Looking to fire up your journey to wellness and wouldn’t mind losing some weight along the way?

Here are 10 simple weight-loss tips will help you incorporate healthy habits into your life with as little stress and prep work as possible.

1. Drink more water 

You’ve probably heard me say this before, but it’s worth repeating because drinking water is one of the best things you can do for your health.  And it helps shed pounds as well.

To figure out how much water you need to drink, cut your weight in half, and drink that many ounces of water per day.

So, if you weigh 200 pounds, for instance, you’d drink 100 ounces a day. That’s roughly three quarts.

Use high-quality, pure water for best results.  And if drinking water is challenging due to the lack of flavor, you can always infuse it with fruits and herbs.  (Click here to read more about infused water.)

2. Don’t diet. Just eat healthier.

 What usually happens when you diet?

For myself, I’ll lose some weight, and then at some point my diet will end or I’ll mess up and pretty soon I’ll have regained all the weight I’ve lost (and then some.)

Diets almost never work long term.

So, instead of going on a diet, make it your goal to be a healthier, happier, and fitter person.  Focus on nourishing your body rather than depriving it. <3

3. Eat more whole foods

Whole, single-ingredient foods are naturally filling, making it easier to eat less.

This includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, and proteins.

And if you’re choosing foods with multiple ingredients, make it a goal for them to have no more than 5 ingredients.

4. Choose organic whenever possible

I know eating organic can be expensive – this is why I say when possible.

So much of our food has been harmed with chemicals, pesticides, and GMOs.  When this happens, the nutrients in our food are destroyed, which means that the food isn’t able to nourish our body like it’s meant to. 

Choosing organic means your food can support your body, making you healthier and helping you lose weight along the way.

5. Save time with premixed salads and precooked protein

While preparing foods yourself is almost always going to be the healthiest choice, one of the fastest ways to stop eating healthier is by not having quick access to quality foods when you’re hungry.

Look in the produce section of your local grocery store for prepackaged salads. They come in either a plastic bowl, tray, or bag.

Some kinds have protein in them, some don’t.

If you choose to add extra protein, aim for about 3 ounces of protein for each meal — roughly the size of a deck of cards.

The cooked meats will make it easier to get your protein in. Lightly sauté them in butter for a delicious taste that is very filling. (Recently, I have been loving Kerrygold’s free-range butter.)

And if you’re vegan or vegetarian like me you can use some seeds, nuts, tofu, or tempeh instead.

6. Make your carbs go farther with chia seeds

This is a great way to reduce your carbs.

Here’s how:

In order to make one serving of rice or oatmeal, you would normally use a half cup, uncooked, with a cup of water.

But instead of that half cup, try using just a quarter cup, and extend it by adding about a tablespoon of chia seeds before cooking.

Chia seeds will soak up a lot of water, so if you start with a quarter cup of uncooked rice or oats and a tablespoon of chia seeds with a cup of water, you will end up with about the same volume as if you had used a half cup. 

7. Add 10 minutes of mild exercise after every meal

Your grandparents had the right idea when they said “Let’s go for a walk!” after dinner! This is especially helpful if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic.

Just a few minutes of mild to moderate exercise, such as walking or using a rebounder, will lower blood sugar for several hours afterward, according to a 2013 study.

8. Cut back on added sugar

Studies have shown that sugar and especially high fructose corn syrup is strongly associated with risk of obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and various other diseases.

If you’re looking to lose weight and get healthier, cutting back on added sugar should be high on your list. 

Be sure to read labels for hidden sugars.  And I suggest opting for real sugar over corn syrup and substituting stevia for sugar whenever possible.

9. Eat more probiotics

Friendly bacteria, or probiotics, are a big part of getting and staying healthy and slender. They can easily be wiped out by taking antibiotics or other medications, drinking water with chlorine, eating overcooked meats or refined sugars, or being under too much stress.

You can get quality probiotics at health food stores, but perhaps the best way is to eat probiotic foods. Examples include pickled foods such as sauerkraut and kim chee, or probiotic dairy foods such as yogurt and kefir.

You can also get kefir made from coconut rather than dairy.

Pickled foods such as sauerkraut must be raw, not canned. Pickled probiotic raw foods will be labeled as such; you might have to get them at higher-end stores like Whole Foods.

Kombucha is another good way to get probiotics. You can usually find this in the produce section.  While I enjoy Kombucha, it is an acquired taste.

10. Eat Kare’s Micronized Purple Rice

This powdered wellness product is not a weight-loss product per se, but it helps you feel better and have more energy, which can help with weight loss.

For many people, it also helps reduce cravings for junk food and sugar.

It is made from a 2,000-year-old heirloom strain of purple rice and grown in Thailand in a pristine valley that has never seen GMOs or pesticides.

This purple rice is also known as “forbidden rice,” because it was once to be eaten only by Thai emperors.

I’m not saying go buy a bag of purple rice.  This is not the same thing.  Here’s why:

For Kare’s Micrnoized Purple Rice, they remove just the nutrients needed to regenerate the cells.  Because of this, it takes 60 pounds of this rice to make one pound of the product.

Then they mill it down to the size of a micron.

This small size allows the polysaccharides, polypeptides, and antioxidants to penetrate our cell walls and light up the ATP energy in our mitochondria (cellular batteries).

Our energized ATP is then able to repair and revitalize cells throughout our bodies.

For more info about the purple rice, to get a copy of Kare’s free e-book, and watch her videos, CLICK HERE.

There you have it!

Which of these tips are you going to implement?  Let me know in the comments!