Dieting Power-Tips: Seven Secrets to Help You Lose Weight Successfully

Have you ever thought that dieting is a waste of your time – and money? Perhaps you’ve forked out for expensive weight-loss products in the past which just didn’t work. Maybe you’ve wasted a lot of time trying out “miracle” exercise products … which didn’t make a jot of difference to your figure. You might even have gone through wardrobe after wardrobe of clothes, due to yo-yo dieting.

Deep down, you and I both know that there are no quick fixes when it comes to weight loss. A problem that took months or years to create isn’t going to be solved overnight. But the good news is that there are a few simple techniques and tips you can use to hugely increase your chances of dieting success. Here they are:

1. Eat Breakfast Every Day

You’ve probably heard this one already: people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight than those who don’t. It might seem a bit counter-intuitive (how can eating more meals help you lose weight?) but if you think about it, you can see why:

Eating breakfast kick-starts your metabolism in the morning
Most of us eat healthy choices at breakfast (like cereal or bread) – skipping breakfast often leads to unhealthy mid-morning snacks (like cakes or candy bars)
A filling breakfast means you won’t over-indulge at lunch time
Getting your day off to a healthy start can give you a motivation boost: think of the adage “start as you mean to go on”.

2. Get Your Five-a-Day

When you’re thinking about what to have as part of that healthy breakfast, how about including a piece of fruit? Having at least five portions of fruit and veg (experts recommend two of fruit, three of veg … or more!) will help fill you up without providing many calories. You’ll also make sure you’re getting the essential nutrients you need to keep you well – particularly important when you’re cutting your food intake and boosting your activity in order to lose weight.

Try having a piece of fruit for breakfast and with lunch, one portion of veggies at lunch time (that could be something as simple as a sliced tomato in your sandwich) and two portions of veggies with dinner.

3. Eat More Fiber

One of the reasons that fruits and vegetables are so good for us is because they’re packed with fiber. This helps fill your stomach, keeps your digestion working smoothly (preventing constipation), and even protects against diseases.

As well as upping your fruit and vegetable intake, you’ll want to make sure you work as many other sources of fiber into your diet as possible: aim for at least 18g and ideally 25g per day. Wholegrain foods such as wholewheat breads and pastas, and brown rice, are great sources of fiber, as are beans. One tip: if you currently don’t eat much fiber, increase your intake slowly to avoid digestive troubles like excess wind or an upset stomach.

4. Keep a Food Diary

Whether you’re counting grams of fiber or grams of fat, write it all down in a food diary. Keeping a record of what you eat has been shown in studies to double the rate at which you’ll likely lose weight. The advantages of a food diary include:

Accountability: as any food diarist can tell you, it’s much easier to resist temptation when you know you’ll have to write those three candy bars in your journal!
Spotting patterns: if you regularly “slip up” at a particular time of day, or during a particular social event, a food diary will help you spot and deal with this.
Changing habits: when you’re trying to establish a new habit, a food diary is a useful tool to help you track your progress and stay motivated.

5. Take Regular, Sustainable Exercise

Study after study has shown that we don’t eat more calories than past generations (if anything, we eat slightly less) – but we are much less active. Some experts feel that inactivity, not overeating, is to blame for rising obesity levels.

Cardio exercise, like brisk walking, jogging, cycling, aerobics or dancing, gets your heart rate up and burns calories. Weight-training exercise helps build your muscles: the immediate calorie-burn is lower, but muscle uses more calories than fat so you’ll see the benefits even when you’re at rest.

If you’re going to stick with it in the long-term, to see real results, exercise needs to be both regular and sustainable. That means finding a routine which works round your other commitments.

6. Support from Family and Friends

With any goal in life, you’re more likely to succeed if you have the support and encouragement of those closest to you. Losing weight is no exception – in fact, since it’s a goal others can have quite a bit influence on (if they cook for you, or go jogging with you, for instance), it’s a great one to get others involved with.

Share your aims – and your progress! – with someone close to you. If you know someone who’s successfully lost weight, why not approach them for advice and encouragement? It can be difficult for those “effortlessly thin” types to empathize with how hard it is for most of us to lose weight, so pick your support crew carefully!

7. Determination

Lastly, this has been one of the biggest factors for me in successfully losing weight: determination. Going on a half-hearted diet isn’t going to get you the results you want, but approaching your diet single-mindedly and with the confidence that you can succeed will see you making real, lasting changes.

This sort of determination is something you can’t easily force yourself into, but you can use what’s already there. Focus on how great you’ll feel at your target weight – think how proud of yourself you’ll be, and how you want to challenge your pre-conceptions about your own will-power and self-discipline.

Are you succeeding on your diet? What power-tips do you have?

Written by Ali Hale

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