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20 tips for permanent
weight loss
Permanent weight loss — These 20 ideas can
help you keep the pounds off for good.
From MayoClinic.com
Weight maintenance is much like weight loss. The principles are
essentially the same: Eat healthy foods, control your portion sizes
and exercise regularly. And to keep the pounds off permanently, you
need to incorporate the new, healthy behaviors into your routine so
that they become a natural part of your daily life.
Here are 20 ideas to reinforce your healthy lifestyle and to keep
you committed to permanent weight loss.
1. Exercise 30 to 60 minutes each day.
If time is limited, exercise for several brief periods throughout
the day — for example, three 10-minute sessions rather than one
30-minute session.
2. Eat three healthy meals during the day, including a good
breakfast.
Skipping meals causes increased hunger and may lead to excessive
snacking.
3. Focus on fruits and vegetables.
Top off your morning cereal with sliced strawberries or bananas.
Stir berries or peaches in yogurt or cottage cheese. Liven up your
sandwiches with vegetables, such as tomato, lettuce, onion, peppers
and cucumber.
4. Weigh yourself regularly.
Monitoring your weight can tell you whether your efforts are
working and can help you detect small weight gains before they
become even larger.
5. Don't keep comfort foods in the house.
If you tend to eat high-fat, high-calorie foods when you're upset
or depressed or bored, don't keep them around. Availability of food
is one of the strongest factors in determining how much a person
eats.
6. Plan a family activity.
Get the family together to go for a bike ride, play disc golf or
kick the ball around in the yard.
7. Eat healthy foods first.
Eat foods that are healthy and low in calories first so that when
it comes time to enjoy your favorites — sweets or junk food, for
example — you won't be so hungry.
8. Pay attention to portions.
Serve meals already dished onto plates instead of placing serving
bowls on the table. Take slightly less than what you think you'll
eat. You can always have seconds, if really necessary.
9. Create opportunities to be active.
Wash your car at home instead of going to the car wash. Bike or
walk to the store. Participate in your kid's activities at the
playground or park.
10. Sit down together for family meals.
Avoid eating in front of the television. TV viewing strongly
affects how much and what people eat.
11. See what you eat.
Eating directly from a container gives you no sense of how much
you're eating. Seeing food on a plate or in a bowl keeps you aware
of how much you're eating.
12. Vary your activities.
Regularly change your activity routine to avoid exercise burnout.
Walk a couple of days, swim another and go for a bike ride on the
weekend. Seek out new activities — karate, ballroom dancing,
cross-country skiing, tennis or Pilates.
13. De-stress your day.
Stress can cause you to eat more. Develop strategies that can help
you relax when you find yourself becoming stressed. Exercise, deep
breathing, muscle relaxation techniques and even a good laugh can
ease stress.
14. Eat at home.
People eat more food in restaurants than at home. Limit how often
you eat at restaurants. If you do eat out, decide what and how much
you're going to eat before you start and have the rest boxed to
go.
15. Plan healthy snacks.
The best snacks include fruits, vegetables, whole grains and
low-fat dairy products. Fruit smoothies, sliced fresh fruit and
yogurt, whole-grain crackers, and carrot and celery sticks with
peanut butter are all good choices.
16. Start your day with a high-fiber breakfast
cereal,
such as bran flakes, shredded wheat or oatmeal. Opt for cereals
with "bran" or "fiber" in the name. Or add a few tablespoons of
unprocessed wheat bran to your favorite cereal.
17. Walk for 10 minutes over your lunch hour
or get up a few minutes earlier in the morning and go for a short
walk.
18. Plan a week's worth of meals at a time.
Make a detailed grocery list to eliminate last-minute trips to the
grocery store and impulse buys.
19. Look for a distraction when you're fighting a
craving.
Call a friend, put on music and dance or exercise, clean the house,
pull weeds in your garden, or run an errand. When your mind is
occupied with something else, the cravings quickly go away.
20. Reward yourself.
Losing weight and keeping the pounds off is a major accomplishment.
Celebrate your success with nonfood rewards, such as new clothes or
an outing with friends.
and one of them most important tips being left out here
21) Stay hydrated
