Top 10 Natural Weight Loss Tips

Dieters love weight loss tips. They are great reminders and tiny shoves to keep us on our way to reach our weight loss goals.

These 10 natural tips will help you get on the losing end of your weight loss and work for teens to seniors. So no matter what your age, these tips to get losing today.

Weight Loss Tips #1

Want It!

This may seem a bit redundant, but to really be successful at weight loss you have to want it. To really want it you have to go above just saying you want it, you have to commit to weight loss. The best way to commit to losing weight is to build a goal and jot it down.

A goal does not have to be in terminology of losing weight. Instead you could write your goal as measurements or body fat % lost or even clothing size. Make your goal reachable and quantifiable. Write it in terms that you can relate to and review often. For instance your goal can be ?I want to drop 2 dress sizes by the end of the year? or ?I want to lose 5% body fat in 4 months? or ?I want to weigh 135 pounds by this New Year’s Eve?.

Plan smaller goals that you can use along the way to ensure you are on schedule to achieve your final goal. Track your goals and your improvement by using weight loss tools such as a calorie chart, exercise chart or weight loss chart. Search for or develop a weight loss journal. Journalizing is a great way to track your foods, water, workouts and feelings for the day and a wonderful method for you to stay committed to your weight loss.

Weight Loss Tip #2

Stop Bad Habits

Learned habits can be hard to let loose. Let’s face it, some things we do are because we have always done them that way. This is the time to change. Get rid of the idea that you have to eat it all. If you are in the ?baby boomer? age then you know what I am talking about. We were led to believe to finish our plates and could not leave the kitchen until they were clean.

Well that was then this is now. Instead of scarfing it down stop when you are full. Take smaller portion sizes and if you are still hungry go back for seconds but make it a smaller piece. When eating away from home order from the kid’s menu for smaller sizes or ask for a ?baggie? and keep the rest for another time.

Weight Loss Tip #3

Keep it in the Kitchen

This is one habit worth talking about as its own tip. Many people have a bad habit of chowing down on the move or squatting in front of the television set when eating. Experts say people who eat in front of the T.V. tend to eat bigger servings. This is primarily because of being focused on the boob tube and not focused on what you are consuming.

So take your meal out of|away from} the family room and into the kitchen. Take advantage of this time to not only eat better and wiser but to find out how the kids are doing in school. By using your eating time as a nice family time you are also slowing down your eating. This will allow your stomach time to tell your brain that you are full and will likely consume fewer calories.

Weight Loss Tip #4

Throw Out Temptation

If it is out of the question to stay away from tempting foods, then just remove these from harms way. The old saying ?out of sight, out of mind? may just do the trick for you. Go through your cabinets and fridge and throw it out. Replace the too sweet or too fatty foods with the right foods. Sugar free jell-o is a wonderful way to get your sweet tooth satisfied without piling on the calories. Instead of potato chips get low fat popcorn.

Try going your first two weeks with no unhealthy snacks at all. You will be surprised at how your yearnings will fade by going without for a few weeks. Have a bag of carrots or celery near by. These veggies help gratify the need to crunch on something and are low in calories.

Weight Loss Tip #5

Get Support

Weight loss is a monstrous challenge for many of us, so go it on your own. Look for a weight loss support group online or on-site or start your own support group. All of the really successful weight loss companies offer a groups or one on one support.

But if you are planning to go without a weight loss plan then create your own support plan by including friends, family members, coworkers and neighbors. Your group can be as big or as small as you need. Let everyone know you are embarking on a weight loss journey and ask for their support and encouragement.

Weight Loss Tip #6

Track Your Weight Loss

In order to make sure you are on the right road to reaching your goals you need to record your progress. By recording how you are doing you can make modifications as needed to ensure you keep losing weight and reach your goals.

