You have to admit that you are a bit lazy. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have clicked this link. Right? Either you enrolled in a gym that’s too far to go, or you got a damn hectic life and several other reasons why you can’t (read: don’t) exercise. But hey, don’t you worry, there’s always a Plan B.
And in this case, Plan B is – Following a strict diet. To get rid of thigh fat without exercise, you need to follow a strict diet that aims to create a calorie deficit, thereby to induce overall weight loss. So without further ado, let’s get started with the three dieting rules to reduce thigh fat without exercise right here –
1. Start with a Low-Carb Diet
The Atkins Diet aka a low-carb diet is your first stepping stone towards losing unwanted blubber that you carry around yourself. The Atkins Diet is a 4-Phase Diet Plan, which proves that you can lose weight with eating your favourite protein and fatty meals, as long as you don’t fall for carbs. Yes, you heard that right – Eating fats don’t make your fat.
Following are the four different phases of The Atkins Diet –
Phase 1 – Induction
In the opening phase, your diet should stick around to high protein, high-fat and low-carb (approximately 20 grams per day) veggies. Induction phase lasts for two weeks. You should also bear in mind that you are not at all allowed to eat fruits and grains during this period.
Phase 2 – Balancing
In this period, you are allowed to add 5-10 grams of carbs to your daily carb intake. Start adding few quantities of nuts and fruits in your diet. Stick to whole fruit rather than its substitutes like juice.
Phase 3 – Fine Tuning or Pre-Maintenance
The right time to switch to Phase 3 is when you are about 10-12 pounds from your goal weight. Gradually add more carbs to your diet until weight loss slows down. You can now include whole grains and fruits in your diet.
Phase 4 – Lifetime Maintenance
The final phase of The Atkins Diet is quite similar to ‘Clean Eating’. You can eat as many as good carbs you want, given that you don’t regain weight. Through this process, you will gradually understand how your body responds to different foods and what amount of carbs suits your body.
Once you find your carb equilibrium number, stay close to it so that you continue maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Foods to avoid:
Say NO to below-mentioned foods when you are on The Atkins Diet:
- All sorts of processed foods including chips, cookies, ice-cream and crackers.
- All kinds of bread including whole wheat bread, cupcakes, muffins, and cakes.
- All types of sugar-rich products including soft drinks, fruit juices, candies, cakes, etc.
- Exclude vegetable oils such as soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil and canola oil.
- Eliminate high carb fruits like bananas, apples, oranges, pears and grapes.
- During the induction phase, rule out all sorts of starches like potatoes and sweet potatoes along with legumes such as lentils, beans, chickpeas, etc.
- Avoid all kinds of artificial sweeteners, corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup. Instead of butter or mayonnaise, use herbs and spices for dressing and adding flavour.
Bottom Line:
The fact is that surviving first few weeks of The Atkins Diet will take an enormous toll on physical health. Due to less carb intake, you are likely to feel lethargic and dizziness at times. However, as you transit from one phase to another, you will see good results regarding weight loss and improvement in overall health.
You should also read – The Ultimate List of Low Carb Foods for Weight Loss
2. Go Ketogenic
A Ketogenic diet shares many similarities with the Atkins Diet and other low-carb diets. In a nutshell, a keto diet is a high fat, moderate protein and a very low carb diet. Due to this drastic reduction in carbs, your body goes into a metabolic state called ketosis.
The Science behind Keto diets
I’m sure you are all aware that on eating something high in carbs, your body will produce glucose and insulin. Since glucose is the simplest molecule to get energy, our body will prefer it over any other power source. Now, as your body uses glucose to derive the power for optimal function, your fats are completely neglected, and hence stored.
On the contrary, when you eat a diet which is high in fats and very low in carbs, your body undergoes ketosis. During ketosis, your body produces ketones, as a result of the breakdown of fats in the liver.
Thus, the overall aim of a Ketogenic diet is to force the body to prefer fats over carbs as a primary energy source. And this can be done not by limiting the calories but by limiting the carb intake.
Foods to avoid while you are on a Keto Diet:
Avoid below-mentioned foods at any cost while you are on a Keto diet:
- Avoid all sorts of fruit and fruit juice. Exception – subtle proportion of your favourite berries.
- No wheat based products, pasta, rice and cereals.
- Exclude all sugary foods entirely. No soda, smoothies, ice cream, candies, etc.
- Avoid all starches like potatoes and sweet potatoes.
- Say no to alcohol as its carb content may let you off the ketosis.
You should also read – Why To Reduce Carbs In Your Diet
3. Limit your Calories
The easiest way to lose few pounds of blubber, without any science and stuff, is by following a calorie deficit diet. A low-calorie diet means reducing your overall calorie intake to between 1300- 1500 calories per day for women and 1800-2000 calories for men.
Carb Intake: Limit your carb intake to between 150-220 grams per day. Stick to complex carbs like whole grains, veggies, and fruits for most of your carb requirement. It should make up for 45% to 65% of your total calories per day.
Protein Intake: Shoot up your protein consumption to about 65-100 grams per day. Get high-quality protein from whole eggs, meat, fish, and low-fat dairy products. It should account for 15%-25% of your gross calorie intake per day.
Fat Intake: Eat no more than 40-60 grams of fat per day. Choose from a variety of nuts and oils over processed fats. It should make up about 20%-35% of your entire calories per day.
Few Fundamental Tips
Drink plenty of Water –
Since many years, drinking plenty of water has been considered to aid weight loss. According to a study, drinking water before each meal may increase weight loss by 4.4 lbs over a 12-week time span. Another study conducted on obese older adults had shown that drinking water before breakfast reduced the amount of energy (calorie) intake during the meal by 13%. Several health organizations recommend drinking at least 2 liters of water per day.
However, water requirement depends completely on the individual. For instance, people who workout daily may require more water than those who don’t. The simple rule of thumb says, drink water when you are thirsty, and make sure that you drink enough every time.
Get A Stress Free Sleep Every Night –
There are a variety of reasons why you might be stressed. Besides all psychological factors that lead to stress, there can be many physical stressors surrounding you that you may have never noticed. One such physical stressor is – Poor Sleep.
To combat stress, your body releases Cortisol aka stress hormone whose primary function is to provide a burst of energy when resisting a stressor. However, a prolonged release of cortisol due to both psychological and physical factors affects your body negatively.
You might have noticed that when you are stressed out, you feel a lot hungrier than other times. Well, when you are stressed out, the level of Leptin (a hormone that regulates hunger) drops down making you feel hungry.
Some of the ways by which you can manage stress by working out daily, practising yoga, incorporating a healthy diet.
You should also read – 4 Habits that are Secretly Making you Fat
Substitute High-calorie beverages with Green Tea and Lemon Water
Loaded with antioxidants and other vital health beneficial substances, Green Tea is certainly one of the healthiest drink on the earth. The reason why you see every nutritionist recommend drinking green tea is due to its richness in antioxidants and presence of a primary substance known as EGCG, which boosts metabolism. Apart from increasing metabolism, green tea also increases fat burning specifically during exercise showed this study.
Therefore, you should look forward to replacing all your high-calorie and high-sugar beverages with substitutes like green tea and lemon water which are beneficial for health and weight loss.
Take home message:
Following a strict diet is something that you can’t do with hands in your pocket. You need to prepare yourself both mentally and physically for the significant change that you are about to go for. A few cheat meals or couple of days off the schedule is fine but make sure that you don’t make a habit out of it. Because at the end of the day, it’s the consistency that counts.
Also published on Medium.
