You don’t want to embark on a radical diet or start spending hours in the gym trying to sweat out the excess pounds. Instead, you wan’t to lose weight in a more laid-back fashion — with as little effort on your part as possible. Now, conventional wisdom dictates that your attitude could be a hindrance to hitting your goals. In reality though, nothing could be further from the truth.
My Favorite Lazy Girl Weight Loss Hacks
We’ve compiled a list of lazy girl weight loss hacks that can bring successful weight loss within reach, and most of them are easy enough to get started with right away.
1. Prepare Meals in Advance
You are what you eat.
Ambiguous as that sounds, there is no denying that diet is a make-or-break factor in weight loss.
And so, cutting to the chase, you can do yourself a huge favor by prepping meals ahead of time. Start by making a list of healthy foods you like eating and ensure you’re always stocked up on ingredients (buying groceries in bulk will go a long way). From there, make a habit of cooking several days’ worth of meals in advance and store them in your fridge/freezer.
Having food at ready will make healthy eating feel less of a chore. More crucially, it’ll help you avoid making bad decisions when you’re hungry.
2. And Remember to Add Cinnamon
Cinnamon has this magical ability to regulate appetite. We say ‘magical’ because ancient civilizations have utilized the spice to this end for hundreds of years, but modern science is only beginning to grasp its capabilities.
Still, a few studies have confirmed that cinnamon can indeed help stabilize blood sugar levels following digestion. This then helps curb those sudden post-meal hunger pangs that often have you reaching for unhealthy snacks. So, in a nutshell, flavoring your food with cinnamon will transform your appetite from liability to an asset.
3. Practice Mindful Eating
Did you know that eating while you’re distracted makes you more prone to overindulge? Make a habit of putting down your phone, turning off the TV, and generally doing away with distractions before you start eating. When you concentrate on the task at hand, it becomes easier to tell when you’ve had enough.
Taking time to chew your food thoroughly is also crucial if you want to avoid overindulgence. The brain takes around 20 minutes to register fullness in the stomach. Slowing down will help you avoid consuming more calories than you actually need during this period — try using your non-dominant hand if you can’t help but eat hurriedly.
4. Eat From Smaller Plates
When slowing down isn’t enough to stop yourself from overeating, it’s time to downsize your dinnerware. Our brains have an instinctive urge to fill up the plate and ignore portion size, and this perception often influences how satisfied you feel after a meal. But it’s also something you could turn into an asset. Eating from smaller plates will make your mind think you’ve had enough when you’ve actually eaten less — a psychological trick that’ll help you take in fewer calories and exercise portion control.
5. Keep ‘Em out of Sight
We’re talking about those delicious-but-not-so-healthy treats that often derail your diet. You’ll agree that it’s much easier to stay on track when you don’t have candy bars and cookie jars tempting you to ‘backslide’ everywhere you go. So make a conscious effort to keep these temptations out of your sight, and out of mind.
That means swapping your regular snacks for healthier alternatives, and keeping the latter within reach. For instance, a couple of apples could very well do for the bar of chocolate you carry around in your handbag. Why not trade your fizzy drinks for delicious smoothies filled fruits and vegetables while you’re at it? As we noted earlier, having healthy options within reach eliminates the likelihood of going off track with your nutrition when it seems more convenient.
6. Curb the Cravings
Make no mistake that cravings can get the better of you and derail your weight loss ambitions. It’s difficult to stay on track when all your senses are compelling you to throw in the towel. So if you’re serious about shedding the bloat — and maintaining the results — you want to find effective fixes for your urges.
Fixes shouldn’t be too difficult to come by, fortunately. Anything that can take your mind off your cravings just long enough will do; this could be a relaxing bath followed by a massage, or just some FaceTime with a pal. Scented candles can also go a long way here; studies show that smell has the potential to influence the brain in very powerful ways. Give these fixes a try and see what works best for your cravings.
