We are all aware (and relentlessly reminded) of the weight-loss mantra – exercise, eat healthily. But sometimes our day-to-day lives aren’t built around the practicalities of managing a daily gym session, and meal-prep can vanish over the horizon when you’re juggling family and work commitments.
Below are five little things that you can do to incorporate weight-loss into your day without thinking twice or taking any time out of your busy schedule.
1. Low-Fat Swaps
It might seem like an obvious one, but so many of us opt for the familiar rather than pausing to consider if there’s a healthier and less calorific option.
Always buy coffee in the morning? Ask for it to be skinny. Most coffee shops only have a full fat or skimmed milk option and their default will be to give you the full-fat version. Think about making one small change every few days until it becomes second nature.
If you usually pick up breakfast on your way to work, is there a lighter version available? If not, could you make a small adjustment? For example, rather than picking up a muffin or croissant, could you keep some cereal bars and fruit in your desk to have with a coffee once you get in? Be careful with snacks like these though – often they have hidden calories and sugar masquerading behind healthy-looking packaging.
Always check the nutrition information on the box. Many foods labelled as ‘low-fat’ in fact contain high levels of sugar. The NHS recommends that adults should have no more than 30g of sugar a day; you should check the percentage bars contain of your recommended daily allowance for guidance.
2. Weight Loss Assistance
With proper medical guidance from your doctor or pharmacist, pills to supplement a healthy diet and exercise can be a positive step for many people in assisting with weight-loss.
It can be demotivating to reach a target weight, only to find you plateau there and can’t seem to shift those extra pounds.
This can contribute to low mood and many people give up at that stage, only to find themselves regaining the weight. If that is something you struggle with, a weight loss supplement such as Orlistat can be very beneficial. It’s the only medicine currently licensed in the EU to help you lose weight and is clinically proven to help you lose 50% more weight than dieting alone.
3. Think About Alcohol
While we might carefully look at labels and weigh pasta out before cooking, this can all go out of the window once we’re out with friends. The empty calories in alcohol are a big contributor to unwanted weight gain.
Not only that, but it has been proven that you are more likely to reach for fatty foods (and larger portions of them) the day after having a drink. Just three small glasses of wine (175ml) contains 477 calories, roughly a quarter of the recommended daily intake for women.
That’s the equivalent of one and a half burgers, and you’d find yourself on the treadmill or pounding the pavement for 48 minutes to burn it off. There are a few things you can do to mitigate this though.
Drink plenty of water and try to have a glass between each alcoholic drink. Not only will this stop you having a sore head in the morning, but it will also slow down your drinking. You can add soda water to white wine to make it a longer drink but red wine in fact contains more nutrients than white.
You can also sign up for an initiative like Dry January. Studies have shown that people who give up drinking for just two weeks are more likely to drink less when they go back to it.
4. Secret Exercise
There are probably lots of small ways you already incorporate exercise into your day without thinking about it, so adding one or two simple things which will up your exercise can really make a difference.
Park the car at the far end of the carpark so you walk slightly further to get to the supermarket or shops. We all know we should be standing up more frequently, so set a reminder on your phone to stretch your legs every hour.
Take the stairs and not the elevator. Although diet is the more significant aspect of weight-loss, the health benefits of being active are unparalleled, so it’s worth adding in little bits here and there.
5. Hidden Sugars
It’s all too easy to believe you’re eating healthily, only to still struggle to shed that last little bit of weight. Consider the way you snack. If you’re always reaching for the almonds and the grapes, think again. Nuts are notoriously high in sugar and, although they do have useful health benefits, it’s worth limiting your consumption of them and replacing the snack with a lower-calorie rice cake. Fruit is also a culprit. Mangos contain 14g of sugar per 100g – so almost half of the recommended daily intake.
Try swapping it for berries, such as raspberries or blackberries, which contain significantly less sugar. A good rule of thumb is to remember that higher temperatures generate sugar production.
So exotic fruit which requires warmer climates to grow (mangoes, kiwi fruit, bananas, lychee, for example) will contain more sugar.
*Collaborative post*
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