- Our 13 essential weight loss and management tips
- 1. Eat less. More often.
Rather than eating large meals, chop up your eating into smaller portions throughout the day. Try eating three meals most days and having a snack around 3pm as well as another in the evening.
- 2. Eat More Fibre.
Fibre makes us feel full sooner as it stays in our stomach longer than other substances we eat, slowing down our rate of digestion. Due to its greater fibre content, a single serving of whole grain bread can be more filling than two servings of white bread. Fibre also moves fat through our digestive system faster so that less of it is absorbed.
- 3. Don't eat right before going to bed.
Depending on your metabolism, many people find that this practice works really well for them. Try and set a limit of three hours. So if you planned to go to bed at midnight, don't eat past 9pm.
- 4. Kick the sugar habit.
If you drink sugared soft drinks, replace them either with their diet counterparts or water.
- 5. Eat vegetables before the main course.
Whenever possible, try and make sure to have an ample serving of a vegetable, (you get very few calories for the amount you eat), before eating the denser main course - often a meat or fish.
- 6. Shop with calories in mind.
When you're at the grocery store, spend some extra time reading the labels and nutritional information. You'll probably end up changing your shopping habits along the way. You'd be surprised by how widely the calorie counts in granola bars varies, for example. Variety may be the spice of life, but it also can be the downfall of a good diet. When doing your grocery shopping, if you don't buy junk food or foods that are bad for you, it makes it that much harder for you to break your diet on the spur of the moment.
- 7. Remove temptation
It's much harder to resist the temptation of a chocolate bar if it’s sitting right in front of you. Remove unnecessary temptations...if you only have healthy foods in the house and low calorie foods, then it would be that much harder to break your diet.
- 8. Slow down!
When you eat fast, you end up ingesting more food before your body has a
chance to figure out that it's satisfied, (not full).
- 9. Drink more water during the day.
This is fairly generic advice, but definitely seems to help. You ideally need to drink two litres of water a day.
- 10. Trick yourself with gum.
Sometimes we eat out of habit or because it just feels good to get some flavour in your mouth and chew for a while. Find yourself some sugar-free chewing gum and use it when the urge strikes.
- 11. Reduce the amount of breads, chips, crackers, and salty snacks you eat.
A lot of starchy and/or salty food makes you want to eat and drink even more.
- 12. Keep track of your progress.
It's very easy to break your diet if you don't monitor what you eat during the day. Get yourself a little journal that you write down what you've eaten, the calories you've eaten, and what type of workout you've done for the day. By keeping track of the calories, you'll make sure that you don't go over a certain caloric amount during the day. Also tracking your workout will also show you the areas that you've improved in and it’s a great inspiration to see how far you've come.
- 13. Soups.
Soups are great to eat while dieting. It takes a long time to eat, its filling, its low calorie, and its good for you. There was a study a few years ago that stated soup added to a diet will speed up your metabolism and reduce the hunger cravings. There are two things to look out for, creamy soups, (higher in calorie), and the salt level in soups. Unfortunately, most canned soups are also high in salt, so take that into consideration when eating soup.
