Whether you want to lose 10 pounds or 25 pounds, knowing where and how to start can be a challenge. The science of weight loss is easy; the psychology of how to lose weight is not. Identifying a few easy things that you can start to do today to lose weight will ease you into building consistent habits and developing a new mindset – keys that enable success.
Recognize this is a marathon, not a sprint
There’s some bad new here. Losing weight takes time. It will not happen overnight. Your progress will be incremental and measured in ounces, not pounds.
Go for consistency, not speed.
Sure, there are lots of programs out there than can help you lose a lot of weight in a little bit of time. Those programs address the science of weight loss and focus on calories in versus calories out. That’s an easy formula.
What harder is addressing the psychological aspects of why we eat and subsequently, gain weight in the first place. That part isn’t easy and it isn’t comfortable.
Losing weight is hard. Know that you are tough and you are worth it.
Decide on one small change
Making humongous changes that your mind and body aren’t prepared may set you up for failure. Don’t do that to yourself.
Decide on one small change that you can make – but more importantly – stick to every day. Remember, we’re going for consistency here.
Switch to fat free half and half for your coffee. Don’t clear your plate at every meal. Use TV commercial breaks to walk up and down the stairs or do a lap or two around your house.
Find ONE and commit to doing it EVERY DAY.
Drink Water
If your stomach is growling you might be thinking you need to eat. However, the same part of your brain that is responsible for telling you you’re hungry is also responsible for telling you you’re thirsty.
Before you reach for food, reach for a glass of water. If your urine is dark and you can’t remember the last time you had something besides coffee to drink, you’re likely thirsty and perhaps mildly dehydrated.
Drink water. Lots of water. Every day. Have a glass when you first get up, and before and after every meal.
Eat your veggies
You can get maximum density and minimal calories by filling up on veggies.
If you’re not a regular veggie eater, finding something you like or trying to incorporate veggies into every meal can be intimidating. Again, don’t do that to yourself.
Start small. Add a small side salad to dinner. Snack on carrots, celery or cucumbers.
If you do like veggies, put more of those than meat, potatoes or pasta on your plate and eat those first. You don’t have to do this every day and at every meal to start. But start.
After a while you might find you come to crave the veggies. That’s a good thing.
Prep your food or snacks
Just like you might plan your work week or your week of appointments and chores, plan and prep your food.
Prepping foods heads off mindless eating.
Don’t worry – I’m not suggesting you dive head first into prepping every single meal every single day. That defeats the purpose of making small sustainable changes.
Instead, prep your snacks. Oh – and make them healthy. Swap a bag of chips for a bag of carrots, apple slices, sliced strawberries, a handful of blueberries, a protein bar or snack crackers.
Phase out fried foods
Whew – this is a tough one. I think french fries should be a major food group.
There are a million and one things wrong with fried foods. That’s no secret and should come as no surprise.
Instead of cutting it our completely, cut down at how many times a week you’re eating anything deep fried or pan fried. That includes potato chips.
Chicken finger and chicken wings aren’t healthy just because it’s “chicken”. It’s fried. Which negates all the healthy aspects of the chicken.
Cut back on sugar
The sugar demon is real and it’s a hard cycle to break.
The same science of addiction for opioids is at work with sugar cravings. I have a sweet tooth the size of Brazil and struggle with this all the time, especially since I think dessert should follow every meal. See? Tough habit.
If you have to indulge, cut back with fun size servings of your favorite candy bar or a few bites of your favorite, cupcake, donut, cake, Danish, etc.
You can make bigger changes but swapping out sugar free versions of some items. I swap sugar-free chocolate pudding for my chocolate cravings. I swap fat free yogurt in crazy flavors for my cake-like cravings (Dannon Lite n’ Fit Boston Crème, Pumpkin and Chocolate Raspberry yogurt is good for this).
Find something that works for you and start to cut back. The eventual goal is to substantially reduce your sugar intake.
Start small, but start.
Don’t cut out carbs
Carbs get a bad rap.
Your body needs carbs for energy. It just doesn’t need as much as you’re probably giving it.
If you have a bagel every day for breakfast, throttle it back and limit it to a couple of times a week. Treat carbs such as donuts as your sugar cravings and address them accordingly.
The carbs I’m talking about processed refined carbs: white bread, pasta, sandwich rolls, bagels. Don’t cut them out – just be mindful of how much you’re consuming.
Limit processed foods
If it’s wrapped in cellophane and has more ingredients that you can identify, count or pronounce, it’s probably processed.
Processed foods are fast and convenient, especially if you have a crazy hectic life. Sometimes that’s your only choice.
If there are better choices, make them. If you have to go processed, don’t go processed at every meal, and don’t go processed every day.
Convenience stores are catching on to the idea that folks want real identifiable food. Grab a salad, hard boiled eggs, apple slices, bananas or yogurt if its available.
Moderation is key
The reality of losing weight is this: there are some foods you will eventually have cut out altogether.
In order to lose weight, you’ll more than likely only have to moderate the quantity and frequency of which you eat other foods – foods you enjoy.
That second serving is going to taste the same as the first, and that 20th bite is going to taste the same as the 10th. That’s a fact.
Conclusion
Small steps. Consistency. Those are the building blocks of success for weight loss.
Each one of these 10 Super Simple tips can be done all at once, or one at a time. Strung together, there’s not way your won’t lose weight.
I encourage you to try one. Just one. When you’re consistent with that, add another. Or add something else not on this list. And keep building. You are literally building this plane while you are flying it. What works for someone else might not work for you.
Patience. There is nothing about losing weight that is quick or easy. Do it anyway. Set yourself up for success and applaud those successes. Find someone with which to celebrate those achievements. You are awesome and you’ve got this.
Expect that you will fail. It’s going to happen. That’s okay. Forgive yourself. I fail at least once a week and I’ve still managed to lose over 20 pounds – a few ounces at a time.