What to do if you have no time to lose weight

Weight loss takes time. Unless you have just a few pounds to lose, you’re not going to get to goal overnight or even in a few days. Even losing ten pounds takes time. Ask somebody who’s been trying to lose ten pounds for the last year. There of plenty of people who’ve been trying to lose ten pounds for ten years. Yes, losing weight takes time.

Losing weight takes time to get to goal and it takes time making behavior changes to even allow weight loss. If you aren’t trying to lose weight, you don’t have to spend time planning, shopping, tracking, and going to the gym. You can just go about your life and spend your time doing everything else that requires your attention every day.

If you don’t have a lot of time to lose weight and you don’t have a lot of weight to lose, here is what you can do.

1) Avoid all bread and rolls, tortillas, cereal, chips, crackers, pizza, rice, pasta and potatoes.

2) Cut out all sweets including cookies, cakes, cupcakes, ice cream, candy and food that pretend to be “healthy” but are sweets in disguise. That includes granola bars, power bars, and even most protein bars. I don’t care how many grams of protein are in that bar – 23 grams of sugar is a sweet.

3) No dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, butter) To ensure you get adequate calcium eat other calcium-rich foods such as dark, green, leafy vegetables (broccoli and kale), egg yolks and sardines or salmon with soft, edible bones or consult your doctor or pharmacist to suggest a calcium supplement.

4) Drink only water – no other fluids.

5) Eat 2 servings of fresh fruit daily and you can eat all the raw and cooked vegetables you need to keep hunger at bay.

6)  Have 2 teaspoons of olive oil, or 2 tablespoons of flaxseed, or 1/4 avocado daily. Try mixing 2 tsp of olive oil with 2 tsp of balsamic vinegar, a little salt and pepper, and any favorite herbs for an easy salad dressing.

7) Eat three 3-oz servings of lean meat. It can be red meat with all visible fat trimmed off, poultry without skin, fish or eggs.

8) Walk at least 60 minutes every day (can be broken into smaller increments of time) at a brisk pace (about 4 mph) in addition to your normal daily activity.

Follow those 8 steps and you will be rewarded with a nice drop if you stick to it for a week or two. Be advised that some of that drop is going to be from water loss, not actual body fat.

You will significantly reduce the carbs you’re eating. Carbs are like a sponge. They hold onto water, so when you cut carbs, the water is released. That’s where some of those missing pounds have gone; you’ve lost water weight rather than body fat.

This food plan doesn’t take a lot of time to plan what you’re going to eat. It severely restricts food choices. With so many things you can’t eat there isn’t a lot of thinking about what you can eat. It’s a good way to lose weight if you want to drop a few pounds fast, but it’s not a good way to lose weight if you have more than 10 pounds to lose and you want to keep off that weight.

That takes time.

 

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.