I have been overweight for almost all my life. I always thought it was because of my poor genes. When my friends teased me about my weight, I would always respond, “I have a fat gene, and I will always be like this.”
Then, I started observing my friends who were fit and lean. I started tracking what they did, and I wasn’t doing it.
It was not my genes; they did a lot of things that I did not do. Here are the most common habits of lean people.
7 Habits of Lean People
I will name my friends in this post; I met them in university, and we still communicate and sometimes have dinner. Here are the seven habits of lean people.
They drink water
Wherever we were on the faculty, I would see them with water bottles. Not me. While they drank water throughout the day, I would drink a glass of water only after a meal. That was it.
Drinking water helps to hydrate your body, increase metabolism, and help you lose weight. Another thing I noted is that sometimes I thought I was hungry, but in reality, I was just thirsty. Just drinking water helped me not to overeat.
They limit alcohol
I do not drink alcohol, so this was not an issue for me, but the difference between my friends who were chubby like me and those who were lean was the amount of alcohol they took in.
Lean people limit the amount of alcohol they take in because it can cause you to gain weight.
Alcohol can cause weight gain in four ways: it stops your body from burning fat, it’s high in kilojoules, it can make you feel hungry, and it can lead to cravings for salty and greasy foods.
If you drink a lot of alcohol and want to become lean, you need to cut back on it.
They exercise daily
This might sound weird, but none of my friends go to the gym. They do not like it, but they manage to exercise daily.
One thing they had in common was walking. They always used stairs instead of elevators. They used to park their cars far from campus and walk to campus on foot.
One of them even went far. Every weekend, he would walk to town on foot, covering a distance of 10 km.
I have made this practice a part of my life these days. I walk at least 10K steps daily, and since I started in March 2013, I have lost 20 kg and feel much better and leaner. That’s why I started this blog: to keep myself motivated.
If you can start working 7K+ steps daily and go to the gym at least three times daily, you will get lean.
How Walking 12,000 Steps a Day Changed My Life
They prioritize their sleep
I studied engineering at university, and one of my worst habits back then was to stay awake for a long time, sometimes studying, partying, or just goofing around.
What I realized from my lean friends is that most of them slept well every day. Most of them slept for at least 6 hours a day.
Research has observed weight changes when people receive fewer than 7 hours of quality sleep a night.
Poor quality sleep has repeatedly been linked to a higher body mass index (BMI) and weight gain.
They limit processed sugars
I denied drinking beer. Do you know what I used to drink a lot? Coca-Cola ·
I used to drink sugary soft drinks daily to stay awake. I would drink Coke, and when I felt thirsty, I would drink Coke. When I felt exhausted, I drank Coke. It was my favorite drink.
When I cut Coke from my diet, I was able to lose about 5 kg in just two weeks. If you want to get lean and become healthy, please remove Coke from your diet.
High-sugar diets contribute to prolonged elevated blood sugar, insulin resistance, and leptin resistance, all linked to weight gain and excess body fat.
You need to cut processed sugars from your diet to lose weight and get lean.
They eat a diet made of whole foods
I used to be lazy. I never cooked, and I always used to eat fast food; McDonald’s and KFC were my favorite places to go. If you add that to the Coke I used to drink, the result was fatal.
What I noticed from my friends was that they used to eat whole food. Usually, they cooked at home, and even when we went out, they used to eat healthy food.
This is what I do these days: I cook my food, and if I go out, I make sure that I go to restaurants that serve whole food.
They eat slowly
My high school days were great. I had different friends with different ways of thinking, and one thing that was always true was that when we ate out, the last person to finish eating had to pay for everything. This little game made me develop a habit of eating very fast.
I found out my college friends, who were lean, used to eat slowly. At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, but after digging deeper, I realized that eating fast can cause weight gain.
It’s much easier to eat much more food than your body needs. Over time, excess calorie intake can lead to weight gain.
One study in children found that 60% of those who ate rapidly also overate. The fast eaters were also three times more likely to be overweight.
Over 40 & Still Struggling to Lose Belly Fat? Click here.
Final words
Those are the seven habits of lean people. My question is, how many of them do you have?
After studying with my friends and starting to do the same things as them, I lost a lot of weight, and I am becoming lean.
One thing I can add to this journey is that you should not do this for a few days or weeks; my lean friends are lean because they do the boring things consistently.