Keep track of the foods you eat and how many calories you have in a day. Track your exercise routines and how many calories you burned during exercise. This will help ensure you create a calorie deficit for losing weight. Measure or weigh yourself once a week and record your weight. Review your progress and weigh against your goal. If you see your progress headed in the wrong direction, make adjustments to your foods and/or workout routines.

Weight Loss Tip #7

Add Variety

You need a variety of foods to keep your meals interesting and fun. Don’t burn yourself out by eating the same things day in and day out. Eat from all the food groups by including whole grains, protein, dairy, fats and veggies and fruits.

Try eating 5 to 6 mini meals every day to help your metabolism stay energized. Eat protein with each meal by including lean cuts of meat and fish and beans and eggs in your diet plan. Aim for 5 ? 9 servings a day of vegetables and fruits. Make your choices colorful by having dark green leafy veggies, red or orange peppers, etc. Vary your fruit selection as well consuming citrus fruits and non-citrus fruits.

Your dairy products should be fat free and low fat choices. Make your bread and pasta selections whole grains. The complex carbohydrates and high fiber in whole grain breads and cereals help to speed up your metabolism. Additionally you want to consume some the good fats in your food selection. This is because your body needs some vital fatty acids from the foods you eat as it cannot make these fats itself. Just read the labels and choose foods that have the healthy fats and try to eliminate or reduce trans fats.

Weight Loss Tip #8

Watch What You Drink

Several people do not track or think about the amount of calories in their beverages. A regular flavored cola has more than 100 calories and 10 teaspoons of sugars. Fruit drinks are also high in sugar and calories. Switch to diet drinks and drink more green tea and water.

Watch the alcohol consumption as well. A lot of alcoholic drinks are high in calories and alcohol tends to turn to fat and sugar in your body. You should try to eliminate or reduce your alcohol intake while trying to lose weight. However, if you have a special occasion, beer and wine are lower calorie drinks.

Weight Loss Tip #9

Satisfy the Sweet Tooth

As you continue on your weight loss journey there will be times when you need a sweet treat. If you let your cravings go unchecked for too long then there is a good chance it will overcome you and lead to “binge eating”. So go ahead and treat yourself to that tempting snack once in awhile.

Moderation is the key here. It’s okay to sneak a snack and not feel bad. Just make sure it doesn’t become a common thing but is just every now and then change from your diet. One of the main reasons people stop strict diets is their constant cravings eventually gets the better of them. So go ahead and give in and make your snack small but enough to calm your sweet tooth. Then get right back on track with your weight loss journey.

Weight Loss Tip #10

Get Active

There are a lot of people who are exercise fanatics and then there are those people who flinch at the very word exercise. However, if you want to lose weight, and here’s the important part, keep it off then you need to include exercise to your weight loss plan.

By exercising you are burning excess fat and calories. You are also increasing lean muscle mass. The more lean muscles you have the higher your basal metabolic rate (BMR). The higher your metabolism the more calories and fat you burn in a given day.

If you are just starting out, then start slow by going for a brisk walk 20 minutes 3 times a week. Also add some strength training 2 or 3 times a week. As you get used to this workout routine then improve your speed and duration. Increase the resistance during your strength training as well. It doesn’t matter what you start with just so long as you start to get active.

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Diet Tips and Myths

The first diet myth is that you do not have to eat too much at night because you will gain more weight. People believe that because you do not do much at night, you do not burn much of what you eat during that time. An experiment done by Dunn Nutrition Center showed that it does not matter how much you eat at night. What matters is how much food you eat in the whole day that will determine if you will really gain weight.

The second diet myth is that cholesterol is bad for you. The truth is there are good cholesterols and there are bad cholesterols. Cholesterols, just like any other fat, do not dissolve in our blood. That can be dangerous because they can clog the arteries or the passages in our hearts. The good cholesterols drive away bad cholesterols from the arteries. Instead, they displace the bad cholesterols back to the liver.

Protein is essential to build muscles in the body. Because vegetarians do not eat meat, the third diet myth states that people who are more into vegetables cannot have muscles. This is untrue because they can also get their protein fix from non-meat products such as cheese, grains and nuts.

