Twenty Tips to Lose Weight

Is it possible to lose weight? That is the question that nags at most of us fairly constantly! We eat whatever we like with little thought. The pounds slowly creep on, and our pants fit more snugly, or as we like to believe, they shrink in the dryer! Not!

Amazingly, if you cut 500 calories per day from your diet, you should lose one pound per week, or 52 pounds this year! That is an amazing statistic! Grab it! It’s the secret to weight loss, rather than dieting! It is what lifestyle solutions is all about!

The trick is to look at your personal history, and find ways to do this that work for you. Since each of you is different, I’ll give you 20 tips that will help you lose weight that are fairly easy!!! My favorite way to do this is to find food substitutions that you love, and there are many out there! Most of these tips can help many of you to decrease around 500 calories per day!

Simple Tips to Lose Weight Include:

1. Don’t eat in front of the television! This is mindless eating and adds on lots of calories. You eat without thinking. It is possible to easily cut over 500 calories by abandoning this habit and eating at the table only!
2. Downsize your Dinnerware. Plates of today are 12 inches or larger. Some require new cabinets. Use a 10 inch plate and you will reduce the surface area of your plate and easily reduce 500 calories! Check out antique stores or Pottery Barn. Smaller plates are trendy once again!
3. Enjoy a Simple Coffee! Check out the calorie counts of fancy coffee drinks. Many of them are more calories than quarter pounders. No one would think of eating one of those for a morning snack, but readily grab a loaded coffee extravaganza with no thought! Grab a brewed coffee, Americano, or Espresso for almost zero calories! What a simple way to save!
4. Choose 100 Calorie Snack Foods! Comfort foods like cookies and chips contain serving sizes that are very unrealistic. No one eats just ten chips or 3 Oreos. You will eat more than the printed serving size on the food label every time. Accept this fact and either buy 100 calorie bags, or make your own 100 calorie baggies of comfort foods for cheaper. Limit yourself to just one bag!
5. Avoid Family Style Eating! This is probably my favorite way to cut calories. If you put serving dishes on the table, you will clean them up, even if you are full. I put the leftovers away for lunches for the following day, and always have extra salad servings available for anyone that wants seconds!
6. Don’t Drink Calories! The average person drinks 450 calories per day! What a waste of calories. Those extra calories can add up to 45 pounds of weight gain per year. Adopt water which is calorie free. Add a squeeze of lemon or lime. You will be surprised at how much money you will save too and how much this habit will help you lose weight!
7. End the Smoothie or Milkshake Habit or Plan Them In. Many people believe all drinks somehow do not count in their daily calorie meal planning. If you choose an 800 calorie smoothie, this will be more than a meal in calories. You must plan all drinks into your meal plan!
8. Do Not Indulge in Fried Foods. It is so simple to water stir fry meats and veggies. Just place a small amount of water in the pan. As the water evaporates, add more. Simple, yet it is amazing how many people still eat fried foods! Never!!!
9. Sleep Well! Lack of sleep increases your hunger hormones! If you do not sleep well, you will feel hungry all day. Solve sleep problems, or schedule a sleep study at your doctor! This could save you hundreds of calories and help you lose weight!
10. Eat Breakfast! If you eat a healthy breakfast you will eat hundreds of calories less per day!
11. Serve a Small Bowl of Soup with Lunch or Dinner! My mom always serves a small bowl of homemade veggie soup at one meal per day. It is full of fiber which is filling and you will eat less.
12. Observe the Twenty Minute Rule! It takes 20 minutes for your tummy to tell your brain that it is full. Wait for 20 minutes before any seconds. Speedy eaters wear bigger pants or slow eaters wear baggie pants! Which will it be?
13. Be a Food Label Reader. Manufacturers will try and trick you. Carefully compare the serving size that they have listed to what you are actually eating. Take that extra few seconds to avoid being tricked!
14. Choose Only One Grain Choice for Each Meal. Most of us greatly over eat pasta, rice, and bread. What most consider a small serving are two recommended servings. By limiting your starches to one small serving per meal, you will actually eat the recommended six 1/2 servings per day! You will feel like you are greatly cutting back, but you are actually eating the healthy grain amount. I believe this habit is one of the most critical ones to master if you want to lose weight!
15. Be Careful at the Movies! Many people visit the movies weekly. The popcorn/Coke combination is almost a day’s worth of calories and that one activity could cause you to gain 25 pounds or more per year. Eat lunch or dinner before the movie!


16. Avoid Food Add-Ons! Crunchy salad toppings, added condiments, or granola to top your yogurt can add hundreds of calories to your diet!


17. Add More Veggies and Fruits to your Diet. Produce is super filling, because it contains fiber. Eat produce first and then eat your meal. You will eat less! Half of your plate should be produce! The more fruits and veggies you eat, the more you will lose weight! Fiber is your friend because it keeps you full! This is simple because there are so many amazing vegetables! Learn to cook them well!


18. Concentrate on Eliminating Processed Foods. They contain little nutrition or fiber, but many empty calories. They will not fill you up, but fill you out, because you will need to eat more. I would encourage everyone to eat foods containing less than five ingredients on the food label, and understand what each of those ingredients are! Eat real foods as much as possible!


19. Eliminate Sugary Cereals! Many people start their day with poor processed cereal choices that cause your blood sugar to spike. You will eat more throughout the day. Choose a healthy breakfast that includes protein, whole grain carbohydrates, and fruits or veggies, or a healthy breakfast cereal with fruit on top!


20. Limit Fast Food Meals and Plan your Choices! Most of these meals are caloric heavyweights! Know all calorie statistics before you order, and make sure they fit into your meal plan! There are many fast food substitutions that can work!

Grilled Salmon Lunch plate from the Cheesecake Factory in Roseville, CA

Grilled Salmon was chosen as a healthier option, brown rice was chosen rather than french fries. The Salmon was cut up in bite sized pieces to easily make a stir fry like meal. Half of the meal was eaten for lunch, and half was taken home to be eaten the next day.

Any of these healthy diet habits can cut hundreds of calories per day from your diet. It is not necessary to change your entire life to lose weight. Just pick a few habits, change them, cut calories, and then move on to the next habit! Remember, for each 500 calories you save per day, you should lose a pound a week! You will lose weight when you make simple lifestyle solution changes!!! EASY!!!!!!!