Losing weight doesn’t have to cost you a monthly fee or expensive gym equipment. You can lose weight for free with just a few small, simple lifestyle changes. The only foolproof healthy ways to lose weight are through proper diet and exercise. Diet pills and other diet fads should be avoided for safety reasons unless otherwise prescribed to you by your doctor.
Eat less
It sounds easy enough, but the truth is that many Americans are eating far more than they need to. Portion sizes have ballooned since the 1980s when fast-food restaurants started to become popular. By choosing to eat a smaller meal instead the super-sized one, you can save hundreds of calories per day. A trick that can help you eat less is to start eating your meals on an 8 inch dinner plate instead of a 12 inch plate, because although your brain still sees a full plate of food, in actuality there are far fewer calories on your plate than before. Simply by cutting back 500 calories per day, you can cut out 3,500 calories per week, or the equivalent of 1 lb. of body weight.
Walk It Off
Walking is a powerful weight loss tool that can be used by people of all fitness levels. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, recommends that adults get at least 30 minutes of daily exercise, such as walking, to maintain good health. Better yet, walk briskly—3 to 4 mph—for 45 to 60 minutes at least five days a week for increased weight loss. Each exercise session can burn as much as 300 or more calories. In addition to the 1,500 or more calories burned each week, walking will help boost your energy levels and increase your heart health.
Resistance Training
Lifting weights or doing simple resistance exercises—push-ups, crunches, squats and floor back extensions—can help to speed up your weight loss drastically. By increasing your muscle tone, your body becomes much more efficient at burning calories. The more calories you burn, the more weight you can drop—assuming that you’re eating a healthy diet at the same time. When using resistance training for weight loss purposes, do three to four sets of each exercise and do a high number of repetitions.
Cut Out the Sugary Foods/Drinks
Eliminating sugary foods and drinks from your diet can drastically reduce the number of calories you consume each day. For instance, a bottle of regular soda can contain 250 or more calories. Not only are these types of drinks high in calories, but these are empty calories, meaning that they have little or no nutritional value. Replace sugary foods with healthy foods containing natural sugar, such as fruits, or with low-sugar, low-calorie alternatives. Ditch the sugary drinks, and replace them with water or diet alternatives containing little or no calories. The CDC has found that it is not uncommon for the average American to consume as much as 800 or more calories per day through drinks alone. Simply by cutting out these calories, you can save the equivalent of approximately 1.6 lbs. of body fat per week.
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