We all love the thought of quick weight loss and how to lose weight without exercise. There are some things you can get started today to lose weight and improve your health. It’s not always possible to exercise, although adding workouts routinely to your schedule will always boost metabolism and improve overall health.
Here’s the thing. Eating less and exercising more are both great ways to lose weight and while they can work exceptionally well together, they can work on their own too! Not everyone has the ability to move more, but everyone can make simple changes to everyday habits. If you are ready to see what changes you can make to start to shed pounds, check out this list of ways to lose weight without exercise to get started today.
Best Ways to Lose Weight Naturally
There are countless headlines and ads out there for fad diets and supplements and products that will help you “lose weight naturally.” This is not what you need for losing weight naturally. The best way to lose weight naturally is to make lifestyle changes. Many of these lifestyle changes are a lot easier than you may think.
Yes, eating less is going to be on this list of ways to reach your weight loss goals, it’s not really about eating less, as it is eating the right foods. If you eat for macros for weight loss and better health, you’ll will see that the amount of food will be larger. The good news is that there are many different things that you can do!
Ways to Lose Weight in 30 Days
None of the things on the following list of tricks involve regular exercise, but all of them can help you in your weight loss goals. These are all effective ways to incorporate a healthier lifestyle and help you to make better choices on a regular basis.
Drink more water
One very important factor to losing weight (and to being healthy in general) is to drink more water. Starting your day with a big glass of water might just be the easiest way to start each day with your health on your mind.
Research shows that the human body needs 3-4 liters of water each day. In order to make sure you are drinking enough, be sure to drink water with meals and between meals, each time you exercise and anytime that you feel thirsty.
Many people often mistake signs of dehydration for hunger, so you may find that you eat less simply by drinking more. Another trick is to be sure and drink a glass of water before you eat your meals, as many people tend to eat fewer calories when they do that.
An easy way to make sure you are staying hydrated is taking this 30 Day Water Challenge. Not only will you be able to track your water, but you can track and identify how much water your body needs to feel it’s best.
Consume More Protein
Protein for weight loss is key. Protein takes more time to digest than carbohydrates do, which means that you feel full longer. Feeling full longer means you will eat less, therefore you will be better able to lose weight. Additionally, after eating protein, the hunger hormone is reduced in your body leading to a suppressed appetite.
Reduce Calories
Reducing your calories will definitely help you in your weight loss goals. You can reduce your calories by eating less food, by choosing lower calorie food options. Smaller portions can be a great way to get started.
Track Food
Once people begin to track their food intake, they are quite often surprised to find out how much they have actually been eating. Many people don’t count snacks and drinks toward their overall calorie content, but find that their calories are much higher than they realize once everything is added in. Using an app like this one, you can track your food as well as get coaching, workouts, and in-depth training for better health.
Eat More Vegetables
Vegetables are packed full of vitamins, minerals and lots and lots of fiber. Vegetables also have a high water content. The water and fiber both help you to feel full longer. Feeling full longer helps you to avoid eating too much or too often. A good idea is to combine vegetables with healthy fats and protein to keep you satisfied longer.
Additionally, vegetables are great for your energy levels. They help to regulate your blood sugar, which prevents those slumps throughout the day.
Eat Whole Foods
Eating more whole foods means that you are consuming nutrient dense fiber filled foods that keep you well nourished and feeling full longer. These types of foods break down much more slowly, which means you need to eat less foods to feel satisfied.
Stay Away From Processed Foods
When you are seeking to lose weight, it is imperative to avoid eating processed foods. Processed foods tend to be high in sugar, sodium and unhealthy fats. Sticking to whole foods, which are packed full of vitamins and nutrients instead will leave you feeling more energetic and ready to focus on your health.
This is more than about just weight loss. Consuming processed foods is actually quite bad for your overall health and should be avoided as much as possible.
Throw Away Junk Food
If you have processed and/or junk food in your house, it’s time to throw it away. Not everyone has the willpower to simply not eat it if it is available to them. If you throw it out, there will be no slip ups and you won’t be tempted to eat it.
If you are used to eating unhealthy snacks like these, once you cut it out of your diet, you may begin to see weight loss benefits from just that.
