10 Simple Things You Can Do to Lose Weight!

Losing weight is one of the most difficult tasks to do, especially if your goal is to lose more than 5 to 10 pounds. Sometimes making small lifestyle changes will gain you the greatest rewards.

Too often, dieters will leap right into a less than thought out diet plan that will re-arrange their whole lifestyle, including what they eat, and they don’t stick to it because it creates too much difficulty in their lives.

Willpower is NOT the issue here. “Willpower is about depriving yourself, and nobody gets excited about that,” says Cynthia Sass, a nutritionist with the University of South Florida in Tampa and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. “Besides, depriving yourself is depressing and leads to bingeing. Focus on the positives–you feel better, have more energy when you eat healthy.”

Changing Habits to Lose Weight

Losing the weight does not have to be stressful or difficult… just a few simple changes in habit can make a big difference.

1. Weigh Yourself

The best time to weigh yourself is when you wake up each morning. After climbing out of bed, get on the scale and log your weight immediately. Weighing yourself each morning can create a mental feedback system to see what you are doing right and what needs improvement… doing this each morning should be a motivational tool.

Keep in mind that your weight may fluctuate from day-to-day, so don’t allow yourself to get caught up in disappointment if you don’t like your results.

2. Plan your meals

Planning your meals is probably the #1 thing you can do to lose the weight and keep it off. Start with a calorie calculator to find your daily calorie intake which will be an ‘Estimate’ for the amount of calories needed to maintain your current weight.

Begin by deciding your weight loss goal… if you want to lose 1 pound per week, you will want to cut 500 calories each day from your diet (3500 calories is equal to 1 pound of fat)… 2 pounds a week, you will need to cut 1000 calories each day… you get the idea. If you want to lose more weight on the average than this amount, you will need to include some exercise.

Once you have figured out how many pounds a week you would like to shed and what your optimum calorie intake should be, you will want to plan your meals for the day, week, etc. Example: if you have a target calorie intake of 2200 calories, you should find meals that are within the 450 calorie range for each of your 4 meals (8am, 11am, 2pm and 6 pm, for example), with a couple of 200 or less calorie snacks. You will need to experiment to find your best way of distributing your calorie intake.

The key to sticking to your routine is to have a list of your meals and snacks that are within your caloric range and that are interchangeable… don’t let yourself deviate from your plan.

HEALTHY TIP: The majority of dieters successful at losing weight AND keeping it off all have one thing in common, they eat breakfast every day. “Eating breakfast helps you spread out your hunger and manage your food intake better throughout the day,” Dr. James O. Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. “If you start out the day by eating something, you don’t get this burning hunger later that causes you to overeat.” When you skip breakfast it also slows down your metabolism. Best menu: yogurt, fruit, whole-grain cereal, and low-fat milk.

3. Plan Healthy Snacks

Eating fruits and vegetables are essential for keeping your body healthy and will help it function properly. Did you know that 72% of adults don’t get enough vegetables, and 83% of adults don’t eat enough fruit on a daily basis?

A benefit for eating fruits and vegetables is that they are low in calories and fat. These nature-made foods are critical for losing weight! These fruits and vegetables will fill you up, provide healthy antioxidants and fiber, and are low in calories.

Not a fresh fruit or vegetable lover? Try yogurt, dried fruit or similar snacks… these are also good, healthy choices. The more you feel full, the more easily it will be to maintain your diet and lose the weight.

Don’t find yourself rushing to the vending machine each time you are feeling hungry… plan your in-between meal, healthy snacks.

4. Don’t Be Afraid to Be Naughty

Be sure to plan in some Not-So-Healthy foods and snacks too. Following a strict diet can be overwhelming and annoying at times. One of the main reasons diets fail is that people will crave the ‘NOT SO GOOD FOR YOU’ junk food type of snacks or meals. Don’t deprive yourself… be realistic and plan for those ‘Naughty’ for you foods.

Just make sure that you count the calories and monitor your portion size. The fast-food restaurants will usually have websites that have the calories contained in their foods, so choose wisely.

