How to Lose Weight for Lazy People

How to Lose Weight for Lazy People

Weight loss takes work, but the time you dedicate to eating right and exercising doesn't need to feel like a second job. Even if you don't have the time, money, or motivation to hit the gym and prepare a home-cooked meal each night (or if you're simply a self-proclaimed couch potato), there are still plenty of low-effort (but highly effective) strategies for getting rid of pesky pounds. Some of your favorite "lazy" habits, such as playing video games, buying prepared foods, and using cooking shortcuts, may help you slim down.

Read on for some tips to lose weight that can help make losing weight a piece of cake.

Adults in the United States are just not getting enough physical activity, period. We are getting bigger and bigger. We sit at a desk all day long. Instead, we're coming home from a day of sitting at the office computer only to sit some more - at our home computer, in front of the TV, and at the dinner table.

No, you don't have to start training for a marathon. The difference between getting healthy and becoming a statistic is increasing your activity level gradually, maybe by 20% a week. That will get you up to the recommended levels before too long. For inactive people, doing any kind of activity will benefit their health. The American Heart Association recommends that inactive people gradually work up to exercising three to four times a week for 30-60 minutes at 50%-80 % of their maximal heart rate. The recommendations for physical activity have changed drastically. They make it easier for the general public to achieve the correct levels of exercise because it includes such everyday activities as cleaning house and walking.

The following options can be just as effective as jumping jacks, jogging trails, or high-priced gyms:

· Don't use elevators or escalators; instead, take the stairs. Start with one such substitution a day, and build up slowly. So you work on the 50th floor? Ride up to 48 and walk up from there. Careful, though -- walking down stairs can be hard on your knees. Walk up, but ride down.

· Stop circling parking lots and fighting for the closest spot. Park a little bit farther away from the office or mall, and walk. You'll not only increase fitness, you'll decrease stress.

· If you take the bus or subway, get off one or two stops early and walk the rest of the way.

· Vacuum more often, change the sheets more often, mop the floor more often. These get your heart pumping, which means they are excellent calorie burners.

· Cold and snowy where you live? Shovel it, walk your dog in it, build an igloo with your kids. The activity will not only boost your fitness levels, it will help keep you warm!

That's all you need to do to make a real difference in your fitness level. Everyday activities that you might not think are exercises, are exercises. In the new recommendations, doing the laundry, vacuuming, and cleaning your house all count as exercise.

Absolutely everyone can benefit from increasing his or her activity level, and the easiest tips to lose weight above can help you effectively shed some extra pounds to have a nice figure naturally.