How to lose weight without starving

How to lose weight without starving? Is Starvation Mode Real?

In this blog, we will be discussing yet another enemy of the average dieter which is the so-called starvation mode or starvation metabolism.

Now, what exactly is this phenomenon? Here’s what most people would say. To lose weight, you need to consume fewer calories, but if you consume too few calories, your metabolism slows down so much that your body enters the state where weight loss stops completely.

Is It Possible To Lose Weight Without Starving?

Contrary to popular belief, being in a state of constant hunger, calories can have more drastic effects than not losing weight. They heard that it can cause weight gain and to get out of the state and start losing again, you must eat more calories not less. So are these claims true, or is this just another lie, sold by the dieting industry?

Let’s have a look. First, let’s see what’s true about it. Well, prolonged dieting will indeed cause the metabolic rate to slow down over time. This is what’s known as adaptive thermogenesis.

Now is this effect enough to make you stop losing weight altogether? No, most certainly not. This isn’t significant enough to cause weight gain.

Adaptive thermogenesis

It happens slowly and over weeks or months. We know this from starvation studies like the Minnesota study where participants had to follow a 24-week-long starvation diet consisting of two small meals per day of roughly 1500 calories total. This amount then reduced even further until they reached about 5% of body fat.

Now, we will understand in brief what happened to their metabolisms in this experiment. By the end of the study, it was found that The metabolic rate of men had dropped by around 40%.

And all this was under the largest possible calorie deficit, something that you will fortunately never have to go through.

Bottom line is that, if the starvation mode was real, it would have kicked in and prevented the drastic weight loss from happening. Well, now you might think that this particular idea is completely fabricated, and then let us enlighten you with the fact that there is a similar phenomenon that usually occurs along with a prolonged calorie deficit.

This phenomenon not only includes a small drop in metabolic rate but also increases cravings and fatigue.

This is mainly due to the increased cortisol levels in your body due to the stress when you opt for crash dieting. This is why it is always recommended to use a moderate calorie deficit instead of a large calorie deficit and to take regular diet breaks.

This in turn will make your experience of dieting a lot more tolerable and hence it will boost your motivation and energy.

To wrap up this, let us tell you that starvation mode, even though it has some truth to it, is something that’s mostly blown out of proportion. And hence it is very easy to lose weight while eating proper meals.

So next time you feel hungry feel free to eat and never starve your body.

Do you want to lose weight but you’re always hungry?

Diet and your willingness to lose healthy weight go hand in hand. Many people come up with the query that “I want to lose weight but I’m always hungry” As we have discussed, foods that are generally regarded as healthy like vegetables, grains, and fruits are also low in calories, promote satiety, and are great for weight loss.

Experiencing hunger is a real thing and something that must not be neglected at any cost.

Now depending on what your current diet looks like including these foods while also implementing the weight loss principles, we outlined before can be a pretty big change.

If you’re just getting started and don’t have a lot of experience with dieting, then we might suggest you make small changes first.

Don’t quickly jump further or make any more changes by going to the next step until you get used to the first change.

A lot of people try to do everything at once and end up getting nowhere. Many of these people then think that healthy eating is just too hard for their busy life and give up quickly. Many people also think that because they feel hungry often, they won’t be able to lose weight ever. Which is not true at all?

If you learn to make small changes and get used to them before jumping over to the next step, it will eventually not feel like too much and hence will be a lot better in the long run.

How to lose weight without feeling hungry or deprived?

In step 1, calculate your daily calories as you did before and subtract 20 percent from them. Now focus on reaching those calories by eating mostly healthy foods.

This means that you have to try as best as you can. Try eating a diet mainly based on-

lean proteins,
fruits,
veggies,
whole grains,
And healthy fat sources.

You can have some junk food here and there of course. Just don’t make it all the time and keep overall calories in check.

If you do this, you will already see good results because you have your calorie deficit in place and will be getting enough vitamins and minerals for general health.

Once you have implemented step 1 and can successfully stick to this new diet, in the next step, then track your daily macros, especially protein to make sure you’re getting enough of it for muscle maintenance.

A good idea is to build every meal and snack around a protein source.

This can be a piece of chicken, meat, or fish or if you’re a vegan or vegetarian, there may be some beans and nuts. Once you have the protein, you can add veggies and some fruits as well. This will already be a pretty filling meal. But if you need additional energy for workouts, then also include quality carbs like rice, potatoes, or quinoa.

Now you don’t need to include dietary fat in every single of your meals, but make sure to reach an overall total for the day. Now that you have a calorie deficit in place, eat mostly healthy foods, and reach your macros every day you’re pretty much set.

There is one more thing though that will help you stick to this diet and the long run.

And that’s the meal schedule. Try to eat your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks at about the same size and time every day. Now even though you have probably remembered what I said, meal timing doesn’t matter all that much.

It’s still a good psychological anchor to always eat your meals at the same time and in the same size. This will eventually work towards making it easier for you to stick to the plan.

