25 awesome tips for how to lose weight with no exercise
Learn 25 awesome tips for how to lose weight with no exercise! Lots of diet methods fail. Learn much more practical and effective ways to lose weight fast and easier without exercise.
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25 awesome tips for how to lose weight with no exercise
Before showing you awesome tips for how to lose weight with no exercise, let’s cover the basics of weight loss. The concept of weight loss is quite simple. To lose weight, you need to take less (decrease) calorie intake than you burn each day.
It’s not necessary to eat “less” – you can eat lots of vegetables and fruits and get full without adding many calories. “Eat less” applies more to obvious unhealthy foods like junk foods, trans fats, sugar, salt, etc. But remember, eating less than what your body needs will lead to weight gain (or a stagnated weight) as well.
With exercise, you can accelerate the process to lose weight since you can burn calories more than staying still. That’ll be another big topic to discuss, so I’ll talk more about the ways of decreasing calories – how to lose weight with no exercise here.
Weight loss should be more than a temporary fix “diet”
“Diet” simply means what you eat on a regular basis. However, we tend to use the term “diet” for weight loss. Many diets fail because you can’t manage to continue them.
How to lose weight is more like changing eating habits and a lifestyle, not a temporary magical fix. It must be executable, long-lasting, and realistic. I want you to embrace good and healthy foods that burn calories effectively while on the weight loss journey.
Many of the tips I’ll show you are relatively simple and easy to follow so that you can succeed in maintaining optimal weight control without diet pills and gimmicky diet methods. Everyone has different lifestyles and body size, but these apply to all who want to lose weight.
Of course, you must be disciplined to avoid unhealthy foods (many people fail here – you can’t lose weight without this). Though I cannot emphasize enough that diet and exercise must go together, you can do so many things to lose weight with no exercise.
Have a big picture. Managing weights and health would cost you a lot less in the long run – less medical expenses, fewer costs for health insurance, more energy for your life, etc. Being healthy is priceless. I want to help you to achieve that.
25 awesome tips for how to lose weight fast with no exercise
1. Focus on body fat percentage, not weights
Focusing on weights is just a bad idea. I don’t know why people don’t teach that. If you work out and gain muscles, you might gain weight but can wear clothes in smaller sizes than people with the same weights without muscles.
Because muscle mass weighs 3 times more than fat. It’s very possible to look amazing and get smaller with a bit more weight.
I work out a lot and gained 10 lbs for muscles (I weigh 110 lbs in total for 5’4), but my clothing size is 0 or 00 and too lose thanks to my sexy toned body ;p
Don’t be fooled by gimmicky marketing tactics like “losing 20lbs”. Let’s be real. If you had 300 lbs, losing 20 lbs is so much easier than a person who has only 110 lbs. Losing 20 lbs simply isn’t the same. People who lost 20 lbs could be still bigger than healthy weights. So focus only on yourself. Comparisons with others don’t work well mostly.
So what should you care about? Focus on “body fat %”, not weight. To measure body fat you can use:
- Tape measure
Taking measurements and plugging numbers into an online calculator is relatively easy, but this method isn’t necessarily the most accurate. - Caliper
Using a caliper to pinch 3 different areas of your body. Ask your trainer at your gym! - Body fat scale
These scales may not be as accurate as you’d like, but many of the scales start having more accurate reading functions and apps on the phone. Read your manual carefully, as some scales may be less accurate for older people, athletes, children, and people with osteoporosis. Scale results may also vary compared to other measurement methods because there are many variables could affect results:- Hydration level
- When and what you last ate
- When you last exercised
- When to measure
- Hydrostatic weight
Highly accurate method where you sit undressed in a chair that’s submerged in water. - Air displacement plethysmography
- MRI or CT scans
Body fat percentage range
The general guidelines for body fat percentage by sex and age. Falling within these ranges is considered “ideal.” You try to shoot the % to stay healthy.
| Age | 20–29 | 30–39 | 40–49 | 50–59 | 60+ |
| Male | 7–17% | 12–21% | 14–23% | 16–24% | 17–25% |
| Female | 16–24% | 17–25% | 19–28% | 22–31% | 22–33% |
2. Drink lots of water
Drinking water offers you so many health benefits including weight loss and eating less. Drink water 64 ounces a day.
- Drink 8 oz of warm water and lemon as soon as you wake up and right before you go to bed. This allows the food to break down easier and you’ll use the bathroom to flush out the toxins. Keep in mind that lemon water may also weaken tooth enamel so moderation may be key here.
- Drinking water 30 min before a meal.
3. Minimize water retention
Weight gain is often caused by water weight. If you’re dehydrated, your body will hold onto extra water until you’re properly re-hydrated again. This is one reason why the scale is a poor measure of body mass loss. Minimizing any extra water weight may help you look a bit thinner.
