5 Unconventional Weight Loss Tips For Everyday Living
Losing weight is not all about diet and exercise; there are other things that you can do to sneak a pound or two off your body without taxing yourself too much. Here are a few unconventional tips to help you lose weight:
- Spend at least two to three hours a day around a toddler or two and you’ll be surprised at how rapidly you lose those extra pounds. Active one or two year olds help keep you on your toes and sometimes run you ragged as you try to match their energy levels and keep up with their antics. Play an outdoors game of catch or ball with them, anything that works up a sweat in you and keeps both you and the kids feeling good. Besides helping you lose weight, you’ll find that this activity gives you an emotional boost and improves your feel-good level. Children, with their innocence and immense joy for even the most ordinary things in life, can have an enormously uplifting effect on your morale and general well-being.
- Stop munching on the snacks and stick to water instead of carbonated sodas or alcoholic beverages each time you interact socially with friends or workmates. If you’re someone who goes out on a regular basis, you’ll be surprised to know that this habit of snacking is a sneaky multiplier of the pounds you’re already carrying. We tend to unconsciously eat more when we’re engrossed in conversation or the pleasure of good company. Save your appetite for the dinner that usually follows, and limit your portions to stay slim and svelte. Fill up on water so you don’t go overboard at the dinner table to make up for the lack of snacking. It will be difficult at first, but once you resist the temptation to reach for that plate of starters once or twice, you’ll find that it’s easier as time goes by.
- Watch television from anywhere but your couch, well, for most of the time at least. Instead of spending all your time on the sofa slouched in front of the idiot box, multi-task as you watch your favorite program. Get your ironing and folding done, vacuum the floor or just straighten out the room. The key to losing or not putting on weight is to keep walking instead of being sedentary for long. If your job involves sitting at your desk for long periods of time, get up to talk to colleagues instead of calling them over the phone or emailing them.
- It’s ok to be hungry and not eat. We’re not children who need to be fed every time we’re hungry. Distracting yourself with work or any other activity makes it easy to ignore the hunger till it’s time for a meal. If the pangs get unbearable, satiate them with fruits and raw salad vegetables that fill your stomach without adding calories.
- Never say never to any food while dieting – this only leads to intense cravings followed by pig-outs where you give in to temptation and go the whole hog. Sometimes, this breach of will power is the end of the diet road for some people. Instead, allow yourself to eat a sliver of cake rather than a slice, half a cookie instead of one, and a sip of cola instead of the whole cup. Your craving is satisfied without adding too many calories to your diet.
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