Standard weight-loss advice assumes you have time. Some people genuinely don't — new parents, founders during a fundraise, medical residents. The seventeen below are adapted for that reality: either they take under 10 minutes, or they don't take time at all.

Structural (no time required)

1. Smaller plates at every meal.
2. Don't keep snacks in the house.
3. Cut vegetables at eye level in the fridge.
4. Protein at eye level in the fridge too.
5. No sugared drinks stocked; water and unsweetened tea only.
6. One healthy frozen option available for desperate nights.

Under 10 minutes each

7. Pre-made overnight oats (5 min to prep, breakfast handled).
8. Hard-boiled eggs in the fridge for the week.
9. Pre-cut vegetables on Sunday, 20 minutes covers the week.
10. Single-ingredient dinners — salmon + salad, chicken + roast vegetables.
11. A weekly grocery list that doesn't require much thought.
12. Five-minute morning water and electrolytes.

During things you're already doing

13. Walk while on phone calls.
14. Stand during meetings you don't need to sit through.
15. Push-ups or squats during pauses (between Zooms, kid naps).
16. Take stairs where stairs exist.

The one that matters most

17. Protect sleep ferociously. Undersleep drives eating more than any other time-starved variable. Seven hours, non-negotiable, or the other sixteen don't work.

No gym time required. No hour-long meal prep. No rigorous tracking. This is the "I have a newborn / a startup / a residency" version — and it works, though slower than the full-time version.