If history repeats itself, this year will find about 50 million Americans go on a diet. Wowza. That’s a lot of people trying to lose weight. Given the obesity epidemic, I think that’s awesome. But a lot of those dieters will diet dangerously, try to lose too much too fast, or give up because they have no direction. So what are some ways you can lose some weight in a healthy way? I’m glad you asked. Here are ways you can drop 10 pounds and keep it off!
Don’t starve yourself. You have to eat to lose weight. Sounds weird, I know, but it’s soo true! If you just drastically reduce your calorie intake to an unhealthy amount for your body, you’ll throw your metabolism out of whack. It’s possible that your body might freak and start to store your calories when you do fuel it which would result in even slower weight loss. Weight loss doesn’t require hunger pains! {So true!}
Don’t skip breakfast. Have you heard this one a thousand times? There’s a reason for it. Activate your metabolism early with a healthy breakfast that includes protein. Doesn’t have to be large, just something to get metabolism going. {Maybe instead of my usual morning cookie and a piece of chocolate, I’ll eat a bowl of oatmeal.}
Don’t drink your calories. Drinks like soda, fruit juice, sweet teas and flavored waters are all high in sugar and pack unnecessary, hollow calories. Drink water instead. {Maybe this will be the year I only have milk in my first cup of tea of the day and drink the rest without milk?}
Speaking of water, drink it. And a lot of it! Studies show that people who drink more H2O lose weight faster than those who don’t! {But it doesn’t taste as good as tea with milk and sugar}
Eat your veggies first. This is mostly for lunch and dinner, but start your meal with a course of veggies. Eat a salad before your protein and carbs. You’ll be less likely to overeat if you do this, and your stomach will be full of healthy green! {Carrots are my go to veggie of choice}
Cut your portion size. If you aren’t quite ready to cut out some of your favorite foods, think about dishing up your normal amount and then immediately putting half of it away as leftovers. If you finish your portion and you’re still starving, pull some of the reserved food out. Chances are, your half portion is sufficient to fill you up. {Or eat half, and then wait 20 minutes and see if your’e still hungry}
Avoid processed foods. Fresh fruits and veggies, complex carbs, lean protein. That’s where it’s at! Avoid anything that comes out of a box if you can help it. {What about cocoa pods? If I dry those in the sun myself will that count as an unprocessed food?}
Shoot for 80/20. Limit yourself to junk food or splurging 20% of the time. 80% of your diet should consist of all things healthy, and the remaining 20 can be whatever you choose. It’s a good balance that doesn’t make you feel deprived but ensures your body is getting healthy fuel. {My goal for January is to forsake all treats except for 3 small pieces of chocolate in the afternoon and the one sweet treat the HH makes this month out of the Bouchon Bakery book.}
Limit carbs. Carbs aren’t all bad even though they’ve gotten a bad rap as of late. But you can drop pounds faster if you reduce the amount and type you are consuming. For instance, a sweet potato is a much better choice if you’re aiming for weight loss than a bunch of breadsticks made with white flour. {But I love rice and pasta!}
Skip the booze. That beer gut gets its name for a reason. Avoid the calories in beer and wine and opt for water instead. {Beer smells like soap and the smell of wine makes me gag, so no problem there.}
Get more sleep. What does sleep have to do with weight loss? Apparently a lot according to numerous studies. Dieters who get 7-8 hours of sleep have much faster and more long-lasting results than those who get less. I guess if you snooze you really do lose! {Nice!}
Walk it out. Take a 30-minute walk a day. Exercise is a great addition to eating healthy, but if you don’t have time to hit the gym, hit the stairs, walk on your lunch break, or park in the farthest parking spot and walk into work. {I ordered a pedometer last night and it should be here tomorrow!}
Avoid dining out. Not only do you not know exactly what is in your food when you dine out, but studies show the average meal have 134 more calories than if you would have made that same meal at home. {Interesting!}
Train for a race. Having a goal and working towards it always helps me! Plus, if I’ve paid for the race, then I’m obligated to train. {Yes! That is why I put it in my 2019 goals}
Find a workout buddy. This is one of the most helpful things. It is so helpful to find someone to workout with you and hold you accountable. You might not want to get out of bed to exercise, but they’ll be counting on you! It gives me the extra push I need sometimes knowing I’m not in it alone, too! {I need to find a walking buddy.}
Calculate splurge calories. You want that piece of cake? Calculate first how many miles you’d have to run to burn those calories off. Sometimes that simple knowledge will help you put the fork down! {In theory this is a good idea…. but you know, CAKE.}
And there are just a few ways to kick off those resolution diets. Any tips you swear by? Share below!
