Weight Loss and Maintaining a Low Body Fat Percentage:

Having worked out for the previous 10 years of my life, I’ve witnessed how individuals have grown and diminished in size innumerable times.

Whether it’s individuals who have built up to become bodybuilders, people who have shrunk down from bodybuilders to someone who looks nearly like a teenager again, or even someone who is somewhat obese but manages to reduce weight and finally maintains that low body fat percentage.

From an outsider’s viewpoint, witnessing the behaviors that these folks had over the years taught me a handful of things regarding losing weight and sustaining that weight reduction.

It’s also why I’ve come to establish a few basic lifestyle practices to keep a reasonably low body fat. And I very much can keep a slim body year-round.

These behaviors have been shown in a scientific fashion time and time again, and, as long as you adhere to these routines for a long period, you’ll undoubtedly lose weight and keep a low body fat percentage.

But coming back to the fundamentals, losing weight simply boils down to being in a calorie deficit, and that is based on 2 things:

• Increase calories out—burn calories
• Decrease calories in—consume less calories

The latter is the more crucial component, while the former is the cherry on top since it’s generally simpler to do less than to burn more calories.

With those 2 things in mind, here are the 7 scientific techniques to lose weight and maintain a low body fat percentage.

1. Glass of water

Drinking a 500-ml glass of water before meals can help you lose weight over the long term.

Studies have proven in an experiment that:

The group that drank 500 ml of water before meals had a 44% larger weight reduction over 12 weeks compared to those who did not drink water before meals.

It’s a simple modification in one’s lifestyle, yet it managed to reshape their bodies over the course of 12 weeks. The explanation is that drinking water helps to suppress appetite, making us feel fuller throughout our meals, and we end up ingesting fewer calories.

By drinking a glass of water versus drinking other liquids like soda and fruit juice, you also wind up eating considerably fewer calories.

But I know drinking water isn’t for everyone, but you can always start small and work your way up to 500 ml of water per day. A number of suggestions you might keep in mind are:

1. Add seasoning. Plain water could be dull to some individuals when they begin. Perhaps adding some fruity taste like slicing some lemons or berries can assist with that, or even putting in some sugar-free water flavoring drops or even 0-calorie choices.
2. Carbonated water. Some individuals prefer carbonated water compared to plain water. Somehow it tastes a lot better, and if it works for you, why not? You’re still drinking water with 0 calories, and you receive all the same advantages that you get from drinking plain water too.

The aim is to make it pleasant and simple enough for you to continuously do it for a long time; that’s how you can come closer to your goals.

2. Protein

If you’ve spent so much time at the gym, you should already know how crucial protein is.

Without it, you’re effectively wasting your time at the gym. Protein acts as the linking factor to help rebuild your muscles into larger muscular fibers after your activity in the gym has broken them down.

Even if you aren’t working out, ingesting protein helps to keep you more full, meaning you will be less inclined to consume other calorie-dense meals.

Ideally, research indicated that you should be consuming:

“0.7–1 gram per pound (1.6–2.2 grams per kg) of lean mass are sufficient.”

This is particularly important if you are working out. But it would assist if you also analyzed how you’re feeling as you tried to boost your protein consumption. It isn’t a hard and fast rule that the more protein you take, the more muscle you will grow or the more weight you will lose.

In fact, I would prefer ingest roughly 0.7g of protein per pound of body weight since it’s where my body can strike the balance between getting enough protein without feeling too bloated.

If you have no clue where to start acquiring your protein sources, then this could assist.

3. Remove liquid calories

Liquid calories are one of the simplest things you can eat to increase calories fairly rapidly.

These liquid calories include items like soda, frappuccino, fruit juice, and alcohol. They may appear good from the get-go but the truth is those calories don’t fill you in the same way. Therefore, when it comes to your solid meals, you continue to eat the same number of foods, if not just slightly less, which implies that you’re already ingesting a ton of fluid calories.

For example, a regular cup of cappuccino will include around ~150 calories whereas a cup of 250ml orange juice would contain about ~120 calories.

So without thinking twice, you’re already eating more than 300 calories simply from the drink alternatives you chose every day. Instead, if you were to chose low-calorie or 0-calorie drink alternatives, you’d have ingested at least 200 calories less than the amount you’re ingesting currently.

