1. Write down what you eat for one week and you will lose weight.
Studies found that people who keep food diaries wind up eating about 15
percent less food than those who don’t. Watch out for weekends: A
University of North Carolina study found people tend to consume an extra
115 calories per weekend day, primarily from alcohol and fat. Then cut
out or down calories from spreads, dressings, sauces, condiments,
drinks, and snacks; they could make the difference between weight gain
and loss.
2. Add 10 percent to the amount of daily calories you think you’re eating.
If you think you’re consuming 1,700 calories a day and don’t understand
why you’re not losing weight, add another 170 calories to your
guesstimate. Chances are, the new number is more accurate. Adjust your
eating habits accordingly.
3. Get an online weight loss buddy to lose more weight.
A University of Vermont study found that online weight-loss buddies
help you keep the weight off. The researchers followed volunteers for 18
months. Those assigned to an Internet-based weight maintenance program
sustained their weight loss better than those who met face-to-face in a
support group.
4. Get a mantra.
You’ve heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy? If you keep focusing on
things you can’t do, like resisting junk food or getting out the door
for a daily walk, chances are you won’t do them. Instead (whether you
believe it or not) repeat positive thoughts to yourself. “I can lose
weight.” “I will get out for my walk today.” “I know I can resist the
pastry cart after dinner.” Repeat these phrases and before too long,
they will become true for you.
5. After breakfast, stick to water. At breakfast, go ahead and drink orange juice. But throughout the rest
of the day, focus on water instead of juice or soda. The average
American consumes an extra 245 calories a day from soft drinks. That’s
nearly 90,000 calories a year—or 25 pounds! And research shows that
despite the calories, sugary drinks don’t trigger a sense of fullness
the way that food does.
6. Eat three fewer bites of your meal,
one less treat a day, or one less glass of orange juice. Doing any of
these can save you about 100 calories a day, and that alone is enough to
prevent you from gaining the two pounds most people mindlessly pack on
each year.
7. Watch one less hour of TV.
A study of 76 undergraduate students found the more they watched
television, the more often they ate and the more they ate overall.
Sacrifice one program (there’s probably one you don’t really want to
watch anyway) and go for a walk instead.
8. Wash something thoroughly once a week.
Whether that’s a floor, a couple of windows, the shower stall, bathroom
tile, or your car, a 150-pound person will burn about four calories for
every minute spent cleaning. Scrub for 30 minutes and you could work off
approximately 120 calories, the same number in a half-cup of vanilla
frozen yogurt.
9. Wait until your stomach rumbles before you reach for food.
It’s stunning how often we eat out of boredom, nervousness, habit, or
frustration—so often, in fact, that many of us have actually forgotten
what physical hunger feels like. If you’re hankering for a specific
food, it’s probably a craving, not hunger. If you’d eat anything you
could get your hands on, chances are you’re truly hungry. Find ways
other than eating to express love, tame stress, and relieve boredom.
10. Sniff a banana, an apple, or a peppermint when you feel hungry.
You might feel silly, but it works. When Alan R. Hirsch, M.D.,
neurological director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research
Foundation in Chicago, tried this with 3,000 volunteers, he found that
the more frequently people sniffed, the less hungry they were and the
more weight they lost—an average of 30 pounds each. One theory is that
sniffing the food tricks the brain into thinking you’re actually eating
it.
11. Stare at the color blue.
There’s a good reason you won’t see many fast-food restaurants decorated
in blue: it functions as an appetite suppressant. So serve up dinner on
blue plates, dress in blue while you eat, and cover your table with a
blue tablecloth. Conversely, avoid red, yellow, and orange in your
dining areas. Studies find they encourage eating.
12. Eat in front of mirrors and you’ll lose weight.
One study found that eating in front of mirrors slashed the amount
people ate by nearly one-third. Having to look yourself in the eye
reflects back some of your own inner standards and goals, and reminds
you of why you’re trying to lose weight in the first place.
13. Spend 10 minutes a day walking up and down stairs.
The Centers for Disease Control says that’s all it takes to help you
shed as much as 10 pounds a year (assuming you don’t start eating more).
14. Walk five minutes for at least every two hours.
Stuck at a desk all day? A brisk five-minute walk every two hours will
parlay into an extra 20-minute walk by the end of the day. And getting a
break will make you less likely to reach for snacks out of antsiness.
