5 Weird Ways To Lose Weight Without Dieting
Diet, exercise, portion control, food swaps, and other “traditional” tactics are all great methods of weight loss. However, even those who take these steps can struggle to shed unwanted pounds. Others may follow these habits at times, but otherwise allow healthy eating and exercise to fall by the wayside.
Luckily, there are some “different” and effective solutions you can turn to. In this article, we explore 5 weird ways to lose weight without dieting to help you on your way to weight loss!
Weird ways to lose weight without dieting:
1. Time your meals
The next time you sit down to a meal, set a timer for twenty minutes before you take a bite.
Pacing yourself while eating allows you to enjoy smaller portions of food for longer. More importantly, eating slowly gives the body time to register when you first begin to feel full. This will help trigger your hunger hormones, which signal that you’re full, helping you avoid the overeating that leads to weight gain.
2. Change your glassware
Your plates, glasses, and bowls have a lot to do with how much you eat and can significantly help with portion control.
This boils down to nothing more than common sense: If you put food on a larger plate or in a larger bowl, you’re more likely to increase portion sizes. Similarly, the shape of your glass can affect how much you drink. In fact, studies show that people tend to pour and drink more out of short, wide glasses than they do tall, thin glasses. And, because liquid calories are the most culpable in ruining diets, it’s important to take note of these weird facts!
3. Try yoga
And no, that doesn’t mean you should just try one class!
A study from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that those who regularly practice yoga have a more mindful approach to eating and weight loss. This self-awareness helps prevent overeating, leading to weight loss.
Read: The Poop Diet: Revolting Or Revolutionary? >>
4. Pause while you eat
When you start eating, do you ever put down your knife and fork? Or do you continue to hold them and work on your food from beginning to end?
Taking a few minutes to pause and put down your fork can help you better recognize when you’re full. More importantly, it gives your body a chance to catch up with your mind so your hunger hormones work as they should, telling you when you’ve had enough.
5. Start with soup
Starting your meal with a broth-based soup full of vegetables will help to fill you up and you’ll eat less throughout the meal. Minestrone soup is a great option. All you need is some broth and fresh or frozen vegetables for an easy appetizer to a lot of your favorite meals.
The best part is that soups like this are low in calories and high in fiber, helping you feel fuller, eat less, and drop more weight without “dieting.”
Lose weight the weird way
When it comes to weight loss, you should always try to exercise, eat healthily, and follow other traditional methods. But when you want to send your weight loss into overdrive, try these five weird tactics to see what works for you!
Read: Why Men Have An Easier Time Dieting Than Women >>
How to lose weight without dieting:
Diets often follow the same cycles: You start following the latest fad, you quickly drop weight, you rapidly regain the weight, and you begin looking for the next plan that’s “guaranteed” to work. However, if you’re serious about weight loss, you’ll be able to lose weight without even having to consider a “diet.”
Why? Because diets don’t work. They never have, and they never will.
Those who lose weight successfully, and keep it off, are those who don’t diet. Instead, they adopt lifestyle changes that make it simple to lose weight and keep it off − and they don’t feel deprived, weak, or unhappy in the process.
Below, we share our five favorite tips on how to lose weight without dieting:
1. Eat a healthy breakfast every morning
Many people skip breakfast, only drink coffee, or go all out with donuts, pastries, and other indulgent items. Instead, focus on getting up and eating some protein, whole grains, and other filling options. Greek yogurt with fruit, an omelette with some vegetables, or oatmeal with some berries are all great choices.
Eating breakfast also makes you less likely to overeat at subsequent meals. It’s a win-win situation.
2. Eat more fresh produce
You can eat more if you choose low-calorie, high-volume fruits and vegetables over processed foods. This makes your lifestyle change more fulfilling and certainly not as restrictive as most fad diets.
It’s best to move your protein aside and fill at least 50 percent of your plate with vegetables. This will fill you up and reduce your caloric intake while increasing your intake of essential vitamins and minerals.
3. Control your environment
You need to be in control of your lifestyle if you want to avoid the pitfalls of dieting. This means you should only stock your kitchen with healthy options. You should also fill up on vegetables or other healthy options before going out to eat to avoid overeating restaurant food, which is practically guaranteed to be less healthy than food you can make at home.
4. Make switches to healthier alternatives
Make smart substitutions of real food for less desirable options like reduced-fat salad dressings, mayonnaise, dairy products, and more. For example, use hummus or salsa as a dip rather than cheese or another high-fat option. If you want mashed potatoes, mash sweet potatoes plain rather than adding butter and other dairy products to white potatoes.
These simple switches can add up to big changes in your weight loss without a diet in sight.
5. Eat the right nutrients
If you’re loading up on empty calories − regardless of whether or not they’re “healthy” − you’re doing yourself a disservice.
To avoid dieting, focus on the nutritional content of everything you’re eating so that you can feel satisfied without having to restrict your diet. For example, eat yogurt, nuts, beans, or lean meats at mealtimes to keep yourself feeling full.
Diets are a thing of the past …
… and if you’re still considering one to lose weight, think seriously about the alternatives. Only a lifestyle change will give you the results you want and help you maintain your new physique for years, if not decades, to come.