- Drink lots of water
- Drink coffee or tea (without sugar, creamer, syrups)
- Take dandelion extract supplement
- Avoid salty and starchy foods
- Get enough potassium
- Know which foods you may be intolerant to
- Avoid alcohol
4. Don’t drink calories
Avoid all the sugary drinks (soda, soft drinks, juice) since they contain lots of added sugar. It’s one of the easiest and fastest ways to lose weight quickly. It’s very easy to consume excess calories from sugary drinks because liquid calories don’t affect fullness the way solid food does.
By the way, diet/non-calorie drinks aren’t a good alternative overall. They still have calories without good nutrition values and give you sugar cravings. It’s best to cut all the sugary drinks if you want to lose weight. Drink water, coffee, and tea (without sugar, syrups, and creamers) instead.
Avoid alcohol. Alcohol contains 7 calories per gram: more than carbs and protein (4 calories per gram) without filling you up or offering nutrients.
And drinking booze tends to promote eating “drunk” food – junk foods that you don’t eat while you’re sober. If you knew you would want to eat something after drinking, cut the calorie intake earlier for the drunk food.
If you can’t cut the booze, decrease the amount first – ex. From 3 to 1, which helps. Remember, cutting sugary drinks and alcohol is the fastest and easiest way to cut your calorie intake.
5. Track your diet
Tracking what you eat tends to be more successful in weight loss because it raises awareness about your intake. Count the calories and log them in a food journal. Or you can use an app to monitor your intake.
6. Start small – small food swaps
Instead of starting a new diet completely, you can start small changes into existing eating habits. Switch French fries with baked sweet potato. Switch soda with carbonated water with lemon.
Focus on manageable changes to start with and gradually incorporate with the new diet you want to start – vegetarian, vegan, low carb/high fat/high protein diet like Keto diet, etc. Weight loss shouldn’t be a temporary thing. It should be a lifelong commitment to your healthy living.
7. Have a cheat day sometimes
Depriving food is never good – unless the food was processed/junk foods that aren’t beneficial for your health.
To minimize the failure rate of your diet, you could have one cheating day sometimes. That way, you could have something you can’t give up totally – sometimes. Eat what you like on a cheating day (in moderation, of course).
Drastically spiking caloric intake once a week increases fat loss, but don’t overdo it.
8. Eat 5 times a day
To keep you full throughout the day, make 3 smaller meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and 2 healthy snacks in between – total of 5 meals a day.
Your 3 meals must be smaller than usual since you have 2 snacks: You eat more often, not more per day. When we eat, the thermic effect of food (TEF) raises. A high TEF raises your metabolism, reduces feelings of hunger.
Your snacks should be fruits, nuts, or yogurt – something healthy and healthy portion size. Portion them already so that you won’t overeat and can grab and go.
If you could cut the snack part, your body will burn off excess fat and stored energy in between those meals. But the point here is to eat more often throughout the day.
You gain weight more if you eat less often: Sumo wrestlers eat only twice a day with a bigger portion of every meal to gain weight on purpose.
Till you could get a hang of fewer meals, you should eat smaller portions of meals often throughout the day to fight your hunger. And stop eating anything after dinner/7 pm at night. If you feel hungry, drink water a lot, not food.
9. Portion control
Portion sizes have increased during the last few decades, especially at restaurants. Bigger portions encourage people to eat more leading to an epic of obesity. Portion control is extremely important to eat fewer calories = lose weight. Though it varies depending on your lifestyle, height, age, and sex, an adult should eat (per meal):
- 3 oz (90g) of protein
- 1/2 cup (87.5g) of starch
- 1 cup (175g) of vegetables
Use visual cues:
- 1 serving of chicken = a deck of cards
- 1 serving of pasta = 1 hockey pack size
- 1 serving of vegetables = 1 bell pepper = 1 cup
- 1 serving of fruits = 1 apple
Try to shoot 2000 calories per day. It’s important to pick the right food – here is some food that helps to burn calories more. If you could cut that, you’ll lose more weight. If you add exercise, you’ll lose more.
- Using a smaller plate may help you eat less by making portions look larger.
- Serving healthy food on a bigger plate and less healthy food on a smaller plate.
- Using a red plate would cut the appetite, so you could use it to lose weight better.
10. Don’t skip meals
You must eat to avoid your body shutting down and retaining weight. Eating at regular intervals during the day optimizes your blood sugar level. If you don’t eat, it leads to food cravings, hunger pains, and drowsiness – all of which can lead to snacking on bad foods.
11. Out of sight, out of mind
If you don’t have the food to munch, you don’t need to fight the temptation to eat more. Storing unhealthy foods where you can see them may increase hunger and cravings. Hide or don’t even have any temptation. Eliminate the temptation!
12. Eat slow
It takes time for the brain to process that you get full. Some studies show that faster eaters gain weight more than slower eaters.
What can you do to slow you down? Eat slow and chew a lot. It decreases food intake and increases fullness. Count how many times you chew each bite. The more you chew, the more you can slow down your eating.
