7 Quick Weight Loss Tips for Busy Moms

If there is one thing I hear from moms all of the time, it’s that they want to lose weight, but they just don’t have the TIME. Well in this post, I’m going to share with you some killer weight loss tips for moms that will help you save time while trying to reach your weight loss goals!🙌

I have 3 kids y’all! 3 beautiful, needy, energetic little creatures that I also happen to homeschool. That means that I don’t have time to be slaving away in the kitchen on complicated recipes or exercising at all hours of the day.

I didn’t have the time when I started losing weight and I don’t have the time now that I’m in maintenance.

I rely on simple but effective habits that keep my weight in check without taking up a lot of my time. These easy tricks make such a huge difference when it comes to weight loss for moms, that they are some of the very first things I teach my weight loss clients in Losing it for the Last Time.

I know you are a busy momma, so let’s dive into those tips before someone asks you for a snack (again). 😂

Disclosure: This site uses affiliate links. If you click on one of the links and make a purchase I may receive a small commission. This doesn’t change the price for you and helps to support this blog. To learn more about my policy, click here.

Now before we dive in, I just want to let you know that these tips are going to sound simple. For some of you, they are going to sound too simple.

You might think to yourself, “Candice, I have a lot of weight to lose. This isn’t going to cut it!.” Don’t worry, I understand.

When I first heard some of these tips, I was a bit skeptical too. But trust me, over a year’s worth of personal experience plus what I have seen from others definitely proves these steps work!

However, they are only simple tips and ways to save you time and make weight loss easier. They aren’t an entire weight loss program by themselves. You can find that here.

Meal Plan

The very first weight loss tip for moms is to plan your meals ahead of time. This can either be by planning just your dinners for the week or planning out your meals for the entire day.

Either way, putting your meals down ahead of time is a huge time (and sanity) saver. Here are some of my favorite reasons to meal plan:

You are 42% more likely to follow through with your healthy meals if you write them down.

You will plan healthier meals when you aren’t hungry, tired, or stressed.
It helps you to be more organized about when to start cooking.
You don’t have to waste precious brain cells trying to figure out something decent to cook after a long day when everyone is getting hangry.

Have I convinced you yet? Meal planning is often the difference between me eating a healthy meal some nights and saying forget it and ordering a pizza or hitting the drive-through because I’m just too tired to think.

Meal Prep

My second weight loss tip for busy moms is to meal prep. Y’all I am a HUGE fan of meal prepping. I love it so much that I meal prepped on Mother’s Day recently.

It’s become such a huge part of my life that I was willing to sacrifice “my time” on Mother’s Day so I didn’t have to cook all week.

It saves you time!

Meal prepping is so helpful for weight loss because it means that you don’t have to cook all week long! Long day running kids around to practice and you don’t get home until 7:00 pm?

Dinner can be ready in 5 minutes! A healthy dinner can be ready in 5 minutes!

Too tired to think of something to eat? You don’t have to! It’s already made.

Even the math makes sense on this one. I usually spend about 2-3 hours doing my meal prep cooking on the weekend.

Back when I used to cook dinner every night, I would have to get started at least an hour before we were going to eat. So 3 hours of cooking on 1 day vs 1 hour of cooking 7 nights a week??

You can see now why I was willing to do my meal prep cooking on Mother’s Day. I literally see it as a gift of time I give myself every week.

It’s also great because my kids can easily pull out meals for their own lunches and dinners throughout the week if I’m tied up or doing something.

It makes it easier to stick to your meal plan.

Meal planning makes it so much easier to stick to your diet plan. The food is already made and waiting for you when you get hungry. There are no issues about being too hungry and you can’t wait for the healthy food because you need something now.

It takes less time to pop your food in the microwave than it would for you to hit the drive-through or order a pizza.

It also makes it easy to eat healthy when your family doesn’t. Got picky eaters that don’t like your healthy food? You can heat up their separate dinner and your dinner in less time than it would take you to make 1 regular dinner.

Meal prepping saves you time during the week and makes it easier to stick to your diet. It’s one of my favorite ways to make weight loss easier.

Choose Short Intense Workouts

My next weight loss tip for moms is to plan short intense workouts. A lot of the time, we think we need to be doing long workouts to see any results.

I can’t tell you how many people talk about spending an hour at the gym or longer.

I mean, if you have the time that’s great. But I sure don’t, and I don’t know too many other moms who do either.

Exercise is important, but it doesn’t have to take up a lot of time to give you results. Instead, you can plan short, intense workouts.

And when I say short, I’m talking 20 minutes or less will get the job done. So instead of exercising for an hour 3 days a week, try working out for 20 minutes 5 days a week.

You can do some high-intensity interval workouts, focus on strength training and do burnout drills, or just up the intensity of your normal workouts.

Either way, you can get the same results in a shorter period of time. It’s better to finish more short workouts than to plan longer workouts you never get done because you don’t have time.

Skip the Calorie Counting

My next weight loss tip for moms is to skip calorie counting. Calorie counting requires a lot of time and mental energy to keep up with to be successful.

You have to not only track every single bite that goes into your mouth but then you have to figure out how many calories are in a serving? How much of it did I eat? Out of the 250 options for a burrito, which one should I choose?

And then you have to track your exercise. Which is also difficult to be 100% accurate with. I can’t tell you how many times I would get frustrated while logging my calories because I couldn’t find a good match for my workout that day.