But of may turn this to your favor if you find it problematic to take your solid proteins occasionally, it can be worth producing a protein shake out of some whole meals so you obtain the nutrients you need while keeping full.

4. Food Swaps

You probably already know about the necessity of picking the correct meals depending on the macronutrients each food contains.

So the next stage is to be more intentional with the things you eat. Apart from picking 0-calorie or low-calorie beverages, you should also do the same for solid meals as well. A simple example may be an apparently healthy dessert which can have varied quantities of calories depending on the one you pick.

According to Healthline, selecting the proper yogurt can mean that you are getting a bit more carbohydrates, more sugar, less protein, and a pretty equal number of calories for the same serving. So the preferable decision to make in this scenario would be the Greek yogurt.

Of course, some selections may even go as far as having 2x more calories and 4x less protein than the other so you’ll need to choose your meals intelligently.

By picking the proper one, you’ll be able to eat it a bit more while continuing to enjoy the things you love.

5. NEAT

Non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is the energy spent for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating, or sports-like exercise.

It may practically be anything as long as you are doing some type of movement throughout the day. It might be as basic as fidgeting, executing an agricultural chore to something very small like preferring the walk instead of using public transit to the train station near your workplace.

You would imagine that activities like these wouldn’t amount to much.

But in recent months, you’ve definitely heard of the 10,000 steps challenge wherein many individuals are taking up this task everyday to reduce weight. And it’s effective since you’ll likely burn roughly ~300–500 calories by doing that.

Even on my last abroad trip in Europe, I walked an average of 13,000 steps a day for 3 weekweeks,ch meant that I effortlessly shed ~300–500 calories a day without actively exercising. And it’s partly because seeing the city on foot is one of the greatest methods to do so. Even if you were to visit sites, go shopping, eetc. you’d likely be walking most locations aside from getting cars to various destinations that are farther away.

So I don’t see why folks cannot add more activity into their regular routine to burn more calories.

6. Walking Routine

Whenever individuals state that they want to have a lean body or just lose weight, one of the things that fitness instructors will encourage them to do is to perform some cardio.

Even if the major bulk of losing weight comes from your food as it’s simpler to eat less, practicing any type of exercise can further aid to burn more calories over time. But of course, doing cardio in the form of running, cycling or swimming might be too difficult for most people.

So the next best thing someone can do is to create a walking regimen.

Extending the principle of improving NEAT in your life, some individuals emphasize getting more steps in throughout the day wherever they go. Even if they were to be working from home, they may even acquire a desk treadmill so that they can get some steps in while performing their real job. This encourages them to get their job done and reach their daily step targets each day.

Others go as far as to perform a walking treadmill program such as the ‘12–3–30’ treadmill routine to burn calories because it’s significantly lower in impact compared to other kinds of exercise.

Some even claimed that you can anticipate to be ~300–400 calories too which saves you a ton of time compared to walking that 10,000 steps per day.

7. Prioritize fun

Y’know how we used to run around the playground and play various sports when we were little, those were the carefree days.

But as we get older, we cease doing all that.

Our priorities alter and we cease having fun. We stop going out as much, we stop exercising and we stop doing sports entirely. We get easily overwhelmed owing to the problems of a young adult and we just have no convenient release.

But often the quickest way to disengage, rejuvenate, and even burn some calories while you’re doing it is to emphasize pleasure by doing what you’ve done previously when you were young.

Some possibilities include:

• Playing the sport you usually like with your mates
• Going for an outdoor stroll to keep your mind off problems

Signing up for lessons with friends and family to try something new

Little things like these will go a long way as you already know about it from the notion of NEAT.

Wrapping It Up

The notion of trying to reduce weight has been around for a long time.

The approaches aren’t any different. Perhaps, the focus put on specific ways has switched from performing more exercise to ingesting less calories. Yet, the obesity count in America has been climbing gradually over the last few of years according to data.

For someone who actually wants to lose weight, they will have to develop a lifestyle around these 7 scientific behaviors that have been proved to help them lose weight and maintain a low body fat percentage.

If you manage to develop that lifestyle, you’ll undoubtedly reach your objective someday.