If you’ve tried every popular diet and have thrown your healthy eating efforts to the wind because you haven’t gotten the lasting weight loss results you crave, we’ve got you! There are powerful hacks to lose 10 pounds you’ve likely overlooked. In fact, as registered dietitians and personal trainers specializing in weight loss, we can assure you that the hacks we share with our clients help them to lose 10 pounds with ease–and keep that weight off!
And while each is effective, it also requires minimal effort, not a complete diet overhaul, the way that many popular diets do. Gradual, small changes are what makes them realistic and sustainable for long-lasting results! Whether your goal is to slide into your favorite jeans or to simply feel lighter and more vibrant, here are some lesser-known diet secrets that might just be the game-changer you’ve been searching for.
1. Bump up your protein at meals AND the start of the meal.
Protein keeps you satisfied so you don’t wind up overeating later. It also keeps your blood sugar levels stable so you don’t alternate energy highs with crashes. Aim for a minimum of 20 grams of protein per meal.
We have our clients eat 20 grams (or more) of blood sugar-stabilizing protein before the carbs at the meal to help improve their metabolic health and to prevent triggering the release of cortisol, the belly fat hormone. We do this personally, as well because if your blood sugar is stable when you eat carbs, the carbs won’t be able to spike blood sugar and therefore, will cause a more gradual rise versus that lethal spike that ends in a crash, resulting in cravings and the release of neurotransmitters like cortisol. This little nugget is a golden hack for weight loss.
2. Put oil in a spritzer/ spray bottle instead of pouring it.
Whether you pour oil in a pan to make an omelet at breakfast, add it to a salad at lunch, or dip bread in it at dinner, each tablespoon adds 120 calories. Chances are each time you pour oil you are using more than a couple of tablespoons. Store oil in a spray bottle, spritz it in a pan or meal instead of pouring it, and save up to hundreds of calories each day and watch pounds drop. Take it up a notch and spritz dressings, condiments, and even melted butter by adding them to a spray jar. While extra virgin olive oil is heart-healthy and packed with anti-inflammatory polyphenols the calories still add up just as quickly as other oils.
We like to use non-aerosol spray containers for squirting the pan or spritzing veggies before roasting. We also use spray bottles and mix a little lemon juice with a little oil and store it for a quick spritz on a salad, sardines, or other fish. (For cooking, we just use a spritz of the oil in the pan and then add water to prevent sticking. We add a measured amount of very high-quality olive oil at the end, after cooking for a number of reasons, which we will share in an upcoming blog).
3. Start exercising first thing in the morning.
While there is mixed research on whether this truly helps you to burn more calories, the truth is that if you exercise first thing in the morning, there are two main reasons why this helps you to lose weight. First, starting your day by stoking your metabolic fire is a good idea as your body will be burning more calories heading into a day of eating.
And the main reason we see our clients lose weight from exercising in the morning is that there are fewer things (and fewer excuses!) to get in the way of your workout. Even the best intentions to exercise later in the day get derailed by having to stay late at work, going out with friends, or having a hectic day. Plus, starting your day with doing something positive for your health and weight, sets the intention for the day!
4. Eat veggies before your meal.
If you’ve been following us for a while, you’ll realize any time we talk about weight loss, veggies will always be included. They are THAT important for shedding pounds. Eat them before your meal and you’ll take the edge off hunger with very few calories and then you’ll be able to make a rational decision about what to eat. Believe it or not, this is just one of many hacks to lose 10 pounds without much effort.
You’ll eat less of the heavy items at the meal and you’ll get fiber, phytonutrients, vitamins, and anti-inflammatory benefits that counteract inflammation which makes weight loss harder and weight gain easier. The key is not adding calorie-laden butter, oil, or dressings to the vegetables–of course, you can use our spritzing hack which adds lots of flavor and minimal calories.
Also, similarly to the way that protein stabilizes your blood sugar, veggies and their fiber help to do the same so that when you eat carbs after them, they won’t impact your metabolic health negatively by creating a surge of insulin. This also means you’ll avoid the blood sugar highs and crashes –and skirt the triggering of cortisol, the belly fat hormone!
5. Write down everything that you eat.
Keeping a record holds you accountable. You won’t forget you ate a few pieces of candy from your coworkers’ candy jar if it’s recorded in your food diary. Research shows that people who write down what they eat lose twice as much weight as those who don’t.
