How to Lose Weight Without Counting Calories -- Easy Weight-Loss Tips

A quick guide to easy weight loss. How to create a calorie deficit for weight loss; fast ways reduce calories; losing weight with portion control without counting calories or tracking; fast and effective ways to burn more calories -- and updated weight loss tips.

Counting calories right at the beginning of a diet can help you get control of your eating to begin losing weight. The good news: you don't have to count calories to lose weight. Learning portion control and increasing your activity can help you keep your weight loss on track. This doesn't mean counting celery sticks and going to the gym every day. You simply learn to eyeball portions, take your time reducing portions and cutting out second helpings and any overeating habits -- if you have any habits such as eating without paying attention or eating for emotional reasons or eating at night.

Once you begin to manage your eating and reduce stress, you don't have to think about weighing and measuring food to lose weight. Make weight-loss a lifestyle change rather than a short-term deprivation diet, and you can be on your way to a lifetime at a healthy weight. I lost more than 50 pounds this way, and you can do it, too.

Easy weight-loss trick to try today: Set a time to stop eating two to three hours before bedtime. This is a strategy I learned from celebrity personal trainer Bob Greene.

Checking your calorie intake at the beginning of your weight-loss journey can give you an idea of where you're at and what you need to do to get the weight to come off. If counting calories rubs you the wrong way, skip it. I had better success with weight loss -- lasting weight loss -- once I stopped dieting and learned how to eat.

If you opt to check your calorie intake:

• Write down the calories of everything you eat and drink for at least three days.
• Make the record as accurate as possible by checking the serving sizes on nutrition labels and looking up foods in a nutrition book or online food tracker.
• Pay attention to portion sizes. For example, a serving of peanut butter is 2 tablespoons. If you ate 6 tablespoons, multiply the number of calories per serving by three for the total calories for the servings you ate.
• The American Heart Association suggests limiting serving sizes to the size of your fist – except for protein. A serving of meat, fish or poultry is 4 ounces, about the size of a deck of cards.
• Count beverage calories, and pay attention to these portion sizes, too. Sweetened sodas, sugary iced tea and coffee house drinks can add 100s of calories a day to your diet.

It can be helpful to find out how many calories you're actually consuming. Here's how: Add the total number of calories for the days you tracked and divide the total by the number of days. For example, if you tracked your calories for five days, divide the total calories by five. This gives you an average number of calories per day.

Reduce your daily calories by 500 to 1,000 calories to lose one to two pounds per week. Provided your weight has been stable at your current calorie intake, this reduction creates a calorie deficit for weight loss. Reducing your food intake to 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day will help most women lose weight safely. Men need to cut back to 1,200 to 1,600 calories a day, according the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

An easy way to lose weight without counting calories or feeling hungry is to cut starches and sugar. Try it for a week.

If you crave starch, pick a version with fiber, such as a sweet potato, brown rice, wild rice or old fashioned oatmeal. These foods are more filling than processed foods and have a slower impact on your blood sugar. Cutting out sugar can reduce food cravings and make it easier to eat less. Eat vegetables and protein at every meal to feel full and keep your blood sugar at an even keel.

A great trick I learned from Bob Greene, Oprah's personal trainer: quit eating two to three hours before bed. This simple rule cuts out night-time eating -- a danger zone for many of us. At night, it's easy to eat from boredom, stress or loneliness. This kind of eating has nothing to do with hunger.

Emotional eating undermines weight loss, and it can cause weight gain. I discovered that when I stop eating two to three hours before bed, it's easier to eat a healthy breakfast. I used to hate the idea of eating first thing in the morning.

Add moderate-intensity cardio most days of the week to support your weight loss. If your fitness level allows, choose vigorous-intensity cardio, such as jogging, running, kickboxing or step aerobics for a higher calorie burn and faster results. Track the time you spend exercising in your fitness journal or online tracker. Performing high-intensity interval training can help you lose fat faster.

• If you have difficulty cutting calories, increase your daily exercise time or intensity. Burning more calories allows you to consume more calories and still lose weight -- as long as you consume and burn fewer calories than the level that maintains your current weigh

• Count beverages, refills, second helpings, food you eat while cooking, food you eat while watching TV, food you eat off someone else's plate, snacks, and everything else. Little tastes and things you eat while doing something else can add up to many excess calories each day.

• Consult your doctor about any medical concerns, and before starting a diet or exercise program. This article is presented for informational purposes only.

I'm now within 12 pounds of my goal weight.

I eat primarily organic, whole foods. I rarely consume anything made with sugar or processed grains.

Regular physical activity has become a lifestyle. I hike, bicycle, use a stepper with ski poles and a cardio rider, walk briskly, do a lot of vigorous yard work, do yoga and lift weights.

I'm 51 now -- while it can be challenging to lose weight at mid-life, with the right balance of healthy eating and physical activity, you can do it.

High-Intensity Interval Training and circuit training are great time savers for a high calorie burn. Twenty minutes of HIIT covers my exercise most days.

Best wishes to everyone for better health, safe weight loss and improved fitness.

The commitment to focus on health has unexpected rewards. I spent more than a year specializing in health and fitness articles. That allowed me to work at home and continue writing a novel.

I continue to do the Tibetan 5 Rites regularly -- a dynamic yoga practice that keeps me limber and pain-free. I bicycle, take hikes, use a stepper with ski poles, take walks -- and lately I've been pushing the endurance cardio with hour-long hilly walks. I do all my own yard work by hand -- no power tools. I do it at a fast pace.

My diet consists of primarily whole foods: salads, fresh fruit, nuts, virgin olive oil, yogurt, eggs, meat in moderation, salmon, chicken, natural bacon now and then, sweet potatoes, protein shakes, coconut milk, dark chocolate, tea, organic espresso, red wine in moderation. It's my own blend of a modified carbohydrate-low-glycemic-Mediteranean diet.

I rarely buy any kind of processed food, and I do most of my own cooking. I grow organic herbs and use sea salt. Food tastes better when it's fresh and hasn't been loaded with excess salt and sugar. Once in a while, if I really want a cookie or some ice cream, I have it. I don't crave those things any more. Oh yeah, I haven't counted a calorie or felt guilty about eating in years. I was a fat child and bulimic in college, so it's been a radical transformation. I had to care enough about myself to make better choices. Every day, our choices create our lives.

At 51, I feel great. I can climb a giant rock or a cliff face out at the coast or bicycle up a hill without becoming winded. Years of yoga have kept me flexible and help me maintain good posture. Unlike most middle-aged people I know, I don't spend time talking about physical complaints. I've done a lot of things to avoid becoming one of those people who recites symptoms of ill health to anyone who will listen. I made the decision to become aggressively healthy. You can, too.

Trent, aka hikeguy

Copyright Travis Arts 2012, all rights reserved. Protected by Copyscape.

The American Heart Association: Losing Weight

Basic information, including a calorie-burning chart for common exercises.

The American Heart Association: Five Goals to Losing Weight

Details on portion control, food substitutions, exercise, keeping a food journal -- and the habits that can sabotage weight loss.