14 Ways for Healthy Weight Management without Dieting

Obesity is a dormant pandemic that has affected around 15% of the global population of women. Working out and dieting are believed to be primary measures to fight obesity.

A workout or any physical training is limited to people of a certain age group only. Nevertheless, a healthy active lifestyle can be maintained by young and elderly women alike.

‘Dieting’ has a stigma attached to it worldwide. People usually associate dieting with either starving or living on salads only. However, the essence of dieting lies in balanced nutritional meals.

In other words, you can satiate your cravings yet lose those extra pounds following a balanced regime. Here are 14 ways for healthy weight management without dieting.

1. Increase Your Natural Protein Intake

Protein forms an important nutrient in our daily meals. Intake of protein in the right quantity can help increase body metabolism thus regulating hormones to control appetite (1).

Here are some of the benefits of protein-induced diet for women:

Healthy weight management: Studies have suggested that consumption of dietary protein in a balanced proportion has helped in weight loss (2).

Intake fewer calories: High protein combined with low carb diet results in the consumption of lesser calories while still giving a fuller feeling (3).

Burns body fat faster: With lower carb intake, the body starts burning stored fat instead of carbs helping healthy weight loss. Also protein accelerates calorie burning process in women (4).

Foods like meat, fish, eggs, dairy products, seeds, nuts, lentils, and beans can be a great source of natural protein without relying on supplements. Fruits like guava, avocado, apricots, kiwi, and blackberries are also rich in protein.

Both plant and animal protein are required in the human body to strike a balanced proportion of nutrients. However, protein supplements may not suit all age groups or body types for women as it has its cons too (5).

Take Away: Protein helps to curb appetite and promotes metabolism that regulates growth hormones preventing fat accumulation. A highprotein low-carb diet can also be a low-calorie diet that hastens the fat burning process in women.

2. Include More Dietary Fiber in Your Meals

Dietary fiber is divided into insoluble and soluble types. While insoluble dietary fiber can eliminate constipation, soluble fiber helps to reduce body fat (6, 7).

Following are the benefits of consuming dietary fiber for healthy weight loss:

Reduce belly fat: Your stomach cannot digest fiber completely hence it is passed to the gut where it acts as a prebiotic. This stimulates gut bacteria that do not let fat settle on your waistline.

Increase diversity of gut bacteria: It has been proven that gut bacteria help to regulate digested food preventing them from changing to fat (8).

Controls appetite: As your stomach takes time to digest soluble fat, it subdues your hunger pangs. Your body ends up taking fewer calories, thus maintaining a healthy weight.

Dried beans, flaxseeds, oats, whole grains, oat bran, barley, and sweet potatoes are a good source of soluble fiber. Citrus fruits, apples, and strawberries have a generous proportion of soluble fiber that can reduce obesity in women of all ages (9).

Take away: Soluble fiber is hard to digest for our stomach and thus it controls our appetite-reducing calorie intake. Fiber reaches our gut almost undigested where it nourishes gut bacteria to fight visceral fat.

3. Natural Probiotics can Help Women Lose Fat

Probiotics have been known to aid digestive and cardiovascular systems. However, studies have shown that consumption of probiotics in the right amount can help reduce obesity as well (10).

Probiotics contain microorganisms that reach the gut to stimulate bacteria in absorbing dietary fiber. This in turn decreases the accumulation of fat in the body and increases fat removal through feces (11).

Probiotics help to lose fat in 3 ways:

Release glucagon-like peptide-1: This is a hormone that helps to reduce appetite and also encourages the burning of fat and calories (12).

Balances gut bacteria: Probiotics contain Lactobacillus that balances gut bacterial functions. This has proven to reduce body fat (13).

Increases angiopoietin-like 4 level: This is a protein secreted by our body that eliminates body fat (14).

A good proportion of probiotics can be found in foods like yogurt, kefir, pickles, kimchi, tempeh, sourdough bread etc.

Take Away: Probiotics contains certain microorganisms that help gut bacteria to prevent fat accumulation and reduces weight gain. Probiotics also reduce appetite, so you end up consuming less calories in a day.