5. Eat Smaller Portions

Make your best attempt to eat portions no bigger than the size of your fist (your stomach is usually the around the size of your fist). This quantity of food should be enough to make you stop feeling hungry. Eating more than the size of your stomach will stretch it, which will make it difficult to feel full in the future.

Follow the guidelines below for a more sensible serving size:

• A healthy serving size of protein would be the equivalent size to your computer mouse.
• Two cups of mixed greens should be about the size of two baseballs.
• A serving of fruit the size of a tennis ball.
• A serving of butter or cheese the size of a dice.

If you are still hungry, wait for at least 20 minutes before you eat any more, and most likely your hunger will go away.

HEALTHY TIP: If you eat 4 or 5 times daily, your metabolism will increase which will aid in the digestion of your foods.

6. Eat S – L – O – W – L – Y

If you consume your meals quickly, you most likely are overeating because of it. It takes a while for your brain to get the MEMO that you are FULL. I’m sure you have had the feeling “I’ve eaten way too much!” feeling before, and it’s usually due to eating too fast. It may not be a walk in the park, but you need to train yourself to eat slowly, you will get full on less food.

Another benefit of eating slowly would be to give your digestive system the opportunity
to digest all the food that you consume. If you eat more than your body can handle, the chances are that your system will not have enough time to digest the extra food that you have eaten, so it will sit there and turn into fat.

7. Exercise 5-10 Minutes a Day

The best way to lose the weight, boost your metabolism and boost your mood is to exercise. Many people think that this means joining a gym, starting an aerobic work-out routine or begin running. NOT so… the fact is that simple exercising will burn calories, which over time, can put you ahead of your weight loss goals.

Simple things like going for a 5-10 minute walk, a few times a day, can help you lose the weight, increase muscle, and help you look & feel better.

Our recommendation would be to start small (a 5 minute walk each day), and work your way to longer walks, 2 or more times a day. You might even find the urge to do a few push ups, jumping jacks or take up jogging… you won’t know until you try.

8. Drink Plenty of Water

There are many benefits to drinking water while trying to lose weight. Water can make you feel full without all the calories… it is the perfect weight loss drink.

Sodas, coffee, juices etc., are filled with calories, among other things. Don’t be fooled with good-for-you drinks like fruit juices and lemonade because they are not normally low in calories, plus are filled with sugars that your body does not need. High calorie drinks are high on the list for one of the main reasons for the increase in obesity.

Your cells need water in order to metabolize the foods you consume. Your muscles need water to function properly. When your body is deprived of water, it will store what it has in your ankles, hips, thighs and around your belly. As soon as it starts receiving a normal supply of water, it will get rid of the excess reserved water weight.

9. Eat Dinner at Home

Eating out is nice because it gives us the chance to hang up our apron and be pampered. Restaurants serve meals that are usually high in fat and calories and also normally come in portions much bigger than we need.

Eating dinner away from home should be a treat and not a common practice. It is not too difficult to create a masterpiece dinner at home… follow the link for some scrumptious low calorie recipesthat you can create in your own kitchen.

10. Learn ALL You Can About Weight Loss

Begin by researching to find the right diet plan for you. Even after you have begun your diet regiment, continue to learn all you can about proper dieting and healthy eating habits.

Any time you start to second guess your mission and what you are making all the sacrifices for, read some articles about other people’s successful weight loss stories, weight loss tips, exercise or healthy eating habits. This will help you keep your focus and motivation to continue. If you lose your focus, you will lose your motivation and soon stop your weight loss progress all together.

Closing Comments for Successful Long Term Weight Loss

Getting through the first few days may be the toughest making it easy to give in, so remind yourself why you are doing this. Remind yourself with those 4 little words, “I Can Do This!” After the few days pass, it will start to get easier and it will seem like less and less deprivation.

One thing that we do know is that healthy, lasting weight loss does not happen overnight. We can all lose weight quickly, but keeping it off is the trick. What you need is a weight loss plan that will help you keep the weight off once you’ve lost it.