71 Weight Loss Tips

Here are 71 weight loss tips for you to use to get started losing weight.

1.  Don’t eat while watching television.  You can become so engrossed in your program that don’t realize how much you are eating.
2. Too many people skip breakfast.  Eat in the morning when the body burns more calories.
3. Water mixed with fructose suppresses appetite better than glucose with water or diet drinks.  Drink a glass of orange juice one half to one hour before a meal.
4. Avoid trans-fatty acids.  Use olive, corn or canola oil when cooking.
5. Switch from whole to skim milk. All the nutrients are there without the fat.  Okay, at least cut back to low fat!
6. Limit yourself to just four egg yolks a week.
7. Trim all fat from meats before cooking.  You’ll be amazed at how much you reduce your fat intake if you take this one small step.
8. Eliminate fried foods.  Do we need to say why?
9. Cream sauces like Alfredo and hollandaise are loaded with fat. Use tomato based sauces instead of cream.
10.    Use lemon juice or low sodium soy sauce for flavor.
11.    Don’t skip meals.  When you do, you eat more at your next meal and usually eat the wrong foods.
12.    Read labels – check fat, sugar and carb content.
13.    Stop buying on impulse.  Never shop for groceries without a list.
14.    Avoid shopping when you are hungry – eat first!
15.    Shop for groceries once a week and only buy from your prepared list.
16.    Head directly to the fruit and vegetable aisles when you enter the grocery store.  Fill up your basket in these aisles and you’ll be less likely to buy binge food.
17.    If you have a local “farmers market” where you can buy your fruits and veggies off the truck, by all means do so.  They’ll be fresher and tastier.
18.    Make sure you buy everything you need for your weekly meal planning.  Returning to the grocery store numerous times increases the risk of buying what you shouldn’t.  The grocery stores know their business very well and present items that are hard to resist.
19.    Vary your foods – introduce something new each week.  Menu planning can become boring when you eat the same things.  That boredom translates into over eating.  Try new healthy recipes each week.
20.    Stay away from processed foods as much as possible.  Yes, they are very convenient.  They are also loaded with fat and/or sugar, not to mention the chemicals.
21.    The ads are soooo compelling.  Cut fast food from your diet! 
Measure portions one time to get an idea of what a portion of any given food should be.   Do it once for each food that you commonly eat.  Eventually, you will be able to “eyeball” a proper serving.
22.    Keep a food diary of everything you eat.  This is the first step to acquiring a new, healthier life style.
23.    Wait no more than five hours between meals or snacks.  This regiment will help to stabilize your metabolism.
24.    Specific food combinations can help to burn calories by enhancing your metabolism.  Eat carbs that are rich in fiber.  They take longer to digest and you will feel “fuller” for longer periods of time. 
25.    Use fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables.  Canned veggies are okay in a pinch, but generally include more salt than you need.  By the time they are canned and processed, they have lost much of their nutritive value.
26.    Eat more yogurt.  Yogurt is a protein as well as a carbohydrate therefore giving you the small amount of energy needed to burn the protein.
27.    Add more tuna to your diet.  You can grill it, broil it, steam it and poach it, all without any added fat.
28.    Try different varieties of beans rather than sticking to the same old type you are accustomed to.  Beans are a great source of energy, protein and fiber.
29.    Beware of misleading claims.  Reduced fat merely means that the item has 25% less fat.  Use common sense.  If something “normally” contains 300 fat grams, then reduced fat means it still has over 200 grams of fat!
30.    Salads to avoid are tuna, chicken and egg.  It isn’t the meat or egg that’s the problem.  It’s the mayonnaise.  Try making them with plain yogurt and spices to dress it up and you’ll have a healthy combination.
31.    If you absolutely must have your fatty salad dressing, try this.  Have the dressing on the side and dip your fork into the dressing before you spear the salad ingredient.  You’ll have your taste but without dredging your salad in fat.
32.    Love avocado?  Go ahead and indulge a quarter cup but don’t mix it with sour cream!
33.    Roasted, flavored almonds make a great snack.
34.    Make your own potato chips.  It’s simple.  Thinly slice a large baking potato and place in a single layer on a cookie sheet sprayed with low fat aerosol spray.  Spray the slices lightly as well.  Sprinkle with paprika and any other spice of your choosing.   Bake in a 400 degree oven for thirty minutes making sure to turn once.  ‘Voila!  Your own home baked potato chips and a great snack.