You’ve got this!
~Mavis
Judy T says
I joined Noom this fall and have lost 25 lbs. so far. They teach many of the things that you mentioned along with other psychology to help you know why we eat what we do. One of the things that helped me was recording what I eat as well as how much I exercise or not and weighing myself every day. It puts it in front of me in black and white that what I eat and how I move does in fact affect what I weigh.
Jenn fron MA says
I used to be able to just run and not really have to worry about what I ate and not gain weight…now in my forties it’s a whole different story! I try to do all of the above but it’s a learning curve to figure out what works!
Wendy Clark says
Ironic that I’m leaving this comment on a weight-loss post, but last night I made “The Best Meatloaf on the Planet” and I think that it really was. All six of us agreed it was delicious! I served it with mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, black-eyed peas, and chow-chow. This one will be going in the recipe file and will be in regular rotation for sure. Thank you!
Mavis Butterfield says
You are welcome! The recipe rules!!
Bec B. says
A while back when I had to get my blood drawn and hadn’t hydrated well beforehand, the enjoyably sassy phlebotomist who had to try to draw blood from my already impossible veins told me that I need to start my day by drinking water first thing in the morning. He was right! On days when I follow his advice and drink a big glass of water before coffee or tea, I notice that I’m more energetic in the morning and feel better all day long. Cold water upsets my stomach first thing, so I usually fill up a large lidded glass to drink out of throughout the night and then I finish it in the morning.
Stacie says
If you need help ditching sugar laden drinks, I find adding a fresh squeeze of lemon to my water is very satisfying. Sometimes, water needs a little “oomph” to make it more desirable.
Kay Bowles says
I lost 35 pounds this year and have kept it off because I cut out packaged white bread and buns and sugar. I still bake biscuits and cornbread but its the packaged pasty stuff that gets you! I lost my taste for sugar while battling pneumonia and just never got it back. I will eat an occasional sweet but a bite or two seems enough. Your body doesn’t need all the sugar we give it and after 46 years of my 66 years spent yoyo dieting…giving up white bread and sugar was all that I needed to do! Who knew! I also reviewed this with my Doctor which he whole heartedly endorsed! All of your suggestions are great as well!
Margo says
My husband and I will be resuming WW this week. I hadn’t regained much from years ago but could certainly tweak what I eat and he needs someone to do this with. It’s less about dieting and more about learning to eat properly for good health and wholeness. And, yup rice and pasta are on the menu. Even cheesecake if you want. Doesn’t matter which method you choose, WW just happens to be my go to. Just make it healthy, watch your portion sizes, and eat more veggies and nonprocessed food. Here’s to good health in 2019. (SPARK PEOPLE is another resource online, and it’s free.)
about dieting
MEM says
I am trying to be better at the half-portion tip – I aim to put half away to eat for the lunch the next day at work. They are all great tips but I have trouble drinking enough water – the sloshing around in my stomach is faintly nauseating.
Heather says
If you only drink water and drink through the day and night, the sloshing and nausea lessen very quickly. I drink 20 oz. of water through the night and 16 oz immediately upon awakening. Then 3 cups of coffee in the morning and back to water. It’s made a tremendous difference in how I feel. And the phlebotomist never has problems.
Mrs. M says
Heather,
Doesn’t drinking that much water cause you to make multiple potty trips while you should be sleeping!? I use water at bedtime to take my nightly vitamins and have to go potty every time our pets wake me up!
How do you make it?
Blessings,
Mrs. M
Rebecca in MD says
I love all of these tips from everyone, as losing 40 pounds is one of my 2019 goals.
I would add using a free app to track your calories each day. I like “Lose It” and “My Fitness Pal” is another good one. “Lose It” has a feature where you determine how much you want to lose each week (1 pound, 2 pounds, etc.) and then it calculates how many daily calories will get you to that goal.
You can also download a “FitBit” app for your phone that will track your steps. The “Health” app on iPhones does the same thing in tracking steps. Just put your phone in your pocket.
A tip I would add is Intermittent Fasting. With IF you eat only during a specific window. For instance, I eat during an 8-hour window during the day and fast the other 16 hours. I found this helpful because I was eating toooooo many snacks in the evening. So now I don’t eat anything after 7 or 8 pm, and that has helped me. You can find out more about Intermittent Fasting here: https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting.
