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5 Weight Loss Tips & None Are About Eating Less or Getting More Exercise

If you’ve always struggled with your weight, you’ve probably struggled with something else too. How many times do you get volunteer advice, often from people you hardly know, telling you about a really good diet, or a good workout, or some other way for you to lose weight?

Overweight or not, for some of us, it’s not so easy to just start “working out”, especially when you couple that with following a strict diet. Wouldn’t it be great to one day read that you can do something to help lose weight, but it doesn’t involve anything like eating only asparagus or taking part in activities that stretch body parts that you never knew existed?

Here you go:

You can take steps to help you lose weight and they don’t involve a diet or any extra activity.

Feels good doesn’t it?!

Without further ado, the following tips will promote weight loss without you making any unwanted changes to your lifestyle:

1. Sleep

You’ve heard it before, but the scientific evidence keeps piling up that shows a lack of sleep contributes to weight gain. Many studies cite an increase in the production of the hormones ghrelin, which boosts appetite, and a suppression of the hormone leptin, which signals fullness, in sleep-deprived subjects. Most adults need between six to eight hours of sleep a night. It’s important to remember that’s 6 to 8 hours of sleep, not 6 to 8 hours in bed. On average, 8.5 hours in bed results in 7.5 hours of sleep.

2. Eat Before Going to the Grocery Store or Restaurant

So why would you eat before going out to a restaurant to have dinner? Restaurant food is designed to taste really good so you’ll visit the restaurant again and again. But that usually means extra salt and sugar in places you wouldn’t expect them (like salt in your dessert and sugar in your pasta sauce). When we know we’re going out to eat, we sometimes hold back on eating beforehand so we can really enjoy the restaurant food. But that can lead to over eating and packing on the pounds. As for the grocery store, if you shop there on an empty stomach, there’s a higher chance of you buying more food, particularly more processed food and unhealthy snacks.

3. Hide the Junk

Notice we didn’t say get rid of it (which you should, but we promised that this wouldn’t involve changes to your diet!). We reach for the chips and pretzels for the same reason we climb mountains: because they are there. If the mountains weren’t there, we wouldn’t climb them. If the salty and sugary snacks are not in plain view, you’ll eat less of them.

4. Put Healthy Snacks Where You Can See Them

The other end of the “hide the junk food” spectrum is to make healthy snacks, including nuts, grains and fruit, visible and easily accessible. So put that tub of delicious humus at the front of the main shelf in your fridge and keep some pistachios or almonds near the TV.

5. Record TV Shows Before Viewing

On a per minute basis, way more money is spent on the television ads you watch, those aimed at making you hungry for junk food and thirsty for sugary drinks, than on your favourite programs.

Want to get an idea of how much more? 30 seconds of Super Bowl advertising time costs $4 million. Commercial production can run into the millions. A 30-second Super Bowl commercial and ad time can cost a combined $10 million. In today’s dollars, the most expensive TV show ever, Friends, cost $10 million per 30 minute episode. That’s 60 times more money being spent on convincing you to buy things you shouldn’t, like junk food and drinks, than what’s spent on entertaining you.

Record your TV shows on PVR and skip the commercials. You don’t need that kind of pressure.

From eating off smaller plates to chewing your food for longer, there are lots of other tips and tricks to help you reduce how much and what you eat without actually dieting. The beauty with using these easier-to-accomplish techniques is that they lead to quick wins. Even if they won’t get you to your target weight by themselves, they’ll give you a glimpse of how you can get there. The nutritional consultants at your local Herbal One Centre are ready to help you learn more tips and tricks, and take the next step to reach and stay at a healthier weight.

 

If you have any questions or concerns, stop by, call, or email your Herbal One centre and our qualified counsellors will be happy to give you tips and some great ideas that will help reach your weight loss goals.

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