16 Ways That You Can Lose Weight For Free
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Diet has become such a dirty word, but let’s remember that diet simply means the “the foods eaten, as by a particular person or group”. Over the years we have redefined the term to the where it now means that if I am “on a diet” I have restricted my food intake or improved the quality of my food products in some way.
I have written a post or two on weight loss because over the years I have become an expert on the subject. I like to think that I can separate fact from fiction and shoot straight from the hip on the subject.
I was browsing through Mamasource and stumbled on this question (or is it a plea?) “Does any one have any weight loss secrets? I was on the biggest loser thing but icant afford that any more so i am on my own. I really need to loose about 150++++ Pounds. HELP!!!!!!!! Please. - J.T. ”
Fact: There are no weight loss secrets. If you want to lose weight- eat less and move more.
Unfortunately, this would appear to be easier said than done. We are a society of mindless eaters. This means that food goes into our mouths all day long and we are totally unaware of having put it there. From the kids leftover breakfast to the uneaten portion of our husband’s dinner; we eat when we are happy, we eat when we are sad, we even eat when we are totally numb to any of our feelings.
For J.T. and anyone else wondering how to lose weight on a limited budget, I have compiled this list of tips (many of which I got from plans or books that I paid for) :
- Start a food diary. Studies have shown that people who write down what they eat, tend to watch what they eat. After all who wants to write: “polished off the rest of the Thanksgiving turkey just before dinner” . Writing is tedious to some so do it for at least a week just to see where you are and what needs improving.
- Move something. Walk up and down the stairs for 10 minutes after each meal, or walk around the yard or the block, or the living room. Dust off your workout tapes (we all have old workout tapes and DVDs, we just don’t acknowledge their presence in the house) and use one at least 5 times a week.
- Quit eating your kids leftovers. The starving kids in China don’t have access to that food and you eating it does not fill their bellies, it only serves to expand your waistline!
- Think before you eat. Weight lost is a factor of calories in minus calories burned. You can burn 3500 calories more or eat 3500 calories less or a combination of the two - but the end result will be 1 pound less on the scale.
- Read The Hackers Diet by John Walker- why? Because it’s online, it’s free, and he provides all the tools that you need to create your daily meals, track calories and keep track of your weight forever. And did I mention that it’s FREE?
- Eliminate dessert except on special occasions. It’s bad for your teeth, your insulin levels, your skin and so much more.
- Drink more water. Note that I didn’t say 8 glasses a day, I just said more. Drink water when you are thirsty.
- Avoid laxatives. Laxatives and diet teas are not a viable way to lose weight. Your body is a wondrous and sophisticated machine with built in mechanisms for elimination. Treat it well and it will treat you well.
- Eat more food un-processed food like fresh fruit , vegetables, and beans that you soak and cook yourself (canned pork and beans don’t count). This will help your body with the elimination process.
- If you are struggling with your weight now, then chances are your children will also (no matter how painfully thin they are at this point). Set an example for them by cooking healthy meals at home and ordering Chinese take-out and pizza less often. I actually recommend eliminating take-out night altogether; save eating out for special occasions. Find great recipes that you and your family will love in the blogosphere at places like Diet Recipes Blog and Cinnamon & Spice
- Get tips, ideas and free workouts and workout videos at Self.com , Fitness.com and any othe rfitness magazine website you can think of.
- Join a fitness challenge on one of the above websites or at iVillage.com. Challenges help you to set a goal and stay focused on it, but you always want to add something for th elong term (like The Hackers Diet) because what goes down can definitely creep back on you.
- Try the Scarsdale Diet with me if you really want to see results fast. I lose weight slowly but have been able to move my “normal and customary” scale weight down ten pounds.
- Our bad eating habits and poor exercise habits are created in our heads. We gain and lose weight because our mindset is alittle off-kilter (maybe deep down inside you have some fears about being thinner). Go to the library (it’s free too) and get a couple of books like The Slight Edge, The Power of Positive Thinking, How to Stop Worrying & Start Living etc.
- Make eating right and exercising a habit, just another one of the things you do every day like brushing your teeth and taking a shower. Remember that these are little things that are just as easy to ignore as they are to actually do and get out of the way for the day.
- Live in the moment, be conscious of what you’re doing. Been sitting in front of your computer all day? Get up and play with your kids, take a walk, play football in the street, park far away from the entrance to the mall or grocery store for a change of pace.