15. You’ll lose weight and fat if you walk 45 minutes a day, not 30.
The reason we’re suggesting 45 minutes instead of the typical 30 is that
a Duke University study found that while 30 minutes of daily walking is
enough to prevent weight gain in most relatively sedentary people,
exercise beyond 30 minutes results in weight and fat loss. Burning an
additional 300 calories a day with three miles of brisk walking (45
minutes should do it) could help you lose 30 pounds in a year without
even changing how much you’re eating.
16. Don’t buy any prepared food
that lists sugar, fructose, or corn syrup among the first four
ingredients on the label. You should be able to find a lower-sugar
version of the same type of food. If you can’t, grab a piece of fruit
instead! Look for sugar-free varieties of foods such as ketchup,
mayonnaise, and salad dressing. Also, avoid partially hydrogenated
foods, and look for more than two grams of fiber per 100 calories in all
grain products. Finally, a short ingredient list means fewer flavor
enhancers and empty calories.
17. Put your fork or spoon down between every bite.
At the table, sip water frequently. Intersperse your eating with stories
for your dining partner of the amusing things that happened during your
day. Your brain lags your stomach by about 20 minutes when it comes to
satiety (fullness) signals. If you eat slowly enough, your brain will
catch up to tell you that you are no longer in need of food.
18. Throw out your “fat” clothes for good.
Once you’ve started losing weight, throw out or give away every piece of
clothing that doesn’t fit. The idea of having to buy a whole new
wardrobe if you gain the weight back will serve as a strong incentive to
stay fit.
19. Close the kitchen for 12 hours.
After dinner, wash all the dishes, wipe down the counters, turn out the
light, and, if necessary, tape closed the cabinets and refrigerator.
Late-evening eating significantly increases the overall number of
calories you eat, a University of Texas study found. Stopping late-night
snacking can save 300 or more calories a day, or 31 pounds a year.
20. Walk before dinner and you’ll cut calories AND your appetite.
In a study of 10 obese women conducted at the University of Glasgow in
Scotland, 20 minutes of walking reduced appetite and increased
sensations of fullness as effectively as a light meal.
21. Make one social outing this week an active one.
Pass on the movies and screen the views of a local park instead. Not
only will you sit less, but you’ll be saving calories because you won’t
chow down on that bucket of popcorn. Other active ideas: a tennis match,
a guided nature or city walk (check your local listings), a bike ride,
or bowling.
22. Buy a pedometer, clip it to your belt, and aim for an extra 1,000 steps a day.
On average, sedentary people take only 2,000 to 3,000 steps a day.
Adding 2,000 steps will help you maintain your current weight and stop
gaining weight; adding more than that will help you lose weight.
23. Put less food out and you’ll take less in.
Conversely, the more food in front of you, the more you’ll
eat—regardless of how hungry you are. So instead of using regular dinner
plates that range these days from 10 to 14 inches (making them look
empty if they’re not heaped with food), serve your main course on salad
plates (about 7 to 9 inches wide). Instead of 16-ounce glasses and
oversized coffee mugs, return to the old days of 8-ounce glasses and
6-ounce coffee cups.
24. Eat 90 percent of your meals at home.
You’re more likely to eat more—and eat more high-fat, high-calorie
foods—when you eat out than when you eat at home. Restaurants today
serve such large portions that many have switched to larger plates and
tables to accommodate them.
25. Serve food on your plate instead of on platters.
If you eat your dinner restaurant style on your plate rather than family
style, helping yourself from bowls and platters on the table, you’ll
lose weight. Most of us tend to eat an average of 150 percent more
calories in the evening than in the morning. You’ll avoid that now
because when your plate is empty, you’re finished; there’s no reaching
for seconds.
26. Don’t eat with a large group.
A study published in the Journal of Physiological Behavior found that we
tend to eat more when we eat with other people, most likely because we
spend more time at the table. But eating with your significant other or
your family, and using table time for talking in between chewing, can
help cut down on calories.
27. Order the smallest portion of everything.
If you’re out and ordering a sub, get the 6-inch sandwich. Buy a small
popcorn, a small salad, a small hamburger. Again, studies find we tend
to eat what’s in front of us, even though we’d feel just as full on
less.
28. Eat water-rich foods and you’ll eat fewer calories overall.
A body of research out of Pennsylvania State University finds that
eating water-rich foods such as zucchini, tomatoes, and cucumbers during
meals reduces your overall calorie consumption. Other water-rich foods
include soups and salads. You won’t get the same benefits by just
drinking your water, though. Because the body processes hunger and
thirst through different mechanisms, it simply doesn’t register a sense
of fullness with water (or soda, tea, coffee, or juice).
