How to lose weight without counting calories?

Can’t count your calories, but still looking to lose some weight? You’ve come to the right place.

For losing weight, staying in a calorie deficit is the key. And for that, you have to measure what you eat.

However, there may be times when you’re not able to measure what you eat consistently. Maybe you’re travelling or just starting out with fitness, whatever the reason may be, you can still take some steps to make sure that you’re staying in a calorie deficit without counting your macros & calories.

Keep reading for some actionable steps to get you started.

 

Eat more protein in general

Protein has a ton of benefits. Especially when you’re trying to lose weight. Protein is the most satiating macro nutrients and helps preserve the muscle mass which can speed up your fat loss too.

Plus, it also tastes great. Include lean sources of protein such as chicken, eggs, paneer, soya, fish, etc in every meal.

Overall, you must be consuming anywhere between 1.6 - 2.4 g/Kg body weight of protein per day & having around 20-50 grams of protein over 3-4 meals should be the goal.

 

Eat plenty of fibrous veggies & fruits

Including a lot of veggies in your meals is a great way to add volume to your food without adding a lot of calories.

Green leafy vegetables pack a ton of fiber, are really satiating when combined with your meals and are really low on calories.

Veggies & fruits also help you sort your fiber & micronutrient intake which you would otherwise miss out on in a calorie controlled diet.

Include a portion of green veggies in every meal. Your protein & veggies should make up the bulk of your meals. The rest can be filled with carbs & fats.

 

Reduce your carbohydrate & fat intake

Reduce your overall intake of fats & carbs. This does not mean that you have to cut them off completely.

Just reduce it to small portions knowing that you have to create a deficit by cutting some food off & that food should primarily come from carbs & fats. The reason being it’s really easy to overeat on carbs & fats when combined together. (Think a slice of pizza that has around 250 Calories)

 

Increase periods of fasting between your meals

Fasting between subsequent meals & increasing the timing between those meals such that you eat when you’re truly hungry is also a great way to make sure that you don’t snack in between meals.

Snacking between meals can easily add a couple hundred extra calories to your daily budget if you don’t watch out for it.

 

Drink more water

Drinking more water helps with the feeling of fullness. Starting your meals with a glass of water & ending them with a glass of water can have some serious impact on your feeling of fullness.

Whenever you feel hungry, try drinking a glass or two of water.

Apart from these benefits, water has a lot of other benefits associated with it too. So it’s a good idea to increase your water intake generally.

 

Reduce or eliminate liquid calories

You should reduce or eliminate your calorie intake through liquids. Liquids aren’t satiating at all & can easily account for 300-400 calories per day if you don’t watch out for them.

Try switching to zero calorie alternatives such as diet coke instead of regular coke, black coffee instead of a cappuccino, sugar free red bull instead of a regular one, having actual fruits instead of fruit juices, etc.

 

Measure what matters

Once you have been mindful about all the above steps, you then have to measure your progress.

A good ballpark figure for weight loss should be around 0.5-1.0% bodyweight per week. Though those who are just starting out might lose more weight initially.

Watching how your body reacts to the changes & how much weight you lose, you can then alter the calories according to your goals from there onwards.