It’s the age-old problem that confounds people the world over, not just us men. Where the hell did I get all that belly fat, and how on earth am I going to get it removed? You didn’t just wake up one morning and suddenly, your muffin-top appeared from nowhere. So today you’ll learn the best diet for men to lose weight and keep it off.
Without knowing it, weight accumulates over time if we don’t look after our bodies with healthy eating and consistent exercise. Sorry to burst your bubble but only those gents with amazing metabolism can get away with burgers and beer. Whilst they flip sausages in their BBQ apron with sly look in their eye, the rest of us are in envy of their slim physique. But whilst they may seem fit and healthy on the outside, it’s a different story internally.
Did you know that expectant fathers tend to put on a lot of weight whilst their partners are pregnant? The Daily Mail in the UK ran a study that suggest this demographic adds an average of 14 pounds in this timeframe. Going out in sympathy with your partner indulging may be fine, but you may want to think of the repercussions.
Do I Have to Exercise?
But you’re not here to find out how you got that excessive weight on, you want to know how to dwindle it away. Well whilst I’m not a complete expert in this field, I can do all the hard-Googling work for you and find the best diet for men to lose weight. We’ve research this field and have come up with our top 3 diets that will assist you greatly in your endeavor to lose those pounds.
One thing to remember though, is that a diet can partially remove your weight. Exercise is still required and will make you feel so much more active once you start. But don’t think you need to join a gym to do this either. It’s so easy to come up with a half hour plan at home that includes sit-ups, push-ups, knee abs, squats or any other physical exercise that doesn’t require gym equipment.
Another great idea that I’ve found is to purchase a punching bag or speed ball. There’s nothing like getting a bit of aggression out on a punching bag and the benefits to this are huge. Within a minute of having a good jab workout, you’ll feel your stomach muscles working hard. Exercising at home is also going to save you ½ – 1 hour per day, depending on how far away your local gym is.
So Which Diet is the Best?
When it comes to the diet, steer clear of the fads such as ’The 28-day Fat Burning Diet’. These are intended to get you so excited that you’ll lose your weight within no time. The problem being is that after the 28 days, you slowly start to put it back on unless you keep up this power diet. So, whilst this may be fine for body-builders that are obsessed with their training, you may not have the will power to keep this up.
The other disadvantage is that whilst you may choose, for example, the Atkins Diet, you may not get all the necessary ingredients your body requires to function well. It’s basically a high-protein, low carb diet where you can eat meat, beans, seafood and nuts but you may be restricting yourself of carbs such as fruits, cereals, milk, potatoes or corn.
Which leads us to more consistent, long term diets that will condition you to eating well over a larger period. Now, there’s two ways you can go about doing this. Join a program like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or take control of your own eating habits. I’m going to focus on the latter, because joining up to a program is easy and you can read all about their spiel on their website.
We’ve also found that the 5-2 diet is extremely popular and successful and better still, does not require signing up to program. It basically means dieting for 2 days out of your seven. This is a great alternative to other diets as you don’t need to be as consistent as a full on 7-day diet. Start with healthy eating for 2 days and after 3-4 weeks, you may find that it’s working, and you’d like to see more results. So, change it to a 3-4 diet.
Juices & Smoothies
On of the easiest ways to get your nutritional vitamins & minerals, is to make a drink out of them. Using a non-fat (or very low fat) milk as your base ingredient, you can then add some protein such as protein powder or non-fat yogurt. We all have various tastes and if you like silken tofu, this can be substituted as your protein.
Include monounsaturated fats, which by the way are heathy fats. This can include nuts, seeds or avocado. Now to make your smoothie taste better, add your regular fruit to the mix. Berries are a very popular choice for smoothies as they give loads of flavor and offer a large amount of fiber with very little sugar. If you’re feeling extra healthy, add some vegetables such as cucumber.
Other Meals
Whilst smoothies are a great way to start the day, what to do for the remaining meals? This is where you must meet a balance of carbs and protein. Many people over-consume carbohydrates so if you can reduce your carb intake, this will go a long way to achieving your desired results. Don’t slash your carbs completely though, you still need carbohydrates to function as they include fiber and vitamins.
Unfortunately, breads get a bad wrap as they are not entirely good for us. But we love bread, so the trick is to look for more dense, heavy looking bread as opposed to the light and fluffy type. Wholegrain is a good option as is other breads with seeds or grains. Don’t overeat bread, this goes without saying.
If you’re a pasta lover, you may have to reign in the carbonara. Although it’s not totally bad for you, it does provide low cholesterol and the carbohydrates, protein and micronutrients you need. The problem is that pasta is too carb-heavy. When you think about the fact that every gram of carbohydrate contains 4 calories, you may stop to consider how many carbohydrates are in pasta.
Conclusion
So, in wrapping up this little knowledge block of information, what have you learnt? We all need fiber, protein and carbohydrates, it’s just the amount that needs to be balanced. It’s suggested that men should get 38 grams of fiber per day. Carbohydrates should make up 45-60 percent of the calories you get. If you’re between the ages of 19-30, it’s suggested you need 2,400-3000 calories per day which equates to approximately 1,000-1,800 calories should be from carbs. Men aged between 31-50 require 2,200 calories per day.
Weight loss/health is the biggest issue in society today. Just look at how many websites there are dedicated to healthy living. They will all give you generally the same advice about carbs, protein etc. It’s up to you to implement the diet yourself.
If you think that you cannot be disciplined enough with yourself, it may be worth signing up to Jenny Craig of a similar program that will send you out meals with the correct amount of the good stuff.