29. Bulk up your meals with veggies.
You can eat twice as much pasta salad loaded with veggies like broccoli,
carrots, and tomatoes for the same calories as a pasta salad sporting
just mayonnaise. Same goes for stir-fries, omelets, and other
veggie-friendly dishes. If you eat a 1:1 ratio of grains to veggies, the
high-fiber veggies will help satisfy your hunger before you overeat the
grains.
30. Avoid white foods.
There is some scientific legitimacy to today’s lower-carb diets: Large
amounts of simple carbohydrates from white flour and added sugar can
wreak havoc on your blood sugar and lead to weight gain. While avoiding
sugar, white rice, and white flour, however, you should eat plenty of
whole-grain breads and brown rice. One Harvard study of 74,000 women
found that those who ate more than two daily servings of whole grains
were 49 percent less likely to be overweight than those who ate the
white stuff.
31. Switch to ordinary coffee.
Fancy coffee drinks from trendy coffee joints often pack several hundred
calories, thanks to whole milk, whipped cream, sugar, and sugary
syrups. A cup of regular coffee with skim milk has just a small fraction
of those calories. And when brewed with good beans, it tastes just as
great. You can also try nonfat powdered milk in coffee. You’ll get the
nutritional benefits of skim milk, which is high in calcium and low in
calories. And, because the water has been removed, powdered milk doesn’t
dilute the coffee the way skim milk does.
32. If you’re going to indulge, choose fat-releasing foods.
They should help keep you from feeling deprived and binging on
higher-calorie foods. For instance: honey has just 64 fat releasing
calories in one tablespoon. Eggs have just 70 calories in one
hard-boiled egg, loaded with fat releasing protein. Part-skim ricotta
cheese has just 39 calories in one ounce, packed with fat releasing
calcium. Dark chocolate has about 168 calories in a one-ounce square,
but it’s packed with fat releasers. And a University of Tennessee study
found that people who cut 500 calories a day and ate yogurt three times a
day for 12 weeks lost more weight and body fat than a group that only
cut the calories. The researchers concluded that the calcium in low-fat
dairy foods triggers a hormonal response that inhibits the body’s
production of fat cells and boosts the breakdown of fat.
33. Enjoy high-calorie treats as the accent, not the centerpiece
Make a spoonful of ice cream the jewel and a bowl of fruit the crown.
Cut down on the chips by pairing each bite with lots of chunky, filling
fresh salsa, suggests Jeff Novick, director of nutrition at the Pritikin
Longevity Center & Spa in Florida. Balance a little cheese with a
lot of fruit or salad.
34. Eat cereal for breakfast five days a week.
Studies find that people who eat cereal for breakfast every day are
significantly less likely to be obese and have diabetes than those who
don’t. They also consume more fiber and calcium—and less fat—than those
who eat other breakfast foods. Make oatmeal, or pour out a high-fiber,
low-sugar cereal like Total or Grape Nuts.
35. Try hot sauce, salsa, and Cajun seasonings
They provide lots of flavor with no fat and few calories, plus they turn
up your digestive fires, causing your body to temporarily burn more
calories. Choose them over butter and creamy or sugary sauces.
36. Eat fruit instead of drinking fruit juice.
For the calories in one kid-size box of apple juice, you can enjoy an
apple, orange, and a slice of watermelon. These whole foods will keep
you satisfied much longer than that box of apple juice, so you’ll eat
less overall.
37. Drop your milk type and you cut calories by about 20 percent.
If you drink regular, go to 2%. If you already drink 2%, go down another
notch to 1% or skim milk. Each step downward cuts the calories by about
20 percent. Once you train your taste buds to enjoy skim milk, you’ll
have cut the calories in the whole milk by about half and trimmed the
fat by more than 95 percent.
38. Snack on a small handful of nuts.
Studies have found that overweight people who ate a moderate-fat diet
containing almonds lost more weight than a control group that didn’t eat
nuts. Snacking once or twice a day helps stave off hunger and keeps
your metabolism stoked. You can also pack up baby carrots or your own
trail mix with nuts, raisins, seeds, and dried fruit.
39. Get most of your calories before noon.
Studies find that the more you eat in the morning, the less you’ll eat
in the evening. And you have more opportunities to burn off those
early-day calories than you do to burn off dinner calories.
40. Brush your teeth after every meal, especially dinner.
That clean, minty freshness will serve as a cue to your body and brain that mealtime is over.
SOURCE:
http://www.rd.com/health/diet-weight-loss/how-to-lose-weight/
