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24 small ways to lose a big gut |
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Arnab bose
halloarnab@gmail.com
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Dropping a few inches from the waist and getting the ‘beer’ out of the belly doesn’t mean churning out crunches or eating carrots all day—it’s a combination of exercise and nutrition. In other words: To bust your gut, you need to listen to it intently.
Eat in the right order
Eat your vegetables fi rst, then move on to starches such as potatoes and bread.
Drink a glass of skim milk as soon as you wake up
Some quick protein before you even hit the shower will energise you and end morning cravings for cheese sandwiches.
Do two minutes of pushups every morning
It’s tough to exercise as soon as you roll out of bed, but do so and you will burn off 21 calories a day—nearly 1.5 kilos in a year.
Butter your muffin
Yes, you can do this. A study at Ohio State University found that men who ate a little fat in the morning had fewer fat cravings during the day.
Toss a litre of water in your briefcase
Water helps you burn calories—96 calories just by carrying a bottle while you walk for 20 minutes. Serve it over ice while at work and your body will burn 31 calories warming it to normal. Then there’s the aerobic effect of all those bathroom runs.
Brush your teeth when you’re hungry
Sometimes the fl avour of the toothpaste can take the edge off a sugar craving. Worst case scenario: You’ll have a dazzling smile.
Dilute your fruit juice
Fruit juice is sneaky fattening—a 500ml bottle of cranberry-grape blend has 340 calories. Dump half and store it, then refi ll the bottle with water. This way you’ll be cutting half the calories that would otherwise fi nd their way to your gut.
Drink your coffee black
A cup of black coffee has 10 calories and no fat. A caffé latte has 210 calories and 11gm of fat. You save 73,000 calories—9.5 kilos in a year.
Keep the serving plates off the dinner table
Placing four kilos of mutton kebabs in your line of sight is a guarantee that you won’t be satisfi ed with two pathetic pieces. So make sure there’s less in the fi rst place.
Keep a glass of water and some grapes by your bedside table
If you’re the type who wakes up hungry in the middle of the night, the fruit and water will save you a trip to the kitchen, where the last piece of chocolate cake awaits.
Listen to slow music while you eat
Studies show that people who listen to relaxing music during meals chew at a more leisurely pace and tend to eat less than people who listen to loud music.
Don’t go fishing at the fastfood joint
Fish has a healthfood reputation but let it swim by at the counter. McDonald’s Filet-o-Fish has 450 calories and 25gm of fat, twice the calories and three times the fat of the basic burger.
Be careful with diet sodas
They’re low in calories, but one study found that people who drink beverages loaded with artifi cial sweeteners may actually eat more food. Limit yourself to two a day.
Go light on the starch
It can cause an insulin surge, which favours your body’s fat-storing mode. The result: Excess calories go right to your gut. Lay off starchy foods unless you’re thin, and do at least an hour of aerobic exercise every week.
Smell your food
Studies show that smelling your food can make you stop eating sooner by satisfying you faster.
Dine by yourself
Psychologists theorise that you eat more when you’re with company than you do when you are eating alone.
Carry your kid on your shoulders
Quadruple benefit: you get time with your kid, strengthen your shoulders, burn calories and give him a preview of what life looks like from a man’s view.
Dance more
It’ll make you less of an embarrassment on the dance floor, with the added benefit of burning some calories (31 calories in five minutes), but most important, women like guys who are more like Ranbir Kapoor than his dad Rishi Kapoor.
Feed on fungus, not angus
Swap a giant portobello mushroom for a serving of mutton every now and then. Brush the portobello lightly with oil and grill the cap until it’s crispy—it will do a passable imitation of meat with little fat and not many calories.
Share a kiss after dinner
A tiny taste of chocolate will satisfy your sweet buds just as thoroughly as large handfuls.
Chew gum
When you need to stop shoving food into your face at the buffet or dinner table, pop mint-fl avoured gum into your mouth. It changes the fl avour of everything, and makes that third helping almost impossible to swallow.
Be the last guy with food on his plate
Men with weight problems tend to eat fast and are usually the fi rst in any group to finish. Be sure you come in last.
Get a side of chillies
Eating spicy foods will make you eat more slowly, fill you up more quickly, and slightly increase your metabolism so you burn more calories—three strong reasons to put more red chilli flakes, or for hitting the salad bowl for green chillies at the buffet line. |
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