13. Cooking at home
You know exactly what you eat. Packaged foods contain lots of sugars, fats, salt, additives, and preservatives. You can control your intake a lot better.
14. Cut down sugar
It’s obvious and one of the fastest ways to lose weight is to cut sugar – processed food, soda, coffee, or dessert. They add way too many calories.
15. Avoid junk/processed foods
Junk foods and processed foods contain tons of empty calories (without essential nutrients) – lots of sugar, sodium, trans fats, food additives, preservatives, you name it. Nothing good about your health.
The easiest way to avoid processed goods is to skip fast food, restaurants, and ready-to-eat meals and cook at home. Eating whole foods can make you feel full for longer with nutrients.
16. No distraction while eating
Focus on eating without a TV and computer. People who eat while they’re watching TV or the computer may lose track of how much they have eaten and overeat.
17. Sleep well and avoid stress
It’s very important to have enough sleep and to reduce/eliminate stress since they make a significant impact on your appetite and weight.
A lack of sleep and a higher stress level may disrupt the appetite-regulating hormones and can increase your hunger. Getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night can increase a person’s risk of being overweight. If you sleep enough, your body can rest well and function better. It allows your muscles to build and restore and your body to burn more calories for the workout.
Stress can trigger emotional eating, which is when you eat unhealthful foods trying to improve a negative mood. Try to reduce stress by :
- Breathe
- Reducing caffeine
- Doing exercise
- Meditation
- Yoga
18. Try intermittent fasting
Intermittent fasting can help teach the body to use its stored fat for energy. There are several ways for intermittent fasting. A simple one you can do is to stop eating at 7 pm and fasting until noon the next day. This gives the body 16 hours to process everything in the digestive system and rely on the stored fat for energy, not the glucose (sugar). You do it several times a week, which leads you to eat less and balance your insulin (fat storing hormone) level.
19. Walk
This is one of the easiest things you can do. Instead of driving and/or using the elevator, walk more. I had to walk non stop at work for 2 weeks, I lost 12 lbs! (I was like 120 lbs, to begin with, yet lost 12 lbs just by walking). Cardio helps burn calories and build endurance.
20. Turn down the thermostat
The cold weather/air helps the human body regulate a healthy weight. Chilly air might increase the metabolism to regulate your body temperature.
21. Get lean protein
Protein can increase feelings of fullness, reduce hunger, help you eat fewer calories, and expend more energy digesting protein versus carbs and fat (because protein is harder for the body to break it down into a form your body can use for energy).
But it often comes with calories. So Eat only lean proteins, like chicken breasts, fish, low-fat dairy (Greek yogurt, cheese, and cottage cheese), lentils, quinoa, and almonds.
Stick to grilled and boiled meat, instead of fried. Switch a grain-based breakfast to a protein-rich meal, such as eggs. Protein has 4 calories per gram.
22. Get more fibers
Fiber, like protein and fat, slows digestion, optimizes fullness and nutrient intake, and maintains a steady blood sugar level. Fiber has calories between 1.5 to 2.5 per gram. A type of fiber, viscous fiber, is especially helpful for weight loss and found only in plant foods – brussels sprouts, asparagus, oranges, beans, oat cereals, and flax seeds.
23. Choose whole foods
Eat only whole foods: vegetables, fruits, meat, seafood, poultry. Not only do they offer good nutrients but also contain protein, healthy fats, and fibers that help your weight loss.
24. Focus on plants
Vegetarians and vegans, rich in whole grains, fruits, produce, nuts, and legumes, tend to lose more weight than people on other plans like the Atkins diet.
Fruits and vegetables fill us up more quickly without the calories. If you want to lose weight fast without exercise, you should focus more on a plant-based diet.
25. Cut condiments and sauces
It contains lots of sugar, salt, and food additives. Use fresh herbs and spices for flavoring.
Go on a low-carb diet
Changing eating habits is one of the most effective ways on how to lose weight without exercise. Go on a low-carb diet like Keto diet is one of the fastest ways for weight loss.
Your body converts unused carbs into stored fat. Cutting carbs (bread, rice, cereal, potatoes, pasta, and fried food with breading) minimizes the amount of stored fat. Carbs have 4 calories per gram.
To start a low carb diet, replace carbs with lean proteins and vegetables (green leafy vegetables). The list of low carb foods is here.
Opt for low-glycemic carbs
Glycemic index (GI) refers to how quickly sugar from food enters the bloodstream and how slowly the food is digested. Foods that rank 70+ slow your metabolism and increase weight gain. Foods that rank under 55 have metabolism run consistently.
| Foods with less than 55 | green vegetables, most fruits, raw carrots, chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils, bran breakfast cereals |
| Foods that rank 70+ | potatoes, white bread, short-grain rice |
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Conclusion: These tips on how to lose weight without exercise will get you solid results if you follow. This with exercise will acceralate the speed. Be more mindful on intake - eat more vegetables and fruits and cut all the unhealthy foods. You can still eat good food while on your diet!
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