Hide Any and All Junk Food
Sometimes having junk food in the house is a necessary evil. If there is still junk food in your home that belongs to someone else so you can’t throw it away, it’s time to hide it. For those who are addicted to junk food (or those who just really like it), it’s pretty hard to avoid eating it when it’s right there out in the open.
Out of sight, out of mind is a pretty powerful thing, especially when it comes to unhealthy food. No more cookie jars, no more snack drawers, it’s time to find a spot to hide this food so that you don’t see them.
Eat Fruit
If you are a dessert lover, it’s time to start seeing fruit as a dessert. Incorporating more fruit into your diet can help you lose weight. The weight loss will come as you will be eating less processed dessert food and less refined sugar. Additionally, fruits naturally have vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants and more benefits.
Some diet “gurus” say to avoid fruit because of the carbs, but the reality is, even with the carbs and natural sugar, they can be a tremendous asset for your weight loss journey.
Stay Away from High Calorie Beverages
Beverages and their liquid calories are a sneaky thing. Many, many people do not realize how many calories that they consume each day just from the drinks that they consume. From sodas to juices to coffee drinks, the amount of calories in these sugary beverages add up very quickly.
There are just a few beverages that you can drink without worry when it comes to calories. These beverages include water, black coffee and unsweetened herbal tea. Anything else should be considered a hindrance to weight loss goals.
Reduce Portion Sizes
Portion control is not necessarily a problem of the individual. It is a cultural problem. There is no doubt about it, we eat too much. Over the last 20 years, restaurant portions have nearly tripled in size, so it’s not hard to understand why the average person struggles with portion control in their home life as well.
If you are used to eating portion sizes that are beyond what is needed, you’ll be able to find weight loss success by cutting down on those portion sizes.
Get Enough Sleep
Not sleeping enough can affect the body’s hormones that regulate appetite. This lack of sleep can create hunger and can cause you to crave unhealthy, high calorie foods. It’s important to get enough sleep to try and avoid this and to help you get closer to reaching your weight loss goals.
Aim to get at least 7 or 8 hours of sleep each night in order to see the most benefit to your health.
Eat Slower
Eating slower is a great way to trick your mind into thinking you are not making any changes at all, while still making changes that can help you toward your goals of losing weight. People who eat faster tend to be heavier overall than slower eaters (they are nearly 115% more likely to be obese as a matter of fact).
Studies have shown that people who eat their food more slowly tend to eat fewer overall calories. When you eat your food at a slower pace, you’ll find that your body has more time to digest the food you are eating, which will help you feel full longer, which means fewer calories that you will be consuming.
Eat More Fiber
Eating more fiber helps you to lose weight in multiple ways. First and foremost, as we mentioned earlier, fiber is very filling as it takes longer to digest than carbs do. Staying full longer helps to keep you from eating too much, too often. Also your body can not digest some types of fiber. This fiber passes through your system without being absorbed into your bloodstream, which means no weight gain from that type of food.
Good high fiber foods to add to your diet include spinach, broccoli, kale, lettuce, sweet potatoes, etc.
Use Smaller Plates and Bowls
Using smaller plates and bowls is a great way to trick your mind into thinking you are eating more than you actually are. You can take the same amount of food and place it on a small plate and it will be overflowing, whereas on a full size plate, you will find yourself feeling as though you haven’t eaten enough.
Using smaller plates means that you are eating a smaller portion which is great for weight loss.
14 Day Bootcamp Challenge to a Healthy Lifestyle
This quickstart challenge is for the women who want to know the right foods to eat, but without a set meal plan to follow. Quickly learn how to put together your own healthy meals and snacks, along with so many other important healthy principles to create a balanced healthy lifestyle. And…all in 14 days!
Through daily emails, I will share some habits and principles you can start tomorrow morning that when used consistently, you WILL lose weight. You’ll get assignments along the way to implement immediately along with help from me via email if you have any questions. This is a great way to jump right in to start transforming your life! Read more details below…
Reduce Stress
Believe it or not, stress can be a big problem as it relates to weight loss. Stress can be a significant cause of overeating, poor health habits, and lessened will power. Stress also is known to release cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that helps your body in “worse-case scenario” moments. It causes your body to hold onto extra fat and increases your appetite. Reducing your stress can help to reverse all of these things.
