10 Ways to Lose Weight: Passively, Without Trying

I hate going to the gym. The reasons why I recently canceled my gym membership in lieu of an at home gym: I save money, my home gym is just a few steps away, and I am not subjected to stares from the muscle heads that tend to hog the gym weights. I approach my health goals with a three-pronged attack: a healthy diet, hitting it hard with my home gym, and passive exercising throughout the day. Here are my 10 ways to lose weight – without even trying.

#1. Take the stairs instead of the elevators or escalators. This one should be obvious. Walking up the stairs is more challenging and will allow you to burn more calories throughout the day. Also here's a tip: taking the stairs one at a time burns more calories than leaping up them.

#2. Walk to your destination instead of taking public transportation. I am a walker, and you will see me walking to my destination if it is less than 20 blocks away. All I need is my iPhone with my music and I could walk very long distances.

#3. Walk faster. It's all about moving briskly, regardless if you're walking up the stairs or walking to a destination. Please don't be like one of these New York tourists who do this crawling thing that they call walking.

#4. Eat spicy foods. Jalapenos are a mild weight loss aid. Dihydrocapsiate, the active compound in
jalapenos, can help stimulate your metabolism and weight loss. The only problem with jalapenos, is that some people are intolerant to its hotness or tastes. And that's fine. But if you're going to include jalapenos in your diet, make sure that you leave the inner white membrane. This is where most of the heat is located – and the good fat burning stuff.

#5. Drink a lot of water when you eat. I like to drink a bottle of water before a heavy duty meal - typically that will be dinner. It takes about 20 minutes for the signal between your stomach and your brain to connect and say that you're full. Take time chewing your food and drink a lot of water in between bites. The water will make you feel full faster, allowing your brain and stomach to make a connection to signal satiety.

#6. Be conscious of your eating. No TV and stay away from social eating. Apparently you can eat up to 300 extra calories if you're eating in front of a live television. So don't do it. Also serve food on smaller plates. Your plate will look full with a smaller amount of food, but your brain will still think that you are eating a gigantic plate of food.

#7. Consume lots of protein for breakfast. Protein takes longer to digest, making you feel fuller for longer. So don't be afraid of eating a big piece of steak for breakfast, like a boss.

#8. Prepare snacks. I find that conscious eating works, but sometimes I have to shove something in my mouth because I am either running late for school or just because I want to eat something. Like, now. Put some guilt-free snacks in a cupboard or in a container. My favorite guilt-free snacks include a Ziploc bag of pumpkin seeds, a mango, or a handful of low calorie, low fat popcorn. Whenever you have hunger pangs, give yourself an allowance of one treat.

#9. Diet apps for the iPhone and/or android: These diet apps allow you to record the foods that you eat, as well as their corresponding calorie count. Some apps, like Lose It! I like to scan the code of different food items, pulling up important nutritional content. Super convenient.

#10. Dilute fruit juices with water. Carton juices are hardly natural and are full of sugar. Sorry, nope – I don't care what you say. It simply is. I like to dilute juices with water. One part water to 10 part juice will do. But if you're serious about weight loss and serious about your health, then I totally advocate five parts water to 10 parts. I specially like to do this with citrus-based juices like Tropicana.