Looking at the wellness industry right now, you might start to believe that the only way to actually lose weight and keep it off is to put a bike in your living room or go to boutique fitness studios every day. Or maybe do a juice fast?
Even if you’re not up for anything that extreme, there are lots of simple things you can do that cost almost no money to help you lose weight in a simple, sustainable way. Here are three of my favorites.
Drink more water
Hunger and thirst can send the same signals to your body, so staying well-hydrated cuts down on cravings.
I know you probably heard this one before. We all know that we should be drinking water, that water hydrates us and that it's better for us and sugary sodas, coffee beverages, or even bottled teas and juices with lots of sugar. But you may not know just how much water you should be drinking. In general, you should be aiming to drink about half of your body weight in ounces of water each day. so if you are about a hundred and eighty pounds, like me you would be looking to drink at least 90 oz of water each day. Then, you’ll want to take into consideration how much you're exercising how hot it is and how dry it is in your climate. in the summer in Florida, I will drink way more water than 90 ounces each day just to stay hydrated. To make sure that you are drinking the right amount of water it's easy to grab a refillable water bottle that holds a certain number of ounces. I use a 32 oz container for my water each day. I know that if I empty that water bottle three times I have more than that my water goals for the day.
Move every 20 minutes
Many of us spend our days behind a desk or otherwise sitting down. Whether you are a student or a professional, or even if you are just job searching. I mean, I'm a health coach and I still spend most of my day sitting in front of a computer. Our bodies are built for movement much more than they are for sitting, and yet we spend most of our time sitting and almost none of our time moving around. Even if you are just standing up and doing a few stretches every 20 minutes or so while you're still working this is huge for your body.
Here are a few things that you can try. You can do it simple stretches or yoga at your desk. You can stand up and walk to the bathroom. You get bonus points if you walk to the farthest away bathroom instead of the closest one. You can even take a short walk to say hi to a co-worker or friends. It doesn't have to be big or fancy. Just getting your body up out of your chair for a few minutes is enough.
And this doesn't end when your workday ends! Once you’re home, instead of parking on the couch for the whole night set an alarm to go off every 20 to 30 minutes to remind you to get up and move around. Now that we are watching all our shows on Netflix, we don't always have the luxury of commercials to remind us when it's time to get up and take a break, so using a timer can really help.
Eat your vegetables
It is really hard to fit vegetables into our day. If you look at what sold at the convenience stores, gas stations, fast-food restaurants and even within the prepared food section of your grocery store, it’s either carbs or meats or some combination of the two. It can be a challenge to fit the right amount of vegetables into your day.
Generally, we should be eating more vegetables than almost anything else in our diet. Leafy greens, squash, tomatoes, onions, broccoli... all of the vegetables. All of them! Instead, even if you order a salad from a restaurant, that salad is normally some vegetables plus meat and cheese and croutons and a dressing that's probably not that great for you. Eating raw veggies is kind of gross sometimes too, and not that appetizing to most of us. But if you increase your intake of vegetables, that's going to do a ton for helping you manage your weight or lose weight and it’s going to increase your energy. So for an easy way to get more vegetables into your day, there are two things you can do one is make sure that you're a lunch has a lot of veggies or your dinner if you eat lunch out.
Have at least one meal a day that is fully loaded with delicious vegetables. This can be a salad, a vegetarian dish, or maybe it's a veggie soup or stew. I'm a fan of warm vegetables versus raw, but you do what works best for you. Make sure that at least one meal a day is all loaded up with good veggies and this will help manage your appetite and your energy levels throughout the day by making sure your body is getting the nutrients you need. You can follow me on Instagram for more recipes that have tons of good veggies coming up soon!