7. Lazy Girl Weight Loss Hacks: Drink Plenty Of Water
An eight-ounce glass of water before each meal can help slash your calorie intake by as much as 30 percent. This will force your body to burn off the fat it’s stocked up, and the excess bloat will be gone before you know it. Lazy girl weight loss hacks don’t come any better than that.
Sounds stupidly simple, but there’s a lot of sense in starting off your meals with a glass of water. The human brain has an uncanny tendency to confuse thirst for hunger. Drinking up helps you avoid eating when you don’t really need to. Not to forget that water plays other crucial roles in the body besides helping with portion control — do make sure to drink up throughout the day. If you find the taste of plain water too bland, detox water (AKA fruit-flavored water) will do the trick or go for a smoothie. This is one of my favorite lazy ways to lose belly fat!
8. Get Enough Sleep
Yes, you read that right — your body’s capable of burning fat even during your sleep. No need to think about the gym when you could just hit the sack instead!
On a serious note, though, sleep is a very crucial part of fitness. Your body needs it to maintain a healthy hormonal balance and perform restorative functions (repairing worn-out tissues and such). Sleep also gives your mind a break from the stresses you face each day. And when your mind is in good shape, you’re able to exercise proper judgment when it comes to food choices and keeping cravings at bay.
But sleep also plays a direct role in regulating body weight. Research shows that not getting enough sleep leaves fat cells in bad shape. Some studies have even established a link between sleep deprivation and obesity.
So as far as weight loss goes, getting your eight hours’ worth of ZZZs is just as important as, say, exercising portion control or exercising. If that proves a challenge, you might need to upgrade your sleep environment, change a few habits here and there, and perhaps make an appointment with your doctor.
9. Tighten up the Fit
Take time to reconsider your wardrobe choices as you practice more mindful habits. Although loose, baggy clothing seems well-suited for your physique, it also gives you a false sense of security. Your weight no longer seems like such a huge problem, and there’s no incentive to do something about it — to maintain the healthy habits you’ve worked so hard to adopt. So take the leap and invest in tighter-fitting garments to help you stay keen and aware.
10. Limit Your Sitting Time
Yeah, I know it’s supposed to be a list of lazy girl weight loss hacks. But come on — You’ve gotta get off the couch some times! Sitting for too long is actually bad for your bones, you know. And when you’re trying to burn off those excess pounds, a little movement can go a long way.
Now, it’s not to say that you should eschew seats altogether; just try to be more mindful of your sitting time. Take breaks to stretch your legs as you would with any other activity — do a few sit-ups, squats, or even go out for a short walk. These tiny bits of movement will make a huge difference in the long run.
10. Lazy Girl Weight Loss Hacks: Try HIIT
Exercise can be an effective way to fast-track your weight loss journey. And contrary to popular opinion, you don’t have to overwhelm yourself to get the results. All you need is a good dose of HIIT.
Short for high-intensity interval training, this strategy involves alternating short, vigorous workouts with recovery periods where you do some low-intensity exercise. A few minutes of this routine each day will add up to some serious fat burn. The best thing about HIIT is that most exercises can be done without equipment. This makes it ideal for those times when you want to get busy but are just too lazy to hit the gym, or don’t have the time for it.
12. Exercise as You Watch TV
This is a no brainer: combine one of your past times with an effective weight loss strategy, and you’re well on your way towards a fitter, leaner version of yourself. Although exercising while watching TV doesn’t make for an intense workout, it still gets you active and sweating nonetheless. Do it often and you’ll effectively have turned your favorite shows into fat-burning binges.
You’ll be surprised to see just how enjoyable exercise can be. And as we noted earlier, this is a great way to limit your sitting time — and ward off the temptation to snack mindlessly while you’re sat on the couch.
13. But Remember to Take Things Easy
By far the most important thing you could do as you work to get in shape is to be patient. Don’t feel like you have to start doing everything on this list right away. Likewise, there’s no need to beat yourself up if you don’t seem to be hitting any milestones or making progress at all. Give yourself some credit and believe that you’ll eventually achieve your goals — no matter how long that takes.