Weight Loss Tips

1) Drinking hot water can speed up your metabolism and burn more calories.
2) Eat foods like bran cereal that are denser and will make you fuller because your body cannot digest. Eat certain foods like rice that work very well with liquids to expand in your stomach making you more satisfied.
3) Cutting 3 tablespoons of butter per day from your diet could make you drop 1 pound every 12 days.
4) To gain muscle and loose fat, start eating 5-6 meals per day (space them out to about one every 3 hours). As well, increase your protein intake. Without protein your body cannot build new muscle. Protein also helps to increase your metabolism - which burns calories; more often, but not necessarily more. Also, increase you water intake. A good formula for this is to multiply your bodyweight by .66 to get the required number of ounces per day. To lose body fat you must eat fewer calories than your body burns off, so EAT LESS -- but you must NOT starve yourself, otherwise you will lose more muscle than fat!
5) Emphasize your weight loss triumphs and work towards making them more frequent
6) Find a weight loss "buddy," club, or support group. This will help you stay with your weight loss program.
7) Use mustard on all your sandwiches instead of mayonnaise. Mustard has no fat and very little calories while Mayo, on the other hand, is loaded with fat. If you just don't like the taste of mustard, find a low-fat alternative, but avoid mayonnaise at all costs.
8) Weigh yourself each week. Do not be worried about small daily changes in your weight. You should not lose more than 1 to 2 pounds a week. There may be weeks when you do not lose weight. This is normal. But, stay on your diet and you will again start to lose weight.
9) Bake, roast, or broil your food instead of frying. Remove all fat from meats and skin from poultry before cooking.
10) Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water each day. This will help flush out your body while also suppressing your appetite
11) If you haven't done so already, switch to diet soft drinks. An average 12 Oz can of regular soda contains around 120 calories, while the diet version usually has one or zero. If you drink 3 cans a day, you'll be saving 360 calories right there. Now multiply that by 7 days a week, 30 days a month and 365 days a year. You'll be saving a lot of calories.
12) Limit how much alcohol you drink. Alcoholic drinks have many calories and little else. Don't give it up if you don't want to, just reduce your intake.
13) Pick one place at home and work that you will do all your eating. Be sure you are seated. Don't eat anywhere but in that place. Enjoy your food by sitting down and eating slowly. Sitting down focuses your attention more directly on the activity of eating. By eating in the same place you identify and associate that place with the idea that it is the only area in which you should eat.
14) Shop for Groceries only after eating. You will be less likely to buy foods impulsively - especially foods you don't need. When you shop for groceries stick to your shopping list. This helps you guard against impulse buying. Make sure you list is complete and do not buy any extra food items.
15) Watch food labels. Foods with a high percentage of fat (or carbohydrates that are sugars) will slow down your weight loss program
16) Don't just count grams, but instead percentage of total calories that are fat or sugars. Don't think that just because you are eating low fat/low calorie foods that you can eat all that you want. The calories still add up and must be burned off regardless of what kind of food you eat. Balance is the key.
17) If you are going to a restaurant, decide ahead of time what you will be eating. Stick to it.
18) Never starve yourself, especially before going out to eat (or you will binge).
19) Never skip meals, you must have some kind of nourishment regularly or your body's starvation defences will kick in, lower your metabolism, and store fat.
20) Exercise - If you want to stay healthy and make weight loss permanent you just cant do without exercise. Along with cutting down on the fat you eat exercising regularly may be your best ally in improving your all around health and bringing your weight loss under control.
21) Schedule your exercise time just as you plan your other activities of the day. Treat this time as an important appointment you don't want to miss
22) Write your weight goal and post it where you'll see it everyday.
23) You alone are responsible for what you do & what you decide to eat.
24) Eat to live, not live to eat. Overeating can KILL you!
25) Repeat to yourself: "I'm learning a way to live, not just a way to diet."
26) Be happy: you're OK! Resisting all those tempting foods is NOT going to kill you.
27) Limit your time in the grocery store. The longer you stay, the more you will buy.
