Weight loss is a process that requires dedication and effort. While some women may opt for surgery or cosmetic procedures for quick results, most will need to commit to making lifestyle changes to achieve sustainable weight loss.
If you’re ready to embark on this journey, the following tips will help you get started on the path towards achieving your weight loss goals.
1. Write Down Your Cravings
By writing down your food cravings, you can determine what’s going on in your life that makes you crave certain foods.
Are you stressed? Angry? Write down your thoughts whenever you have cravings for a certain type of food or drink.
What are you doing? Who are you with? What time is it? This can also help you identify and avoid the trigger foods that cause you to binge.
2. Choose Small Plates
Eating on larger plates and bowls can inadvertently lead you to eat more calories than if you used smaller dishware.
Instead, eat using smaller plates and bowls. This visual cue makes your plate look fuller and more substantial.
3. Brush Your Teeth After Dinner
The taste of toothpaste can help curb late-night snacking. It can also signal your body that it’s the end of the day and you’re getting ready for sleep.
4. Prep Meals For The Week On Sundays
Cooking at home can mean increased food quality and greater awareness of what ingredients you’re actually eating. This is helpful in controlling how much protein, fat, and calories you’re eating on a daily basis.
People who prepare food at home also tend to eat more fruits and vegetables.
Start preparing healthy meals over the weekend so you can don’t have to think about what to eat for lunch or dinner during the week.
5. Pack A Lunch Monday Through Friday
Instead of buying lunch all the time, prepare a lunch at home and bring it to work. If you did your meal prep on Sunday, this should be super easy.
An excellent lunch idea is grilled chicken breast with baked sweet potato and roasted vegetables like brussels sprouts, carrots, and red bell peppers.
Add some healthy fats, like half an avocado or a tablespoon of olive oil, and you have a delicious lunch that’s low-calorie and filling.
6. Have 1 Healthy Snack At Work Per Day
Bringing a snack to work eliminates the temptation to buy less healthy options. Some great choices include an apple, hummus and veggies, hardboiled eggs, turkey jerky, or plain greek yogurt with berries.
This should help keep your energy levels high while keeping your hunger under control until dinner time. Here are 25 awesome snack ideas to choose from.
7. Eat Dinner Out Only 2x Per Week
Limit restaurant meals to 2x per week. Restaurant meals typically contain a lot more fat and calories than the meals you would cook at home, and one study found that eating at restaurants could be as bad for your waistline as eating fast food.
Limiting the number of times you eat out per week can help you better control your calorie intake, making it easier for you to lose weight.
8. Say No To The Bread Basket
The bread, tortilla chips, and other pre-meal snacks that restaurants give you add a lot of empty calories to your meal.
They also don’t fill you up so you still eat your appetizer and entree. Save your appetite for your actual meal and just say no to the bread basket.
9. Opt For Oil & Vinegar Dressing
When you order salads, choose oil & vinegar over creamy dressings. Better yet, get it on the side so you can dress your salad as much or as little as you want.
Additionally, choose only a few toppings for your salad instead of every topping. Toppings, like nuts, seeds, dried fruits, cheese, olives, etc are fine, just not in large amounts all together.
10. Order Grilled, Not Fried
Fried foods contain a lot more fat and calories than grilled food. For example, grilled chicken often has 40% less calories than fried chicken.
This goes for both meats and veggies. Ordering grilled is an easy way to ensure that your meal won’t break your calorie bank.
11. Order Steamed, Not Sauteed
“Steamed” means that a food was cooked using the steam from boiling water, and it’s a cooking method that preserves more of the beneficial vitamins and nutrients than many other cooking methods.
“Sauteeing” refers to cooking foods in some fat over high heat. Many restaurants use loads of fat like butter and other calorie-dense cooking oils for sauteed dishes. So steam your veggies to get the most nutritional bang from your broccoli with minimal calories.
12. Customize Your Meals
The unfortunate truth is that 8 out of 10 adults in the U.S. are overweight.
If you want to be lean, consider customizing your own meals so you are not eating what everyone else is.
Ask for salad on the side instead of fries, or sauce on the side instead of smothered on your entree.
If you eat out often, this is a very powerful strategy that can be the difference between getting lean, or gaining fat.
13. Eliminate Seconds
At a buffet, it’s easy to get tempted by all of the options to overeat. Remember our recommendation to “limit variety”? That applies to when you’re at a buffet as well.
To counteract the temptation of buffet variety, take only one plate and don’t go back for seconds. Fill ½ of your plate with veggies, ¼ with protein, and ¼ with a healthy carbohydrate.
14. Choose 1 Low-Calorie Meal Option At Each Cuisine
When you go out to eat, be prepared with your go-to low-calorie meal option. Then, you won’t even need to look at the menu when you get there.
This eliminates the stress of choosing a healthy meal, and lets you focus on your dinner company instead.
15. Pack Food For The Plane
Bringing your own food is the easiest way to ensure you eat something healthy and tasty when you travel.
You can pack your own meals and bring your own snacks. Taking a little time to prepare food before your flight lets you control what and how much you’re eating.
A simple and filling snack to pack is a Bison-Cranberry EPIC bar and an apple.
16. Have Water On The Plane
While alcohol, sodas, and juices are tempting, these sugar-filled beverages are full of empty calories.
Instead, opt for still water, sparkling water, unsweetened tea, or black coffee on the plane.
Staying hydrated can also help decrease your symptoms of jet lag if you’re crossing time zones, so you have more than one good reason to drink water.
17. Fast During Your Plane Ride
Humans don’t need to eat every 3-4 hours. If it’s not a very long plane ride, it could be a great opportunity to give your digestive system a break from food by fasting.
So skip the plane food and snacks and instead focus on your hydration by drinking lots of water.
Plan on having a good meal once you’re at your destination.