Weight loss by itself is difficult enough. Adding in complicated systems for tracking your meals just adds a whole other layer to the struggle.

You can read more about why counting calories doesn’t work for long-term weight loss here.

Focus on intuitive eating instead.

Instead of counting calories, focus on intuitive eating. Learn to start eating only when physically hungry and to stop eating when satisfied.

This method for stopping overeating is so much more effective for weight loss. It allows you to give your body the nutrition it needs without having to try to stay within tiny calorie ranges.

It has the same results as counting calories, but it’s easier to maintain for the long term and helps create a better relationship with food.

Track Your Food the Easy Way

My next weight loss tip for moms is to track your food the easy way. Although I am NOT a fan of counting calories, I do know how important it is to track your food.

Tracking your food gives you data about which meals and foods are working for your weight loss. If you had a week where you lost 5 pounds, odds are pretty good you want a repeat of that next week.

Want to know the best way to make sure that happens? Eat the same foods! You can only do that if you know what you ate that week.

If you’ve hit a plateau in your weight loss and you’re wondering why one of the best things to do is go back over the last 2 weeks and evaluate your eating.

Maybe you have been snacking too much. Maybe too much late-night eating. Maybe it’s time to level up and make some healthy substitutions.

All of these steps can help, but if you don’t have any data it’s hard to know where to start.

Use your phone to take pictures of your meals.

My favorite way to track my meals is to take a picture of it. Right before I eat I snap a quick photo with my phone and then dig in.

There are a few apps like Ate that you can use to easily take pictures with your phone and track your food. You can review it at the end of the week or month.

You can also simply store them in a folder on your phone. Either way, it’s a much faster system than typing each meal into your phone or writing it out by hand.

Drink 64 oz. of Water a Day

My next weight loss tip is to drink that water! Drinking water makes a HUGE impact on your weight loss and it doesn’t take a lot of time.

The ultimate goal is to eventually drink half your body weight in oz of water a day. So for example, if you weigh 175lbs, you should be drinking 87.5 oz of water a day.

Now, I know that’s a lot. Especially if you aren’t currently drinking very much water. I recommend you start by just adding in a few extra glasses a day.

You can drink 1 glass when you first wake up, 1 glass with breakfast, lunch, and dinner and you’re already at 32 oz. You can slowly add in more water from there as you get more accustomed to drinking it.

Health benefits of water.

I often hear a lot of women dismiss drinking water as a way to help with weight loss. Either they “don’t like” water, or it just doesn’t feel like it’s “enough.”

So let me be clear on all of the fabulous benefits of drinking water and why you don’t want to skip this step if weight loss is important to you.

Cuts down on food cravings: First off, drinking water helps take up some extra space in your stomach. This helps send the signal to your brain that you don’t need to eat. It also keeps your body from sending false hunger signals because you’re getting dehydrated.
Helps regulate your body’s systems: Your body needs water to function properly. Your intestinal tract, your hormones, your brain, your muscles… everything works better when you are hydrated. So your body is going to work better and lose weight faster when you drink enough water.

Help keep your skin hydrated: Not only does it help your skin look better overall, but if loose skin is a concern, you want to stay as hydrated as possible when you lose weight. This will help keep your skin as firm as possible as the weight comes off.
It helps your body recover from soreness: As your body recovers from a tough workout, drinking water and staying properly hydrated will help that soreness go away faster.

Sounds pretty good right? I can tell you this for sure. On the days that I stay on top of my water, I eat less, feel better, and have much better results the next day when I step on the scale.

Get 7-8 Hours of Sleep at Night

My last weight loss tip for moms is to get 7-8 hours of sleep each night. This is another step that seems insignificant but can have a big impact on your weight loss.

Getting a good’s night sleep affects your weight loss in a number of ways. First off, being tired is going to cause more cravings for junk food.

I can’t tell you how many times I have turned to food, (the more sugar or carbs the better) to help get me through the day when I was feeling tired. When our bodies need energy because we didn’t get enough sleep, it’s too easy to go looking for an extra snack.

Secondly, it’s way harder to stick to a diet plan when you’re tired. You just don’t have the mental energy to fight with yourself.

And the third way sleep benefits weight loss is that it gives your body more chance to burn fat. The longer you are asleep, the longer you will go between your last meal of the night and your first meal in the morning.

That’s longer than your body has to start tapping into your fat stores for energy. Which means the number on the scale goes down faster for you.

Conclusion on Weight Loss Tips for Busy Moms

So those are my top 7 weight loss tips for moms. These tips are simple but effective ways that you can make your weight loss easier and faster. Even as a busy mom who already has a lot on her plate.

If you want to learn more about how to lose weight without deprivation, calorie counting, and misery, head on over to my coaching page and sign up for a FREE call. We can discuss a plan for getting you to your goal weight once and for all!

Got any other quick weight loss tips for moms? Comment below or email me at Candice@littlestepsbighappy.com. Follow me on Pinterest for more weight loss tips and advice.

Looking for more weight loss tips?

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Candice McDaniel

I’m a busy mom of 3 turned Health and Fitness Coach and Self Defense Instructor. I help inspire other moms to reach their health, fitness, and weight loss goals. You can usually find me chasing my kiddos around, training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or sneaking away to read romance novels. About Me

7 Quick Weight Loss Tips for Busy Moms

Disclosure: This site uses affiliate links. If you click on one of the links and make a purchase I may receive a small commission. This doesn’t change the price for you and helps to support this blog. To learn more about my policy, click here.