28) Be patient - it took years to gain weight; it takes time to lose weight.
29) Chew your food completely: digestion begins in the mouth. Avoid "washing" half-chewed food down.
30) Each day you stay on your weight loss diet brings you closer to your weight goal.
31) Chart or graph your weight loss and serving selections
32) Take small servings - avoid gorging yourself. Being "full" is a miserable feeling.
33) Consuming most calories in one big meal is the worst way to diet. Eat 4 or 5 small meals rather than in one all-out feeding frenzy.
34) If your schedule only permits you to eat one major meal in a day, eat it in the morning to midday hours rather than afternoon/evening hours.
35) Lose weight with a supportive friend or in a support group.
36) Exercise even when you don't want to. Think about how you will feel afterwards.
37) Pack up a portion. Cut your fat and calories in half in restaurants by dividing your meal into half as soon it is brought to your table and put it in a container to take home. It cuts down on how much you are consuming in one sitting, and provides you with a meal to heat up for lunch the next day.
38) Eliminate white Bread - Not only is wheat bread lower in fat and higher in fibre (which makes you feel fuller and helps your digestive system), it may also help your sense of satiety last longer. Since white bread is higher in carbs, it is digested more quickly; this means you'll feel hungrier faster after eating a sandwich made with white bread rather than whole grain. Also, if you're supposed to be watching your sugar intake, the high-carb white bread isn't a good idea. Another way to make wheat even healthier is to choose a "lite" version which will have fewer calories than the regular kind.
39) Don't Make a Sugar-Free Mistake - Despite what you may think, the special section of sugar-free treats for diabetics at your local supermarket isn't exactly a dieter's dream. These specially-made sugar-free sweets like cookies or snack bars often contain nearly as many calories as their "normal" counterparts on the regular food aisles. Same goes with reduced-fat, "diet" cookies like Snackwells... just because they have less fat than other cookies doesn't mean they don't have calories galore. Calories count, no matter how "diet-friendly" you think what you're eating is!
40) Choose chicken over burgers, but not if the chicken you choose is battered and fried. A burger just might start looking healthy when compared to a greasy fried chicken patty. In fact, many fast food chains' fried chicken sandwiches have as much (or more) fat than a regular hamburger. Your best choice is always to go with a grilled or baked chicken sandwich whenever possible; add fresh veggies like lots of tomato and lettuce to make your sandwich more nutritious and filling.
41) Be choosey about what you put on your sandwich - Your next chicken choice is what you put on top of that sandwich. Mustard is a great fat-free alternative to mayonnaise, which is very high in fat. Be sure to watch out for those mysterious "special sauces" some fast food chains automatically slather on your sandwich.
42) Use your tupper-wear for leftovers - When you get the after-work or midnight munchies, you're going to be a lot more likely to overeat if you haven't planned for portion control ahead of time. We know how difficult it is to keep moderation in mind when you sit down in front of an entire bucket of chicken or a seemingly bottomless bowl of macaroni and cheese! Trick yourself into eating a streamlined portion by pre-packing your individual leftover dishes into single-serving size plasticware. You can even get the divided, covered plastic plates and portion-out an entire meal ahead of time. You'll feel far more in control of your eating this way.
43) Be wary of lower fat peanut butter - they often still contain the same amount of calories.
44) Give in once in awhile. By allowing yourself to still eat your favorite foods every now and again -- despite being on a diet -- you avoid feeling deprived. Totally denying yourself the foods you take pleasure in is a sure-fire way to set yourself up for failure. So go ahead and treat yourself once in a while. Just be sure to apply the mindful moderation principle: Cut your normal portion in half and truly savor every bite. Eventually, a much smaller portion of your favorite "guilty pleasures" will satisfy your cravings.
45) Stretch your meals to, at least, 20 minutes or longer. Your stomach, mouth and brain are all connected and it takes 20 minutes of chewing before your stomach signals your brain that you are full. To feel full and successfully lose weight on any weight loss program, you need to eat slowly for 20 minutes or longer.
