If exercise is a regular part of your routine, you’re already on the path to losing weight. Great work! But exercise is just one hour (sometimes less) of your 24-hour day. In order to truly lose weight, your habits need to be ones that push you towards your ultimate goal. In addition to regularly exercising and eating healthy, whole foods—here are some life hacks that can help you achieve your weight loss goals (for real!).
Write Everything Down Life can be physically and emotionally draining. Sometimes it’s just too much to worry about making every food choice perfect. Life Hack #1 is as simple as just keeping a journal (paper or digital) and writing down every single thing you eat and what time you ate it at. That’s it. Just jotting down a quick note. This simple act does a few things for you. It helps you be more mindful of the choices you make if you know you’re going to have a record of them. Sometimes it even prevents you from snacking too much because you don’t want to have to go get your journal or remember to write it later. And lastly, it can give you an overall picture of where the biggest source of calories or biggest obstacle preventing your weight loss is coming from.
Find a Healthier Treat Option There are so many options for delicious yet not terrible-for-you choices of treats out there in today’s market. Vegan fast food joints are popping up left and right with fried “chick’n” sandwiches and burgers that taste just like the real thing. Sodas sweetened with stevia instead of cane sugar have zero calories and actually taste sweeter than their calorie-dense counterparts. So ask yourself, what is your weekly (or daily) treat and how can you swap it for something healthier without suffering any loss in joy? Keep an open mind and we promise you’ll be able to find a stand-in that makes you feel less bloated while still satisfying your craving.
Stop Before You’re Too Full Maybe you’ve heard of this Life Hack before. It’s a popular one shared among health-focused magazine articles everywhere and that’s because it works. American culture is all about gigantic portion sizes made to fill you to the brim, but just because it comes out on your plate doesn’t mean it’s healthy for your body to eat it all. People who maintain a healthy bodyweight have one thing in common: they stop eating when they’re satisfied. Not when they’re full to the point of explosion. Sure, there are exceptions like celebration dinners or special events. But if you’re feeling full and bloated after every meal? Your body is telling you it’s too much. Try stopping when you’re satisfied and taking the rest To Go, and watch your body adjust without feeling deprived.
Don’t Drink Your Calories The easiest of all Life Hacks for weight loss! Don’t add in unnecessary calories from drinks when there is always, always a calorie-free or lower calorie option. This is a lifelong healthy habit that you can do for yourself without feeling deprived. Here are some examples:
One Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte is nearly 500 calories. That’s a full blown meal in terms of calories. And it clocks in at a whopping 65g of sugar—way over the daily recommended amount of sugar from the American Heart Association which says women should aim for under 25g per day and men under 37g.
But what about an iced coffee with milk and a few pumps of pumpkin sauce added in? A Starbucks Grande Iced Coffee—sans the 4 pumps of “classic” syrup sweetener they’ll ask if you want—is around 5 calories. If you add in a couple of pumps of 33 calorie pumpkin sauce, and some milk of your choice, you’re still WAY under that 480 calorie mark of the traditional pumpkin spice latte.
Hopefully we’ve got your attention now. For the fruity drink loving athletes, there is a ton of water drop options out there that actually taste really good—we promise! Ones sweetened with stevia like these, come in a variety of flavors, have ZERO calories, and will help you stay hydrated by tricking you into drinking more water (which will also help you feel less bloated!).
Drop as many flavor drops as you want into your water bottle the next time you’re sitting down at the dinner table or even heading to a drive-thru to get something to eat. When you compare that to a 16oz Pink Lemonade, which contains 200 calories and 54g of sugar, yeah we'll take the zero cal option. Tricks like these are a ridiculously easy way to cut back on literally hundreds of calories. The moral of the story is, figure out what items you just can't give up and search for healthier alternatives that taste so good you won't even know the difference.
To conclude…
It’s not about being perfect and we definitely don't think you shouldn't enjoy your life. It’s simply about retraining your brain and picking up healthy habits that you can take with you for years to come. Habits that will help you reduce your unnecessary/empty calories. Having body fat means you’re consuming more calories than you’re using. Start to reduce your calories in the easy ways we've talked about here today and pay attention to how much better you feel, and not to mention look!
Have questions or need some help? Schedule a FREE Nutrition Consultation with us by emailing kindlecoaches@gmail.com with some days and times that work for you. Bring a journal of at least three days worth of what you ate and let us help you learn how to make better food choices that still have tons of flavor and will help you reach your weight loss goal!