1. Don't take pride in the clean plate club: stick with your portion control and leave the rest or take it home in a doggy bag.
2. Take active breaks: sitting still at your desk all day long will make you feel tired and depressed. The next thing you know you're reaching for a candy bar as a pick-me-up. Get yourself up instead. Every hour stand up and stretch, and walk around. You'll feel better, work better, and ultimately look better.
3. Turn your coffee break into a power walk: when the coffee and doughnuts come around, get up and take a 10 minute power walk with a bottle of water. You'll be much more wide awake.
4. Make it easy: if time is an obstacle, don't hesitate to use pre-cut veggies or canned beans. The nutritional content is a lot higher than not eating them at all.
5. Convenient protein: use pasteurized 100% egg whites when you don't feel like cracking all those eggs and dumping the yolks.
6. Shop the perimeter: when you go to the supermarket, shop the perimeter of the store. That puts you in the heart of the whole foods sections: produce, dairy, meats, fish. Be careful in the bakery section.
7. Just for chocoholics: switch your daily treat to Viactiv, the calcium supplement in a chocolate chew.
8. Choose real food: the fat-free and carb-free products don't satisfy and you end up eating what want anyway.
9. Pre-wrapped treats: buy individually wrapped portions of ice creams and candies to help control portion size and number.
10. Serving sizes: read labels. Many products like beverages and snack foods contain more than 1 serving in what appears to be an individually packaged serving.
11. Decorate your plate: arrange your food so that it looks appealing as well as tastes good. This is another way to help satisfy your appetite.
12. Casserole chaos: watch out for hidden fats and calories in combination dishes. Eat simpler foods to avoid this mishap.
13. Slow down: by eating more slowly you can allow your body's builtin appetite control system to kick in. When you eat too quickly you can pack in more food before your stomach signals your brain that you are full.
14. Clean your closet: get rid of your fat clothes so that you can't slide back into them so easily.
15. 100 calories/day equals 10 pounds/year: you can either lose it or gain it. 100 calories is equivalent to: a slice of bread and a small pat of butter, a half of a large bagel, 1/3 of a large muffin, a small wrapped piece of chocolate candy, about half of a can of soda, about 6 ounces of juice, a 5 oz. glass of wine.
16. Excuse yourself: get up from the table when you are finished eating so that you are not tempted to nibble.
17. Don't go hungry: make sure that you are not famished as you head to a social event. Eating ahead of time will help control your appetite and food choices.
18. Stay with the program: weight loss doesn't happen overnight while you sleep. It takes weeks, months, and years. If you stick with your plan, you'll get the results you're looking for.
19. Skip the scale: fluid changes and fat distribution shifts body weight up and down, especially when you exercise. Body weight does not reflect what is really going on with fat burning, muscle toning, and enhanced fitness. Finally fitting into your too tight pair of jeans is a better measure.
20.Set realistic, short-term goals: like drinking more water, eating more fruits and vegetables, eating at the table, daily exercise. These are what will ultimately lead to your long-term objective of weight loss. Every small step makes a bit fat difference
