Fitness & Exercise, Motivation & Mindset
11 Ways to Lose Weight Out Side of the Gym
Jul
Losing weight is not about the hour you spend in the gym. Does that hour help? Damn right it does, especially if you are in their lifting weights and getting your sweat on. But if you sit on your butt all day and pay zero attention to what you put in your body, you’re doing it wrong.
I sound like such a downer! Not my intention. In fact my intention with this article is to be the ultimate upper.
I want to give you a million tricks to increasing fat loss that will fit easily into your day.
A million is a lot, so instead here are my top, easy picks for cutting calories in small, healthy places throughout your day. These are healthy tweaks and decisions that you can make that will help you towards your healthy-self goals.
Stop drinking your calories.
The average 12-ounce soda has about 150 calories. A glass of OJ has roughly 160 calories, the same as a glass of 1% milk. Those 2 tablespoons of ½ & ½ in your coffee roll in at 40 calories. You get the point.
Is cream in your coffee a horrible thing? No. But it all adds up. If you get a latte in the morning, drink an OJ with breakfast, a soda at lunch, a Gatorade before your workout and 2 glasses of wine with dinner…you’re talking an extra 700 calories or more! What’s more, it’s liquid, so it doesn’t even feel like calories.
If you replace your latte with a black coffee with 1 cream, drink sparkling water, sassy water and unsweetened iced tea (or water) during the day, and have just 1 glass of wine with dinner, you easily cut hundreds of liquid calories from your diet.
Trade vegetables for starches at night.
Simple carbs, like the kind found in dinner rolls, hamburger buns, boxed pasta and cookies give you a fast jolt of pleasure that leaves you feeling less than stellar pretty quickly. Your body needs carbs for fuel (carbs are your brains favorite source of energy), but your body wants to run on complex carbs that are packed with nutrients – whole grains, oats, vegetables, fruits – and it doesn’t need to be super-fueled when your next move is head-to-pillow.
Throughout the day, make healthy carb choices like whole grain breads, brown rice, steel cut oats and fresh produce. At night, try cutting out starchy carbs completely. Some of my favorite substitutes are zucchini noodles, cauliflower rice and roasted butternut squash.
Here’s what happens when you makes the veg-for-bread swap:
- You fill up on fewer calories. I can tell you from experience that a giant plate of zucchini noodles is just as satisfying and belly-filling as a plate of pasta.
- Your belly will be flatter. Veggies contain fiber that rolls and hamburger buns do not. Cue: improved gut health which means less bloat in the morning. To further that benefit, carbs need water to be stored in the body. If you aren’t eating them, your body doesn’t need to hold on to that excess water either. See ya later belly bloat.
- You’ll get stronger. Replacing nutrient-lacking foods with nutrient-dense foods gives your body everything it wants to thrive. Your body will put all of that to good use (it can’t do the same thing with simple carbs).
Choose your toppings wisely.
Salads are a great choice for lunch – if you build them wisely. Pack your salad with a mix of greens, fresh vegetables, beans, lean proteins and healthy fats and you’re golden. Start topping it with cheese, croutons, bottled dressing and candied nuts and you start adding calories without adding nutrients.
Here’s my advice for building a better salad:
Choose your greens. Spinach, kale, arugula, spring mixes, romaine…the choices are endless and you should test them all! My tip: mix and match in each bowl. Ever tried a shaved kale and Brussels sprouts salad before?
Pile on a rainbow of vegetables. When you choose vegetables with a variety of hues your giving your body an array of healthy antioxidants. Red bell peppers, carrots, yellow tomatoes, blueberries, beets, mushrooms…again the list is endless and you should pick a variety to reap all of the benefits. My tip: add some raw and some roasted or pickled. The variety in texture and depth of flavor you get form roasted and pickled veggies is so satisfying!
Add protein. I’m a firm believer in protein at each meal and protein is a great ingredient to bulk up your salad and increase the fill factor. I love grilled chicken, shrimp or salmon, turkey burgers or black beans on my salads. My tip: cook a few choices ahead of time so that you can easily add a protein that jives with your mood for the day.
Get your crunch. Add a tablespoon of nuts or seeds for that crunch factor. Nuts and seeds are a great source of healthy fats and plant protein. My tip: toast them first to get the most flavor.
Jazz it up. Here’s where you can get crazy with flavor and if you’re creative, add few calories onto your healthy salad. My favorites in this category include fresh herbs, fancy vinegars or lemon juice, olives and nutritional yeast. My tip: find some amazing vinegars that you can use to customize every salad. I keep a few small bottles in my desk, just in case.
