Losing fat and being lean is one of the most sought-after achievements regarding health and fitness. Everyone is always talking about trying to lose fat and trying to find out the easiest ways to lose it. This doesn’t come as a surprise, as approximately 70% of Americans are classified as overweight (40% of them considered obese). Due to the vast majority of Americans struggling with their weight, many individuals and companies try to capitalize on this metric by selling bullshit courses, information, fad diets, workouts, etc. They’ll often claim to have a “breakthrough method” of some sort to lure people into buying their bullshit. The no-fluff, cold-hearted truth is that the only possible way to lose body fat is to eat fewer calories than you burn on a consistent basis. Calories are genuinely the only metric that matters when losing or gaining fat. That being said, there are some “hacks” that I have discovered along the way to consuming fewer calories (losing fat) more easily and enjoyably.
#1 Nicotine
Is nicotine by any means “healthy” for you? No, it’s definitely not a healthy product. Will it aid you in losing fat and help you go from overweight to a healthier weight? Yes, 100%. Nicotine is one of the best appetite and craving suppressors I have ever personally experimented with. Nicotine suppresses your appetite mainly by affecting your brain’s hunger control center. It activates certain receptors that relay information to your body to signal satiety and the feeling of being full. It also provides a spike of dopamine, which is the same chemical release you get from overeating. Ultimately, you will feel a sense of “reward” without eating the extra food. Simultaneously, nicotine will slightly raise your metabolism and slow down digestion, which also helps with appetite suppression.
In short, nicotine makes you feel full, gives your brain a small dopamine spike, and makes your body burn a bit more calories. I truly believe nicotine to be a “miracle drug” in regard to appetite suppression and losing body fat.
#2 Diet soda/zero calorie beverages
Diet soda and zero-calorie drinks have a very bad reputation due to the artificial flavors and certain chemicals within the contents of these drinks. Like nicotine, diet soda and zero-calorie beverages aren’t “healthy” products. Are they bad for your overall health? Not enough to make a drastic difference. Will they help you with losing fat? Absolutely, 100%. The main appeal for these diet drinks in relation to losing fat is that they can reduce cravings for sweets and foods filled with sugar without consuming any of the calories. You can literally crush a 12-pack of diet sodas a day, and they will contribute to absolutely ZERO body fat gain. These drinks are a phenomenal way to “scratch the itch” of craving sugar. Even though these drinks are generally not considered “healthy,” they are a great tool you can utilize to get healthier by keeping your calorie consumption low and ultimately losing body fat in the process.
#3 Low Calorie Dense Foods
Low-calorie-dense food is food that has low calories per weight or physical volume. You can eat a lot of these types of food without taking in many calories. Eating these types of foods will help you feel full while keeping your overall caloric intake low, which is great for fat loss.
Just by the sheer volume of these foods, you can get full and feel satiated by a few hundred calories of some of these foods. Some examples of low-calorie-dense foods are:
- Smart Pop popcorn
- Watermelon
- Lettuce/spinach
- Broccoli
- Cucumber
- Celery
- Strawberries
- Apples
- Chicken breast
- White fish
The list goes on and on.
Your body doesn’t measure fullness and satiety by calories alone. It measures it by volume, stretch of the stomach, and time spent eating. When your stomach expands from eating a large quantity of physical food, it signals to your brain that says, “I’m full,” regardless of whether that food came from 200 or 800 calories.
Low-calorie-dense foods are the ultimate cheat code to losing weight. You can just eat tons of these foods and have the same level of fullness as you would if you went to a buffet. You don’t need less food — you just need lighter food.
#4 Going for a Walk
Going for a walk is one of the most criminally underrated activities you can do for both your physical health as well as your psychological health. I absolutely love taking a walk, and I think you will too once you start doing them.
Going for a walk helps reduce cravings and supports fat loss simultaneously. When you take a walk, 9/10 times it will take your mind off of food and let your craving pass. Walks also aid in controlling your blood sugar, which prevents those sudden “crashes” that make you want to eat. Walking also supports dopamine and serotonin, which provides the same sense of satisfaction as eating but comes with calories burned instead of calories ingested. Walking is also very good for your overall health. It burns fat directly as opposed to glycogen due to its low intensity.
One of my all-time favorite hacks is to combine a walk, a diet beverage, and a form of nicotine. If you’ve never done this, I highly recommend trying it.
#5 Viewing Pictures/Videos of Fat People
This tip is exactly how it sounds. You literally pull up pictures of fat people on your phone and look at them. I’m not making this shit up — it works like a charm.
Once you’ve pulled up your pictures or videos of fat people, you need to start painting a picture in your head of that person potentially being you. Maybe it already is you. Look at pictures of people who are the same gender as you and tell yourself, “This is going to be me if I don’t take my health and fitness seriously.” Then pull up a picture of someone who’s the opposite gender of you and say to yourself, “This will be my wife/husband if I don’t get my health and fitness in check.”
Once you do this long enough, you will soon become disgusted and not want to eat anymore.
This method generally works better for myself and others I know as opposed to looking at people who are in better shape than you. I think that works as well but not as effectively as the method of looking at fat people.
Pour Conclure
At the end of the day, the only metric that matters in regard to fat loss is your caloric intake. The tips I outlined here are not going to make you lose fat by themselves but instead make it way easier on yourself to eat fewer calories and stay in a calorie deficit. Some of these may seem odd or unconventional, but they definitely do work and will ultimately make losing fat a more seamless process.
I believe in you all, I hope you enjoyed it.