Our clients use our platform that allows them to take food photos of everything they eat and it uploads them in real-time so we can see what they’re eating. They often forget to snap a shot before they eat and so they take a photo of the empty food wrapper or simply write what they eat. They tell us this process is incredibly eye-opening and that when they scroll through the photos of what they eat it holds them accountable.
6. Flavor your food with lemon (or lime).
These citrus fruits help to bring out the flavor in all food and work wonders on salad, seafood, fish, chicken, and more. It’s one of the most flavorful tricks that many top chefs use to replace salt and calorie-dense condiments while packing antioxidant-rich, practically calorie-free flavor.
You often don’t need dressings, marinades, or sauces when you use lemon or lime, so you can save a lot of calories.
7. Leave the last 4 bites behind at each meal.
This will save you about 100 calories at each meal/ snack and you’ll cut out about 400 calories a day. This will feel minimal, but from this change alone you’ll lose nearly a pound a week.
Losing those extra pounds doesn’t necessarily demand a complete life overhaul. Often, it’s the smaller, consistent changes—like opting for a spritz of oil instead of a pour, or integrating citrus flavors to boost food profiles—that can have a profound impact over time.
Karen’s Success Story
We want to tell you about our client Karen who came to us because she felt completely discouraged about her weight. She had gained about 25 pounds during covid, making her 30 pounds heavier than she should be for her small 5’3 frame. Karen felt like she got hungry too quickly after meals, and it was causing her to overeat.
She said her energy zapped and had no motivation to lose weight, but at the same time, she felt very uncomfortable. Her clothes didn’t fit her, and it was embarrassing for her to go back to the office with all of the weight she gained. The weight was causing her blood sugar and blood pressure to get too high and into an unhealthy range. She really wanted easy things that she could do that didn’t require too much effort and that could help her to lose weight, but she didn’t know where to start. We knew that Karen would really benefit from trying some of these 7 hacks to lose 10 pounds in a healthy way, as well as some other things.
Our Plan for Karen
We took a deep dive and looked into Karen’s lifestyle so we could see what changes would be easy for her to make that her body would respond to. We started by looking at her meals, and we quickly discovered that too many of her meals lacked protein to keep her satisfied. She’d frequently make overnight oats for breakfast, and the only protein was a touch of milk and it definitely wasn’t enough to hold her. Her other breakfast was also a healthy one, but again, it was just oatmeal and berries, and there was no protein to keep her satisfied and keep her blood sugar stable.
By mid-morning, she was typically starving and would head to the office pantry, where there were sugary granola bars, and she typically would have one or two of them or pretzels. Again, very little protein. At lunch, she’d typically try to be what she called “good” and order a salad with croutons and dressing, and request a couple of spoons of beans or chickpeas on it for protein. This too was too little to hold her, and her afternoon snack would be the same as her morning.
By the time she got home for dinner, she was starving and would eat every snack and sweet in her house while she was cooking dinner or waiting for a delivery meal. The first thing we suggested to have her do was increase her protein at her meals—she mixed one cup of nonfat Greek yogurt in her overnight oats and added a scoop of protein powder to her oatmeal.
Other tips that helped Karen
At lunch, she started requesting chicken, shrimp, or turkey on her salad—something that had substantially more protein than she had in her previous meals, so it would hold her longer. She no longer needed all of the granola bars and pretzels. So even though she added protein in, she still was able to slash a substantial amount of calories from all of her snacks.
The other change we had her make was to leave 4 bites behind at each meal. We felt like these two changes were very doable for her, and she agreed. After 4.5 months she was down 22 pounds and she said it didn’t really take too much effort on her part, and her blood sugar and blood pressure were no longer high.
After 6 months she lost the 30 pounds she wanted to, and she loved going into the office, unlike in the past when she felt embarrassed by her weight. It’s now over a year later and she’s kept the 30 pounds off, but she no longer is tired and feels motivated, she said the weight really weighed her down mentally and physically. And it only took integrating easy hacks to lose 10 pounds and more!
You also can lose those 10 pounds!
If you need a little extra help and guidance to lose weight as Karen did, we can help! We work with your body’s unique blood chemistry, hormones, food preferences, and lifestyle to create a plan that works just for YOU. If you’re interested in 1:1 nutrition coaching, simply fill out this form!