8 Unexpected Ways To Lose Weight (Like You’re Not Even Trying)

For all of you determined souls out there, here are a few unexpected weight loss tips that may just kick-start your goals this season.

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Weight loss tips
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Unexpected weight loss tips you should know

Maybe you’ve tried everything to lose weight, but maybe you haven’t tried these… Here are some of our unexpected weight loss tips that may just help you reach your weight goal.

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Weight loss tips, woman fidgeting
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Fidget away

It’s a little difficult to sell an exercise plan or workout video about fidgeting, but simply tapping, squirming, and making little movements throughout the day can lead to weight loss. Look for little ways to burn calories throughout your day and it’ll add up. One study found that incorporating such activities during your day can burn at least 650 calories.

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Weight-Loss, guava
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Snack on guava

Guava is a tropical fruit that tastes similar to pears and strawberries. It contains five times more vitamin C than an orange and is rich in fiber – especially if you eat the seeds. Guava also contain lutein, potassium, soluble dietary fiber, calcium and iron. The best part? It only has 60 calories in one serving, making it the perfect slimming snack.

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weight-loss, woman on her phone using Instagram
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Share your fitness journey on Instagram

Weight loss Instagram accounts aren’t like the typical accounts you see on Instagram. There are no expectations to post carefully crafted, witty captions to photos that look like they belong in the glossy magazines.

In fact, weight loss Instagram accounts are the exact opposite. Most people with these accounts expose the vulnerable thoughts of body image and self-esteem that we all have, but wouldn’t even admit to our best friends.

People with weight loss and fitness Instagram accounts post progress pictures, recipe ideas and their non-scale victories.

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Weight loss tips, woman holding cup of green tea
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Go green

With your tea, that is. Like spicy foods, green tea is considered to be a thermogenic drink that can rev up your inner engine. As a bonus, green tea is also loaded with polyphenols, a form of antioxidants, to help protect your body against chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

Coffee or cola drinker? Switching out one of your standard drinks with a green tea is a good start.

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Weight loss tips, woman in bed
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Get your beauty sleep

Not only do we crave unhealthy comfort foods when we’re tired, but our sleep levels are linked to our hormone levels, says Joey Shulman, the Thornhill, Ontario based author of The Last 15: A Weight Loss Breakthrough.

People who are sleep-deprived tend to have more secretions of the hormone cortisol, so they’re more stressed out. And that’s going to trigger fat storage as well,” she says. Lack of sleep also causes fluctuations in the hunger hormones leptin and ghrelin, which indicate whether you’re full or hungry.

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Weight loss tips, woman holding bowl of soup
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Fill up on hot foods

Hungry days require some appetite taming, as do special occasions. For example, going on an empty stomach to a restaurant with fabulous bread is guaranteed to lead to overeating.

When a ferocious hunger hits, hot foods and beverages are more satisfying than cold options. Soup carries that satisfaction even further, so keep an assortment of lower salt broth-based soups on hand. Load them up with vegetables for more filling goodness and an added health perk.

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Weight loss tips, kitchen
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Give your kitchen a makeover

Take a look in your fridge – what do you see? Two jars of mayonnaise, some leftover cheddar and a lot of sugar-laden condiments in jars? 

Now open the cupboards. What’s the cookie and cracker situation? Do an honest evaluation of what you tend to keep on hand. 

Throw out anything that’s going to be a temptation and sidetrack you from your weigh-loss goals. Be ruthless. Give the unopened food items and cans to your local food bank.

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Weight loss tips, woman writing in her food journal
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Lastly, keep a food journal

Tracking your food choices – food, time and amount – each day as you are about to eat is a proven strategy for success. Not only does keeping a food journal make you think before you eat, it allows you to evaluate difficulties when they arise. For example, did skipping snacks lead to a night of nibbling?

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