You can reduce stress in many different ways including taking time for yourself, reading, taking a bubble bath, meditating, learning a new hobby, etc.
Avoid Refined Sugar
Health experts all agree that refined sugar can be a diet killer. Refined sugars are empty calories that can create a sharp insulin response and raise blood sugar. A diet that is high in refined sugar can create an environment which makes it hard to lose weight as the insulin spikes created by these foods can cause belly fat to stay.
Eat Home Cooked Meals
Eating more home cooked meals can move you along far toward losing weight. Processed food and restaurant foods can sabotage your efforts to lose weight as these foods are often higher in refined sugars, sodium and unhealthy fats.
As we discussed earlier, restaurant foods often come in serving sizes that are too big. When you are eating home cooked meals you can determine your own serving sizes which can help you eat fewer calories.
Eat Healthy Fats
You may have heard before that eating fattening foods will make you lose weight. As it turns out, that’s not entirely accurate. The reality is that you can eat fats and lose weight, it just needs to be the right kind of fat. Eating healthy fats can go a long way toward helping you to reach your weight loss goals.
Of course, it’s important to avoid unhealthy fats such as trans fats and saturated fats, these are the types of fats that can be found in things like processed desserts, potato chips and popcorn. Sticking to healthy fats such as those that you’ll find in avocados, almonds, peanut butter, coconut oil, etc, can help you to steer clear of the bad fats and eat healthier!
Take a Water Bottle Everywhere
One great way to facilitate weight loss is to take a water bottle with you everywhere. This helps in multiple ways. Having water with you at all times can prevent you from getting dehydrated, it can keep you from being tempted by unhealthy beverages and from snacking on unhealthy foods when you really just need a drink of water.
Tip: Find a water bottle that you love. Some people find that if they buy a really great water bottle they are more likely to keep their water bottle on hand all the time.
Keep a Healthy Snack in the Car
Keeping healthy snacks on hand at all times can go a long way toward helping you stick to your weight-loss plan. If you keep a healthy snack in the car, you can prevent yourself from being tempted to stop at a drive through and eat unhealthy foods.
Healthy snacks you can keep in the car can include nuts, jerky, protein bars and dried fruits.
Plan Meals Ahead of Time
Planning your meals ahead of time is an excellent way to make sure that you eat healthy foods that will help you reach your weight loss goals. Not planning your meals can lead to last minute food decisions. Whether it’s due to lack of time or lack of motivation to figure out what’s for dinner night after night, these last minute food decisions can lead to unhealthy eating choices.
Taking the time once a week or so to plan out your upcoming meals can save you the stress of having to do it three times per day, seven days per week. Planning ahead like this helps you to create healthier, home cooked meals that you can enjoy.
Follow a Meal Plan
Following a meal plan can help you to avoid that rut that people often fall into when they are trying to follow a specific “diet.” Oftentimes people trying to change their eating habits find themselves getting bored with their food choices, but if you prepare a meal plan and stick to it, you can find yourself sticking to a healthier eating plan without the boredom.
Tip: Create a meal plan that works for you. Some people choose to plan out their meals for the week ahead, some people like to plan their meals a month ahead. This is not a one size fits all situation, it can be personalized to you.
Pack Your Lunch For Work
No more hitting the drive through on your lunch break. When you pack your lunch for work, you determine what you are eating, you are making sure to avoid the extra calories that come with restaurant foods and unhealthy processed quick meals.
Many people complain that packing your own lunch takes too much time, but the reality is, you can set aside a few minutes at the beginning of the work week to prepare your lunches for the week ahead, or you can cook a little bit extra each night and pack the extras to take with you the next day.
Reduce High Carb Foods
Reducing carbs (specifically simple or refined carbs) is going to have a significant impact on your weight loss goals. While you don’t need to completely cut carbs out of your diet, you should aim to reduce them. To lose weight, make it a goal for your carbs to be less than 50% of your total calories.