35.    Switch from cream of wheat cereal to oatmeal.  The whole grain in oatmeal is much better for you and won’t leave you hungry an hour later like the cream of wheat.
36.    If you plan on eating out at a buffet, eat something before you go.  Don’t skip a meal and plan on chowing down at the buffet.
37.    Grab a table as far from the buffet as possible.  You’ll lessen the temptation to graze or go back for seconds.
38.    Go through the buffet line one time only.
39.    Load up at the salad bar.  Gelatin or plan green salads should be abundant. 
40.    Look for baked roasted or grilled entrees like fish or lean roast beef.
41.    Avoid the breaded fish or fried chicken.
42.    Select soups you can see through.  If you can see through them, they are broths with fewer fat and calories.
43.    Eat slowly.  Savor each bite.  Take your time and enjoy eating.  If you eat too fast, your stomach will be full long before the message to stop chowing down reaches your brain.
44.    Ask yourself if you really tasted and enjoyed that last bite of food.  If your answer is no, it’s time to slow down.
45.    To help downsize your portions, use a smaller plate.  Instead of a dinner plate, use a salad plate for your entire meal. 
46.    When eating in a restaurant, ask for a child’s portion or ask to have the entrée split and have the second half packaged as takeout.
47.    As an assist to making certain you are getting the right nutrition from your vegetables, alternate the colors from day to day.  One day eat fresh yellow and orange vegetables like squash, pumpkin, and carrots then switch to green the next day, like spinach, or dark leafy lettuces.
48.    Pass up peanuts for snacking.  Two ounces of salted peanuts has 328 calories.  Nibble on pretzels instead.  20 of the small ones have as little as 80 calories and most are fat free.
49.    Skip fried shrimp.  A three ounce serving has 206 calories while the same weight when boiled is only 84 calories.
50.    If you love pie, stick with the fruit pies.  Pumpkin and other fruit pies are lower in calories.  Pecan pie has about 430 calories while the same slice of pumpkin pie is only 240.  You can drop another 100 calories if you don’t eat the crust!
51.    Try Canadian bacon instead of regular bacon.  One ounce of regular bacon is about four medium cooked slices and carries 163 calories.  A one ounce slice of Canadian bacon is much leaner and only has about 57 calories.
52.    Use the cool down routine in the reverse of the warm-up, gently slowing down.  This will enable your breathing and heart rate to return to normal.
53.    Learn to listen to your body and differentiate between good pain and bad pain.
54.    Never exercise on a full or empty stomach.
55.    Drink plenty of water to reduce the chance of dehydration.  Experts usually recommend 16 ounces either one or two hours before exercising.
56.    Always use stretching routines.  These are not just for jocks and fitness gurus but should be used by everyone.  The older you are, the more important this becomes as you can help retain flexibility and good range of movement for all your daily activities.
57.    When warming up and stretching, use the movements for five to ten minutes.  This will help to loosen your muscles.
58.    Do not bounce when warming up with stretching as you can cause tears in your muscle fibers.
59.    To increase your flexibility, hold each stretch for fifteen to twenty seconds or longer.
60.    Be sure you stretch lightly during warm up to prevent stretch reflex.  This is caused by over using a cold muscle.
61.    Breathe slowly and evenly throughout your warm up.
62.    If you have a tendency to become stiff, take a hot shower or bath before beginning your warm up.
63.    Breathing is extremely important when exercising as your body need to process oxygen that will transfer from your lungs through the bloodstream to the muscles that are being worked.  Normal breathing is shallow meaning that the air is not reaching deep into the lungs.  This can tighten neck muscles which can cause stiffness and pain in the neck, shoulder upper back and chest.
64.    Always inhale before you lift, exhale as you lift and inhale as you lower the weight for maximum benefit.
65.    Turn everyday activity into exercise.  Try balancing on one foot without support while putting on your shoes and socks.
66.    Forget about the elevator and use the stairs.
67.    Take the stairs two at a time.
68.    Instead of shoving your chair, lift it bending your knees and keeping your back straight.
69.    Hide your remote control and get up and down to change the channels.
70.    Plant a vegetable garden.  You’ll have all that terrific food to eat and exercise in the process!
71.    Park in the furthest parking space.