5 Simple Health Hacks to Help You Lose Weight

It’s complicated and time consuming enough to have to meal prep healthy food, fit in your workouts and make time to stay on track with your healthy habits like drinking lemon water and sweating regularly. 

So when we can make it easier in other regards and adopt a few hacks to aid in weight loss, we certainly aren’t going to shy away from it. 

Here are 5 simple hacks to aid in your weight loss journey that won’t take a lot of extra time and effort!

1. Eat off of smaller plates

It seems like a simple swap, but it will make a big difference in the amount of food you eat. 

And as much as you say you won’t fill your big plate completely full, it will happen inevitably, because our natural inclination is to make it full and ensure we are getting enough!

But when you switch to smaller plates, you will fill it up and likely not finish your meal feeling hungrier, but finish your meal feeling satisfied and fuelled. 

And best of all, you won’t ever feel like you’ve overeaten and but too much on your plate and claim that “your eyes were bigger than your stomach!”

2. Swap your full cream milk to almond milk in your coffee

Or at the very least, swap full cream milk for skinny milk, and eliminate the sugar. 

Non-dairy milks have the added bonus of offering extra protein and healthy fats, while full fat dairy milk can be an allergen-causing ingredient, which is often responsible for, skin breakouts, arthritis flare-ups and poor digestion. 

Add to that the sugar that you are consuming with the beverage and you are setting yourself up for lots of extra calories and lots of potential for health consequences. 

Gradually make the change with your milk and you’ll never miss the old stuff!

3. Brush your teeth right after dinner

Nobody likes the taste of food in their mouth immediately after having brushed your teeth – it’s sour, tastes bad and leaves an even worse taste in your mouth. 

But it’s a great way to make sure you don’t eat again for a while! 

If you tend to get the munchies right after dinner and just want dessert, and then something sweet and then an after dinner treat and a midnight snack, it’s a great option to break that craving cycle and make sure you don’t eat again right away!

4. Swap your treadmill for the trails

While running of any form is great, and is an effective method of losing weight, simply repeating the same workout on the treadmill every day, at the same incline and for the same amount of time, is not going to get you to your goal any time fast. 

Your body is good at figuring out what you are doing and how hard you are working, or need to be working, and as such, after doing that treadmill workout for long enough, you’ll start burning fewer calories and see reduced results. 

Fix this by heading outside and hitting the trails for your run instead. 

Trails are essentially hidden interval workouts, with hills, obstacles, jumping, sprints etc. all in one. 

You never know what you’re going to run into (literally), or what you may have to run from, and the variation keeps you body guessing, making it work harder and burn more calories!

5. Choose a friendlier beverage 

Whether your alcohol of choice is wine, beer, champagne or spirits, we all know that they aren’t necessarily friendly on the waistline, and neither are pops and sodas or fruit juices. 

If you are looking for something other than water, try kombucha or kefir or enjoy sparkling water with lemon and lime. 

Get your water intake plus a healthy beverage alternative by infusing water with fruit and fresh herbs, like strawberry, lime and mint or orange, ginger and lemon. 

These delicious beverages are a great way to make sure you stay hydrated without drinking empty calories. 

By: Laura Peill – (Check out her blog Viand Nutrition & Facebook)