An easy way to cut down on carbs is to swap them out with other, healthier foods. If you love potatoes, for example, try subbing them out with cauliflower, turnips, etc.
Try Meal Prepping
Did you know that meal prepping can help you lose weight? It’s true. Meal prepping can help you to lose weight because it is another way to help lower the temptation to eat unhealthy processed and/or restaurant food.
With meal prepping, you prepare all of your meals for an upcoming time period and then freeze it to heat up when it’s time to eat it. Having a meal prepared and ready to go makes it hard to justify eating an unhealthy meal.
Avoid Restaurants
While there are exceptions, restaurant food, in general, is not good for you. Portions are too big, they are packed full of calories, the sodium content is high, and the list goes on. The more you are able to eat home cooked meals and avoid restaurant food, the more successful you will be toward your weight loss goals.
Share Meals
If you decide to go out to a restaurant for a meal, share it! When you share your meal with someone else you are cutting those calories in half! As an added bonus, this will help you save money too!
Cut Out The Alcohol
If you tend to hit up happy hour with your friends or coworkers, consider skipping out on them more often. Or, if you want to join, just drink some water while you are out. Just 2 pints of beer daily can add thousands of calories each week. For regular drinkers, cutting the alcohol is one of the easiest ways to make a lifestyle change that can lead to weight loss.
Change Your Oil
That’s right. The oil you are using to cook your meals might not be the best one for you. Making the switch from vegetable or canola oil to olive oil can make a difference in your weight. These types of oils are high in Omega 6 fatty acids. These can put your body into an inflammatory state, which is known to cause weight gain.
Making the switch to olive oil can help! Olive oil contains oleic acid which is known to promote weight loss and suppress appetite.
Go Full Fat
When it comes to your choice in dairy foods, choose the full fat variety over non-fat, skim milk. Full fat version can help you lose weight over time because the full fat version takes your body longer to digest therefore they keep you fuller longer.
Additionally, the full fat versions of these foods tend to make you feel satisfied longer, meaning you are likely to eat less.
Incorporate Meatless Mondays
Okay, it doesn’t have to be Mondays, but if you switch out one day per week or even one meal per week to a meatless one, you’ll not only consume fewer calories, but you might just feel full longer too. Studies have shown that plant-based protein is often more satisfying than meat based protein.
Keep Your Fridge, Freezer and Pantry Stocked
The more food you keep on hand, the less likely you are to splurge on unhealthy foods. At the end of the day it becomes very easy to call for takeout if you have to look long and hard at the ingredients in your house to figure out what to cook.
With a well stocked fridge, freezer and pantry you can make sure to eat healthy consistently.
Walk Away From Your Workspace at Lunch
No need to exercise on your lunch break, but getting away from your workspace itself can make a huge difference when it comes to your weight loss goals. If you are away from your workspace, you are less likely to be tempted by snacks and food.
When you are sitting at your desk, you are likely to be distracted by work. When you are distracted, your body doesn’t always recognize the cues telling you that you are full, etc. Leaving your work space to focus on lunch and only lunch will help you avoid this.
Add Some Color
Adding color to your plate often means that you are adding more fruits and vegetables. As we discussed earlier, adding fruits and vegetables to your diet is very helpful toward helping you reach a healthy weight.
The vitamins and nutrients that you will be consuming with these fresh fruits and vegetables will leave you feeling satisfied longer, which will help you consume fewer empty calories overall.
Keep Snacks Away From Work
It’s easy to munch and snack while you are sitting at a desk all day long. Many people don’t realize how many calories they are consuming while doing this type of snacking. Keeping snacks away from your workspace is ideal because you will no longer be tempted by the foods that are there within reach.
To make this easier, take your scheduled breaks and enjoy healthy snacks during this time only. Also, be sure and keep your water bottle on hand at all times.
Choose a Side Salad Over Fries
If you find yourself going out to eat at a restaurant, make sure to swap out the carb heavy deep fried fries for a side salad. You’ll be saving yourself 150 to 200 calories, plus filling up on fiber rich foods.
Get Your Own Food
Even if you are having dinner at a friend’s home, serve up your own dinner. You know what you should be eating, other people may not. If you are dishing it up yourself you can be sure to eat the right things and you can ensure that your portion sizes are where they should be.