46) Water is necessary for the metabolism of your stored fat. Weight loss cannot occur without an active metabolism which requires large quantities of water. Another way to use water to lose weight is to drink a large glass of ice water just before meals. The cold causes your stomach to shrink slightly which will make you feel full faster.
47) The more positive your self-esteem, the better you feel about yourself, the faster and easier it will be for you to lose weight. When you are self-confident, you are better able to take charge of your life. It also means that after you lose weight, it will stay gone permanently.
48) When you go fat free or low fat, you also cut out much of the taste of the foods you eat. Add the flavor back with herbs and spices. Strong flavors such as vinegar, garlic, chili powder, cayenne, curry powder, rosemary and tarragon can be used to doctor up any food you are eating. For your low fat and fat free diets, experiment with different herbs and spices until you find some you like. Staying on your fat free or low fat diet will be easier and your weight loss will be speeded up.
49) Increase your metabolism by as much as 40% by using hot and spicy foods such as hot peppers of all varieties and mustards. Research shows these foods all increase your metabolism. For double duty, give up fat filled mayonnaise for mustard and add hot peppers to your food for greater flavor and increased metabolism.
50) Negative emotions will also interfere with your weight loss program. It's difficult to stay motivated to lose weight when you feel bad. Overeating often accompanies negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, fear, guilt and anger. If this is true for you, begin a stress management program including some exercise and relaxation exercises.
51) To lose weight faster, reduce your intake of caffeine. Caffeine leads to an increase of insulin in your body which retards the burning of your stored fat. This is a simple chemical reaction in your body that you can change. Reduce your caffeine intake by 50% and see what happens. Here is a rough guide to use when looking at the amount of caffeine you currently take in: Brewed coffee (6 oz. cup) - 100mg; Instant coffee (6 oz.) - 70mg; Tea (6 oz.) - 50mg; Soft drinks (12oz.) - (Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew) - 50mg; Dark chocolate (1 oz.) - 20mg and Milk chocolate (1 oz.) - 6mg.
52) Increase your intake of fiber rich foods. They will help fill you up faster and will help all the food you eat pass through your digestive system more easily.
53) Research shows that you burn more stored fat for energy when you do aerobic exercises on an empty stomach than on a full stomach. Research also shows that you burn more stored fat when you exercise late in the day rather than in the morning. Put together, the best time to exercise to lose weight by burning your stored fat is in the late afternoon/early evening before dinner. Second best is in the morning before breakfast. Our metabolism naturally starts to slow down about 8 hours after we wake up. Thirty minutes of aerobic exercises in the evening, before dinner, will not only burn off stored fat but it increases your metabolism for about two to three more hours just when it was starting to slow down. This produces a significant increase in fat burned off, even after the exercise is over.
54) To lose weight quickly, never skip a meal. Your first meal after waking starts your metabolism. Your metabolism then speeds up for about eight hours and then starts slowing down until you go to sleep when it goes to low until you wake and eat and start the cycle again. Skip breakfast and your metabolism doesn't get started until lunch time. You've just missed three or four hours of fat burning time. When you skip meals during the day, your metabolism also slows down. Weight loss through the burning of stored fat is all about eating enough of the right kinds of foods so you stay full and your metabolism stays as high as possible. Remember, if you feel hungry, your metabolism slows down. Stay full with healthy, nonfattening foods and your metabolism will continue to burn your stored fat as fast as your body will allow.
55) Eat only at the table. Don't munch on the couch or at the kitchen counter.
56) Don't eat anything for the last three or four hours of your day. Once you've had dinner, be done for the night.
57) Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Make sure the stairs are well lit.
58) Get off the bus one stop early if you are in an area safe for walking.
59) Park the car farther away from entrances to stores, movie theatres, or your home.
60) Take a short walk around the block with family, friends, or coworkers.
61) In bad weather, walk around a mall.
62) Rake the leaves.
63) Visit museums, the zoo, or an aquarium. You and your family will walk for hours and not realize it.
64) Wash the car.
65) Take a walk after dinner instead of watching TV.

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