20 Simple Tips to Losing Weight and Keeping It Off

27 Jan 2010 2 Comments

by Violette Illusions in Diet & Fitness Tags: diet, exercise, fitness, wellness

Hello everyone!

Anyone who is conscious about their weight and what they eat absolutely dreads the holidays because of all desserts and cookies our co-workers, friends, and family members are baking and throwing in our faces.

According to That’sFit.com, due to all the social holiday soirée thrown by our family, friends, and employers, most people have a tendency to gain anywhere from five to ten pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I have compiled 20 simple tips for getting you and your diet back on track if you are still carrying around a few extra reminders of what a great time you had over the 2009 holiday season.

1. Get all that junk food out of your house…IMMEDIATELY! Clear out ALL the snacks because if it’s not in the house, you won’t eat it. So pitch all the unfinished bags of chips, candy, cookies, fudge, dips and whatever else is fattening and totally unhealthy….if you are not comfortable throwing food away, then bring it to the office or donate it to a relative who needs to gain weight…just get rid of it and out of reach. Then you want to replace all that junk food with healthy snacks such as fresh fruit, veggies, or fat free yogurt. Also, do not buy snacks that are processed or already prepared. You will snack less if you have to prepare it yourself.
2. Start lunch and dinner with a large, healthy, filling salad and use only a low fat, or better yet, fat-free dressing. By doing this, you will fill your appetite with salad leaving less room for the fattening foods. So, go crazy and throw in a ton of lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach, or any other veggies you love and eat, eat, eat. Just make sure you DO NOT use iceberg lettuce because it has absolutely no nutritional value what-so-ever so don’t even bother wasting your time or money.
3. Start making a few simple substitutions rather than making over your entire diet. You want to do this because making over an entire diet is such a big task that many people get frustrated and just give up. So you want to do things like swap out your morning orange juice for cranberry or tomato juice because they are lower in sugar. Another thing you want to do is drink water rather than diet soda because artificial sweeteners flip a switch in your brain that tells your body to start storing all incoming calories as fat.
4. Get at least 7 hours of sleep at night. Now, I’m not saying this for the health benefits you get from sleep. I’m saying this because you can’t eat while you’re sleeping. Try going to bed early because the earlier you go to bed the less time you have to snack after dinner and, the best part is…..you can save up to 220 calories a day! If you do this, be sure to wait at least 3 hours after eating dinner before going to bed because you don’t want your dinner sitting in your stomach when you go to bed otherwise you are defeating the purpose of this step.
5. Want to burn an additional 500 calories every day? Well, it’s really easy. All you need to do is the following: park your car as far away as possible from your office building, supermarket, or mall entrance; walk up at least 3 flights of stairs 3 times every day; every ½ hour or so walk around the interior of your office if it’s fairly big or around the office building; and if you can avoid using the email, get up out of your chair and visit your co-workers office or cubicle if you need to discuss business; and finally keep your body constantly active by tapping your feet as much as you can. Do these things everyday and you will burn those 500 calories according to Dr. James Levine author of Move A Little, Lose A Lot.
6. Eat the same lunch everyday. Apparently, people with too much variety in their diet tend to be heavier. Now, I bet you are all wondering why this is…right? Well, the more variety there is, the more you will eat. So for example, people offered bowls of M&M’s in 10 different colors ate 40 percent more than those offered only seven colors. Also, when flavors are mixed….we have a tendency to eat more because our brain plays a nasty trick on us by making us think we are only eating a little of everything but, overall, actually adds up to a lot of food.
7. Grill or bake a reasonable portion of protein, preferably chicken breast. Then use spices and fresh herbs rather than sauces because sauces usually have a lot of sugar in them. If you need a sauce because you feel chicken breast is too dry, then marinate the chicken breasts in a low fat or fat-free Italian dressing for an hour or more to give it some moisture.
8. Keep your carbs to the bare minimum because it’s carbs that keep your body craving for more food. So cut out any pasta, rice, and bread at least six days out of the week but if you absolutely have to have carbs every day, then only eat about 100 grams a day.
9. Give yourself one day each week where you have that slice of pizza or scoop of ice cream. Whatever you do, DO NOT BINGE! So, for example, if you have to have that Blizzard at Dairy Queen, then get a small or kid-size Blizzard.
10. Get moving! You need to get back to your regular workout as soon as possible.  If haven’t worked out, then you absolutely have to start. You boost your metabolism through fast walking, dancing, hiking, or the often-dreaded gym for at least a half hour three times a week. Also, try to add in some weight training because building muscle will burn off fat. Make sure you do something fun so you keep doing it.
