Weight loss journeys are difficult as is. For those with so called “lazy” lifestyles and habits, it can be extra hard, because that motivation can only get you so far before you’re slipping back into old, comfortable ways. By creating a lifestyle that suits your personality and habits, you’ll be able to find success.
Hacks for the lazy are not necessarily lazy ways at weight loss. There’s just ways to meet you where you’re at while helping you get around those bad habits, and keep you on track with tangible tools and ideas to aid you along the way. When it comes to weight loss, society is all about extremes. Detoxes, diet plans, pills, drinks, workout routines…but it doesn’t have to be like that! There are simple tweaks a person can make to get into a slimmer body and healthier life!
Sleep in Your Workout Clothes
Committed to working out first thing in the morning? This often comes as a struggle when you wake up and the thought of putting on a sports bra and yoga pants is giving you a headache. So, be ahead of yourself. No one’s here to judge you for doing it. Plus, yoga pants make dang comfortable pajamas.
Before bed switch into your workout clothes, and if you’re an at-home workout kinda person, maybe even have your workout gear ready to go. This will eliminate any additional excuses, and to avoid working out, you’ll have to go through the task of removing your workout clothes and putting away exercise equipment making the workout seem like a better idea than your own laziness.
Sweatflix
Need to get yourself motivated to workout? Start watching an addictive tv show that you’re dying to get to the next episode of. Then, make sure that you can only watch the show while exercising.
This is a great way to hop on the treadmill and zone out for a while. A distracted mind can do amazing things. Just ask a woman who’s been through labor! Having something to focus on can take your mind off what feels impossible for your body. It can also keep you with steady breathing, and a more relaxed state when you’re finished. Netflix and chill….err…..workout?
Snack Prep
Snacking is one of the biggest pitfalls of a weight loss diet. What happens is you get hungry, and while unprepared, you just start grabbing without measuring and counting out what you’re eating. Before you know it, half your daily intake calories have gone to the 5 handfuls of chips you never meant to eat.
One way around this is to portion control your snacks as soon as you buy them. If you buy that big bag of popcorn, portion it off into individual bags or containers and you’ll have them ready to grab when you need, without giving any trust to your hungry grabby hands. By doing all the measuring and portioning at one time, you can be lazy about it later since the work is already done for you
Eat Your Veggies
When you plate your meal for lunch or dinner, try and aim for half the plate being vegetables. Most vegetables are “negative calories” meaning that they burn more calories to chew and swallow, than the food itself contains!
Once you’ve filled your plate with the full meal, eat your veggies first. If anything should be leftover, it should be the higher calorie portions of your meal. Not the healthy low calorie ones. This doesn’t take much effort at all, just a changeup in your normal meal eating habits.
Slow Cooker Meals
Lazy people need a slow cooker. It does practically all the work for you! With a heap of healthy recipes found online specifically written for slow cookers, you can pile in your ingredients in the morning and walk away, only to return home that evening to a delicious home cooked, healthy, and diet friendly meal.
This is going to keep you from grabbing fast food on the way home, or raiding your fridge for unhealthy choices out of hunger. Being prepared is the ultimate way to be lazy when you need and want to be. Especially after coming home from a long day of work.
Eat Protein AFTER Your Workout
Working out breaks down muscle tissue and your body relies on protein to help rebuild it. Bigger! Stronger! Faster! Planning an after workout snack with protein is a great way to increase muscle, and hey, good excuse to eat!
Good protein options would be apple slices with nut butter, greek yogurt, protein bar or shake. Try and keep your after workout intake less in calories than what you just burned. Otherwise you just cancelled out your whole exercise session.
Sunday Preparation
Before going into a week of work and lunches on-the-go, try and prepare healthy lunch options, individually prepared on Sunday’s to keep you on track the whole week long. There are many options when it comes to preparing a healthy meal plan for the week, that you can make in advance.
By doing this, you’ll avoid lunch time hunger cravings that will lead you to a food court, cafeteria, or fast food restaurant. Not to mention, it’ll save you big bucks over time too. Why not fatten up your bank account while you slim down your body? Sounds like a win-win!
Drink More Water
Water water water! Staying hydrated is incredibly important to any weight loss journey. Often when we feel hungry, we are just dehydrated and our bodies need water.
Carry around a large bottle of water with you and all day you’ll have hydration at your fingertips. Stay away from sodas and juices, and stick with good old fashioned water to keep you going. If you don’t enjoy the complete lack of flavor in water, there are many good flavor options you can try out. A clean option would be to add frozen fruit to your bottle of water. Not only will it keep your water chilled for longer, but it will add a delightful fruity taste to your drink.
Let The Sunshine In
Having trouble waking up and getting a start on your day? The lazy person knows, bed and sleep are the biggest things to overcome. So help yourself with nature, more specifically, sunlight!
By leaving your blinds or curtains open at night, you’ll be rising with the sun, and more likely to wake naturally as opposed to by an alarm clock buzzing in your ear. The vitamin D will also help boost your mood and get you started off on the right foot. We can all use a little help there!
Keep It Short
Workouts don’t have to be a long daunting hour long commitment. Most of us simply don’t have time for that. There are many workout options, like this quick workout from PopSugar that is only 10 minutes long, done at home, with no equipment.
Exercises like HIIT (high-intensity interval training) get your heart pumping, and the calories burning in little time, with great results. Workouts like this will give a great boost in your day and your metabolism, while helping build muscle by using just body weight alone. Even the laziest have that kind of time.