4. Get Your Vitamin D Quotient Right

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble micronutrient that is known to boost body immunity and bone strength. Studies have shown that an adequate amount of vitamin D in the body has reduced weight gain (15).

It has been found that obese people lack the required amount of vitamin D. This means, to fulfill the vitamin D quotient obese women have to increase their vitamin D intake or have to focus on losing weight (16).

Vitamin D can assist in weight loss in the following ways:

Eliminate new fat cells: Adequate level of vitamin D can arrest the growth of fat cells in the body (17).

Prevents belly fat: Additionally vitamin D can counter the accumulation of excess fat in the body (18).

It is difficult to obtain vitamin D from food as many foods do not contain this micronutrient. The human body can naturally form vitamin D with sun exposure. It is the most common way to correct vitamin D deficiency.

Foods like tuna, salmon, egg yolk, cheeses, and soya milk contain a moderate proportion of vitamin D.

Take away: Obese women have higher chances of vitamin D deficiency and need a higher intake of this micronutrient. Vitamin D can effectively stop the formation of fat cells and prevents the accumulation of fat in the body.

5. Value Home-Cooked Meals more than Fast Food

Fast food can seem more convenient to you as it comes handy and tastes great too. The sad part is you might be consuming a higher amount of calories than you had planned.

Home-cooked food can be a better option here to curtail your calorie intake without compromising the taste and menu.

Studies have proven that people who chose to eat home- cooked food have a healthier weight than those who preferred fast food (19).

Eating healthy and balanced meals is the secret to a healthy body. This gives the right nutrition to your body to boost metabolism and flush out toxins.

Food cooked at home can be planned with an accurate proportion of protein, vitamins, carbs, and healthy fat. This will energize the body to function better at increasing immunity and maintaining a healthy weight (20).

Take away: Cooking your food helps you control the amount of calories you are consuming. Home-cooked food can be planned with a proper nutritional balance to help boost body immunity and metabolism.

6. Find Healthier Substitutes for Sweetened Beverages

Sugar is considered the culprit for many diseases. The reason is sugar contains nothing nutritional apart from loads of calories.

We all know that calories are directly proportional to weight gain (21). This is why women should cut down on excess sugar to lose weight (22).

Cutting down sugar completely can be difficult for some people. Here is how you can curb the intake of sugar:

Substitute sugary beverage: Avoid soda and soft drinks. They contain loads of sugar. Instead try black coffee or ice tea with sugar substitutes.

Limit certain fruits: There are certain fruits like melon, mango, pineapple, etc. that are high in fructose. Fructose, though comes from fruits having high nutritional value, can be harmful if consumed in a large amount (23).

Avoid latent sugary foods: Get into the habit of reading food contents in labels. For example, the jam, jelly, yogurt in your breakfast is settling on your waistline. Try Greek yogurt instead.

Take away: Sugar has zero nutritional value and is packed with calories that increases stored fat. Sugar intake has to be limited or substituted with healthier options to reduce obesity in women.

7. Include Green Tea in Your Daily Life

Green tea is high in antioxidants that stimulate body metabolism and flushes out all toxins.

Healthy metabolism is directly proportional to a healthy weight. Hence, green tea can play a role in weight loss (24).

Daily intake of green tea can have an amazing effect on your body. Here’s how green tea can help you lose excess fat:

Contains mild caffeine: Caffeine in green tea has proved to boost metabolism in women and increase the results of physical training (25).

Contains EGCG: EGCG or Epigallocatechin gallate is naturally present in green tea that helps to break down fat cells providing more energy to the body (26).

Boosts metabolism: Green tea increases natural metabolism which reduces fat accumulation in the body, resulting in healthy weight loss.

Take away: Green tea accelerates body metabolism that prevents the storage of fat and improves workout results. It contains natural plant compounds that break down fat cells and release more energy to the body.

8. Chose Healthier Snacks over Greasy ones

Snacking is a great way to satiate small hunger pangs. Snacking can help you control your meal portions to lose excess fat.

A slight appetite can be pacified with some healthy snacks. Avoiding snacking completely can make you hungrier and you might end up eating a larger meal than required. This excess consumption can lead to extra fat accumulation.

Your body can benefit from snacking if only followed more healthily. Healthy snacking includes nutritional snacks at the right timings.

