14 Tips & Tricks: Healthy weight loss for working people who don't have time to cook

You have finally decided to lose a few pounds and would like to do it healthily? An individual nutrition plan can be a great help with this—at least when you are home and have access to your kitchen. But what do you do when you travel a lot for work or eat out often? Healthy weight loss is also possible for working people—even if you have little time or desire to cook. The following tips and tricks will help you to finally start shedding pounds and reaching your goal weight—in spite of lack of time.

Let’s start with the “do’s” before we look at the “don’ts”, both of which taken together provide a simple set of guidelines for healthy weight loss for working people

Water fills the stomach and is an important component of a healthy diet. It should be drunk daily in sufficient quantities, even when you’re on-the-go you should always drink 2-3 liters per day. In addition to water, you can also drink the occasional coffee or green tea. Alcohol, coke and fruit juices on the other hand, are 100% taboo during your weight loss phase, as they negatively affect your weight loss process. If you do crave something a little fruity, a juice spritzer (in the ratio of one part fruit juice to four parts of water) is occasionally possible, but in general, it’s better to go for infused water—fruit slices or herbs soaked in water—rather than a fruit spritzer. When you’re in a restaurant, you should drink water before meals and between courses. This not only slows down your food intake but also makes you feel full faster and stay full longer.

Not only is it easier to resist unhealthy temptations at home, it’s also easier to plan and cook healthier meals. Only in the rarest cases will you find restaurants and cafes serving meals that support healthy weight loss and provide you with all your essential micro and macronutrients. Never leave the house with an empty stomach. If you have a breakfast sweet tooth, go for complex carbohydrates such as oatmeal and fresh fruits, but skip the short-chain carbohydrates, such as jam, Nutella, and white flour products, which send your blood sugar and hunger on a rollercoaster ride throughout the day. A more hearty breakfast option is whole grain bread, which you can top with cottage cheese and lean poultry sausage to provide your body with sufficient protein and healthy fats. Both cottage cheese and poultry sausage ensure a stable blood sugar level and support your weight loss process. Healthy weight loss can also be tasty. Nuts and seeds are the perfect snack: they provide healthy fats and energy throughout the day. Keep a good supply in your pantry so it’s always easy to bring a handful with you if you have to rush out the door in the morning.

Sometimes only small adjustments to your daily habits are needed to start losing weight and achieving long-term visible success. One adjustment that is possible for everyone concerns the so-called “side dish”. In many meals, the side dish has enough calories to be nearly an entire meal on its own, so pay close attention to what you’re actually eating. Veggies are always a safe bet. Every successful diet program includes a high percentage of vegetables because they provide many nutrients and fiber but few calories. For example, you can replace calorie and carbohydrate-rich side dishes like French fries, pasta, bread, or rice with a mixed salad or grilled vegetable plate. If you do this regularly, and only occasionally reach for the simple carbs, you have already taken a very important step towards healthy weight loss. Healthy eating is a lifestyle that you integrate step by step into your life and then becomes second nature.

There are a few simple rules that can help you make the right decisions when eating in a restaurant: Grilled dishes are generally healthier than breaded ones. The breading itself is a calorie trap: breaded often also implies: fried in a lot of fat—a clear no-go. Steamed or slowly cooked foods are better for healthy weight loss than braised dishes. Even after preparation, these gentler cooking methods preserve many valuable micro elements such as vitamins, which are simply cooked away with many other methods. With these two methods, you can also reduce your salt intake during a diet. This also helps with healthy weight loss, because salt (found in excess in many breaded, fried, and braised foods) binds water inside of your cells and thus makes your weight loss process more difficult.

Have you ever been to a vegan, vegetarian or Paleo restaurant? If not, now is the time to change that. The three diets share the common philosophy that only natural, unprocessed, and fresh ingredients should be used in food preparation. They offer a variety of delicious food for all occasions and also use refreshing new foods and spices that you may not have tried before. Healthy weight loss means expanding your horizons and bringing new, healthy food choices to your personal diet. Of course, spaghetti with tomato sauce is also vegetarian, but with the knowledge from the first four points in this article, you should be able to choose a healthier dish with plenty of vegetables and possibly some lean meat or fish instead..

