Weight Loss Tips

Employ psychological strategies to help you lose weight. The following is a list of 50 tips, tricks and will power reinforcers. Print this and circle the ones that pertain to you the most. Read it once a day. You'll be surprised how much it helps.

  1. Keep your treatments regular no matter what, don't use excuses. If you miss a day, come in on another day and make it up.
  2. Eat at least three meals a day. Skipping a meal often leads to snacking heavily or eating too much at the next meal.
  3. Chew deliberately. It takes twenty minutes for the appetite center in your hypothalamus to get the message that you are ingesting food . If you eat quickly, you will probably eat much more than you need before your brain sends out satiation signals. (To get a head start on your hypothalamus, eat a small low-calorie portion of your meal ten minutes before you actually sit down to the main course).
  4. Rediscover your taste for that inexpensive, zero calorie, non-intoxicating drink — water. Water will not make you gain weight. Drink ice water with unsweetened lemon juice, also drink a glass of ice water five to ten minutes before each meal. This will temporarily reduce hunger and made it easier to eat slowly.
  5. Purposely leave small amounts of food on your plate. (The clean plate syndrome has been the downfall of many a well-intentioned dieter) Think and talk about your feelings when you leave food on your plate.
  6. Reduce your salt intake. The result will be a moderate loss of unnecessary fluids you have been carrying around.
  7. Use smaller plates. This fulfills your psychological need to see a full plate, while reducing caloric intake. (It really works.)
  8. Start your dinner with a salad, but choose a low-caloric dressing, (French, Italian, Blue Cheese) and use sparingly.
  9. Substitute skim milk (90 calories a glass) for whole milk (165 calories) one per cent butter-fat content milk (115 calories) or 2% milk (137 calories.) One hundred excess calories per day is a twelve pound gain per year.
  10. How about a before-after image. Have someone take your photograph.
  11. Cut down on fats, especially animal fats. Fat is the most concentrated source of calories.
  12. Eat smaller portions of meat, per serving, meat contains more calories than any other food group.
  13. Bread provides significant nutrition, but be careful what you spread on it. Jelly (50 calories per tablespoon), Apple Butter (32 calories), Margarine (100 calories), provide few nutrients. Peanut Butter (81 calories) does contain significant nutrients.
  14. Be careful how you prepare potatoes. Minimize your consumption of fat-fried potatoes, cut down on butter or sour cream on baked potatoes.
  15. Increase the amount of low-calorie vegetables in your diet, besides providing bulk, color, and essential vitamins they usually require you to chew deliberately.
  16. Use artificial sweeteners.
  17. Drink diet soda (if you must drink soda).
  18. Don't eat while watching TV. We lose track of caloric intake when engrossed in something.
  19. Beware of leftovers! You may not want the food to go to waste, but if you eat it, it will go to your WAIST! Dispose of scraps, into the garbage can or refrigerator-immediately. No sampling while cooking.
  20. Eat snacks by saving something from one of your regular meals, a piece of fruit, celery, a glass of skim milk.
  21. Eat snacks in the same room where you eat all your meals. This helps you remember that snack calories count just as much as meal calories.
  22. A large stalk of celery-no salt, is an excellent snack. 5 calories per stalk) or 2 cups of popcorn at night. Nothing on it.
  23. Raw vegetables are good nutritionally and low in calories. (They make you chew more). Be careful about snacking on fruits, most are moderately high in calories.
  24. Black coffee and tea have zero calories. Since both contain caffeine, they may also serve to pick you up.
  25. Rearrange the refrigerator. Display the food in front you are least likely to snack on. Don't even buy foods you aren't supposed to eat.
  26. When possible, buy food in exactly the quantity you plan to eat. That extra you get for practically nothing will show up around your waist. Never go to the grocery store hungry.
  27. Chew sugarless gum (4 calories a stick) when you get the urge to eat.
  28. Break the habit of treating yourself with food, reward yourself by feeling good about the calories you've saved.
  29. Be aware of cues that trigger your appetite. If seeing food is the cue that sets you off, keep it out of sight as much as possible, and off the counters.
  30. Make up signs bearing mottoes like "You can do it", "A word to the wide", "Win the no-belly prize", "Holy Cow, are you eating again?". Post them throughout the house, especially in the kitchen, like on the refrigerator.
  31. Hang pictures of thin people around the house. (However, on the refrigerator door, hang a picture of a grossly obese person).
  32. Place a polyethylene see-through container in the refrigerator. Keep it filled with raw vegetables, print on the container in big letters, "EAT THIN SNACK PACK."
  33. Tape a sign on your full length mirror, "You are what you eat", or "What you eat today, you'll wear tomorrow".
  34. Movement is the key to activity. Begin to move more, whenever and wherever possible.
  35. Eat a few meals seated in front of a mirror, seeing yourself as others see you can bring valuable insights.
  36. Minimize your use of labor-saving devices.
  37. Walk up stairs, skip the elevators and escalators.
  38. Park your car several blocks from your destination and walk the
  39. Stand rather than sit, you'll use up the extra calories per hour.
  40. Take a brisk walk half and hour after dinner. Walking will keep your metabolic rate higher than collapsing in front of the TV.
  41. Don't oversleep, sleeping burns up fewer calories than any other activity.
  42. Beware of rainy days. Try to be active inside the house. Don't let bad weather blues lead you to the refrigerator. Do some sewing, crocheting, or do a chore you have been putting off for a long time, like cleaning the basement or cleaning dresser drawers.
  43. Get out of the house regularly, according to some scientists,even animals overeat because of boredom.
  44. Take a long leisurely bath, give yourself a complete beauty treatment.
  45. Do some gardening, weeding, start a garden, cut the lawn, trim bushes, etc.
  46. Start redecorating, paint a room, or just the trim, rearrange the furniture, wash windows, clean curtains, drapes, and etc.
  47. When you see a vending machine, increase your walking speed until you are well past it.
  48. SPECIAL OCCASIONS CAN BE A SPECIAL CHALLENGE. Skip those you don't really want to attend, do not skip one you are looking forward to, since sitting at home thinking about all the fun you could be having is more dangerous to your diet than being there. If drinking is part of the special occasion and you feel left out, you can have a drink, or have Club soda over ice with a twist of lemon. Also dancing is great exercise.
  49. Don't eat late night snacks before bed, better yet break the habit of snacking.
  50. Don't listen to people who say "Oh you're getting too thin" or "Your face is getting too thin". Remember, some of these people don't realize how it feels to be heavy and the majority of them are heavy.

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