You don’t feel like getting up from bed and going to the gym or you feel extremely exhausted! Well, during our strict diet and exercise routine, there are times when we don’t feel like doing exercise.
To help you out, here’s a list of things that you can do to reduce weight if you don’t feel like working out.
1. Increase your intake of water
Studies have shown that drinking more water can help you lose weight. Healthline reviewed several studies and found that drinking water can increase the number of calories you burn, which is known as resting energy expenditure. In adults, resting energy expenditure increases by 24% to 30% within 10 minutes of drinking water and lasts at least 60 minutes. Another study of obese kids found a 25% surge in resting energy expenditure after drinking cold water. Another study on overweight women examined the effects of increasing water intake to over 1 litre per day. The study found that over a 12-month period, this resulted in an extra 2 kg of weight loss. Drinking water can also reduce appetite. Studies of older adults have shown that drinking water before each meal may increase weight loss by 2 kg over a three-month period. In one study, middle-aged obese participants who drank water before each meal lost 44% more weight, compared to a group that did not drink more water.
2. Go bowling
Did you know that two hours of bowling can burn around 300 calories. So why not gather your friends and head to the bowling alley for a healthy night out? Bowling increases your metabolism and hence aids in weight loss. Depending on the effort exerted and the weight of the bowler, the person can burn 150 to 300 calories an hour. An adult weighing 200 pounds can burn up to 275 calories an hour while bowling.
3. House cleaning
House cleaning can be boring but once you get to know the benefits, you will start cleaning your house daily. Whether you broom or mop, wash the utensils or clean the shelves, all these activities require great body movements which helps in burning calories. If you don’t want to hit the gym, just hop on to the mission of cleaning your house. A 150-pound person will burn roughly 200 calories per hour while doing housework, depending on the type of house cleaning. For example, cleaning floors burns 4 calories per minute; wiping counters or scrubbing the bathroom burns 4 calories per minute; scrubbing the floor on your hands and knees burns 4 calories per minute; reaching, scrubbing, and climbing on and off a stepladder to wash windows burns 6 calories per minute.
4. Spicy food
Many of us love spicy food. We usually eat spicy food for our taste buds but do you know that spicy foods can also help cut down weight. Hot and spicy food increases the metabolism of our body by 20%. Chillies have a compound called capsaicin that helps in losing weight. The compound is good for the heart as well. Research also shows that people who eat more spicy foods are less likely to have a BMI more than 30 (obesity) or a BMI more than 25 (overweight). Capsaicin also acts on the hypothalamus (the part of the brain that controls hunger and fullness).
5. Meditate
People can start eating too much if they feel depressed. So take out some time from your busy schedule and meditate to make yourself calm and relaxed. Meditation also helps in losing weight and keeping it off by helping to control emotional eating and improving food habits.
6. Chewing gum
Chewing gum can also help with weight loss. Researchers have found that people who chewed gum burned 5% to 8% more calories than those who didn’t, and it could help you eat around 70 fewer calories a day. But, it’s important to note that one should not use gum as a substitute for meals. Chewing gum may also decrease hunger, make you feel fuller, and help you experience fewer cravings. In one study, chewing gum reduced hunger and cravings after a 10-hour fast.
7. Take a shower
Taking a hot bath might also help you lose weight. In a study to look at how a hot bath affects blood sugar control and how many calories are burned, the participants were split into two groups. One group relaxed in a 40 degree bath for an hour, while the other group cycled. Scientists monitored how many calories the men used doing each activity. Although cycling burnt more calories, it was found that a long hot bath burned as many calories as a half-hour walk, which is about 140 calories.
8. Get proper sleep
Sleep is necessary for recharging your body. You feel fresh and energised if you get enough sleep every night. Research published in the JAMA journal shows that an extra hour of sleep every night could help sleep-deprived people who are obese eat 270 fewer calories per day. Also, if you wish to burn even more calories while sleeping, wearing fewer clothes could help. When you’re naked, your body has to work harder to keep warm. This means it uses more energy than usual and also speeds up your metabolism.
9. Watch a horror movie
The next time you plan a movie night, go for a horror movie. A 90-minute horror movie can burn up to 113 calories. If you watch horror movies a few times in a week, you would burn around 500 calories, without even knowing it. Some of the top calorie-burners according to research by University of Westminster are The Shining (184 calories), Jaws (161 calories) and The Exorcist (158 calories). Movies with regular jump-scares are most likely to burn calories as they increase the heart rate dramatically.
