#HealthOnABudget: 5 diet hacks that helped me lose weight without visiting a dietician

Here’s the thing about the internet: if you ignore social media and its downsides, there is a lot of information out there that you can read up and use to your advantage. At least, that’s what I did.

After several failed attempts at adopting a healthy lifestyle to lose weight, I tried some practical and easy tweaks backed by scientists and medical experts that I came across while surfing the net—minus any expectation of results.

And now, a slimmer and more energetic me is here to share them with you. Try them yourself and see the results:

1. Drink your hunger away

You don’t need to be Einstein to know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Similarly, you don’t need an expensive dietician to tell you that drinking lots of water can help you lose weight. 

Like you, I took this tip for granted most of my life. However, giving water its due place in my life has given me incredible results. But how can water help? A study published in the journal Obesity found that when overweight women increased their water intake, they lost body fat, body weight, and reported better metabolism–without making any other changes in their lifestyle. 

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Moreover, drinking water before a meal curbs your appetite–thus restricting the amount of calories you intake. 

2. Fibre up

I am not the best person when it comes to showing self-control and well—portion control. However, just adding a plate of salad (sliced cucumber, tomatoes, and carrots) before meals helped me reduce the number of chapatis I was eating. So, without even realising it, I cut down my carb intake. 

Since, fibre (which plateful of salad was loaded with) keeps you fuller for longer, my appetite was under control–and so was my weight. 

3. Lean on makhanas and nuts instead of chips for snacking

Makhanas or fox nuts are a rich source of calcium and are loaded with fibre. While nuts like almonds and peanuts are rich in protein, and flax seeds and chia seeds are full of fibre and healthy fats. 

A small bowl of makhanas or a mixture of seeds and nuts when I was craving some snacks turned out to be my saving grace. Unlike carb-rich potato chips, they satiated my hunger more quickly. Plus, I was spared the bloating-and-water-retention drama caused by the excess sodium in chips and other such packaged snacks.  

4. Kick the can… of soda! 

Now, this one is a no-brainer: cola and other aerated beverages are great for your taste buds, but not for your waistline. Loaded with sugar, colas offer nothing but a glucose rush and empty calories. Oh, and diet sodas aren’t any better. According to a paper published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2014, diet sodas don’t protect you from weight gain.

So what can you do when the thirst takes over? Well, there are plenty of beverages you can replace the soda in you life. Right from nimbu pani and coconut water to a glassful of sattu–with these drinks you can relish the taste and bask in the benefits of vitamins and minerals. 

5. Soup up to avoid shooting up

Your weight, of course. I cannot stress enough on how having chicken and vegetable soup instead of full-fledged meals at dinner upto two times a week, contributed to my weight-loss journey. With these nourishing soups, I was able to cut down my calorie intake without compromising on the nutrition my body needed.

While veggie soups can help you load up on the fibre, chicken soup is filled with protein–both nutrients that keep hunger away. Since, twice a week, my dinner was low on carbs, I was successfully able to drop kilos without compromising on taste.