger.
To perform lunges, start by standing with your feet placed shoulder-width apart while keeping your arms on your hips.
Now step forward with one leg by flexing your knees to drop your hips. Now go bend down until your other knee nearly touches the floor. Then return back to the original position and repeat this step with your other leg.
You can perform this exercise anywhere, whether it be your bedroom, balcony, terrace, or anywhere else.
If you want, you can also use weights in your hands while making lunges to increase the hardships, which can help your burn more amount of fat and also help in strengthening your muscles.
FAQs
Q. Is it possible to get slim overnight?
No, it isn’t possible to get slim overnight as your body takes time to change. Therefore, if you want to get slim faster, then you should eat healthy food and invest in various body slimming exercises.
Q. Can swimming help me lose weight?
Yes, it is considered one of the best activities that can help your burn calories and lose weight. You can burn around 500 calories in a 45 min swimming session. Swimming is a great full-body workout, and adding it to your weight loss routine can turn out to be highly beneficial for you.
Q. What are some of the drinks that can help you get slim?
Some of the drinks that can help you get slim are vegetable juice, green tea, water, grapefruit juice, and more. All these drinks contain beneficial nutrients that can help slim your body and help you reduce weight.
Conclusion
Getting a slim body can be a pretty long process, but with the correct diet and exercising methods, one can get their dream body.
Here we have mentioned tons of foods and methods that can help you get slim along with the foods you should avoid in order to get that slim body you desire. Here we have also mentioned tons of exercises that can help you get slimmer and lean.
If you have any queries about getting how to get slim, then tell us in the comments.
