10 Expert Tips to Lose Weight Without Dieting

Discover expert strategies to lose weight without dieting! Embrace these simple lifestyle changes to achieve your weight loss goals.

Are you tired of counting calories and following strict diets to lose weight? If you want to shed pounds for good, you are not alone. In fact, nearly 1 in 3 adults are overweight.

Losing weight doesn’t have to be a daunting task if you focus on simple but powerful strategies. As a personal trainer, the only diet I will ever suggest is this: healthy lifestyle changes.

To lose weight you need to:

• Make better food choices to nourish your body
• Eliminate processed foods
• Eat in a calorie deficit

There are a million diets out on the internet that don’t work because they are typically super restrictive and hard to maintain for a long period of time. `

And diet pills and powders bring a whole host of problems to your life including both mental and physical issues. Taking a pill does not set you up with lifelong habits.

Instead of focusing on fad diets and pills, I’m going to walk you through expert tips and strategies to help you achieve your weight loss goals in an approachable way.

By implementing simple changes you can effectively lose weight without feeling deprived. These are my favorite tips for successful weight loss (without the dieting!):

1. EDIT Your Food Choices

Rearrange those four letters in the word “diet” and “edit” what you eat instead. Editing means making better food choices, being smarter about what you will eat, what you will eat less of, and what you might cut out altogether.

It’s about gradual changes and mindful eating. Not crazy elimination diets, or intermittent fasting, or tedious counting calories.

It’s about feeling in control of what you eat. Not saying you are on a diet, but rather making better choices to help improve your overall health.

When you make smarter food choices, you end up naturally eating fewer unhealthy foods. This will ultimately reduce your overall calorie intake.

Think of your strategy as meal planning or clean eating, not dieting. You will find that your relationship with food and your choices become a lot easier when you ditch the diet mentality!

I also recommend finding the right kitchen gadgets that will make your meal planning and prepping process easier. The more consistent you are, the easier it is to build the habit!

2. Embrace a Healthy Lifestyle Mindset

Accept that successful weight loss takes time. Remember, it’s a process and you’ll need to have patience and a positive mindset.

Make your ‘why’ for eating healthy about deeper more meaningful things. Reducing blood sugar, reducing cortisol, improving cholesterol and blood pressure are all great examples. But your why should be unique to you!

Remember that how you feel is a direct correlation to what you put in your mouth.

Food is fuel and what you eat and the nutrients you get or don’t get into your body will affect how you feel, think, and act everyday.

The best weight loss plans are foiled when the only motivation is weight loss. Make it about deeper reasons and think about how healthy eating can improve every aspect of your life.

3. Use the 80/20 Rule

Use the 80/20 rule when it comes to eating. Eat healthy 80% of the time and give yourself 20% wiggle room. Some days you will do better than other days, and that’s perfectly okay.

You don’t have to become the perfect clean-eating human. Each day try and get more of your choices to favor your health.

If you have a bad day, wake up tomorrow and reset your mindset.

Lean your life toward healthier choices. Be compassionate and kind to yourself when you make less-than-stellar choices. Skip the mentality of “I’m on a diet or I’m not.”

Super restrictive diets have been proven not to last. The 80/20 rule is about moderation not perfection.

4. Watch Your Portions

Weight gain and weight loss is an energy equation. Yes, that’s simplified, but if you take in too many calories—more than your body needs or can burn—you will gain weight. To lose weight steadily and keep it off, you need to eat fewer calories and watch your portion sizes.

So what’s the difference between portions and servings?

• A portion is how much food you choose to eat.
• A serving is a standard amount (or guideline) used by food companies to identify how much to eat, as well as the calories and nutritional content in your food.

Think about it, one of your portions could be several servings! They key to weight loss may be not having to eliminate your favorite foods, but just to eat less food overall.

Take a nod from one of my favorite authors, Michael Pollan, who says, “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” 

Portion Size Rules of Thumb

Most restaurants serve up big platefuls of portion distortion—a mega plateful of pasta or a steak the size of your dinner plate. But those are way too often more than we need.

