Top Five Weight Loss Tips

Based on my dieting and exercise efforts over the past couple of years now, here are the top five things that worked the best for me in losing weight.

In no particular order...

1. Stay away from sugar: For me, it's not so much the amount of fat in foods, it's the amount of sugar. Sugar is absorbed instantly into the bloodstream, causing a spike in blood-sugar level. This causes the body to release insulin, which stops the body from burning fat, and instead burns sugar. Hence, if you can eliminate as much sugar as possible, your body will burn fat more continuously. Read, "Carbs Are OK, Just Not Sugar".


2. Don't Go Hungry: If you allow yourself to go hungry, your body will try to conserve fat rather than burn it off. So the trick is to keep food in your belly all throughout the day to keep your metabolism running. To maximize this, eat lots of protein in morning, in the form of low-fat, low-carb meats. Think beef jerky! Meat takes longer to digest, and will keep you feeling fuller longer. Read, "Eat More Meat For Breakfast".


3. Set weekly weight loss goals: The number one reason why people abandon their weight loss plans is because they look at the long term goal of losing 100 pounds, which seems insurmountable, and they give up hope. All it takes is for you to tell yourself that you'll lose two pounds in one week. Then each morning, weigh yourself to find out if you're on target to achieve that goal, and if you're not, make adjustments to your dieting and exercise. Read, "Set Weekly & Monthly Weight Loss Goals".


4. Stick to beer: Most of us love to drink alcohol, myself included. Beer has the lowest calorie impact of all alcoholic beverages, mainly because it's contains little to no sugar, has no fat, and has a relatively low alcohol content. Alcohol itself adds calories, the more alcohol the more calories. Also, alcohol tends to slow the metabolism, and beer generally has the least amount of alcohol. Wine and mixed drinks generally contain sugar, which adds even more calories. Even with mixed drinks based on fruit juices, bars and restaurants tend to use juices with added sugar.


5. Don't get bored: In my experience, boredom causes people to eat. As long as you can keep yourself busy, you'll keep your mind off of food. Anytime I found myself at a break in my work, I'd find myself thinking about eating. So, I kept a list of things that needed to be done, or other activities I could do, just to keep myself occupied. And more often than not, these things caused me to burn more calories. Read, "Boredom Can Create Weight Gain".

I think these five tips are pretty easy to do for most of us, and they don't even involve exercise. You'll have to give up sugary foods and drinks, but then again there has to be some pain involved. Get sugar-free stuff instead.

If you can stick to this for a couple of months you'll actually find yourself making a lifestyle change.

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