11. Don’t eat giant portions at fast food restaurants. In the United Kingdom a large Coke contains 100 fewer calories than a large Coke in the United States. In the United Kingdom there is no such thing as a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese. The lesson here? Save fast food for your weekly binge meal or if you must absolutely have it….cut your burger, your fries, and your drink in half and eat one half and throw the other half in the garbage. If you don’t want to waste food like that then order the kids meal.
12. Eat more rice and beans. In Brazil they eat rice and beans with almost every meal. Apparently this is a good idea because according to a study in the journal Obesity Research, they found that a diet consisting primarily of rice and beans lowers the risk of becoming overweight by about 14 percent. Rice and beans are low in fat and high in fiber – which can help stabilize blood sugar levels, and low blood sugar causes food cravings. Now, many of you may be thinking….but Violette, beans makes me flatulate. Here’s a secret….buy dried beans and soak your beans for twenty-four hours before cooking them and that will eliminate any chance of you worrying about flatulation.
13. In Hungary, they eat anything pickled; for example pickled bell peppers, cabbage, and tomatoes. Why would eating pickled foods help keep you thin? It has something to do with the vinegar. Growing evidence suggests that the main component of vinegar helps reduce blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and…the best part…the formation of fat. If you are not a fan of pickled cabbage…eat pickles, or better yet, when you’re eating that huge salad before lunch and dinner, use oil and vinegar instead of your favorite low fat or fat free dressing.
14. Ride your bike more often. This tip comes from the Netherlands. Apparently over half of bike owners in the Netherlands use them for daily activities such as shopping and traveling to work. Don’t live close enough to work to bike there? Then get on a stationary bike at home or at the gym and spend an hour at a moderate pace and you’ll easily burn 550 calories. If you did this twice a week you could lose approximately 16 pounds a year! Just imagine how much you could lose if you did this every day. So, if you run errands close to home, leave your car keys behind and take your bike instead.
15. Eat 3 meals a day. In France, this is how the women keep their slender shape. They don’t skip any meals; this keeps them from allowing their bodies to go for long periods of time without food; therefore they don’t overeat when they do have a meal. As a side note, in Sweden, they eat very small meals every three hours or five times a day. So you take your pick.
16. Eat more fish…and I don’t mean the breaded and fried kind. Fish, (when steamed, broiled or baked) is a great source of protein, it contains Omega 3 fatty acids which is incredibly good for you, and it’s low in fat and calories. The Japanese eat more fish than any other culture in the world…and I’m not just talking about sushi either; they eat many other types of non-sushi fish as well.
17. Drink Chinese green tea twice a day. This can improve your heart health and it will help you get and stay slim. The polyphenols in green tea will increase your body’s ability to quickly and effectively metabolize fat when consumed with meals.
18. In Greece, they eat meals filled with healthy fats that are found in olive oil. Diets rich in olive oil will speed weight loss. Now I realize this seems counterintuitive, but an increase in monounsaturated fat increases the body’s ability to break down stored fat. They also eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Increasing your intake of veggies and fruits ups your fiber intake. Fiber helps you feel fuller sooner and stay that way longer. Fiber also helps you flush toxins from the body. The Grecians drink lots of Red wine. Red wine contains metabolism-boosting properties. Apparently red wine contains flavonoid polyphenol that can offset the negative effects of a high-calorie diet – and help you lose weight on a healthy diet. In case you’re wondering, flavonoid polyphenol is the chemical responsible for the deep red color in red wines.
19. In India, they follow ayurveda which is their 5,000-year-old approach to wellness. According to ayurveda, we are designed to eat the larger meal at lunch because of our digestive fire called agni is strongest between 10AM and 2PM; so we digest food more efficiently. According to Jennifer Workman, a Boulder, Colorado-based ayurveda specialist, registered dietitian, and author of Stop Your Cravings, she has seen people in her practice drop 5 to 10 pounds just by doing this.
20. And finally….exercise, exercise, exercise. I realize this tip is a repeat of tip number 10. But folks…I cannot stress how important this tip is. You’ve absolutely got to get off the couch and away from the tv and computer screens because there is no pill or crash diet that will help you lose weight and keep it off for life.

I make a promise to those of you who have decided to try this…not only will you lose the weight you gained over the holidays but you can easily drop 30 pounds if you follow the tips above, do a half hour of cardio and a half hour of weight training every day. I can make this promise because I have done this. So if I can do it…so can you.

Good luck everyone!