Use these guidelines to more accurately size up your portions:

• The size of your fist = A medium fruit, one cup of whole grains
• The size of your thumb = One ounce of cheese
• The tip of your thumb = One teaspoon of butter, oil, or nut butter
• A deck of cards = One serving of meat, poultry, or fish
• One cupped handful = One serving of cereal
• Two golf balls = one serving mashed potato or ice-cream

You can easily cut back on hundreds of calories a day when you watch your portions.

Eating on smaller plates and eating slower are also great strategies to add to your weight loss journey. These tips help to reduce your portions which will reduce your overeating.

As you readjust to smaller portions, your body will learn to reset that feeling of fullness.

5. Eat More Protein

Women tend to eat less protein as they age and that’s a mistake, because women actually need to increase their protein intake as they get older!

Protein is an important part of your strategy of how to lose weight without dieting. Eating protein at every meal can increase feelings of fullness, reduce hunger, and help you eat fewer calories.

When it comes to feeling full, eating protein can help reduce the ghrelin levels in your blood. Ghrelin is a hormone produced by your stomach and often called the hunger hormone. Consuming adequate protein each day can help control the release of ghrelin in your body therefore keeping you feeling fuller longer.

If weight loss is your goal, you may want to consider increasing the protein content of all your meals.

As a fitness expert, I also need to mention that if you are doing any strength training, protein is what will help your muscles recover and repair!

Some good examples of protein-rich foods include chicken, turkey, meat, fish, yogurt, lentils, quinoa, eggs, protein powder and nuts and seeds.

6. Eat More Fiber Rich Foods

Fiber-rich foods also enhance weight loss by increasing fullness, helping with digestion, reducing calorie intake, and stabilizing blood sugar.

Popular examples of fiber-rich foods include:

1. Whole grains (quinoa, oats)
2. Legumes (beans, lentils)
3. Fruits (apples, berries)
4. Vegetables (broccoli, spinach)
5. Nuts and seeds (chia seeds, almonds)

Just like my suggestion for adding protein to every meal, adding fiber rich foods is also key to your weight loss efforts.

7. Use a Calorie Tracking App

Using a calorie tracking app like MyFitnessPal can be a valuable tool in trying to lose weight without dieting.

Calorie tracking apps come with loads of benefits, like:

• Improves accountability. Enhances weight loss efforts by promoting awareness, accountability, and informed decision-making regarding dietary choices.
• Encourages mindfulness. Helps encourage better food choices and portion sizes, fostering a greater awareness of daily calorie intake. I’ve learned over the years of coaching and helping clients lose weight that it is human nature to underestimate how much you are really eating. Using an app is eye opening!
• Monitors macronutrients. Allows users to monitor not only calories but also macronutrient intake, ensuring a balanced and nutritionally sound diet made up of carbohydrates, fats and protein.
• Highlights patterns. Supports behavior change by highlighting eating patterns and areas for improvement, empowering individuals to make healthier choices.
• Helps with meal planning. Assists in meal planning and preparation, making it easier to adhere to dietary goals and resist impulsive, less healthy food choices.
• Fits many lifestyles. Fits seamlessly into various lifestyles, providing flexibility and helping individuals make informed choices in different situations.
• Educational resource. Acts as an educational resource, helping users understand the calorie content of different foods and promoting long-term, sustainable habits.

8. Drink More Water

This may be the easiest tip for how to lose weight without dieting. There are so many reasons to drink more water daily.

Some surprising benefits of staying hydrated include:

• Regulates your appetite. Often thirst is disguised as hunger. Better yet, drinking water before meals promotes a feeling of fullness, reducing overall food intake.
• Supports your metabolism by aiding in the breakdown of fats and calories.
• Replaces high-calorie beverages, reducing total daily calorie intake.
• Ensures proper hydration for effective workouts, contributing to weight loss efforts.
• Facilitates the absorption of essential nutrients from food.
• Supports kidney function in eliminating waste and toxins from the body.

