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9 Healthy Ways to Quickly Lose Extra Weight - Without Dieting

08 Aug, 2017
By Andie Reeves
Some easy tips on how can you lose weight quickly without going on some fad diet or weight loss programme which may screw up your metabolism, your health - or both.
 
Wintertime and overeating while being super lazy on the couch go hand in hand but when the warmer months start rolling in everyone wants a weight-loss quick fix.
 
If you're one of the few who has the willpower to keep heading to the gym in the cold and dark mornings of winter then you won’t struggle with this problem so much, but the rest of us probably want to lose that extra weight we picked up over the past few months.
 
The obvious steps to take are to start eating healthier and join a gym (oh, and you actually have to go to the gym too) and that's a great idea, but if you need easing into things or are just a bit lazy (don't feel bad, that’s most of us) there are some quick and easy weight-loss hacks you can try.
 
While we don't recommend you totally give up on exercising and eating right, these little tricks will help you burn extra kilojoules without harming your health - and with barely any effort!
 

Some Quick Kilojoule Burning Facts


It’s always a good idea to work out exactly how many kilojoules (kJ) you need to maintain your weight – just to make sure that you are not potentially sabotaging any of the good work you can do to increase your metabolism and shift those unwanted kilos. The easiest way is to use an online calculator to work out your daily requirements based upon your height, age, gender and activity level.

One kilogram of body fat contains the equivalent of 37,000 kJ. To lose one kg of body fat in a month, you would need to either eat less or burn more kilojoules at the rate of about 1250 kJ a day.

When your goal is to lose weight, increasing your activity rate and/or reducing your intake by around 2100 kJ each day will help you slowly but surely achieve a sustainable healthy weight.

1. Treat Yourself to a Shopping Spree (Yes, Really)

Like you needed another excuse to get started on buying your new spring/summer wardrobe. As long as you're walking around a mall or some shops (online shopping doesn't count) you are doing some form of exercise and your body is thanking you for it.
 
Just 40 minutes of trying on clothes, flipping through rails, and walking up and down looking for that cute sun dress in your size burns about 420 kJ!

2. Get Your Green Tea On

Green tea contains an active ingredient, catechin (a type of antioxidant), which has been linked to speeding up your metabolism and helping your body break down fat. Your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns kilojoules while you're inactive, so speeding it up is every lazy girl's dream.
 
To really get the benefits of green tea you will need to drink about five glasses/mugs a day to burn up an extra 375 kJ (but anything is better than an hour on the rowing machine, right?).
 
Read More. All You Need to Know About Losing That Belly Fat - Forever

3. Keep Moving When You're at The Office

Sitting still at your desk is time that you could be spending dropping a jean size. Keep yourself active by moving around a lot, so instead of emailing your colleague get up and go to their desk. Also regularly get up to stretch and walk around the office. And although it's easier to just eat at your desk, try spending your lunch break walking around the block and being mobile.
 
Another surprising way to keep your body moving is by fidgeting. You won't be anyone's favourite person in the office but the weird movements you do when feeling restless or bored, like shaking your leg, tapping your foot or drumming your fingers, actually burn kilojoules! Depending upon your fave form of fidgeting, you can burn off up to an extra 1300 kJ per day.

4. Get Yourself a Standing Desk

You might have seen pictures of standing desks and wondered why on earth anyone would want to spend all day standing up. The benefits of standing instead of sitting at work are actually huge, and a lot of companies are willing to spend the money on their employees' new desk set up because of them.
 
Standing up will improve your posture, counteract that back ache you thought was a given when you started working an office job (no, you don't have to live with that pain) and will help you lose weight.
 
When you stand instead of sit at work your heart rate increases ever so slightly, which increases the number of kilojoules you burn. Still not convinced? You will burn around 1450 kJ just from standing all day; that's more than some gym sessions, and you're getting paid for it!

5. Cook Up Something Good

At the end of a long and tiring day the temptation to order UberEats or poke some holes in a microwave meal can be overwhelming.
 
Force yourself to spend a good 30 to 40 minutes cooking a delicious meal. Being on your feet cutting, mixing, stirring and cleaning up afterwards burns at least 450 kJ all together, that's a number you shouldn't miss out on! This will also mean you're less likely to binge on junk food and can take the time to cook yourself something healthy and nutritious. Win-win.
 
Read More. Why a Healthy Gut Is the Key to a Happy Skin, Body - and Life

6. Drink Even More Water

Did you really think you were going to make it through a piece about healthy living without hearing that you need to drink more water? Studies have shown that for every extra cup of water you drink your kilojoule intake decreases by about 285 kJ. It also drops your sugar, sodium and fat intake, all the more reason to get those 2 litres in (that's the 8 daily recommended glasses - totalling about 2280 kJ a day).
 
If you don't drink water because you don't like the taste of it then try spicing it up with some cut up fruit, cucumber or mint to make it more appealing. Stay away from cordials or concentrates; they're full of sugar.
 
And while you're at it, here are 5 foods a nutritionist suggests you remove from your diet (every little bit helps!).

7. Keep Your Body Cool

Sad news for those of us who are only happy when hugging a piping hot hot-water bottle in winter: studies have shown a link between heating and weight gain. We're not saying that going outside in a vest and flip flops is the answer to dropping weight, but basically when your body is a bit colder it has to work harder to warm up, making you burn kilojoules in the process, so try not to pile up on too many layers.
 
Also, studies have shown that drinking iced water increases your metabolic rate by 30% for about half an hour after drinking. You should be drinking around 2 litres of water a day any way; just make those litres icy cold and you can expect to burn about 420 kilojoules in the process.
 
Read More. How to Fix Your Metabolism to Achieve a Healthy Weight

8. Get Nice and Warm

Or you could go to the other extreme and get really hot. Sweating it out in a sauna will make your body work harder, increasing your heart rate and improving your circulation, all great for losing a bit of weight. Sure, you won't get the muscle tone as you would from the treadmill, but it's a great option for the next time you're too tired to do anything high energy at the gym.
 
Spending an hour in a hot bath is another way for your body to burn calories while warming up. An hour long warm bath can have you burning about 585 kilojoules, so load up an episode of Game of Thrones and keep the hot water topped up (just as long as you aren’t in an area with water restrictions, obviously).

9. Do A Deep Clean

A good cleaning session is both rewarding and a good workout (if you're doing it right, that is). Washing dishes and cleaning your kitchen for an hour will burn about 420 kJ, and scrubbing your bathroom for half an hour is as good as half an hour spent speed walking. Just be sure to time yourself as people tend to overestimate how long they spend cleaning.
 
Although this is not advised as a total replacement for some good old-fashioned exercise, it's great to find things you do every day anyway are actually giving you a bit of a work out, plus you will have a nice clean house by the end of it.
 
While nothing beats a healthy diet and a regular exercise programme, it's amazing just what a few little extra activities can do to help you shift the extra kilos. All of these tips total an extra 7670kJ per day!
 
While you may already be doing some of these things, and together not all of them will be fully incremental, you have to admit that it can't hurt to try a few. After all, you only need to burn off an extra 2650kJ every day to lose an extra kilo every two weeks...
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