The age-old question never changes, nor does is it ever answered less frequently. Can you enjoy junk food and still stay slim? And if so, how? Well, the answer to those questions will depend on who you ask.

In a scientific and practical approach, the answer would be yes. There are still ways you can make it work. However, a logical approach all goes back to common sense. You can enjoy junk food while staying slim by monitoring your diet and lifestyle very carefully. In this article, we’ll discuss how to do so. 

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In the UAE, fast food and unhealthy food options are never too far away and are one of the main reasons why the UAE ranks so highly in terms of obesity in the general population. We all know that junk food will make you gain weight and damage your long term health.

However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy an occasional binge. The most important part of balancing junk food while maintaining a good figure and good general health is by following the below list of points. 

How to Stay Slim While Enjoy Junk Food

staying slim

Here are a few things you need to follow in order to stay slim while still being able to enjoy junk food.

1. Count Your Calories

This is probably the most important point and would make the below points useless if you aren’t doing this. Counting your calories will allow you to eat whatever you want while still being able to maintain a healthy weight. You can lose weight while eating anything you want by staying in a caloric deficit.

You can maintain weight if you can balance the calories you burn and consume on a daily basis. By counting how many calories you eat from junk food, you will realize you have to eat a lot less throughout the entire day than you usually would. This is the cost of eating high calorie or junk foods.

2. Understand Your Body Type

Certain body types will gain and store fat quicker than other body types. If you are an endomorph, junk food will not serve you well and will take a longer time for you to burn it off. You can speak with your general practitioner about what body type you have and what diet works best for you.

3. Consider Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is a diet method where you can eat whatever you like while having a window where you can’t eat at all. For example, you can have a 5-hour window of eating whatever you like with the other 19 hours of the day fasting without eating anything.

As long as you are staying within your calorie limit, intermittent fasting is a great approach to dieting while eating whatever you like.

4. Stay Active

Exercise consistently and as much as possible. Your main objective is to stay in a caloric deficit in order to lose weight or stay in shape. This means the more junk food you eat, the more exercise you’re going to need. 

Keep in Mind

staying slim

If you are trying to stay in shape and want to do it the most effective way possible, then stay away from junk food completely. You should only be eating junk food to satisfy your cravings or to enjoy it, Junk food never has, and will never be a primary food for people getting in shape. If you are inexperienced with dieting or have never been successful with dieting previously, then it’s best to avoid the junk food. 

You also need to have major discipline when trying to lose weight or stay slim. Junk food can cause a real problem if you’re addicted to it. One bite of a cheeseburger or fries may take the wheels off your entire diet and throw you off completely.

Only have the occasional junk food or comfort food meal when you know that it can fit into your diet and that you are disciplined enough to stick to your healthy diet and lifestyle without the addiction to junk food getting the best of you. 

The key to eating junk food while staying in good shape and maintaining good health is obviously how much of it you have. If you are unsure how much you should be having, or notice that none of the above tips seems to be working for you, speak with a personal trainer or dietician on what diet will work best for you while still being able to enjoy all your meals.

If you have never dieted before, have a specific food allergy, or have an existing health condition, speaking with your doctor regarding dieting is highly recommended.

Head over to the Okadoc app to immediately book an appointment with your health practitioner.