Want To Trim Your Waistline? Reset Your Home

Now that the winter is upon us and the holiday season is just around the corner, we tend to stay indoors more, snack up more and even increase our daily dose of TV (if that is possible). All that adds up to extra kilos, but are you ready for some extra gym or rigorous jogging to reduce the inches? Some people excel in tipping the scale in their favour as they cut out on carbohydrates, go on crash diets, and use saunas and sweat suits for immediate results.

But that’s extremely dangerous for your health and that’s not actually losing fat, says British sport scientist Ross Edgley. According to TVNZ, Edgley lost more than 11 kg in 24 hours to prove that a loss of body weight doesn’t necessarily indicate a loss of fat. It may just mean you are extremely dehydrated or simply starved.

But how would you feel if we tell you that a simple five-point home re-décor programme will keep you safe, healthy and on the lean side? Here’s how you can do it.

Connect to your fitness zone.
Most people tend to stash away their fitness kit and then forget all about it. If you are a proud owner of a home gym or at least own some of the gear, make sure it is right there next to your ‘activity’ zone. That means various ‘home zones’ for various people – the study, the living room/recreation room or even the kitchen, depending on where you spend most of the time. The constant view of your ‘target’ is bound to spur you to some kind of action. In one extreme case, an IT engineer kept her sports shoes next to her bed and started to do spot-jogging after some time. “I kind of got hooked after waking up every day and looking at them (the shoes). And finally got started one evening when Delhi was freezing,” she recalled. So how about buying an exercise bike this winter and keeping it close to TV/kitchen? It can surely start you off.

Reset your food zone.
Don’t grab your dinner and gobble it while watching your favourite TV show. You are likely to eat more and won’t even notice how full you are until it is too late. Make meal time a special affair, if not as exclusive as a Japanese tea ceremony. Food is the greatest nourishment of body and mind, and you need to enjoy it to experience the wholesome effect. A large, vibrant and well-lit dining room is nice, but even a cosy corner with a few comfortable chairs and soft lighting can set the ambience. Eat healthy and stay relaxed when it’s munch time. And keep all the clutter (yes, we mean work, TV, mobiles and even books) out.

Delete your binge zone.
We all stack up junk food, pleading emergency. A friend once dug deep inside a dusty cupboard and came up with stacks of chips, a chocolate bar or two and some canned drinks – all of them well past their prime. Asked why so much of goodies had been stashed away, she said it’s her binge control strategy. Keeping junk food well out of your reach can actually slow down your (untimely) snacking and thus cut down on flab. The best practice is to throw them out. But if the flesh is too weak to do that, try avoidance. Keep some healthy food like fruit salad or boiled veggies upfront – bang on the kitchen countertop or in full view inside the fridge. Also, keep a flask of green tea ready (add loads of honey, lemon juice, a touch of black pepper and ginger powder for great taste) and take a sip whenever you long for a drink.

Redo your home zone.
And do it the healthy way. Leave some room for fresh air; take care of the house plants and the pets (if any); and make sure there’s adequate light all over. Some winter cleaning now and then is not a bad idea as it keeps your place dust and germs-free. Deck up your rooms, paint them anew or re-arrange furniture as many times as you want, but try and do most of the work yourself. It not only reflects your taste and enthusiasm, but also ensures some much-needed exercise and burns some kilos the fun way.

Pep up your personal zone.
Finally, the evaluation and reward part that will drive you to do even more, says clinical psychologist Devangini Verma. Keep tabs on yourself and your home to find out how things are improving. How about buying a full-length, fancy mirror that captures a slim-trim you every time you walk past it? The most important thing about working out is to feel good about yourself all the time. And what can do it better than a mirror reflection that says you are on the right path? Feel free to buy paintings, crystals, small décor pieces – anything that enhances your inner peace and tunes in with your feeling of well being, advises Devangini. After all, a great mind in a great body is the essence of well-balanced, harmonious living.