20 Healthy Weight Loss Tips

Make these 20 healthy weight loss tips part of your daily life - these ideas can help you lose weight and maintain a healthy weight.

1 The real key to reaching a healthy weight and staying there is to eat less, and eat better - for good. Switching permanently to a healthier diet is one huge step you can take to help with weight loss, and make you less likely to get heart disease, some cancers, diabetes and many other diseases linked to being overweight and eating too much junk.

• 2 As much of your food as possible should be fresh and non-processed.
• 3 Stop eating junk food snacks like crisps and chips, heavily salted nuts, cookies, chocolate and pastries. Substitute fresh fruits, veggie sticks, hummus, plain crackers, unsalted nuts, dried fruits.
• 4 Cut down on how much you eat. Most of us eat far too much, without even thinking about it. In restaurants and take-aways, avoid anything called 'super-size', 'whopper', 'extra large'. At home, use smaller bowls and plates.
• 5 Healthy portion sizes are a whole lot smaller than you're probably used to. A healthy portion of proteins, like meat, fish, cheese, pulses should fit into your cupped hand. A serving of carbohydrates like baked potatoes, bread, rice, pasta should be roughly the size of your fist.
• 6 You need 5-7 servings of fruit and veg a day. Make it more vegetables than fruit, which are high in sugar, and include plenty of green leafy vegetables every day.
• 7 Don't add extra fats to your food - no butter on vegetables, oil on salads. Use low fat spreads, lemon or lime juice dressings.
• 8 Don't exclude fats from your diet entirely, but make sure you know the difference between good and bad fats. Stay away from the saturates and trans fats, which clog arteries and lead to health problems.

• 9 Switch to lower fat versions of daily foods. It may take a little time to get used to the feel of skim milk in your coffee rather than full fat, but stick with it and you'll find the fattier version starts to feel too rich in your mouth.
• 10 Think about what you're eating. Enjoy your food and eat it slowly, don't gulp it down mindlessly.
• 11 To take the edge off hunger, and make you less likely to overeat, have a glass of water, a bowl of thin soup or a plate of salad 20 minutes before you sit down to a main meal.
• 12 Soft drinks and sodas are full of calories. Drink water instead.
• 13 You should have plenty of water, up to 8 pints, every day. A cup of warm water, with a slice of lemon if you like, is a great way to start the day.

• 14 Fitness and looking good are not about body weight, they're about body composition. A fat person can weigh the same as someone the same height who has plenty of muscle, but their shape and measurements will be different.

  Focus on building muscle by working with weights and using strength training exercises. Every pound of muscle you gain uses up another 75 calories a day. Not only that, you'll be stronger and sleeker, feel and look more toned and healthier.

• 15 Working out in the gym makes you hungry, and one of the danger times for overeating is right after you finish a vigorous exercise session.

  Make sure you have a healthy snack ready - a banana is good, or a low fat shake. If you start hunting around for food when you're ravenous, you're likely to hit the junk food.

• 16 Barry Braun, Associate Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts, has shown that gentle exercise doesn't trigger the hormones that tell your body to eat more, so you can burn calories without building you a raging appetite. To get more gentle exercise into your life, move around as much as possible.

  Make it a habit never to sit for more than 40 minutes at a time - take regular breaks to stand up and walk around, jog on the spot, run up a flight of stairs. Never take a lift for just a couple of floors, use the stairs. Park as far away from the car park exits as possible - walk to the way out. Run upstairs when you need to use the bathroom rather than using the toilet on the ground floor. Stand and walk around when you're on the phone.

  Get creative about the way you move - every little bit helps both in burning calories and keeping muscles and joints in good condition.

• 17 Joining a diet club can really help you lose weight. A study by the UK Medical Research Council found that it can really help to have a weekly weigh-in and help with setting weight loss targets, as part of a group of like-minded people who are also trying to lose weight.

  In their study, more than one person in three of a group who went on a Weight Watchers program lost at least 5% of their original weight, compared to only one in six of a group who were given written weight-loss instructions and had follow-ups with a nurse.

• 18 If you don't want to join an organized group, find a weight-loss buddy and set your goals together. A challenge like weight loss is always easier if you've someone to urge you on when your willpower starts to flag.

• 19 Boredom is a big trigger for unhealthy eating. Get busy with new interests, especially if they're active. Don't stay at home in front of the TV every night. Doing fun stuff with people you like takes your mind off the urge to eat.
• 20 Always keep the bigger picture in mind. Losing weight is a gradual process. You can go for quick healthy weight loss to start with, but if you've a lot to lose, it's bound to take a while. Take it one week, or even one day at a time, and think in terms of losing the next pound...and only then the next pound, and the one after that. Easy does it.