Lazy Girl Hacks to Lose Weight
1. Put your feet up and relax
You’re probably thinking, “Wait.. what? I expected this hack to be lazy but.. not THAT lazy!” Well, I have good news girl – it is exactly that lazy. It can be done all in the comfort of your house and yes, you can even do it in your pajamas.
How Does It Help Me Slim Down?
By standing and sitting for most of the day, toxins build up in our bodies and remain in our legs without being drained properly. Raising your feet above your heart allows the toxins to drain and improves your digestion by relieving compression in your abdomen. The end result? With these toxins drained and your food properly digested, your legs and stomach will be slimmer and more well-defined.
Caution: It’s recommended that you avoid this pose if you have glaucoma or serious neck or back problems.
How do I do it?
1: Lie down on your bed, carpet, or floor near a wall or door and get comfortable.
2: Place a cushion or folded blanket under your lower back for support and raise your feet up so that they lean against a wall or door.
3: Close your eyes to relax, take a few deep conscious breaths then enjoy using your phone, tablet, Nintendo Switch, etc. for at least 15 minutes.*
4: Repeat this once a day.
*I strongly recommend that you spend at least the first few minutes taking deep breaths with your eyes closed to relax your body and mind as that will help with toxin drainage. You can put on a timer and slowly increase the number of minutes you spend taking deep breaths before switching to using a device or reading a book.
2. Swap it!
Let’s face it; completely giving up pancakes, brownies, chocolate and all those wonderful goodies just isn’t in the cards for most of us. What’s a girl to do then?
If you can’t stop eating it, then swap it.
When I say swap it, I’m not talking about swapping a hamburger for a salad… I’m talking about swapping delicious sugar-filled pancakes for delicious sweet pancakes. Wait.. aren’t they the same thing? Well, they taste practically the same, but they just have slight variations in ingredients!
We all know sugar is the evil of all evils but most of us can never give up that wonderfully sweet taste. That’s where all of these great alternatives come in to save us from our misery! Below I’ve listed some of my most absolute favorites! I spent hours searching for direct links to them so that you don’t have to waste time tracking them down~
Monk Fruit Sugar
This sugar has ZERO calories but is great for your health! A lot of people don’t even know about it (which really saddens me), and I was only lucky enough to stumble upon it myself a few years ago. It tastes practically the same as sugar to me and has no weird after-taste. You can use this sugar as a replacement for any other sugar or syrup. I use it for my hot chocolates, cookies that I bake, and anything I want to sweeten.
You can find the granule version here and the syrup one here.
Those living in or near the U.S can grab a more sweetened version here. You only need a quarter of the amount needed for plain sugar so it should last you quite some time.
Low-everything Gluten-Free Pancake Mix:
This is my go-to pancake mix! It has only 4 grams of sugar per serving. Say hello to guilt-free pancakes! You can pick up your pack here.
Keto Granola Mix
I eat this every day without fail! It has just 1 gram of sugar and 2 grams of net carbs per serving. There are three flavors but my favorite is the ‘Peanut Butter Cluster’ because it’s so chunky and filling! I love to top it with frozen berries, almonds, and many other delicious toppings! You can pick up your first pack here.
3. Tell yourself “I’ll just do one more thing.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m a bit of a food addict. I know that we’re supposed to eat to fuel our bodies, but food has a special place in my heart. when I eat, I feel like I can finally relax and treat myself for working so hard. I could never stick to any one ‘diet’ because of this. Rather than restricting myself, I have simply taken on a new way of eating. It’s to tell myself “I’ll just do one more thing before eating.”
Imagine: You just woke up. You were taught to have breakfast to ‘fuel your body’ even though you just loaded up on food last night before sleeping… What people don’t tell you, is that your body is actually able to turn your own fat stores into energy from not only last night but all the nights before that. It sounds crazy, but it’s true. Simply put, this fat-burning process is called ketosis, which is probably a term you’ve heard before because of the ketogenic (“keto”) diet. Keto is an ideal diet, but as a food-lover, I still find it so difficult to completely go off foods like Japanese dumplings, sushi, pizza, and pasta, particularly because keto-friendly alternatives aren’t readily available here in Japan. So what’s a girl to do?
To combat worries about feeling hungry, you can focus intently on one activity before eating your first meal, and repeat this until you’ve reached your eating window start time. The official term for this is “Intermittent fasting (IF)” – a term you may already know about, which is where you set an eating window for yourself every day (e.g only eating between 12 P.M and 8 P.M every day).
Now, that can be great, but when hunger hits we all tend to freak out. That’s why it’s important to grab yourself a hot black cup of coffee or tea that has no milk or sugar and add a tablespoon of some MCT oil, butter, or coconut oil to suppress the hunger. Sip on it while completing just one more thing before your first meal. When you’re just starting out, I suggest you:
- Have some zero calorie monk fruit sugar (see above) in your black coffee or tea in the first week if it feels like that sweet taste is a must, but aim to leave it out after you’re used to the taste of the oil.
- Just use one teaspoon of oil in your black coffee or tea to allow yourself to get used to the taste.
- Start this on a day off as you can sleep in and let sleep do most of the work for you.
- Push your first meal for the day to a time that’s just 30 minutes to one hour later than usual. Each day after that, aim to push that start time back by another 30 minutes.
Example: If your usual breakfast time is 7 A.M, sleep in past your usual waking time if you can. When you wake up, do everything else other than preparing breakfast to get ready for your day (have a shower, put on your make up, prepare the things you’ll want to use that day, do one or two key tasks or fun activities etc.). After this, make your breakfast and enjoy your first rewarding meal for the day! - If you are doing this on a work day, leave home 30 minutes earlier than usual so that you can arrive early and eat your breakfast in the car or at work. You’ll gain extra fasting time with your commuting time. Remember that this will only be temporary, as eventually you will be eating your first meal in the comfort of your lunch break.
While doing this routine, you’ll find that your hunger diminishes because your body will be fueled by the healthy fats in your coffee or tea. Suddenly you’ll probably find that you’ve even passed the starting time of your eating window! The key is not to think ahead, and simply focus on the activity you are doing at that moment. When you eat your first meal, you’ll find that it tastes better than it ever has before!
How Does It Help Me Slim Down?
- You’ll naturally be eating less than usual as you won’t have enough time in the day to eat, so you’ll naturally lose weight, and very quickly at that!
- What’s great about this style of eating is that you don’t need to increase the amount of exercise you do. In fact, I actually decreased my body fat percentage by quitting the gym and simply intermittent fasting. Yes, you read right. I lost MORE fat than when I was working out four times a week at the gym. How? I wasn’t using as much energy as when I was at the gym so I didn’t feel hungry enough to need to load up on food or snacks as often!
- Instead of exhausting yourself at the gym, simply go for a nice relaxing walk for 10 minutes before and after your meals to lose weight and keep it off. You can listen to a YouTube video, audiobook, or some music through apps such as Spotify. By doing this, you’ll prime your body so that it can digest food efficiently and increase how much fat you burn in the day without barely breaking a sweat!
1st Photo by Katarzyna Grabowska on Unsplash
2nd Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash
3rd Photo by Sam Moqadam on Unsplash