Right time to snack: Studies have shown that women who indulged in mid-morning snacking lost less weight compared to those who followed non-mid-morning snacking. Also snacking in the afternoon has resulted in higher fiber intake than in non-afternoon snackers (27).

Healthy snacks: You can appease your snacking appetite with healthier options like mixed nuts, dark chocolate, mixed berries, apple with peanut butter, kale chips, etc. You can also munch on nutritionally balanced granola bars or celery sticks.

Take away: Healthy snacking is a great way to keep meal portions in control adding nutrition to your body. Snacking should be done at the right time with the right food to maintain a healthy weight.

9. Try Mindful Eating, Avoid Distractions

It is a common practice to eat while checking out on gadgets. These electronic distractions take away our focus from the amount of food we are consuming.

Consequently, we end up eating food in the wrong quantities that again aids in weight gain (28). It is also a common habit to eat whatever appears healthy without probing its nutritional quotient.

Here are the ways to follow mindful eating:

Chew your food properly: Chewing aids in better digestion and also signals your brain on the amount of food you are consuming (29).

Avoid distractions: Focus on your food while eating. This will let your brain decide on the right amount of food that is required for your body.

Eat at the right time: Follow a proper daily routine while eating. Don’t prolong or shorten the time between meals. This harms your system which might lead to unhealthy weight gain.

Don’t skip meals: Skipping meals will make you hungrier for the next meal. This will lead to excess intake of food or even lure you to unhealthy snacking.

Choose portions modestly: The amount of food you consume has to be nutritionally balanced with portions of protein, vitamin, fiber, and other micro-nutrients.

Take away: Eating mindfully lets you manage your meals both quantitatively and qualitatively. Also, eating the right food at the right time has a good impact on your body helping you maintain a healthy weight.

10. Start the Day with a Wholesome Breakfast

Since our focus in this article is on balanced nutrition and not crash dieting, we will talk about the importance of a hearty breakfast.

Beginning your day with a wholesome breakfast can prove to be a healthy start to lose excess weight (30).

Here’s how a healthy breakfast can help you lose excess fat:

Fulfill nutritional quotient: A wholesome breakfast in the morning can meet your body’s nutritional requirements to a great extent. This will help you adjust meal portions throughout the day.

Curbs hunger: Healthy breakfast satiates your appetite for a long time. This will make you feel less hungry for your lunch.

Energize body to live active: Proper nutritional intake gives your body the required amount of energy to stay active all day. This energy is used to burn more calories through various activities.

Boosts metabolism: Balanced nutrition stimulates metabolism in our body with the first meal of the day. This regulates the system to burn more fat and calories to help you maintain a healthy weight.

Take away: A balanced nutritional breakfast can help you control your day’s appetite and also fulfill your body’s dietary requirement. A healthy breakfast is a natural energizer that boosts metabolism resulting in reducing obesity.

11. Stay Hydrated throughout the Day

A healthy diet is incomplete without proper hydration. Drinking the right amount of water at the right time can have a beneficial impact on your body weight (31).

Here are the benefits of drinking water for weight management:

Reduce appetite: Having a glass of water before every meal has proved to curb hunger (32). Not only it hydrates your body but it also makes you release the portion you need to consume.

Controls calorie intake: Water is devoid of any calories, so an increase in water intake will lower your appetite resulting in less calorie consumption. Replacing sugary drinks with water will also have a similar impact.

Burn excess calories: Water has proved to speed up thermogenesis in humans (33). This means water can accelerate the calorie burning process and also promotes energy expenditure.

Flush out toxins: Dehydration leads to waste build-up in the body that makes women appear bloated. Water hydrates the body and removes all waste materials to maintain a healthy weight.

Amount of water consumption varies from person to person according to their body type and age group.

There are other determining factors also, like people who sweat more or exercise need to intake more water. Elderly women and breast-feeding mothers should monitor their water consumption.

Take away: Water can suppress appetite to help control calorie intake and also acts as a substitute for sugary drinks. Water also hydrates the body eliminating accumulated toxins that result in swelling.

