5 easy weight loss tips you shouldn’t ignore because they work

Don’t ignore these tips. They result in real results and you won’t even hate doing them.

They won’t cramp your style. You won’t feel like you’re on a diet. You don’t have to stop eating the food you love and you don’t have to start eating things you don’t like. You can keep living your life while you lose weight; you can go out to eat, have fun at parties, and stay away from the gym if you happen to not like working out in the gym. If you like the gym, of course, you can keep going.

Here are 5 fantastic weight loss tips. All you have to do is do these things and you will be happy with the results.

1. Keep a food diary.

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This isn’t hard. You can track your food with an app on your smartphone, or you can go low-tech with a pen and a little pocket notebook. You bite; you write; you lose. Some people like to track by taking a picture of everything they eat on their smart phone; that works. Easy.

Snap a quick pic of your treat to remind yourself to be accountable for it. Next time you're about to have a candy bar, you have a reminder that you already had a treat and maybe it would be better to wait a few days before having another.

Snap a quick pic of your treat to remind yourself to be accountable for it. Next time you’re about to have a candy bar, you have a reminder that you already had a treat and maybe it would be better to wait a few days before having another.

Why it works.

A food diary makes you aware. It forces you to think before and after you eat. This creates mindfulness around your eating behaviors. It helps you identify if you’re eating too often, too much, and the nutritional quality of your food choices. Monitoring food has been proven to be an effective and easy way to reduce overall consumption and eat more healthfully to lose weight.

 

 2. Sit less.

It's easy to sit down with a computer and not realize how many hours have passed. Set a timer to remind you to get up for 5 minutes after every hour has gone by.

It’s easy to sit down with a computer and not realize how many hours have passed. Set a timer to remind you to get up for 5 minutes after every hour has gone by.

Throughout the day you sit when you don’t have to. Get up, stand up. When you can get up and actually walk rather than stand still, that’s even better. Don’t sit when you can stand. Don’t stand when you can walk. Easy.

Standing up puts your fat-burning enzymes back in motion.

Standing up puts your fat-burning enzymes back in motion.

Why it works.

Sitting for long periods of time is a threat to your health and your weight. It’s truly amazing what happens when you reduce the time you spend sitting. You’ll burn more calories – duh – and there are some other, even more important things that happen when you get up and move around. You may experience increased energy, which leads to more physical activity and more calories getting burned. The muscle activity needed for standing and other movement is believed to affect important processes related to the breakdown of fats and sugars within the body. Sitting stalls these processes and increases your risks of weight gain and other health complications. When you’re moving or even just standing, you put these processes back into action.

 

3. Eat slowly.

Slow down. Put down the fork between bites and chew, chew, chew.

Slow down. Put down the fork between bites and chew, chew, chew.

Chew each bite of food at least 10 times. Don’t wash it down with liquid. Sip water between bites, after you have thoroughly chewed and swallowed your food. Put down your fork between bites. Easy

If you eat what's on your plate in 10 minutes, you'll be hungry for seconds because the message from your belly that tells you you're full won't be received by your brain for another ten minutes.

If you eat what’s on your plate in 10 minutes, you’ll be hungry for seconds because the message from your belly that tells you you’re full won’t be received by your brain for another ten minutes.

Why it works.

Eating slower is the easiest way to eat less and enjoy fullness. Eating quickly is the major cause of eating too much. Your belly needs time to communicate with your brain to signal that it’s full. That takes roughly 20 minutes after you start to eat regardless of how much you eat during those 20 minutes.

 

4. Carry heavy stuff.

You can carry heavy stuff in a gym or wherever you may be.

You can carry heavy stuff in a gym or wherever you may be.

Picking up and carrying heavy stuff is good for your muscles. You can go to the gym to do your picking up and carrying heavy stuff or even better, incorporate it into your daily life. Sometimes making more trips to lighten your load is necessary, but try to consolidate trips by making your load heavier whenever possible.

Carrying heavy stuff doesn't have to be unpleasant. It can be stuff you love.

Carrying heavy stuff doesn’t have to be unpleasant. It can be stuff you love.

Why it works.

It supports your metabolism. It helps to preserve muscle mass when losing weight. It burns calories. It also keeps muscles firmed and toned. Firm, toned muscles feel good and look good. Feeling and looking good inspires more behaviors that help you to feel and look even better. You can get pulled into a positive cycle that just keeps giving you more of what you want. Do be careful, however, when lifting those heavy objects to avoid hurting yourself.

5. Change your self-talk.

"I would not use such mean words on anybody but myself. It's time to talk nicely to myself."

“I would not use such mean words on anybody but myself. It’s time to talk nicely to myself.”

The things you say to yourself, either in your thoughts or out loud can hold you back or move you in the direction you want to go. You choose your words, you choose your results. Words such as: cant, never, always, should, shouldn’t, failure, and angry don’t help you get what you want. These words, on the other hand, will give you what you want and they are: can, will, want, better, best, progress, feedback, and happy.

Why it works.

Have you seen the TV commercial for post it notes?

She has a goal and she is taking small, but highly effective steps towards reaching it. She isn’t saying to herself, “I can’t compete because I’m too short. I’ll never make the team. The tall girls are lucky and have all of the advantage. I’m no good, I should just face it. I will never be a good basketball player, I should just find something else to do. She says, “Tomorrow I will jump higher.” She knows what she wants and she’s acting as her own coach when she gives herself that message. She reinforces it by writing it down and she measures her progress by sticking notes on her wall. If you don’t think that’s an effective way to get what you want, try it to see for yourself that the only thing that’s been holding you back is your own negative self-talk.

There are my 5 tips and see, I told you they won’t cramp your style.

Jackie Conn

About Jackie Conn

Jackie Conn is married and has four grown daughters and four grandchildren. She is a Weight Watchers success story. She's a weight loss expert with 25 years of experience guiding women and men to their weight-related goals. Her articles on weight management have been published in health, family and women's magazines. She has been a regular guest on Channel 5 WABI news, FOX network morning program Good Day Maine and 207 on WCSH.