Forget following strict diets or only eating certain food groups. It's the small changes you can make on a daily basis that will lead to ultimate weight-loss sucess. Our "Quick Tips" series brings you our top tips in one place! This group of tips are especially for beginners so you can use them to get started on your weight-loss efforts today.
Get Your Game On
Do you like a little healthy competition? It can be a great motivator, particularly when you are losing momentum or simply don't want to exercise. Create a contest with your spouse or a friend to see who can log more steps on the
pedometer or have more exercise sessions over the course of a week. Tally up the results once a month to
reward the winner with a non-food prize.
See it in Writing
We tend to keep lists of things we need to do or groceries we need to pick up even in the busiest of times. Consider keeping a "done list" instead of a to-do list, but use it solely for your health and weight loss-related accomplishments, no matter how small. Seeing it in black and white will be a great motivator.
Don't Throw Yourself a Curve Ball
One of the biggest ways to make your
weight-loss efforts fail is to change your life too quickly, like swearing off
eating out altogether or no longer meeting
friends for
drinks. If your social life takes a beating, your motivation will too. Instead, make small changes like alternating high-cal drinks with water, planning non-food activities for your friends or pre-selecting healthier dishes from the Web menus of your favorite eateries.
Eat More Often, Not Less
Seem to have a problem with an
out-of-control appetite? Eating more often may help you achieve weight-loss success.
Planning and
portion control are two skills that are crucial for success, and they are "built in" as required skills to the habit of creating and eating mini meals. Some people find eating as often as six times a day helps them achieve a healthy weight.
Be a Portion Control Pro
Portion-controlled snacks such as 100-calorie snacks or frozen meals may prove a little more costly, but it's worth
working them into your budget -- particularly if you tend to
overeat or pay little attention to your serving sizes. They take the guess work out of portion control so you can easily eat your meal without having to measure portions or estimate your calorie intake.
Get Moving Now
Are you putting off exercise until you've lost a certain amount of weight? It's important to
begin working exercise into your daily activities as soon as possible. Even if you can't commit to a 30-minute workout, adding small 10-minute bursts of activity where and when you can will add up to make a difference.
