Get Summer Ready: Weight Loss Ideas for Women That Really Work

Being overweight is not cool. Thinking constantly about losing weight also is not cool. It’s scary. It can be downright discouraging to make no progress in spite of all your efforts.

Bad news? Thinking does not help.

Good news? You can lose weight.

In this article, I am going to share creative weight loss ideas for women. By implementing these women health tips you can lose weight and arrive at a beautiful body shape in no time. Shall we dive in?

1. Eat Fat, Avoid Carbs

Do you believe fat makes you fat? Then don’t be startled when I tell you, fats don’t make you fat, carbohydrates do. Exactly! “The simple answer as to why we get fat is that carbohydrates make us so; protein and fat do not.” says fitness author Gary Taub in his book, Why We Get Fat.

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How? When you eat carbs, insulin is secreted. Insulin stores fatty acids and makes you hungry. So you eat more carbs, more carbs mean more insulin being secreted; that stores fat and fat cells get fatter. And you end up becoming fat.

Want to lose weight, get in shape and not get overweight again? Stop blaming fats, blame carbohydrate-rich foods and minimize their intake.

2. Take Brisk Walks

If workouts scare you, walks may help. Walks are very rewarding; a simple 20-minute brisk walk can reduce risks of early death. Walking also improves your mood. Scientists at University of Pittsburgh observed that overweight people who walked briskly for 30 to 60 minutes per day lost weight without making any other lifestyle changes.

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For many people working out is time-consuming, which they can’t afford. Fortunately similar benefits as a workout can be obtained through walking. Few changes like walking faster and practicing a good posture can actually be all that you need. Plus, since walking improves one’s mood, it’s likely to stick easily and become a habit without hassle.

Want an affordable and time-saving way to lose weight? Walk for 20-minutes every day.

3. Be Active When Not Working Out

Fitness is not about performing an hour long workout, then spending the rest of your day being sedentary. It is about being active; walking stairs while skipping elevator, avoiding sitting. Simple tasks like these will make you active:

1. Taking stairs, skipping elevator
2. Parking in the back of the lot
3. Doing “walking meetings”
4. Standing as much as possible
5. Getting off the bus before your stop comes

Making simple changes can help you to lead an active life.

4. Build “Mini Habits”

If you want to walk for 30 minutes a day, walk only 5 minutes. Why? Because you’re more likely to turn it into a 30 minute-habit as you go. Contracting your normal habit to something as small as “stupid small” is called a “mini habit”. Likewise if you want to read 10 pages per day, start with 1 page a day. Requirement should be 1 page, scale up as you go naturally. Don’t force scaling.

Mini habits have high tendency to stick around for long. Certain habits like working out thrice per week can be built through this system. Want to build sustainable healthy habits? Build on mini habits.

5. Minimize Junk Food, Slowly

Cookies, finger chips and ice cream are everyone’s favorite of course. These are junk food that can make us happy for a short-term. But for the long-term it is harmful. You already know this, don’t you? Question is not whether junk food is dangerous, but how do you go about getting rid of it? Maybe you cannot just stop at the sight of ice-creams after all.

Good news? You can get rid of it or at least minimize the intake. Here’s how:

1. Pick any one type of food. Reduce its intake by 50%
2. Next week, minimize the intake of another junk food
3. Keep it at a margin and don’t go beyond eliminating 1 food per week

Junk food persists because it provides instant gratification unlike healthy foods which delay gratification.

6. Lots of Water

Overeating can be addictive. Often it’s with junk foods that actually double the harm. French fries? We gulp them down as much as our stomach can hold. It’s very addictive and stopping it seems like a distant dream. So how do you go about it? How do you stop yourself without overeating?

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Here’s the answer: Before going about your favorite meal, drink a glass of water.

It will keep you from consuming too much calories. Not to mention drinking water increases the rate of burning calories by 30%, according to a study conducted at Berlin’s Franz-Volhard Clinical Research Center.

So, drink at least 8 glasses of water to improve your weight loss ability.

7. Combine TV + Activity

Love TV? Why not combine it with dance?

Watching your favorite dance show? Try dancing to the tunes. During commercials, perform jumping jacks, get on a treadmill or do a few pushups. It doesn’t matter as long as you stay active even while watching TV.

Bonus is, you will actually enjoy being active in this combination.

Conclusion

To end the post, I’ll summarize for skimmers:

1. Carbs make you fat
2. Take a 20 minute walk daily
3. Stay active even after workout bouts
4. Mini habits are the easiest way to build habits
5. Minimize junk food slowly
6. Drink 8 glasses of water a day
7. Don’t just watch TV; make the TV watch you too!

Got your creative juices flowing? How about sharing your weight loss ideas with the community? I’d also love to know how you lost weight (if that best suits your case)

Author Bio: This article was written by Lubna Ali Khan. She blogs at BeautifulYou.com.pk which is a premiere health, beauty and fashion informational portal of Pakistan