Between around-the-clock work schedules, never-ending to-do lists, and days spent running around like a chicken sans head, who has the time to lose weight? Well, if you follow these five time-saving weight loss tips, you.
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Sure, you could drag out the pots, pans, and cutting boards every day. But if you chop, sauté, and bake all of your week’s food at once, you’ll save serious time from your schedule while ensuring that you fill up on healthy meals every day, says Wesley Delbridge, R.D., a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics.
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Get the most out of every ingredient by making them in big batches and using them in multiple recipes. For instance, that steamed broccoli can work as a stand-alone side or mixed into omelets, soups, or pastas.
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Give Your Strength Workouts the Priority
When you’re in the gym, so bead of sweat should go in vain. So, to make sure you get the most out of every minute you’re in the gym, focus on strength training over steady-state cardio. Strength training reduces body fat in less time than cardio, according to 2015 research from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Researchers say that since strength workouts build muscle in addition to burning fat, they can increase your metabolism over the long term to keep you losing weight even when you’re sitting at your desk.
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Get Delivery
And, no, we don’t mean from the Indian restaurant around the corner. For guys who don’t even have enough time to prep their meals once a week, delivery services like The Fresh Diet and BistroMD, drop off fresh, customized meals right at your door. Meanwhile, HelloFresh delivers healthy groceries and recipes to you every week to cut down on time spent shopping.
Don’t Skip on Sleep
You only have so many hours in your day, but sleep should always get a good seven to nine of them. Because, let’s face it, when your sleep goes out the window, it takes your diet with it. It’s a biological inevitability. In fact, research from the University of California, Berkeley shows that sleep deprivation impairs increases activity in the brain’s reward center (which just loves sugar, salt, and fat), while down-regulating activity in the ever-responsible frontal lobe. That might be why a recent Mayo Clinic study found that the average person puts away an extra 549 calories on days after they miss out on just 80 minutes of sleep.
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Cut Your Restaurant Meals in Half
Every guy is going to eat out from time to time, and that’s OK. But dinners with your S.O., friends, and business clients don’t have to derail your weight loss efforts. Just ask your server to put half of your meal in a doggie bag—and even before it comes to your table in the first place, Delbridge recommends. That way, you won’t be tempted to eat more than you really need and you’ll automatically have tomorrow’s lunch packed and ready to go. Win-Win.
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