Try New Recipes
Don’t be afraid to try new things. Trying new recipes is a really great way to incorporate healthy foods into your diet. When you find foods that you love, it’s easy to eat those recipes often. If these foods aren’t healthy, it’s important to make sure you only eat them occasionally.
Incorporating new recipes might be a great way to find new, healthy recipes that you love.
Order Smaller
If you are headed to the coffee shop, order a smaller sized drink that you typically do. Even if it is just one size smaller, you can save calories!
Avoid “Diet” Foods
Diet foods may claim to be healthy, but they really aren’t. Diet foods are full of artificial sugars that technically have fewer calories, but have never been proven to help you lose weight. Studies show that these types of foods have the potential to trigger sweets receptors and make you crave more food.
Figure Out Your Food Intolerances
Do some foods hurt your stomach? Do you find yourself nervous when you eat specific foods? It’s time to cut out the foods that don’t agree with your body. Food intolerances can create inflammation and weight gain.
To deal with this, cut out the foods that you know don’t agree with you or, if you are unsure, try an elimination diet to figure out what to cut out.
Be Okay with a Boring Diet
It’s completely okay to eat the same things over and over again. If you have found something that you enjoy eating that is good for you, don’t be afraid to stick with it. You don’t need to follow Instagram trends to eat or try new foods every meal.
Turn the Heat Down
Keeping your home a little bit on the colder side will help your body work harder to stay warm. That means you are burning calories all the time without even knowing it.
Buy Red Plates
Okay, this one sounds hokey, but studies have shown that it actually works. These studies have not figured out the actual reason behind it, but many think it may be because people associate the color red with “stop.”
Enjoy Conversations During Meal Time
Dinner time is the perfect time to have family conversations or dinners out with friends are a great time to catch up. Enjoying these conversations helps to slow down meal times. Slowing down meal times creates a slower digestion process which leads to less hunger and less eating. It’s a win win!
Take a Probiotic
Gut health has become a big thing in the health world. Studies are beginning to recognize the relationship between gut health and weight issues. Taking a probiotic may help to fix any imbalances that you may be having with the bacteria in your gut.
Increase Your Vitamin D Intake
Research has found that those who suffer from obesity tend to have lower levels of vitamin D, while when people start to lose weight they will often have increased levels of vitamin D in their blood. You can increase your vitamin D levels by taking supplements, spending more time outside in the sun or by increasing the vitamin D rich foods you eat.
Eat a Big Breakfast as Opposed to a Large Dinner
Oftentimes people eat a small breakfast to start the day and they will eat a large dinner to finish the day. Try doing this the opposite way. Eating a big breakfast can give you more energy to start your day, whereas eating a big dinner gives you a lot of calories to go to sleep to, when we know this isn’t an ideal situation. It’s best to be able to burn these calories by moving around throughout the day.
Choose Wine over Beer or Mixed Drinks
If you are going to drink, choose to go with wine over beer or mixed drinks. Beer is full of empty calories as are highly sweetened, mixed drinks. You can easily add a couple thousand calories to your weekly intake just by having a few drinks each day.
Swap Out Pasta for Veggies
Skip the pasta and make zoodles instead! If you have not yet tried making noodles from zucchini or other vegetables, you may be surprised to learn that it actually tastes pretty good! This is a simple way to save big on calories.
Follow a Schedule
Following a schedule can help lead you to a healthier weight and overall lifestyle. If you keep yourself eating at roughly the same times each day, it helps to keep you from getting hungry and snacking on unhealthy foods while you are waiting for the next meal time.
Drink More Tea
Believe it or not, many herbal teas can actually help you lose weight. Some teas such as mint tea can suppress your appetite, while others can help you burn calories. Just make sure and avoid adding sugars to your tea.
Talk to Your Doctor
If you are struggling with weight gain or the inability to lose weight, don’t be afraid to talk to your doctor. They may have more ideas that work well for your personal situation.
Hopefully these ideas for being able to lose weight without exercise will help you get started or get off the weight loss plateau you may be on. Remember to take it day by day, step by step and don’t expect perfection from the start.
