Lose weight without dieting
It’s the golden ticket - lose weight without being on a diet. And it can be done. Just making small changes can bring in big losses!
What’s the best way to lose weight? Simple isn’t it. Eat less, exercise more. But if it really was that simple no one would be overweight. As soon as we say we’re on a diet we risk becoming obsessed with food. Enforced hunger means we think about food all the time. And eventually it’s pretty much inevitable we crack.
But what if there was a way to lose weight without actually going on a diet? Can it be done? It can. I’ve known lots of people who’ve lost weight just by making a few changes in their daily diet. They don’t call it a diet. Just changing a few eating habits.
This can work whether you have a lot to lose or a little. Or if you’re stuck on a plateau or want to kick start a weight loss programme. Try it! You have nothing to lose except excess weight!
Tips for weight loss without dieting
1) If you drink beer swap it for wine - a friend did this and lost shedloads of weight. Course you have to be a beer drinker in the first place!
2) Give up or cut down on the amount of alcohol you drink. Have two or three alcohol-free days a week.
3) Swap two chocolate biscuits for one Jaffa cake - they are much lower in calories. Better still just cut out biscuits or cut down. Course you have to be a biscuit eater in the first place for this to work!
4) Substitute potato crisps with parmesan crisps. You can make these quite easily but they’re also available to buy now. Protein is much better than carb.
5) Give up bread. Not easy, I know, but a very good friend stopped eating bread, didn’t make any other changes, and lost loads of weight. If you can’t give it up - and I can’t! - cut it down. Have open sandwiches - one slice instead of two.
6) Eat more protein. Meat and other high-protein foods are much more filling than carb-based food. Carbs do fill you up but the full feeling doesn’t last. A steak will keep you going much longer than a sandwich.
7) Don’t eat carbs after 6pm. Have your carbs at breakfast and lunch but have a low-carb evening meal.
8) Have periods of semi-fasting. Either the 5:2 diet if you can manage it - I can’t! - or go for the 16:8 which is much more gentle.
9) Try to incorporate more movement into your day. Take the stairs not the lift. Walk where you might’ve take a bus or driven. Even fidgeting can help burn calories.
10) Try not to think about food all the time. If you get a sugar craving find a distraction activity to take your mind off it.
11) Eat your last meal of the day as early as you can manage it. That gives you longer to burn it off. Try not to eat too late in the evening or just before you go to bed.
12) When hunger strikes between meals or you get a raging snack attack brush your teeth. Use a strong-tasting toothpaste which will kill the flavour of even your tastiest snack.