Has the quarantine got you down but your weight up? Are you tired of hearing your friends always talk about Keto? Does it look like your beach-body might not make it this year?
Well, if the answer to most of those questions is yes, then you are in the right place. We’re listing down all the latest fitness trends to get you back to your healthy, happy self!
First things first, what even is a healthy weight or the ideal weight? If you ever google the word BMI Calculator, you will find multiple websites giving you a chance to calculate your ideal weight for yourself.
BMI or Body Mass Index, states your ideal weight by using your weight and height. Having a BMI in the range of 18.5 – 24.9 is usually considered healthy, and anything above 25 is deemed to be overweight1.
As the whole world undergoes a shift in their lifestyle, here’s what people everywhere are doing to shed all that quarantine weight!
1. Apple Cider Vinegar Gummies
Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) has been around for centuries, and it’s believed it was used as a wound cleaner by Hippocrates some 2,000 years ago. In recent years, apple cider vinegar has gained popularity for its fat-dissolving property. The Acetic Acid in Apple Cider Vinegar is believed to help reduce belly weight, increase metabolism2, reduce appetite3, and prevent obesity2. Doctors recommend taking 1-2 teaspoons or 1-2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water daily to aid weight loss.
However, the benefits don’t come without a few drawbacks. Other than the rotten apples like smell and vinegar taste, there’s also a risk of tooth enamel erosion. Nausea, reflux, and an upset stomach are also symptoms people experience from consuming ACV.
However, the apple cider vinegar gummies are a complete game-changer as they bypass these drawbacks. The gummies are believed to contain antioxidants and are infused with superfoods like pomegranates and beetroots. 2 gummies are believed to be equal to 1 tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar and have all the benefits of ACV.
2. Chloe Ting
Watch out, Jillian Michaels, a new fitness instructor in town, and she promises rock hard abs in just two weeks. Chloe Ting is the latest fitness instructor to have people hooked to at-home workouts. The 34-year-old fitness enthusiast has a staggering 10.5 million subscribers on YouTube and promises her free workout program will help you shred all that belly fat in just two weeks4.
With hundreds of positive reviews, it seems this is the perfect workout routine for those of us stuck in isolation with no access to gyms or spin classes. Surviving a pandemic is not an easy task and can take a toll on your mental and physical health. The disruption in your regular everyday routine and the work-from-home situation does not make maintaining a healthy weight easy. Thus, it seems like the best we can do is grab our yoga mats, put on YouTube, and get our sweat on with Chloe Ting!
3. HILIT
High-Intensity Interval Training, better known as HIIT, has been a practical workout routine practiced by multiple celebrities such as David Beckham, Britney Spears, and many worldwide. The 20 to 30-minute-long sessions are believed to cause weight loss, build muscle, and boost the cardio-respiratory health of an individual5. However, these sessions tend to involve lots of jumping, which can cause extra pressure on your joints and make people prone to injuries. Moreover, this is not the best-suited workout routine for those with back and knee pains due to the high-intensity exercises.
It seems there might be a lighter, more joint-friendlier version of HIIT called High-Intensity Low-Impact Training or HILIT. Similar to HIIT, the sessions are 20 to 30 minutes long, comprising of low-impact exercises that achieve the same result without any added pressure on the joints. Hence, HILIT is also safe for people with knee or back pains.
A typical HILIT session involves performing a particular exercise for 20-30 seconds, then taking a 10-15 second break and repeating this for eight or more sets. This steady-state workout helps keep your heart rate in the fat-burning zone and ensures maximum calories burnt. However, HILIT cases aren’t easier than the more famous HIIT classes, but they don’t require you to do multiple burpees, and we can get down with that.
4. Barre Workouts
As a child, did you ever dream of being a ballerina? Did you practice walking on your tiptoes and imagined to be dancing on stage? Did you ever want to take up ballet lessons, but your parents never let you? Well, it looks like you might have a chance to pursue those dreams with the help of barre workouts.
Barre workouts are named after the necessary ballet equipment, the ballet ‘barre,’ or bar. It seems to be all the rage right now for its fun, slow-paced, low-intensity sessions perfect for beginners looking to maintain a healthy weight while imagining themselves as ballerinas.
The workout combines Ballet, Pilates, and yoga exercises to help you achieve toned muscles, and improved posture and, a stronger core. While holding on to the barre for balance, students are instructed to perform strength exercises focusing on a specific group of muscles. While the movements may be small, they require one to tighten or contract their muscles to improve endurance.
While traditional barre sessions are carried out in ballet studios, virtual classes require a chair, some light weights, or, in most cases, no equipment at all. We can’t promise you’ll become the ultimate ballet dancer after the sessions, but what we can promise is a leaner, more flexible you.
5. Intermittent Fasting
It seems as technology gets smarter by the day, humans are getting lazier and lazier. Everyone seems to be in search of the ultimate shortcut to achieving maximum weight loss with zero physical movements. The ultimate dream! And, it seemed people had found their answer in the form of Keto, a low-carb, high-fat diet believed to show results within days. However, Keto can have quite many side effects such as constipation, hair loss, and in rare cases, pancreatitis6. Moreover, it’s hard to fit in a diet with so many restrictions on a busy work schedule.
Intermittent fasting (IF) is, however, less of a diet and more of an eating pattern that’s been slowly gaining popularity among the masses for helping them achieve results at a slow but steady pace without any crazy diet restrictions, calorie counting, or hardcore exercises.
Intermittent fasting requires that you stay in a fasted state for over 12 hours and only eat during your eating window. A typical eating window in intermittent fasting can last anywhere between 4-12 hours, depending on whether you’re a beginner or an expert. It is believed that a body burns more fat when in a fasting state. During the fasting period, individuals can consume water, green tea, black tea, or coffee but avoid any sugar or creamers.
The 16/8 method is the simplest IF process, mostly followed by beginners. It involves fasting for 16 hours and having an 8-hour long eating window.
Other fasting patterns commonly followed are
- 18/6 method – 18 hour fast with a 6-hour eating window
- 20/4 method – 20 hour fast with a 4-hour long eating window, mostly practiced by people who have been doing intermittent fasting for a while
- OMAD – One Meal a Day, where people fast throughout the day and only have a single meal, which is usually scheduled around dinner time
Intermittent fasting is believed to aid weight loss7 due to lowered insulin levels, increased growth hormone levels, and an overall lower intake of calories.
While people on IF don’t need to stick to any dietary restrictions during the eating window, it’s important to note that it only shows results when an individual consumes a healthy, balanced diet and does not go over their calorie requirement.