Top it off with something indulgent… but indulge with purpose. Add some avocado, a tablespoon of feta or goat cheese, a drizzle of amazing olive oil or crispy bacon. A little goes a long way. My tip: invest in some high quality olive oil. I promise you that once you taste real, quality olive oil your life will never be the same. There are some amazing olive oils HERE >> pepperjam. I recommend….
Eat slowly.
It takes your brain time to recognize that you are full. If you shovel food in at lightening speed (as we tend to do when we’re super hungry), you’re likely to consume far more food than you need to fill up. Slow down. Chew your food. Put your fork down between bites. Enjoy the tastes, the textures and the company. You’ll find that when you take your time and enjoy what you’re consuming, less is more.
Be mindful of every choice.
I keep a food journal. It helps me to be mindful of every food choice I make simply because I know that I will have to write it down later. But there’s more too it than that. Keeping a food journal helps me to be mindful of my food choices – I recognize which meals satisfied my hunger and my taste buds and I recognize where I ate food simply because it was in front of me. I’m not a sweets person. If there is cake in front of me, I’ll only eat it if it is damnnnnn good cake. Store bought? Not worth it to me.
If you aren’t keen on food journaling that’s totally fine – I get that it’s not for everyone. But do be mindful of what you eat. You know whether a food is worth it or not. You know what mindless eating is. The trick is to pause before you start doing it.
Stop eating before you are full.
Do you ever eat and eat and eat only to sit back and think “oh my gosh, I feel sick”? Maybe at the Superbowl party, or the Tex-Mex cantina, or maybe that’s just dinner. We’ve ALL been there. And it doesn’t feel great. It’s a reminder that maybe THAT much food is TOO much food.
Adopt tip #4 and tip #5 and tip #6 will fall into place. This translates to less overeating, less food-guilt and fewer calories consumed. My tip: plan on a walk after each meal, even if just for 10 minutes. Not only will the walk help you digest, you’ll stop eating before you are too full to get up and move.
Dressing on the side.
Me and my salad obsession, I tell ya… But the truth is that dressings are one of the biggest culprits of turning a great thing into an overdone thing. Instead of dousing your greens in salad dressing, pour dressing into a small side cup and dip your fork in before each bite. You’ll save calories and you’ll actually taste the fresh produce your forking in.
Use a potion control guide.
This is by far one of my favorite tips. I use it every time I make a meal and I give it to every single client I work with. It’s easy to underestimate the amount of food that you are eating. We typically eat what’s put in front of us, whether it’s one portion or four.
This portion control guide from Precision Nutrition will help you learn what a portion size should be, and all you need is your hand (or two).
Be picky and choosy.
Having a glass of wine is great. Splitting dessert is fine. Grabbing a roll from the breadbasket is sometimes irresistible. Ordering an appetizer is almost a requirement when you go out to dinner. Do these things. Enjoy them. But don’t do them all at once.
As a rule, try to pick one or two “splurges” and leave the rest for another time. Indulge in the breadbasket and plan on splitting dessert with your partner. Order and appetizer for the table and have a glass of wine. You don’t need it all. In fact, too many splurges in one meal spoil the effect. You SHOULD indulge, but be smart!
Eat real fruit.
Juices are trending right now and believe me, I love a good juice. Full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants – it tastes like liquid nutrition. But the process of juicing destroys the fiber structure of the fruit, meaning it won’t fill you up the way a piece of whole fruit will. Plus, it’s a liquid so it goes down quickly with little time to think of it as calories.
Skip the chips with your dip.
If you’re a snacker it might be hard to think about skipping your chips and dip before dinner or during the movie. My tip: don’t skip the dip, but skip the chips. Cut up carrots, cucumbers and bell peppers instead and dip them in your favorite hummus, guacamole or salsa.
Sleep more.
Sleep definitely counts when your trying to lose fat! If you go to bed at 2 am and wake up at 6 am, you’re not getting enough sleep. You wake up groggy and cranky and are far less likely to make healthy food choices and life decisions through out the day. Plus, your body produces human growth hormone while you sleep – HGH is a naturally occurring hormone that helps your body repair, recover and grow. That’s key for building muscle and losing weight!
De-stress often.
Repeated research has linked stress to weight gain – we know it’s a thing. And between family, work, your responsibilities, friends and goals – you’ve probably got a bit of stress in your life. Take time for yourself every, single, day. Schedule in 10 minute periods of yoga, meditation, or journaling. Take a bath, get a massage or just got for a walk. Whatever it takes, de-stress and de-stress regularly.
