What comes to your mind when you think about weight loss? The tight abs? Slim waist? Super cute figure and things like that?
Or is it the boring exercising sessions that you force yourself to do? Or the extremely difficult dieting routines that you do unwillingly?
For most people I am sure it is the latter. Weight loss has a lot to do with eating right and moving right. So this could include some tough exercising sessions that you may or may not like.
And some more really tough and frustrating dieting sessions, that you most probably won’t like too.
Now don’t mistake me. I am not someone who thinks or project exercising and healthy eating (note: healthy eating, and NOT dieting as in starving) as bad stuff.
They are totally nice things that not only keep you healthy and fit but will also make you more disciplined and happier.
BUT some people end up doing things in a lot more complicated way and end up frustrated.
For some other people, they become happy to see the results of dieting – they end up loosing 10 or 20 kilos and then just because they’ve “achieved” their target, they return to the “normal” life and end up gaining double the weight.
These are all somethings you’d have seen in your real life (with friends or family) and as well as might have experienced yourself.
This post is to help with such a situation, or “ease out” the process altogether.
Here are 10 weight loss “hacks” that you could implement in your daily life (lifestyle) that will help you lose weight without having to do the things you don’t like.
#1 Drink adequate water
Water is your friend when it comes to losing weight. It not only quenches your thirst, but will also suppress your hunger at the right times.
You can also trick your body and mind to eat less if you manage to drink water at the right times.
Usually if you take a glass full 30 minutes before a meal, you can minimise your food intake a lot.
Water also helps when you are about to reach for that junk because you feel hungry while in reality you are just actually thirsty.
So the next time you’re hungry, don’t reach out for that snack or a meal. Try water first. If it works, great. You have cheated weight gain (well, calorie gain).
[clickToTweet tweet=”The next time you’re hungry, try water first” quote=”The next time you’re hungry, try water first”]
If it doesn’t work, it means you are hungry for real. Go for it!
#2 Play with kids and/or pets
Does walking on the treadmill everyday bore you to death? Or does hitting the gym sounds like a boring routine? Well you can make exercising and burning calories a lot more fun.
If you have kids or pets or both, you can easily spend a lot of energy with them.
Join the kids in their outdoor playing activities and you can also bring your pets along.
Kids are highly energetic and that you have to play equally with them is a nice “activity” that will help you burn a lot of calories.
And unlike the boring, monotonous, routine workout sessions, playing is a lot of fun. It improves your mood, makes you happy and releases those happy hormones.
#3 Take junk food out of your sight
Do you remember the saying “out of sight out of mind”? Well it works great with not eating junk food.
So every time you feel like eating, do you find that you eat junk food? And then feel guilty about it? And then also get upset by seeing the scale?
Well there is a simple solution to this syndrome. Just keep the junk food out of your sight. Better yet, don’t bring them home from the shops (don’t buy them).
If you have to buy junk food occasionally for other members of the family, make sure they’re sealed off and placed in some place where you can’t see it frequently.
If you use the refrigerator often or if you frequently open that cabinet in the kitchen, don’t place your junk food there.
#4 Eat in a smaller plate
This is another trick that doesn’t take a lot of effort. Simply choose to eat in a smaller plate.
You might think this to be a stupid thing to do in the context of “weight loss” – and weight loss is a BIG thing (don’t you agree?).
When you have a big plate, you tend to load it with food items – to fill the plate. For some, this gives a feeling that they are eating full.
For some, keeping less food on a big plate is just unacceptable (trust me, I know such people).
Whatever be the case, it is totally fine. It is just your preference. But you can still cheat your brain and your preference by choosing to eat in a smaller plate.
Even if you load this one, you will have room to load much lesser compared to a bigger plate.
#5 Skip the soda (even if it is diet soda)
Soda is not for you if you want to seriously lose weight. Apart from tempting you to eat more, soda does a lot of other bad things to your body other than stuff related to weight loss.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Any carbonated drink will give you gas and make you bloated” quote=”Any carbonated drink will give you gas and make you bloated”]
If it is salted soda you will gain weight due to fluid retention. If it is a sweetened drink, the artificial and abundant sweeteners in them will create chaos in your metabolism by damaging your blood sugar level.
