We all know that a healthy diet is non-negotiable for those on a weight loss journey. But when you eat might be just as important as what you eat.
A fitness trainer revealed the simple ways she lost 45lb (3st 3lb) and “reduced belly fat”. Among cutting out unhealthy foods, she stopped eating at a specific time every day.
Katie Dunlop from Love Sweat Fitness said on YouTube: “I had to stop eating after 9pm.
“I had to cut myself off then because I would go to bed at 11pm and I always wanted to give myself a buffer of two hours from when I stop eating until when I go to bed.
‘I had to stop eating after 9pm’
YouTube / Love Sweat Fitness
“It’s a great time for your body to be able to digest. But here was the biggest problem for me: the reason I had to give myself a time to stop eating was because I would just keep going.”
Katie explained that the “cravings would hit”, resulting in late-night snacking that she found hard to “control”.
She revealed that because she typically ate healthily during the day, she tended to treat herself at night with high-calorie snacks like sugary cereal.
Because she found it difficult to make healthy choices after 9pm, she eliminated this danger for herself.
Consequently, the weight loss inspiration saw the weight drop off. She said: “Just by giving myself a little bit of a barrier, it really helped me cut out hundreds of excess calories every single week.”
One way Katie ensured she stuck to this was by consuming lots of protein throughout the day to help her feel more full and banish cravings.
She also kept herself busy after 9pm to avoid temptation. Instead of reaching inside her kitchen cupboards, she would read or exercise “as a swap”.
Katie did emphasise that, while 9pm was her chosen cut-off point, there is no “magical time” to stop eating for weight loss.
Slimmers may just want to be mindful of late-night cravings and how they can go about curbing these.
Another way Katie lost weight was by cutting out a food that is marketed as healthy but may not be as nutritious as it seems: vegetable chips.
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Late-night snacking can lead to us consuming ‘hundreds of excess calories’
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She said: “I was duped into thinking that veggie chips were so much healthier than regular chips.
“It took me so long to realise these are not at all healthy. In fact, they are about the same calorically as a basic potato chip.
“The whole process that they have to go through to make them into chips basically takes most of the nutrients out of them and you are left with just a vegetable-coloured and shaped potato chip.”
Another seemingly healthy snack is also one of the “worst foods” you can eat as it makes you “pack on fat”.
To know how healthy their food is, slimmers can check the nutritional information on its packaging.