Some smokers reason out that they do not want to gain weight that is why they do not go cold turkey. This is another diet myth. There are people who have gone cold turkey and they even lost weight. It is a well-known fact that nicotine, which is found in cigarettes, boosts a person?s metabolic capability. But it is also a well-known fact that smoking is very dangerous to our health.

Another diet myth tells that people should suppress themselves to lose weight. It is true that there are people who think that dieting is a form of punishment. This, however, is not always the case. Most diet programs tell dieters to avoid certain kinds of food, but not to stop eating altogether. There are even diet programs which boats of food that are extremely delicious you will not even think you are going on a diet.

If busting those myths are still not enough for you to not fear or question going on a diet, then here are some diet tips for you:

First tip is for you to determine what your motivation is for going on a diet. Do you just want to look stunning in a swimsuit? Do you have an ideal weight? Do you want to join a contest? Are you tired of not minding what you eat, and in turn, also your body? Your motivation shall keep you going with the diet during times when you feel like you can no longer continue the program. Another tip is for you to talk to people who are also on a diet. Share stories, tips, and recipes with each other. You can even have a friendly contest on who loses more weight after a certain period of time. Another diet tip is for you to drink plenty of water. Drinking water is very important when you are in a diet because it gives you the feeling that you are already full, and you will eat less afterwards. Drinking water also drives away the toxins from the body.

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Don't skip brain food - eat your breakfast

New Delhi, June 2 (IANS) Are you suffering from acidity, obesity or reduced attention span? Perhaps you are skipping breakfast, also called brain food and the most important meal of the day.

People in cities tend to give breakfast a miss perhaps due to hectic lifestyles or in the belief that it will keep them slim. But experts say it could end up making people obese.

'People do not seem to have time for breakfast these days. They have every reason to avoid the healthy tradition of having a good nutritious breakfast,' Anita Jatana, chief dietician at the Batra Hospital here, told IANS.

Describing it as a change in perception and lifestyle, she said: 'People usually do not eat because of their tight work schedules, late night dinners, zero figure obsession or just anything else that keeps them away from a healthy breakfast.'

According to the dieticians, breakfast is most essential. They say breakfast must be balanced and should include nutrients like calcium (milk or milk products), proteins and fibre (sprouts or cereal), and some amount of antioxidants (apples, strawberries, banana, oranges, etc) and vitamins.

'Often called 'brain food', breakfast needs to be wholesome and it should essentially contain all the vital nutrients that the body craves for,' Ritika Samadar, chief dietician at Max Hospital, told IANS.

A nutritious breakfast is necessary to keep the body's metabolism going properly.

'Generally, there is a gap of 10 to 12 hours between the dinner and breakfast and it is anyway very long for the body to resist.' In case, breakfast is skipped, 'we add some more hours, hence affecting the body's metabolism', Samadar said.

Jatana feels long gaps between meals can also cause digestion problems. 'Not eating on time leads to a lot of ailments. Obesity, acidity, reduced attention span and ulceration are a few on the list.'

Owing a great deal to Kareena Kapoor's size zero, people have become obsessed with ultra thin figures and they feel not eating will help lose weight. But experts say it is the beginning of many problems.

'People think that if they skip breakfast, they will lose weight. But it is a myth. They gain weight at a faster rate instead because they end up eating more than in the normal course,' said Priti Vijay, head dietician at Max Hospital, Saket.

'In the long run, if more meals are skipped in a day than just the breakfast, it can also lead to shrinking of the stomach and intestines,' Jatana said.

The ideal time for breakfast is between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Any delay results in weight gain.

'Half of overweight patients have a tendency to skip breakfast,' said Vijay. 'Some 60 to 70 percent patients who come to me with digestion or stomach-related problems or for advice on weight gain disclose that they frequently miss their breakfast.'

Perhaps it is time to take an old proverb seriously - 'Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper'.

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