Many think that the “diet” or the “zero fat” version is good and does no harm. In fact soda is bad even if it is diet soda. Stay away from it. Choose a glass of water instead.
#6 Occasional treats are fine. But eat them off a plate
… And not directly from the bag. Yes, I am not a fan of strict-to-the-level-of-getting-frustrated kinda dieting.
Occasional treats are totally fine. If you don’t give your body that kind of privilege you will start craving stuff and end up eating a lot and defeat your own self in the battle of weight loss.
But the only word of caution here is this – if you want to have some chips, open the pack, grab some and put it in a plate and then eat it.
If you take the whole bag/pack with you to the couch and sit with a book or watch television, you will surely finish that bag before you know it. Or at least eat too much than you wanted to eat or too much than “safe” to eat.
#7 Load up on fruits and veggies
Fruits and vegetables are in general highly healthy and much lesser in calories compared to regular food. I agree some fruits and vegetables are not suitable for diabetes patients and some are not good for people who are obese.
But in general fruits and veggies are harmless. Not just that, they also help fill up your stomach as opposed to filling up with unwanted junk food, or excess amount of your regular food.
When you start eating, fill half of your plate with veggies and allot a small portion for your regular meal.
When you want to take a snack (or feel hungry for no reason) rather than reaching out for fries and cookies, snack on carrots or apple.
When you feel like drinking coffee or that hot chocolate or a calorie-rich smoothie, go for some vegetable or fruit juice instead (watch the sugar/sweetener you add in the juice though).
In short, fruits and veggies can act as substitutes to high calorie food or snack and can suppress your appetite very well while at the same time providing you with some good vitamins and minerals and lesser calories.
#8 Don’t skip breakfast
So, does this sound like a counter-tip to you? If you have been on a strange diet where you skip your breakfast hoping to get a flat stomach, well you are totally wrong.
[clickToTweet tweet=”It has been named “breakfast” for a reason” quote=”It has been named “breakfast” for a reason”]
You have been fasting the whole night (because you sleep which is also vital for weight loss).
And when you wake up, you need to break the fast – by having your breakfast.
If you skip your breakfast thinking about the calories that you have avoided eating, think again. You will end up eating more later during the day to compensate for the lack of calories.
Also you are most likely to feel hungry at odd times during the day in between meals and you are prone to bad snacking.
#9 Don’t go on a crash diet
Crash diets make you curious. They are so attractive because they promise you the stuff you are anxiously looking to achieve – lose X pounds in 1 week or 10 days – that kinda stuff surely does make you go for it blindly, right?
There are two problems with crash diet.
First, it is not good for your health. It is called “crash” diet for a reason. The diet is focused on reducing your weight at a very fast pace. And hence the diet usually makes you starve (for the most part) as well as rip you off the essentials.
Yes you might lose weight rapidly, but certainly not in a healthy way.
Second, since crash diet is very strict and makes you starve, your body will naturally crave the stuff it needs.
So once you reach your planned weight, you will be tempted to eat a lot more than you were eating before and hence end up gaining a lot more.
Take it slow and steady when it comes to weight loss. Don’t be too hard on your body.
#10 Eat a well balanced diet
This is a neat weight loss hack! Eating a well balanced diet makes sure your body gets enough of everything.
Your diet should not be too carb focused so you gain carbs and it should not be too low carb as well so you don’t get enough carbs.
If you don’t get enough of something, you naturally start to crave that thing, say, the carb and end up eating a lot of it.
Have everything in moderation so you can enjoy food as well as don’t have to worry about weight gain.
Weight loss hacks are better than crash diets and killing workouts
Certainly, I am not against dieting and exercising. I love exercising and I do exercise 3-5 times a week.
But if exercise and dieting gets to a point where you are forced to do it to lose weight, it gets frustrating.
That is why these little hacks come in handy. The weight loss hack that I have listed above are not too serious stuff, and are stuff that you can implement casually in your day to day activities.
So it doesn’t sound as if you are doing these out of compulsion, but these are slight adjustments to your lifestyle, don’t you agree?
Let me know what you think about these weight loss hacks!
Sarah says
Hi Jane, I totally agree. Weight loss hacks are definitely better than crash diets. Just making some simple lifestlye changes can go a long way if you keep doing them consistently.
Rachel says
Great to read this very helpful tips! Thanks a lot for sharing!