Stick With Your Goals: 7 Proven Tips to Lose Weight

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So it's the New Year and you've decided you want to lose weight... now what? Coming to Diet-to-Go is a great first step -- we'll give you the delicious, perfectly portioned meals you need to eat well and get healthy.

But it doesn't hurt to get a little advice from people who've helped other men and women like you successfully drop a few pounds.

I've rounded up seven proven tips for losing weight. No need to thank me. Just stay the course and lose the weight you want to lose.

But more importantly, once you attain your goal weight be sure to take the steps needed to stay there. Yo-yo dieting (gaining back the weight you lost then losing it again) is not only frustrating, but it's also unhealthy as well.

The 7 Proven Tips for Losing Weight

1) Buy cut veggies! (Men's Health)

They cost more, but they'll pay dividends later-because you're more likely to snack on them than on some other, less healthy food.

2) Keep a notebook handy! (Weight Loss Journal)

Keep a notebook with you so that you can track what you eat. You do not necessarily have to count calories, but what you do have to do is keep track of everything that you are consuming.

The reason for this is so that you can keep track of what you are eating and how it impacts you throughout the day. Many people do not realize how much food and other garbage they are putting into their mouths until they start consciously tracking everything that they eat.

3) Snack daily! (CNN Health)

Trainer Valerie Waters has clients, including Jennifer Garner and Elizabeth Berkley, who tote 150-calorie snacks in coolers wherever they go. Favorite snack combos include apple slices and low-fat string cheese, a few crackers (like Wasa Crispbread) topped with chicken salad, or a few slices of rolled-up turkey and a handful of grapes.

"It's really important to eat something, even if it's just 150 to 200 calories, every three to four hours," Waters says. "Your blood sugar can drop quickly, making you go from feeling kind of hungry to thinking, 'Omigod, if I don't eat now I will kill somebody.'"

4) Save the drinks for the weekend! (WebMD)

"If you enjoy alcohol, be aware that the calories add up quickly -- and one way to control it is to limit consumption to the weekends," says Kathleen Zelman, MS, RD, director of nutrition for WebMD. So try limiting your liquor to Friday and Saturday nights -- and keep it to a drink or two each night.

5) Water, water everywhere! (SparkPeople)

Drinking plain old water can help with your weight management program, especially if you are substituting calorie-containing beverages like regular soda, juice and sweetened coffee for water, which is healthy and calorie-free. For some people, drinking water throughout the day also keeps their hands busy so that they're less likely to eat out of habit or boredom.

6) Keep it real, man! (Mayo Clinic)

Healthy weight loss usually occurs slowly and steadily. In general, plan to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week (0.5 to 1 kilogram) - even if your initial weight loss is a little faster in the first week or two. To do this, you need to burn 500 to 1,000 calories more than you consume each day.

Also, don't expect to lose more of your body weight than is realistic. For instance, set a goal of losing 10% of your current weight, rather than 30%.

7) Be more active! (Harvard School of Public Health)

If there's one best weight loss mantra it's "exercise, exercise, exercise." Choose activities you enjoy and do them every day. Exercising with a friend can help keep you on track.

There ya have it -- 7 proven tips for losing weight. There are countless more tips available.

Just be sure to continually check back to Diet-to-Go for ways to stay the course, lose weight and keep it off!


Author: John McGran

Weight Loss Tips

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