Never starve yourself, especially before going out to eat (or you will binge). Never skip meals, you must have some kind of nourishment regularly or your body's starvation defenses will kick in, lower your metabolism, and store fat.
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.
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
Write your weight goal & post it where you'll see it everyday.
You are responsible for what you do & what you eat.
Eat to live, not live to eat. Overeating can KILL you!
Repeat: "I'm learning a way to live, not just a way to diet."
Water is essential to all bodily functions and has no calories. It is the perfect drink for dieters. You need eight 8 oz. glasses of water daily.
Be happy: you're OK! Resisting all those tempting foods is NOT going to kill you.
Limit your time in the grocery store. The longer you stay, the more you will buy.
Be patient - it took years to gain weight; it takes time to lose weight.
"Nibble" food and "linger" over drinks. Do the "Push Away From The Table Exercise."
Chew your food completely: digestion begins in the mouth. Avoid "washing" half-chewed food down.
Let someone else be the walking garbage disposal: you are no longer responsible for eating up the leftovers after a meal.
Success is when you can look beyond food...and look down and see your feet.
Each day you stay on your weight-loss diet brings you closer to your weight goal.
The purpose of getting together with people is to enjoy their company...not eating.
Chart or graph your weight loss and serving selections.
Take small servings - avoid gorging yourself.
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.
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.
Lose weight with a supportive friend or in a support group.
Types of Diets
Fixed-menu diet.
A fixed-menu diet provides a list of all the foods you will eat. This kind of diet can be easy to follow because the foods are selected for you. But, you get very few different food choices which may make the diet boring and hard to follow away from home. In addition, fixed-menu diets do not teach the food selection skills necessary for keeping weight off. If you start with a fixed-menu diet, you should switch eventually to a plan that helps you learn to make meal choices on your own, such as an exchange-type diet.
Exchange-type diet.
An exchange-type diet is a meal plan with a set number of servings from each of several food groups. Within each group, foods are about equal in calories and can be interchanged as you wish. For example, the "starch" category could include one slice of bread or 1/2 cup of oatmeal; each is about equal in nutritional value and calories. If your meal plan calls for two starch choices at breakfast, you could choose to eat two slices of bread, or one slice of bread and 1/2 cup of oatmeal. With the exchange-type diet plans, you have more day-to-day variety and you can easily follow the diet away from home. The most important advantage is that exchange-type diet plans teach the food selection skills you need to keep your weight off.
Prepackaged-meal diet.
These diets require you to buy prepackaged meals. Such meals may help you learn appropriate portion sizes. However, they can be costly. Before beginning this type of program, find out whether you will need to buy the meals and how much the meals cost. You should also find out whether the program will teach you how to select and prepare food, skills that are needed to sustain weight loss.
Formula diet.
Formula diets are weight-loss plans that replace one or more meals with a liquid formula. Most formula diets are balanced diets containing a mix of protein, carbohydrate, and usually a small amount of fat. Formula diets are usually sold as liquid or a powder to be mixed with liquid. Although formula diets are easy to use and do promote short-term weight loss, most people regain the weight as soon as they stop using the formula. In addition, formula diets do not teach you how to make healthy food choices, a necessary skill for keeping your weight off.
Questionable diets.
You should avoid any diet that suggests you eat a certain nutrient, food, or combination of foods to promote easy weight loss. Some of these diets may work in the short term because they are low in calories. However, they are often not well balanced and may cause nutrient deficiencies. In addition, they do not teach eating habits that are important for long-term weight management.
Flexible diets.
Some programs or books suggest monitoring fat only, calories only, or a combination of the two, with the individual making the choice of both the type and amount of food eaten. This flexible type of approach works well for many people, and teaches them how to control what they eat. One drawback of flexible diets is that some don't consider the total diet. For example, programs that monitor fat only often allow people to take in unlimited amounts of excess calories from sugars, and therefore don't lead to weight loss.
It is important to choose an eating plan that you can live with. The plan should also teach you how to select and prepare healthy foods, as well as how to maintain your new weight. Remember that many people tend to regain lost weight. Eating a healthful and nutritious diet to maintain your new weight, combined with regular physical activity, helps to prevent weight regain.
Facing Over weight
Emphasize your weight loss triumphs and work towards making them more frequent
Find a weight loss "buddy," club, or support group. This will help you stay with your weight loss program.
Use mustard on your sandwiches instead of mayonnaise. Mustard has no fat & very little calories while Mayo, 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.
Weigh yourself each week. Don't be worried about small daily changes in your weight. You shouldn't lose more than 1 - 2 pounds a week. There may be weeks when you don't lose weight. This is normal. Stay on your diet to lose weight.
Bake, roast, or broil your food instead of frying. Remove all fat from meats and skin from poultry before cooking.
Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water each day. This will help flush out your body while also suppressing your appetite
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!
Limit alcohol. Alcoholic drinks have many calories & little else.
Don't give it up if you don't want to, just reduce your intake.
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.
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.
Watch food labels. Foods with a high percentage of fat (or carbohydrates that are sugars) will slow down your weight loss program Don't just count grams, count 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.
If you are going to a restaurant, decide ahead of time what you will be eating. Stick to it.