Here’s to a healthier 2019!
Delma J Atwell says
I finally succeeded in losing 43 pounds in the last 8 months – – I paired Intermittent Fasting with WW to keep me honest when I do eat. And I added my own twist – go to the store and try on clothes every couple weeks. As I lost weight and changed shape I bought what fit along the way. I have put ‘lose 40 pounds” on my resolution list every year for a very long time. Not this year ! (yay! ) This New Years I am resolving to get stronger. Going for toned arms ! Everyone has to figure out what works for them . Lots of methods. Lots of ways to succeed ! Here is to a healthier 2019 for sure!
Susan says
Some really good tips here. I also found if I eat slower I feel full faster. When I was working and eating lunch at my desk I would knit in between bites. That really slowed me down. You’ll definitely eat less.
Marcia says
Really good tips here. Similar to yours, I’d add:
1. Soup. Like a salad, studies show that if you start dinner with soup, you’ll eat less. (Generally a veggie laden, clear soup – carrot, tomato, miso – not a cream soup, natch.)
2. Fill your plate with 3/4 veggies.
3. Cut back on carbs
4. Give up wheat.
I’ve had quite a bit of success on various weight loss plans (first when I was just fat, then twice after having babies). After 40, it got harder. I found that the typical American diet of 6-11 servings of carbs a day did not work (I cannot eat 6 servings a day, more like 1-4).
Also, about 1.5 years ago I was having digestive issues that I traced to wheat. I was already at a healthy weight, but when I stopped eating wheat I lost 7-10 lbs. Inflammation maybe? Same calories, same # carbs, just no wheat.
CherylV says
I think the biggest issue I’ve run into with weight loss is knowing what to eat. I have Ulcerative Colitis which is greatly exacerbated by what is ingested. All the “self help” things that say load up on vegetables and grains is translated into “enjoy your dish of serrated knives” for dinner. I have to be very, very careful especially during the work week as I can easily get into trouble.
The biggest stumbling block for me is literally processed food and I don’t mean eating lunch meats, or “nuked” meals or “fast foods”. It is the things that are supposed to be good for you like caramel rice cakes, or sweet & salty Chex mix, baked chips or the one that really got me, “pop chips. The ingredients used to make these things set off a chain reaction with the Ulcerative Colitis that I didn’t think was ever going to get resolved. And don’t even get me started on “sugar free” , what is used in place of that sugar should be something innocuous, not thrown together with multiple chemicals. Those chemicals do not play well together in my body and I have also noticed that eating any of the “heavily sprayed” ingredients for things like bread, pasta, rice, corn and the list goes on wreak havoc.
I HATE water, but discovered purely by accident that I don’t mind orange tinged water so much, I kinda like it. So a squeeze of orange or a bit of watered down OJ works for me.
Learning to eat slow is a bit more difficult, especially if we are still in the rat race that dictates the time frames we can eat. If you bring your lunch and only have a set amount of things to eat, most of the time you’ll be okay. But if you literally inhale your food in 15 minutes, much of the time you’re not going to realize that you are dangerously full until the pain of overeating kicks in. This is where you must learn to listen to your body and over rule the “I wants”, in favor of common sense.
Sleeping? It is a wonderful thing! Clean crisp sheets, a weighted blanket (wish), a dog that sleeps elsewhere or doesn’t sleep on top of me, a little bit of a breeze…all great things in my book. Unfortunately I look at sleep as the last step taken before I have to go to work. Which of course translates into I don’t get a lot of sleep during the work week… I really need to work on that as I am not in my 20’s anymore and do not function well without enough sleep.
A workout buddy is a wonderful concept as well as it hold you accountable to yourself as well as the other person.
Margie says
Please look up low Fodmap Diet studied by monash university, it has helped tremendously for my tummy issues and may help yours.
Sara E Talbot says
One of my goals is to pick a smaller plate when I dish up. ❤️
Julie P says
This is what I have done this last year and I’m sure that’s helped me to lost the 17lbs that have just kind of been hanging there since I had my youngest 28 years ago! Also now it doesn’t matter if I don’t have the small dish, I just can’t eat as much my stomach is capacity has shrunk!
Gina says
This is great advice and doable, except for the training for the race part! I commend you. I’m just not there yet! Maybe not ever!