7 No-Diet Weight Loss Tips
You are eating the right foods, you are exercising consistently and you are still struggling to drop those last 10 pounds. No worries, I have your back. There are certain actions or no actions that tend to promote weight gain. Below are tips that will help burn the fat regardless of where you are on your weight loss journey.
Here are the Top 7 No-Diet Weight Loss Tips:
Reduce Stress
Stress can cause you to overeat even when you are not hungry – especially sweet foods. Eating sugar can relieve stress by releasing feel-good chemicals in the brain that increase reward feelings. Stress triggers the hormone cortisol that directly affects fat storage and weight gain. Practice stress reduction techniques such as deep breathing, meditating or exercise, the #1 stress reduction technique.
Unplug Your TV
Watching the tube while you eat may set you up to consume more food at a later time due to a lack of attention to what you ate – creating less conscious recognition of the amount of food taken in. Watching TV while eating anything creates mindless eating and this equates to a larger intake of unnecessary calories.
Find Healthy Friends
We are a product of our environment and our friends, if overweight, in most cases reflect that. Studies show that it is more challenging to lose weight and keep it off if you have heavy pals. Their influence is strong and there is a tendency to revert back to old behaviors such as not exercising or eating healthfully. We often unconsciously emulate behaviors of friends that we look up to.
Slice Your Food
Cutting food into strips, slices, dices or chunks makes the quantity of food appear larger. This tricks the brain into thinking you are eating a larger portion of food. This will cause you to be content with less calories and weight loss.
Drink Chilled Water
When we are mildly dehydrated, our brain confuses thirst as hunger. When we are mildly dehydrated, cellular function slows down – and so does our metabolism. Drink water, and if you drink chilled water, you will ramp up your calorie burn even further due to the energy your body creates to warm the water to body temperature.
Keep a Food Log
Accountability is one important key to weight loss success. Keeping track of what you eat and drink, allows you to see objectively what the healthy and unhealthy choices you are making. Your record may show you have not been consistent in one area and are doing great in another and what you can do to change to weight loss success. Studies consistently show keeping an account of your food – the type, portion size and more, is one very important weight loss tool.
Stand Up
Prolonged sitting is not only unhealthy (even if you exercise regularly), but is connected to weight gain. Excess sitting can speed up your body’s production of fat storage. Are you glued to your chair for hours a day? Take every opportunity to at least stand. Standing burns 30% more calories than sitting and helps create a fitter body. Even better? Do 10 squats every hour – it takes roughly 10 seconds. At home watching TV? Stand and do 10 jumping jacks or jog in place during commercials.
Taking the above actions will help you lose fat even quicker..and keep it off.
To Your Health,
~Lori
© 2013 DLS HealthWorks, LLC. Lori Shemek, PhD, Health and weight loss expert, is the best-selling author of Fire-Up Your Fat Burn!