Do you have any weight loss secrets that you’d like to share? Leave a comment, I’m all ears:)
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[...] 16 Ways That You Can Lose Weight For Free | Denise Lee Porter - Get up and play with your kids, take a walk, play football in the street, park far away from the entrance to the mall or grocery store for a change of pace. Do you have any weight loss secrets that you’d like to share? … [...]
I wouldn’t say eat less, so much as I would say eat better. Eat natural foods - stuff you find on the outer parts of the grocery store, and avoid processed junk and fast food.
Eating just natural foods, including dark meat and lots of dairy, helped me lose a ton of weight after my 2nd child. Now that I’ve been eating fast food and other junk, even though I exercise and hit the gym, I still managed to gain a lot of weight. I’m not eating more than I did, just worse.
I agree Jennifer, that’s why I stick to Scarsdale and avoid processed foods and that Friday Pizza night or Mommt’s night off McDonalds run:)
Totally agree that dieting is a word that has negative feelings associated with it. A “Lifestyle” change might be a better way to go. The “Transitions Lifestyle System” focuses on bahvior modification through journaling, low glycemic eating and fat reduction by exercise. We also support the program with dietary supplementation. Have you looked at “Transitions”?
Sheri
Hi Sheri, I can’t say that I have looked at transitions. I am however really bad with journaling and supplementation, although i recommend both as those who do are more likely to be successful over the long term. Thanks for stopping by, I will look at Transitions.
I agree that eating the right things and smaller portions work, but it can work against you if you don’t eat enough.
I recently did a 6 week ‘Bootcamp Challenge’ at my gym., and it was really eye opening…it turns out I wasn’t losing weight because I was eating too much, but because I wasn’t eating enough! What a shock!
I wasn’t giving my metabolism enough to burn, so my body was holding on to every thing it could because it didn’t know when it would be fed again.
Now what works for me, is that I eat small amounts of the right foods every 2-3 hours (about 5-6 times a day). It seems really high maintenance, but a little planning goes a long way.
In that 6 weeks, I lost 10 pounds and never felt deprived or starved. It is a whole new lifestyle and I love it!
I have a bookcase full of diet books since I’m a nutritional consultant. Almost any diet will work and you’ve given some good advice. The problem is that “diets” don’t work long term when people start eating the way they did before.
I’d like to add that EFT–Emotional Freedom Technique can work wonders for emotional eating. http://www.emofree.com or Google Carol Solomon who has a specific program for weight control.
For overwhelming cravings use amino acids. This will depend on what you’re craving but GABA and L-Glutamine are common deficiencies. If it’s the correct amino acid the craving will be gone in minutes.
Then there’s food allergies that cause weight gain: mainly gluten and dairy. Increasing raw greens and veggies will be helpful to give the body lots of nutrients and keep the bowels moving and keep you feeling full with healthier choices. Use good dressings like hemp or avocado oil and balsamic vinegar instead of fattening, MSG-containing dressings. No table salt. Use Himalaya salt instead.
For people who would like to eat relatively normal and not be deprived I highly recommend the following: http://www.skinnywithchocolate.com. Many people lose up to a pound a day with this. The 2 minute video explains most.
I could write a book about this but there’s a few of the main tips I always give my clients.
I really like #14. How we view ourselves, our relationships, and every thing we could possibly eat or not, is determined by how we are thinking.
Changing your mind is key.
When your perception changes, taking care of yourself is just what you do! And that is the mindset you want to pass onto your children.
Lisa Crunick
Helping You Change Your Mind!
Hi!
I have been attending a Boot Camp Aerobics class 3 days/week that emphasizes using weights and muscle confusion…in other words working on abs, arms, legs, abs, legs, arms in random and changing orders. I am finding that building some muscle is key to losing weight!
I have also started eating healthier…small healthy snacks throughout the day, large servings of vegetables with a little protein (beans, egg or lean meats) and cutting portions in half when I eat a “normal meal” or eat out with my family. I eat healthy snacks all morning, a large salad with a little protein, lots of good veggies and a little low cal dressing (Trader Joe’s has THE BEST dressings!!). Oh and I allow myself a “treat” (chips, fries, cookie or chocolate) when I want it, although I am finding I don’t crave these things like I used to!!
Since I get discouraged when I don’t meet my goals, I have not set any firm ones for myself other than to move more and eat less as you said in your blog.
These things are working fantastic for me! I have lost a total of 7 pounds in the last 10 weeks, which is VERY slow, but I’m hoping that I will be able to keep it off by losing it so slowly. The first few weeks, I was losing a pound a week and now I am down to 1/2 pound a week. The amazing thing is the inches that have come off…3″ in my waist, 2″ off each thigh and 1″ off my hips!
