Trying to achieve a weight loss goal is something that many of us will do at one point or another in our lives. Staying on a weight loss plan can sometimes feel like a struggle and watching the scale bounce back and forth can feel frustrating. In this article we will discuss some of the top weight loss tips to help you achieve your goals and maintain your optimum weight.
Don’t take too much time in between meals. Instead, eat more frequently, but don’t eat more than 3/4 full per meal. Doing this can help you to avoid overeating, and control your portions. Also, eating more frequently can lead to healthier eating habits. For example, chewing thoroughly instead of swallowing it down, will help you to actually enjoy your meals.
One helpful way to lose weight is to sneak low-calorie, nutrient dense foods into your “normal” diet. How do you do this? For example, when making your oatmeal in the morning, dice up a whole large apple and add it to the mix along with some cinnamon. You will have boosted the fiber and flavor of your breakfast; it will make you much more full and satisfy your hunger that much longer, and it will taste like apple pie!
Eat smaller portions of food you love. You don’t have to sacrifice all the foods your love while you are dieting. Cut high calorie foods into smaller pieces before you eat them. Your body will feel like it is getting more than it actually is. Some brands already sell healthy-sized portions of their snack foods prepackaged.
A great tip to help you lose weight is to leave the house and just go for a walk whenever you feel the urge to snack. Sometimes it’s just about distracting yourself when you’re hungry. Leaving the house and going for a walk is a great distraction from hunger.
A helpful way to lose weight is to start reading the labels on the food that you eat. Doing so will make you aware of the good and bad chemicals that are in your food. Reading the labels also familiarizes you with the amount of calories you will be consuming. This knowledge can be a deterent to eating unhealthy, which can lead to weight loss.
If you are eating alone, turn off the television. Eating in front of the television has been shown to cause a higher consumption of calories than when you are eating with it turned off. When your brain zones out concentrating on a program, you aren’t hearing the signals that you are full. Eat where you can listen to what your body is telling you.
Don’t believe the hype of food marketing labels. A lot of foods lead you to believe that they are healthy by using phrases like “fat-free”, “no trans fats”, or “sugar-free”. What they don’t tell you is that often when they replace the fats, they add sugar, sodium or fats to keep the taste the same. Read the nutrition facts not the marketing labels.
Try eating canned salmon to lose weight. Some people do not feel comfortable cooking fresh, raw fish. If you are one of these people, consider buying your fish in cans. Alternatively, you can also find fish sold in tins, the freezer section, or even individually sealed packages. Most of these fish products require little to no cooking.
Don’t feel guilty if you love to eat your favorite snack foods. All food can be unhealthy if eaten too much. If you really love these foods all you have to do is reduce the amount you eat or, give yourself a daily limit as to how much you can eat.
Keep in mind you did not gain all of the unwanted weight in a day, and you cannot expect to lose it quickly either. It is important to establish realistic expectations for your weight loss, and just stick to you plan day by day. As time passes and the weight comes off you will begin to look and feel fabulous.
To keep from being discouraged, set reasonable weight loss goals. Often, people want to see big results fast, and give up when they don’t. Aim to lose about one to two pounds a week. It’s a goal most should be able to hit easily. It may seem like slow going, but those pounds add up fast and losing weight the right way will help you keep the pounds off.
If you have a riding lawn mower, consider buying or trading it in for a push mower. If you push mow your yard, you will be burning many calories that can result in weight loss. While push mowing, you are walking and pushing a mower, both resulting in calories being burned. It can be great exercise for people who don’t enjoy traditional exercise.
Try to include some type of protein in all of your meals and snacks. This is a good idea because it will keep you full for much longer and give you much needed energy. It also makes it less likely that you will start to eat things that you should not.
If you are out at a restaurant with a friend and you have the urge to order a dessert, you can ask your friend if they would like to split one with you. Having a half of a dessert will be a nice treat, and you will only consume half of the calories.
We all struggle with reaching a weight loss goal at one point or another. Feelings of frustration, anger, and disappointment can easily follow a trip to the scale. As we have discussed in this article though, it doesn’t have to be that way. By following simple tips above you can feel the satisfaction of reaching your weight loss goal.