9. Move Your Body More 

Even though I’m talking about how food is the main key to a healthy weight loss program, physical activity will most definitely make it more successful.

I can’t leave out exercise because you can’t have a healthy lifestyle without pairing the two together. Weight loss and a healthy lifestyle aren’t only won in your kitchen; they are also about how often you move your body.

We all have 24 hours in a day. What you choose to do with your 24 hours can make all the difference. Everyone can easily say “I don’t have time” but the bottom line is you have to make time to exercise.

If you are not currently exercising, start small.

Even a 10 minute workout can get your heart rate up and engage your muscles. Allow yourself to choose some form of movement that you like to do so you will stick with it.

Muscle building is an important factor to maintaining an enjoyable lifestyle as you age. You need strength and balance to perform daily activities. These are my favorite strength training moves for women over 50.

But don’t forget about the importance of getting your heart rate up by walking, running, swimming or whatever form of cardio you like to do.

Heart disease is the number one killer of American women. Exercising your heart will burn calories to help with your calorie equation each day and also improve your heart health.

As you move more, you will gain confidence, energy, a healthier body, a better outlook, and you will be investing in your long-term health for your sake and the sake of your family.

Quick Exercise Tips from a Fitness Expert

• Partner up with a friend or family member and keep each other accountable.
• Remind yourself of how good you feel after you finish a workout.
• Build up your commitment to exercise (and your health) every time you keep your appointment. Self-discipline is like a muscle!

10. Get More Sleep

Adequate sleep is crucial for weight loss because it influences various physiological and hormonal factors.

Here are just a few of the amazing things getting enough sleep an do for your body:

• Hormone regulation. Sleep regulates hormones like leptin and ghrelin, which control hunger and fullness. Poor sleep can lead to increased ghrelin (appetite stimulant) and decreased leptin (appetite suppressant), promoting overeating.
• Supports metabolic function. Sleep supports optimal metabolic function, ensuring efficient energy utilization and preventing metabolic slowdown, which can occur with sleep deprivation.
• Helps with stress. Sleep promotes better stress management and reduces cortisol levels. Elevated cortisol, associated with sleep deprivation, can lead to increased body fat.
• Improves energy levels. Sleep enhances energy levels and overall physical performance, encouraging regular exercise and adherence to a fitness routine.
• Reduces cravings. Sleep improves impulse control and reduces cravings for high-calorie, sugary carbohydrate foods often sought out for quick energy boosts.
• Supports muscle recovery. Sleep supports muscle recovery and maintenance, crucial for an active lifestyle and effective weight loss through exercise.

These are my 15 science-backed tips to get better sleep.

Understanding the Basics of Weight Loss

Weight loss can seem like an overwhelming task, but it all comes down to consuming fewer calories than your body needs. By doing so, your body taps into its stored body fat for energy, leading to weight loss.

While diets are often centered around elimination of food groups, fasting, and special supplements,, there are alternative approaches you can take to lose weight while still enjoying your favorite foods.

Here are a few of the key takeaways for understanding the basics of how weight loss works:

• Reducing portion sizes can help prevent weight gain and promote weight loss.
• Focusing on consuming nutrient-dense foods can be more impactful than specific diets.
• Practicing mindful eating can help avoid overeating.
• Staying hydrated throughout the day can help reduce cravings and boost metabolism.
• Regular physical activity, such as strength training, walking or dancing, can help burn calories and increase muscle tone.

While all of these tips are important individually, they are all intertwined.

In order to support a healthy weight loss journey, I recommend incorporating a combination of these tips into your daily lifestyle.

Remember, being on a diet is not the best weight loss strategy.

Creating a healthy lifestyle of clean eating and movement is the long term answer to losing extra unwanted pounds. Plus, you’ll achieve better overall health and wellbeing too! What are you waiting for?

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