12. Reduce Stress and Get Adequate Sleep

When you take care of your mental health, your physical health also improves. Anxiety management and adequate sleep can help you maintain a healthy weight.

Anxiety or stress can play an active role in weight gain (34). A stressed mind leads to the formation of cortisol hormone that induces over-eating and also fatigue.

Thus, stress management is important for women to maintain a healthy weight and lead an active life.

Sleep is inversely proportional to stress and thus inadequate sleep can be the cause of excess body fat (35). 

Check out ways in which sufficient sleep can help you fight obesity:

Control hunger pangs: An 8 hours sleep not only gives 8 hours of relaxation to your body but also controls your appetite that long.

Controls calorie intake: To a certain point, the longer your sleep the longer you stay away from food consumption. While you are sleeping your body is slowly burning calories without consuming any.

Regulate metabolism: Proper sleep aids in healthy metabolism that breaks fat cells to release energy.

Take away: Proper sleep and stress management can help reduce obesity in women by decreasing appetite for a prolonged period. It also leads to healthy metabolism that burns calories and prevents fatigue in women.

13. Stay Active to Maintain Healthy Weight

An active lifestyle means better metabolism and healthy weight management (36). However, there are limitations to exercise for elderly women or women suffering from certain health issues.

In that case, women might practice lighter activities like walking that has proved immensely beneficial in reducing obesity (37).

Walking for an hour every day can help burn calories as it requires a lot of energy. A study has also proved walking to help reduce belly fat (38).

Women who love physical workout will be at more advantage to fight obesity (39). Here’s why:

Burn calories faster: Low-calorie intake will contribute to weight loss but calorie burning will result in fat loss. Exercise requires a lot of energy which the body suffices by burning calories at a faster rate.

Burns stored fat: To compensate for the calorie that is burnt to produce energy during exercise, the body burns all accumulated fat. This leads to healthy weight management.

The effects of physical activity may have a variable impact from person to person. However, a light activity accompanied by a balanced diet can do wonders to weight management in women.

Take away: Physical activity increases the calorie-burning process which leads to the burning of stored fat. A light activity is important for women of all age groups to lead an active lifestyle and fight obesity.

14. Follow Right Schedule for Lunch and Dinner

The right meal timing is as necessary as the right meal. There should be a proper diet routine that includes balanced nutrition along with meal schedules (40).

Proper meal schedule must include moderate intervals between breakfast, snacking times, lunch and dinner. This has proven to be effective in healthy weight loss (41).

Following are the benefits that scheduled meals have on your body:

Stimulate metabolism: Following scheduled eating will help your body function in order. This will regulate proper metabolism as your body will be adapted to calorie intake time and fasting time.

Maintain proper sleep cycle: Scheduled meals with balanced nutrition will ensure you don’t get that midnight cravings for unhealthy snacking. You get undisturbed sleep without calorie intake breaks.

Control appetite: Your body gradually gets to follow your meal schedule and is most likely to induce appetite at mealtime only.

Better digestion: Body metabolism is higher during the day and gradually decreases to reach its minimum at night. Plan your meal schedule accordingly to help your body digest food completely without turning them into excess fat.

Take away: Proper mealtime improves body metabolism to convert food into energy rather than fat. It also helps in regulating appetite and maintaining a proper sleep cycle leading to healthy weight management.

The bottom line in ways for healthy weight management without dieting

Healthy weight management does not mean you have to deprive yourself of food and fight hunger. It can be done more healthily and conveniently too without stressing your body.

Weight loss does not always mean losing muscle strength; therefore, it should be focused on losing accumulated fat. It also means optimal regulation of your body functions with a wholesome diet and active lifestyle.

These 14 ways stated above can be helpful for women of all age groups. Whether you dream of a slimmer waistline or fighting a health condition that requires weight loss, a healthy weight is desirable to all.

Healthy weight management does not only contribute to the ideal body mass index it also helps you avoid diseases like diabetes, arthritis, blood pressure, respiratory problems, and even cardiovascular diseases. In some cases obesity might lead to depression and lack of confidence in women.

All the methods stated above are no rocket science. You can follow them by making slight changes in your daily routine. If a minor change in your food habits and lifestyle is giving you a healthy body for life, then it is definitely worth it.