Staying in shape can be hard when you are working long hours. Losing weight is a combination of eating right, exercising, and getting enough sleep. But such things are always easier said than done. Anyone who works long hours can easily vouch for that.
The average employee works over 48 hours a week – sometimes, you can’t avoid putting in the extra hours for the sake of your business or job, and that is okay! However, your career shouldn’t compromise your physical health.
Unfortunately, a lot of adults tend to eat unhealthy food when they are stressed or tired. Naturally, nobody likes to slave away in the kitchen after a long, arduous day of crunching at the office. And to make matters worse, people today have so little time to themselves, they often rarely exercise. This only adds to gradual weight gain and the early onset of diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular issues.
If you’re someone who can relate to all of this, don’t let it disappoint you! There is still a way to get back on track and make healthy choices. Luckily, if you’re not too fond of getting a gym membership, you’ll be happy to know that losing weight follows the 80/20 rule. Whereby 80 % of weight loss comes from eating healthy compared to 20 % of work-out. There’s no need for you to have to exercise for hours to see results. Even a brisk walk can do wonders – when you’re on the right diet.
Invest in a keto box
Essentially, a keto box is a form of subscription service that provides the right kind of food to you, when you’re following the ketogenic diet. Many companies offer weekly and monthly deals that cover lunch and dinner and even include sugar-free desserts, to help curb your sweet tooth.
For busy individuals, paying for such services is a great idea; it requires no hassle and even takes out the frozen bit associated with meal-prepping. If you can afford to invest in a keto box subscription, you should. Once again, when you spend your hard-earned money on eating healthy, you won’t give in to the temptation of eating out and falling off the bandwagon.
Start Meal Prepping
Since you can’t take time to cook every day, reserve the task for when you’re free. Perhaps, on weekends when you’re mostly at home. Instead of just cooking for one day, plan, and meal prep for the entire week. Get enough groceries to last you seven days, then make enough food and divide it into 14 containers. With this method, you’re likely to eat wholesome and convenient!
Meal-prepping eliminates the hassle of figuring out what to eat each time and provides a well laid out plan to last you for days. But, make sure to incorporate the right amount of proteins, fats, and carbs in your meals. Also, depending on how much effort you’re willing to expend, try adding a little variety. You can cook chicken and serve it with different sides, such as beans, salad, tortillas, or rice.
As long as you have a working refrigerator, the process is foolproof! You can even label containers with their respective days, and all you have to do is warm the food up in the oven before you dig in. Because you’ll be cooking for yourself, you’ll be less likely to order fast food or succumb to peer pressure to do so. Why? Because that food isn’t going to last forever, and wasting something you spent hours making is always hard!
Cut The Carbs
You must have heard about the keto diet by now. It has been gaining traction for the past few years, and rightfully so. Ketogenic diets focus on reducing your carbohydrate intake, which means absolutely zero artificial sugars and no carb-rich foods.
Keto diets are based on a strict regimen, which many find hard to follow as it requires you to let go of your favorite sweet snacks, but it works. As a plus, however, you’re allowed to consume fats. That means meat, poultry, dairy, and other fatty foods are on the table. A diet rich in protein and fats trains your body to burn the latter instead of sugar for fuel, and thus, you lose weight in a short amount of time – given you don’t cheat.
While it doesn’t take a nutritionist to get things right, it can be perplexing to figure out which foods are okay to eat. For instance, you may be surprised to know that if you follow a ketogenic diet, you can’t eat cashews or oats due to their high carbohydrate content.
Technically, oatmeal is touted as one of the healthiest breakfast options out there, yet keto diets completely exclude them, along with other grains. The construct is a little tricky and can be overwhelming for someone working long hours.