- One of the most important tips to remember is to keep a food and exercise journal and write EVERYTHING down regardless of how insignificant it may seem. There are many advantages to keeping a food log. The most important one is that we always think that we ate less than we did. If your weight loss isn’t coming along as you expect, you can look back and see what went wrong. If you had a particularly successful week, you can duplicate it again.
- Writing down your daily exercise helps also in achieving success. If you’re at all competitive, you’ll want to increase your energy expenditure each week.
- Ask your doctor to perform lab work. Seeing your cholesterol and triglyceride numbers may shock you into taking action!
- One of the most important tips is to get plenty of sleep. There is a strong link between sleep loss and weight gain.
- Don’t skip meals. Make your breakfast your priority. Eat it within an hour of waking up. Plan carefully for nutrition that will carry you throughout your day.
- Plan ahead. This is one of the most important tips for me personally. If I imagine ahead of time what the obstacles will be at a certain dinner or event, I can create a plan in my mind and stick to it more easily. If I’m blindsided by tempting, unexpected goodies, I’m in trouble! Before going to a familiar restaurant, think about the choices on the menu that will be right for you. Don’t forget to imagine that delicious, hot bread that will be put on your table or those hot chips and salsa that will be right in front of you from the time you sit down. Make a rule for yourself about quantity before taking the first bite and stick to it. If you decide ahead of time to indulge in something that you really want and love, you can always compensate for it beforehand or afterward by making low-calorie food choices such as vegetables or fruits for several meals. Think of alcohol the same way. Plan ahead as to quantities so that you’re not making spur of the moment decisions.
- Use Easy Diet Labels to help your family make wise food choices! This is one of the most exciting, innovative weight loss strategies I’ve seen in a long time! Just affix the appropriate labels to the food products in your refrigerator and cupboards.
- Pre-bag your snacks and always have healthy choices at hand. Don’t rely on store-packaged snacks as they’re frequently full of sugar, fat, or sodium.
- Don’t deny yourself to the point that you’ll splurge. No one got fat from eating one or two pieces of pizza. If that is one of your favorite foods, plan for it, savor it, and eat it occasionally instead of regularly. Some health experts advise that you have one meal a week that is totally satisfying.
- Don’t graze! Calories add up fast! One of the most significant tips I learned at Weight Watchers is that the difference between losing (or gaining) weight and maintaining weight can be as little as 200 calories a day! So remember…those licks, tastes, and bites add up!
- Make each meal less than 400 calories. Our bodies can only deal with so much at a time. More than that and chances are some of it is going to be stored as fat! Research shows that overeating stalls the efficient burning of fuel.
- Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time and have quick, healthy foods handy for those times when you’re famished (or stressed, depressed, etc.). Waiting to eat dinner has always been my worst time for snacking. I can eat a whole meal’s calories picking at this and that before sitting down to dinner. Chew gum, use mouthwash, eat some baby carrots…
- Try eating only low-calorie frozen dinners for a period of time. Add a small salad with low-fat dressing and a piece of fruit. Two weeks of proper portion sizes can do wonders to jump-start your diet.
- Research shows that people who sniff peppermint throughout the day consume 3200 fewer calories in a week!
- Omega-3s, long considered essential for protecting our brains, hearts, bones, and joints, are now thought to help us lose weight! Research indicates that they may boost fat metabolism. Whoopee!
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“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude!”
Thomas Jefferson
