How To Lose Weight Without Exercise Part 1: Eliminate Grains

Want to Lose Weight Without Exercise?

Well I can tell you from my own experience that one of the fastest and most effective ways to do that is to eliminate grains.

Now I’m sure some of you might be thinking…

What do you mean eliminate grains? You mean I can’t eat any bread, pasta, cereal? Come on that’s crazy!

Take it easy. When I say eliminate I’m not saying you have to eliminate them forever, well at least not right now.

Baby steps.

Just start by eliminating grains from 1 meal for let’s say 5 days in a row.

See how you feel and how you look. I’m sure you will feel and look better.

When you’re ready you can begin to elminate grains from additional meals throughout the day.

I’ll be providing some examples of “grain free” meals down the road but for now let’s take  a look at why this works.

Why does eliminating grains help you lose weight?

Grains like Bread, Pasta, Bagels and Cereal are full of carbohydrates. When we consume carbs our bodies will immediately use some of the carbs for fuel and then store the rest for fuel later on. These stored carbs are called glycogen.

Here’s where it gets interesting – for every gram of glycogen that our bodies store we store an additional 2-4 grams of water.

So when we eat more carbs than what our bodies need to use immediately, we store the extra carbs AND a whole bunch of water!

Therefore by eliminating the grains you eliminate a whole bunch of water weight that you don’t need to be lugging around.

A great “not too scientific” explanation can be found  in this article “Understanding Bodyweight and Glycogen Depletion” by Justin Owings.

But don’t I need carbs for energy?

You may be thinking that you need all those carbs that you consume every day but contrary to popular belief, our bodies don’t need a ton of carbs to operate efficiently and we get enough from much healthier options like vegetables and fruits.

As many low carb and Peleo dieters will tell you,  cutting grains (stuff like bread, cereal, pasta etc.) from our diet not only makes us look better but also feel better.

You just don’t get that  super tired feeling after you eat or as I like to call it the “food coma” and you don’t get any bloated feeling. Ever eat a few pieces of pizza and then a half hour later feel like your stomach was going to explode? That’s the bloated feeling.

When you cut the grains and eat whole “real” foods, you feel full and satisfied but not bloated and have the same energy level as you did before you ate. No energy crash. That really helps make the afternoons at work a lot more productive.

Even if a Low Carb or Paleo diet seems a little too hard core to try out right now you will still see some great improvements in weight loss if you just cut out some of the grains that you eat on a regular basis.

So what are some simple ways to eliminate grains from meals?

A. Breakfast

If you normally eat: Cereal, Oatmeal, a Bagel or Toast

Eat This Instead: Protein Shake or Eggs (Scrambled, Hard Boiled, Poached, Fried or Omellette)

B. Lunch

If you normally eat: A Sandwich, Burger, Pizza, Pasta, Hoagie (Hero/Grinder)

Eat This Instead: A salad with some protein (like chicken, hard boiled eggs, beef or a fish like salmon) and some healthy fats like avocado, olive oil and vinegar or coconut oil.

C. Dinner

If you normall eat: Pizza, Pasta, Sandwich, Hoagie (Here/Grinder)

Eat This Instead: Grilled or Baked Chicken, Steak, Pork, Fish with steamed vegetables and Rice or a Sweet Potato

Another way to look at is try to eat some type of protein (beef, pork, fish, eggs, chicken, turkey) with some vegetables (broccoli, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers etc.) at every meal. Fruit isn’t bad but make sure you’re also getting your protein and vegetables.

Just start with one meal. Focus on sticking to this plan for one meal for five days in a row  and then do what you normally do for the other meals and don’t worry about doing it at all for the other 2 days.

Here’s an example of how you can plan this out to make it a little easier.

	GF Meal	What I Will Eat
Monday	Breakfast	Scrambled Eggs & Bacon
Tuesday	Breakfast	Protein Shake
Wednesday	Dinner	Grilled Steak with Steamed Broccoli
Thursday	Lunch	Salad with Grilled Chicken
Friday	Lunch	Salad with 2-3 Hard Boiled Eggs
Saturday	N/A	Have grains if you want
Sunday	N/A	Have grains if you want

If you like that spreadsheet you can download it free right here Grain Free Meal Planner

Seriously, try this for a week and you will be amazed at how much weight you will lose around your waist and how much better you feel.

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