I even have the complication of hypothyroidism, which slows the metabolism (even on medication). Although in doing weights I have found that I am getting my metabolism back…last week I had to miss class all week and was traveling, so I exercised WAY less and ate all my meals out for several days…I did try to make healthy choices and did not eat everything on my plate. Because of the little muscles, I still lost 1/2 pound!! I could not be happier and I feel great physically and mentally even though I would like to lose more.
Hope my tips can help you!!
Thanks to all of you for posting what works for you, I know that these tips will help others. Lisa I agree, weight is often a symptom of something else - whether it’s lack of focus or a broken heart. Sharon, I will have to revisit EFT, took a look before and think I confused myself:) Linda, I was thinking about not eating enough the other day and realized that’s why on most diets you take a day or a week or two off, just to shake up the old metabolism before it gets complacent.
I was a health & fitness instructor with a YMCA in Ohio for 6 years.
You all have great ideas for weight loss. Yes, do lift weights and add in other forms of resistance like exercise bands, cables, and using your own body for the resistance(push ups with knees on floor for example) The science behind this is that strength training increases your resting metabolic rate. Meaning that hours after your work-out is over, your body is still burning calories to build muscle.
I have also been studying this for a while and have found something that DOES seem to be a secret!
MANY people are intolerant of gluten which is found mainly is wheat but also is rye, barley and some other not-so-well-know grains like spelt. Gluten intolerance is a big contributor to weight gain. It was long thought that people who suffered from gluten intolerance or the related and more serious condition, celiac diesease which causes damage to the intestines, would be skinny and malnourished due to the problems the condition causes with absorption of nutrients. It is now know that anemia and being overweight are two of the most common symptoms in people who are gluten intolerant.
Our society is so into researching all the foods that we MUST include in our diets that we have neglected to study enough about what foods should be REMOVED from our diets! MANY people have food intolerances which the doctors just don’t understand. I tried adding in TONS of foods only to feel worse. When I got tested (through a doctor and then through a nutritionist) I recognized the foods I was allergic to and intolerant of. Removing them really made a positive difference in my health. My husband removed gluten and lost 25 pounds and his cholesterol dropped dramatically.
Gluten may also be responsible for behavior and concentration problems (ADD/ADHD or any other condition on the autism spectrum) in children and adults.
To anyone who is having trouble losing weight, especially if you have digestive problems, anemia, diabetes, thyroid problems, canker sores, eczema or other rashes, etc., I strongly suggest you remove gluten from your diet for a while. We really don’t need all that white flour anyway! You might be surprised. Do some reading online. Search “gluten intolerance symptoms” or “gluten overweight” and read a few articles. There is lots to learn!
There is a great book called THE GLUTEN CONNECTION that you can get on Amazon.com to help you figure out if you or someone you love has a problem with gluten. It can be serious so check it out!
Good luck and take care!
While you have offered some great advice, I disagree with “calories in - calories out.” Yes, exercise is a key component in developing a healthy lifestyle and I absolutely promote an exercise program, however, exercise can only take you so far in your health goals. Every day I see individuals with insulin resistance and when they begin to tip over into metabolic syndrome or Type 2 diabetes, a calorie is no longer a calorie. It doesn’t matter how many calories they consume or burn, if they are still eating high glycemic foods they will continue to spike and drop their blood sugars very rapidly and hold onto fat like a sponge holds on to water. In order to improve insulin sensitivity, one must learn why they physically can’t release weight, follow a low glycemic eating plan and develop healthy lifestyles that have a side effect of weight loss.
Thanks for sharing and I’m sure we all can learn from one another!
I have been struggling with weight loss for many years. I’m not overly obese, but everytime I gain any weight I lost within months.
I think I have a mindset problem. I read an very interesting and enlightening article at OptimalBodyWeight.com (a website I like and trust)about this issue. Check out their article Weight Loss by Fixing your Life with Tony Robbins. It makes a lot of sense to me.
Good Luck
I read the article as you suggested. It was quite good. And yes you do have to treat the why if you’re ever going to stop yo-yoing and lose weight for good.
Has anyone here tried to lose weight in their face? I really like the way this site is laid out but I haven't quite found the answer yet. Anyone?
As long as it does not exceed a fortnight, the Scarsdale diet can be the beginning of an improved way of eating. The fortnight time limit is essential to be observed because of the diet’s very restrictive character which may result in unhealthy effects if prolonged.
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