It does not always have to be a restaurant. Many delicious dishes that support healthy weight loss can be prepared quickly and easily. This not only saves time—it’s also delicious, healthy, and results in fewer leftovers in the bin. Furthermore, making your own meals means you can keep track of the ingredients that go into your food, which is an important key to healthy weight loss. There is a huge variety of simple and healthy dishes that you can prepare in less than 1/2 an hour in our Recipe Database. Normally, it makes sense to do meal prep in the evening, have a small portion for dinner, and then save the rest in a Tupperware for lunch the following day. Our article on meal prep and precooking will provide you with the best tips and tricks for a structured preparation of your week.

In the work cafeteria, you can usually just relax and be served: “some of this, some of that, no, none of that please”. That’s all good and well, just be sure to eat lots of vegetables, preferably green vegetables like broccoli, zucchini or spinach. These contain—whether warm or cold—important nutrients that help you lose weight healthily.  If you are not vegetarian or vegan, go for some lean meat, fish, or poultry to supply your body with good protein. And go light on the sauces in the cafeteria. Packaged sauces are often full of flavorings, sugar, and extra fat—and it is not unusual for a dish to quite literally float in these unhealthy mixtures. Use sauces only in very small quantities, or avoid them completely.

As you can see: healthy weight loss is —even for professionals— not rocket science. It’s actually determined by a few simple rules. Hectic everyday life can make us forget these simple rules or consciously decide against following them; this can later lead to frustration, regret, or simply giving up. Do not make it so hard on yourself. There will always be a few small setbacks in life, but always strive to stay on the ball as much as possible, because ultimately only consistency and patience will lead to your goal. Most often, our resolve and best intentions fail because of simple things: too little sleep, negative feelings, or too much stress. This means it’s important to take breaks in your work day to consciously relax and rest— it’s scientifically proven you can accomplish more in a day if you take breaks to rest than you can if you work non-stop. Try to get seven or more hours of sleep regularly and supplement this with a twenty-minute power nap at noon or a short meditation session, to free your mind of negative thoughts. You’ll not only be doing something for your health and weight loss goals, but also your overall well-being.

Now that you know what you should do, there is also a list of things that you should not do under any circumstances: the don’ts of healthy weight loss for working people.

Fast food has earned a bad reputation over the years, and for good reason. A juicy burger with salty fries may be very tempting, but we can only advise against this during your diet. The best option available would be to leave off the burger bun and order a salad instead of fries. But even this (along with pizza, kebabs, currywurst, noodles, etc.) is best avoided—only eaten on rare occasions. It comes as no surprise that these tasty treats provide us with very few useful, weight-loss-promoting nutrients. Frying oil and other added fats along with sugary sauces such as ketchup or mayo and the gluten-containing dough are the exact opposite of the foods in a healthy low-carb diet, causing our blood sugar and lipid levels to spike immensely. In addition, the “delicious” taste of fast food is usually the result of flavor enhancers that adversely affect our health, eating habits, and sense of taste. All these factors taken together mean one thing: fast food and healthy weight loss can never be friends. Not in this life!

In general, mixed salads contain many important nutrients for a balanced diet and a healthy diet. However, the devil is in the details and the wrong dressing can turn the healthiest salad into a real calorie bomb. Ready-made yogurt and French dressing are particularly high in sugar and calories and should definitely be avoided! Choose the olive oil and vinegar dressings instead. If possible, get your dressing in the restaurant on the side so that you can control how much goes on your salad. A home-made yogurt dressing with salt, pepper, and a little mustard is also ok. For example, if you want to spice up your salad, choose a few (roasted) seeds, some feta, chili, or chicken breast strips instead of the ready-made dressing. By the way: We recommend a tomato-mozzarella salad, not only does it contain high-quality protein, fiber, and trace elements, it’s also delicious.

Whether with soup or salad, as an appetizer before the main meal or with the meal itself: white bread or other white flour products are often the side dish that really makes you feel full and seems to complete your meal. Unfortunately, white flour contains virtually no valuable nutrients that are conducive to healthy weight loss. Quite the reverse. We recommend removing white flour products completely from your diet. Your blood sugar levels will thank you— plus, white flour is a pro-inflammatory food and associated with many chronic diseases. Our tip: Healthy weight loss is best achieved without white flour products — and removing them will also positively affect your health.