And if you get to this point and feel comfortable with the changes you made to your overall diet, then you’re golden. This is pretty much the perfect setup for long-term success.

How to lose weight without counting calories?

As explained before, there are far too many myths regarding foods that you can and can’t eat when you’re trying to lose weight.

When you want to lose weight, how much you eat is a lot more important than what you eat. So as long as you stick to a calorie deficit diet, you will start to lose weight without starving.

It is possible to lose weight by eating junk food too if you are just on a Calorie deficit.

But it is not healthy to randomly lose body weight because you will also be losing your hard-earned muscles, some bone weight, essential water, and essential vitamins and minerals from your body.

However, if you want to lose fat, then it is a bit tricky. Losing fat is far healthier than randomly losing body weight.

To naturally Lose Fat healthily, you need to maintain your daily target of calories, and then watch your macro and micronutrient intake.

Preferably a higher protein diet of 1.5 to 2gm of protein per kg of your ideal body weight, along with some regular resistance training or strength training.

Your body needs vitamins and minerals to stay healthy and have enough energy for exercising right.

That’s why a diet full of junk food and ice cream is not advisable, even if it fits your macros. When you are planning your diet, plan to have 80-90 percent of your calories from quality unprocessed food sources.

Once that’s taken care of, you can now treat yourself with 10-20 percent of calories coming from bad foods.

Now obviously, the larger your calorie deficit, meaning the lower your overall daily calories, so it is, the smaller the margin for bad foods.

Eating too many high-calorie processed foods means your meals will be very low in overall food volume and very low in nutritive value, which makes them less filling.

Then this will create more cravings and overall hunger.

But if you follow the simple 80:20 rule, with a good quantity of protein intake every day, then it’ll be a lot easier to stick to your diet and you’ll also be able to eat most of your favorite foods.

How to lose 5 pounds without starving?

Foods to eat for losing weight. The term fat loss foods get thrown around a lot.

Many brands and stores claim that their foods will help you burn body fat just by consuming their food.

Similarly, many fitness gurus claim that you have to eat this and not that to lose weight.

In most cases however these claims are pure marketing, which is why in this blog we will be enlightening you with everything you need to know about the subject of weight loss foods and how you can implement them in your diet.

First and foremost, there is no such thing as a weight-loss food.

Claiming that one food is better than the other for losing weight is misleading.

Foods don’t have any special properties that make them better or worse for weight loss because food does not burn fat, energy expenditure does.

However, what they have are different amounts of stored energy as measured in calories and varying amounts of protein, carbs, and fat.

Foods like spices are usually used in small quantities so they don’t add up many calories to the food, but they do have certain benefits. Adding Spices to food helps in better digestion and prevents bloating and can also boost our metabolism. Spices like turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and black pepper are also rich in antioxidants.

Please understand the following two factors, the calories in the food and how those calories are broken down into protein, carbohydrates, and fat is what makes some food better or worse for losing weight than others.

Of those two, of course, your total calories are the most important variable. If you know how to regulate your calorie balance properly, you can eat just about anything and lose weight.

Twinkie Diet: A good example of this is the famous Twinkie Diet, where a nutrition professor from the U.S., lost about 15kg by eating just Twinkies, which are nothing but sponge cakes, chips, and protein shakes.

He did this by making sure that his total daily calories were less than what his body burnt regularly.

You don’t just want to lose weight like in the Twinkie experiment, but you want to lose fat.

And for this, certain foods are better than others.

When your goal isn’t merely weight loss, but to lose body fat and have a lower body fat percentage,

While maintaining all the muscle you currently have, or even putting on some lean muscle mass.

Then getting the majority of your calories from junk carbs and fats will not help you achieve your goal.

You will also have to watch your macronutrients i.e. (your protein, carbs, and fats).

Now let’s look at them individually!

How to lose weight without exercising?

Well, exercise is an important factor in losing weight but counting calories shouldn’t be the sole motive.

If somebody tells you that you can easily lose weight just by having a healthy diet then it is misleading because, yes diet plays a vital role in losing weight but so does exercise. A healthy diet can make you lose healthy weight but if you want to be in a certain shape then you have to work out a little for the same.

But as far as a nutritious diet is concerned there are a few things that you must include in your diet for healthy weight loss.

Here’s what you must include in your daily meals to get rid of extreme hunger or starvation and lose weight simultaneously.

1) Protein:

Protein is the most important macronutrient in any fat-loss diet and it’s also the primary factor in building muscle.

Pretty much every study available on fat loss, confirms that high-protein diets are more effective in reducing body fat, preserving muscle mass, and increasing satiety.

If you exercise regularly, a high-protein diet is even more important because this further increases your body’s demand for amino acids. Keep in mind that as you get leaner, keeping your protein intake high becomes even more important. If the protein intake drops too low, your strength and you are over muscle mass will reduce as well.

2) Carbohydrates:

Carbohydrates are not evil. They don’t make you fat or unhealthy. There are several benefits to keeping your carbohydrate intake as high as possible when dieting. They include better workout performance, improved retention of lean muscle mass, more satiety, and better energy levels.

