10 Easy Ways To Lose Weight Without Dieting

Need to lose a few pounds? You’re not alone. Many of us are tipping the scales at a little (or a lot) over our healthy weight. I’m not talking about wanting to be stick thin here – but we all know it’s important to keep within a weight range that’s healthy for us. What that range is, is unique to every one of us and may or may not match up to what we’re led to believe by various charts and equations available on the internet! But how do we lose weight in a healthy way, while maintaining our sanity – how do we lose weight without dieting?

It’s not always easy – changing our habits can take a bit of effort – but it is relatively simple. There’s no big secret to losing weight. The key does not lie in only eating certain types of food, or obsessively counting calories, or working out at the gym every single day. The only way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than you expend. It sounds so simple, but for many of us it can be difficult to achieve. However, if you think that the only way to achieve the right balance of calories in versus calories out is to go on a traditional diet, you’re mistaken! There are some easy ways to lose weight without dieting.

If you try to incorporate the steps below into your daily routine, you will end up losing weight without dieting. Except if you also eat cakes and pizza at every opportunity – then you won’t. But you probably knew that already.

So have a go at introducing these small changes, and see how you get on. As long as you’re sensible, and make sure that you’re not eating excessive amounts of high-calorie foods every day, you will find that you can lose weight without dieting – and stay healthy and sane at the same time. Good luck!

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Easy Ways to Lose Weight Without Dieting

Try skipping breakfast

Oooh, let’s start off with a controversial one! There are two schools of thought here…

The most common, and the one that you’ve probably heard time and time again, is that eating breakfast is really important for weight loss, and that people who eat breakfast are generally slimmer than those who don’t. There is lots of research to back this up, and you may well find that eating breakfast is important for you, and keeps you feeling fuller throughout the day.

However!… Everyone is different, and it’s worth at least experimenting with starting to eat later in the day, to see if it works for you. If it does, it’s a way to cut down on calories without any real effort.

Scientific research is always more complex than most of us generally appreciate, and some evidence is starting to emerge that suggests some of the evidence that eating breakfast supports weight loss, may have been misinterpreted. It could well be that skipping breakfast can be a healthy way to lose weight without dieting. If you want to know about the science then check out this article.

The bottom line though, is that different things work for different people. Some people lose weight more easily when they eat a decent breakfast, some people find that skipping breakfast is a really easy way to lose weight without dieting. Try it and find out what works for you.

Drink lots of water

How many times have you heard this one before? We all already know that drinking lots of water is important for clear skin and all round well-being. In fact, I’m a bit sick of hearing every model tell us that drinking lots of water is how they look so amazing. Is it? Really?

However, in addition to all the other benefits (like staying alive), drinking plenty of water can help you to lose weight without dieting. There are two ways in which it can do this.

First, staying hydrated avoids the common pitfall of mistaking thirst for hunger. Meaning that you don’t eat unnecessarily. Second, drinking water will fill up your tummy a little bit so that you don’t need to eat quite so much to feel full. If you drink a small glass of water before a meal, you’ll probably end up eating slightly less. The difference is quite minimal (unless you down gallons, which is not a good idea), but every little really does help.

Snack if you want to

If you are hungry, then have a snack. In fact, just in general, if you are genuinely hungry then eat. Depriving yourself is a quick route to throwing the towel in and finding yourself finishing off a tub of Ben & Jerry’s before you even realise you’re eating it! Your body knows when it needs food, so respect its needs. Aim for lower calorie snacks most of the time. Which leads on nicely to the next two tips…

Eat cake

Now here’s one we can all get on board with!…

Ok, so that’s a little bit misleading! But you really do need to eat cake – and chocolate, and pizza – now and then. The point here is that, once again, you need to listen to your body. Once you get attuned to knowing what your body is asking for, you’ll find that more often than not you’ll gravitate towards more ‘healthy’ foods. But if you find that every so often your body wants cake – then fine, cake can be healthy too! Eating this way will help you develop a more relaxed attitude towards food. Which often tends to be the mindset of ‘naturally’ slim people. And if you fancy making a cake with a healthy twist, check this out!

Include some ‘zero calorie’ foods in your day

This might sound like a contradiction to the last tip, but in fact it’s not!

There are certain foods that are touted as being ‘zero calorie’ foods, the thinking being that your body uses up more calories digesting the food than it actually gets from the food. Conveniently, I’ve actually written a post on just that, which includes a list of the foods in question.

Basically, if you replace some of your regular foods with foods that are extremely low in calories, you will consume less calories overall. Not rocket science. The key is to do this only in areas that you feel comfortable with, never if it makes you feel like you’re depriving yourself. So, for example, if you’re not too hungry in the morning you could chose one of these foods as your midmorning snack. Then you could add one on the side with your lunchtime sandwich instead of a bag of crisps. Then if you feel like having a cookie with a cup of tea for your afternoon snack, have one.

Fill up on high fibre foods

Basically, fibre fills you up more quickly, so you’ll feel satisfied more quickly and therefore consume slightly less. Easy peasy. High fibre foods include wholegrains (ie wholegrain bread, pasta, rice), beans and pulses, nuts, porridge, and pretty much all fruit and veg.

Lose the lattes

Or, more accurately, cut down on all high-calorie drinks. If you fancy a latte in the morning then have one. But if you fancy three, then a coke with lunch, then a hot chocolate in the evening, you’re taking in extra calories needlessly. Refraining from drinking your calories is a super easy way to lose weight without dieting.

Move

It is a good idea to move. You know this already. We won’t labour the point, but consider going to the gym a couple of times a week, or try some yoga or a swim. It just makes sense.

Accentuate the positive

Don’t wait until you’ve lost weight to start feeling gorgeous! Identify your best points and play them up. Lovely big eyes? Then get up five minutes earlier to apply makeup that draws attention to them. If your hair is in great condition then set aside the time to blow-dry it nicely so you can swish it about lots! It’s important not to put these things on hold, losing weight should never be at the centre of your universe – so don’t make the mistake of allowing yourself to feel frumpy while you wait. Making yourself look nice isn’t vain, it’s a way of showing that you value yourself, and helps keep a positive mind-set. Which is very important if you want to lose weight without dieting. And leads on nicely to my final big tip!…

Improve your self-image

I’m not going to go all hippy on you, but maintaining a positive self-image and valuing yourself is actually pretty essential if you want to lose weight without dieting. If you don’t think that much of yourself, you’ll treat yourself unkindly and end up sabotaging your own efforts to get healthy.

As the advert says, you’re worth it! If you don’t believe it, then take responsibility for finding a way to change that. You can try a good self-help book, take up meditation or yoga, treat yourself to a massage, or just spend some time reminding yourself of all the good things that make you who you are. And if none of those work and you feel really bad about yourself, consider booking in for a few counselling sessions (on a serious note, obviously none of these things will cure actual depression – if you think you could be suffering from depression then you need to go to the doctors, they will be able to help you).

So there we have it – ten healthy, achievable, and easy ways to lose weight without dieting. Now go for it, and let me know how you get on!

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