Restaurants that are known for their hearty home cooking should be avoided as much as possible during your weight loss phase. Greasy meat, creamy sauces, and sugary desserts lurk around every corner. If you do visit such restaurants, replace the pork knuckle and fried potatoes with fish and healthy vegetables. Even in the quaint inn, you’ll be able to find a few gems on the menu that will not completely sabotage your diet. Fresh market vegetables such as healthy kale or asparagus are available in most restaurants — and if you leave off the greasy sauces—very good for your body. Add a piece of lean meat or fish and you have halved the calories of your meal and doubled the nutrients.

Single and double sugars, such as sucrose, glucose or fructose, have a strong influence on your blood sugar level. These sugars are quickly processed by your body, and cause your blood sugar to rise just as quickly, which is not good for your body. According to studies, this leads to fatigue and increased hunger— two side effects that are already among the most common and unpleasant at the beginning of a diet change. Recurring fatigue not only makes your everyday life difficult, it also reduces your willpower. Your brain is hardwired to reward itself by seeking out foods that release dopamine. You’ll be more likely to get tempted and eat junk foods when your willpower is reduced because modern junk foods cause much more dopamine to be released than whole foods. This in turn causes blood sugar spikes which further reduce your will power— a vicious circle! Best to avoid this rollercoaster all together. This is the reason why Upfit Nutritional Plans use very low glycemic index foods—foods that are slow to affect blood sugar—and healthy carbohydrates that promote your healthy weight loss without side effects. Sugar also has the unpleasant side effect that your taste buds develop a tolerance to sweet flavors and, over time, you unconsciously seek out sweeter and sweeter foods. After two to three weeks of complete sugar deprivation your taste buds will adjust and you will find many “normal” things taste very sweet. Muesli, for example, usually has a lot more sugar than you would think or is necessary. Better to keep your fingers off the sugar and look for sugar-free alternatives.

When people are stressed or short on time, they tend to grab for the bag of chips, the chocolate bar, or other unhealthy snacks. This is not only unhealthy—it can also make the quick road to your goal weight infinitely long. Small snacks throughout the day can add up to hundreds of calories: “mini” chocolate bars alone contain about two hundred calories—per bar! Eating these sweet snacks also makes you more likely to continue snacking far beyond your calorie budget (see point 5). Soda and other sweet drinks also fall into the snack category—often containing just those extra calories that make you gain weight at the end of the day. If you replace this junk food with healthy snacks, you’ll do a lot to promote your healthy weight loss in a short time—without having to give up treats entirely. Unsalted and unroasted nuts and seeds, for example, contain many good fats and micronutrients and lower cholesterol levels. At the same time, the polyunsaturated fatty acids in nuts increase your brain’s performance. Most nut varieties also contain high levels of antioxidants that neutralize free radicals and protect our cells. For nut allergic people, low-sugar fruits are a healthy snack alternative. Apples, tangerines, blueberries and other berries are a great substitute for unhealthy snacks, as are vegetable sticks and some raw food products. “Traditional snacking”—e.g. fast food, baked goods, chips— is just like alcohol in that during your diet phase it has no place in your life. At the very most they should be reserved for rare exceptions such as a movie or a party. Healthy weight loss means above all setting the right priorities with eating and drinking.

• Boiled eggs
• Canned fish such as salmon or tuna
• Cottage cheese or unsweetened natural yoghurt with fruit
• Nuts and seeds (provide healthy fats)
• Vegetable sticks (possibly with nut butter as a dip)
• Grilled vegetables
• Fruits such as berries, apples, or citrus fruits
• Protein Shake (without additional sweeteners
• Dried meats (raw ham, beef jerky)
• Healthy drinks (water, unsweetened coffee, green tea)

If you follow these simple rules, healthy weight loss is possible —even if you work full time or have a busy schedule. With the necessary commitment to your goal, and some additional exercise to counteract long periods of sitting, you can easily reach your desired weight.