Although this might sound strange to you because so many fitness gurus recommend a low-carb diet for fat loss. But always keep in mind that Carbs should not be neglected.

3) Dietary fat:

Dietary fat is essential for your body because your body needs some fatty acids to survive and cannot produce them from other foods. You also need fat to regulate hormone production and to keep your skin and hair healthy. Fats also help you absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K, the fat-soluble vitamins, and lastly fat cells insulate your body and help you to keep warm.

Great. Now that we’ve covered all the groundwork, what are the real fat-loss foods?

Generally speaking, the best foods for fat loss are those that provide lots of vitamins and minerals and are filling while also being relatively light in calories.

When you focus on eating these types of foods, you’re much less likely to struggle with hunger issues and overeat. Foods that fall into this category are certain types of protein. For example, lean types of meat, chicken, fish, low-fat dairy products, egg whites, and some grains and all vegetables.

As for carbs, whole grains like wheat, brown rice, and oats are great. Vegetables like green beans, carrots, and broccoli are also very good sources of complex carbs. Legumes would include green peas and beans. Sweet potatoes are also a good choice of Healthy Carbs.

As you can see, All the above are a bunch of high-fiber, unprocessed foods that taste great, provide your body with plenty of micronutrients, and keep you full for longer.

Now, what are the foods you want to avoid?

The food items are very calorie-dense, high in dietary fat, and added sugar. Those are the highly processed junk food like chips, candy, cookies, and Sugary Aerated beverages. But, there are quite a few healthy foods that are calorie-dense and need to be limited.

For instance, Oils and Butters can be good for you, but you should limit your intake while dieting because they do not pack a lot of calories and dietary fat, do not give many micronutrients nor will they fill you up. The same goes for foods like nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, avocado, and whole-fat dairy, so consume it in limited quantities.

How to lose weight fast?

There is no mantra for losing weight fast or losing weight within a week or a month as weight loss is a proper process that takes time. You can lose weight through unhealthy means like crash dieting, starvation, etc but, that will have adverse effects on your body which is why it is recommended to lose weight healthily.

The best method and a proven fact for losing weight is mindful eating!

No matter how healthy a diet you are eating, if you are under stress and not enjoying the food you eat it will not impact your body in a good way.

On the other hand, if you practice mindful eating daily you will notice remarkable positive changes in your weight loss journey.

Here’s how mindful eating helps –

MINDFUL EATING IS:

Recognizing one’s hunger and satiety about when what, and how much to eat
Choosing foods that are nutritious and enjoyable
Slowing down one’s eating rate
Eating as the only activity (eg, not in front of the TV or in the car)
Using all of the senses when eating
Responding nonjudgmentally to food
Increasing awareness of unmindful eating and its consequences
Practicing meditation
Reading weight loss-friendly affirmations
Thanking God before eating
Enjoy every flavor and aroma of the food.

Ways to control hunger for weight loss –

Track your daily food intake –

The first and the best method to control hunger to lose weight is keeping a food diary. So, that you can track your daily food intake regardless of which diet you are following. This will ensure that you stick to your micro goals and calorie intake.

Tips to track your food –

Measure your portion size through cups or scales so that you are more precise.
Keep count of every ingredient that you use including oil, seasoning, and garnish ingredients.
Also, track all the drinks and in-between snacking that you do including your cheat meals and alcohol.

Concentrate on your breakfast

Since breakfast is the first meal of the day. It is very important to eat a heavy breakfast that keeps you full for quite some time. The type of breakfast you eat helps in determining your weight loss rather than how much to eat overall.

If you eat a wholesome breakfast with fewer calories but more nutrients it will help you in weight loss. You can try the best breakfast options like- a high-protein breakfast, one-bowl meal, healthy salads, etc

Stay hydrated

People focus a lot on their daily meals but often neglect their water intake. However, hydration is very important not only to quench your thirst. But, also to keep you fresh and hydrated all day. Although drinking water won’t necessarily help you in losing weight. It pushes out empty calories from your diet and makes you feel more satisfied than indirectly aiding weight loss.

Since water contains no calories it will easily feel your stomach while keeping you hydrated at the same time. The average water intake for a person is said to be 8 to 10 glasses of water each day.

You can drink approximately 2 cups of water before your meals. So that, you don’t end up overeating and you eat less which will eventually help in losing weight.

Get enough sleep and manage your stress

Well, sleep and stress play a major role in determining your weight loss journey. No matter how hard you go on your diet. If you don’t sleep well, or you stay stressed for the longest time your body won’t release happy hormones. And you will not enjoy the journey of weight loss.

For better sleep and stress management, you can try yoga and meditation which will not only improve your sleeping pattern. But will also make you more focused on your life.

Conclusion

So, if you want to lose weight without starving. You must start fresh and look after a healthy lifestyle and proper workouts. For healthy weight loss, it is always preferred to start with smaller steps and then increase according to your capabilities. The next time you misinterpret starvation for weight loss remember to get your facts clear before you starve your body.

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