101 Diet Tips
Exercise |
Food | Mind |
Printable eBook
Exercise
1.
Find small bits of extra exercise wherever you can. Take the stairs instead
of the escalator, get off the bus one stop early, or park farther away from
the building.
2. Walk or ride a bike to work/school anytime you can. It doesn't have to
be every day -- one a day a week or even twice a month would be an
improvement over driving every day.
 3. Take your dog for longer walks, or choose a route that has more hills.
4. Try a new activity. Even if you end up not liking it, you will at
least get a different workout in that day.
5. Stretch for ten minutes in the morning or before you go to bed at
night. Releasing some tension in your muscles will help a little with your
stress levels.
6. Every hour or two, get up from your computer and take a lap around the
office building, or walk down four flights of stairs and back up, or do ten
pushups and ten crunches. You need to get a break from being hunched over
the keyboard anyway.
7. Participate in activities that you enjoy. Don't force yourself to do
something you hate.
8. Include both cardio and strength training exercises in your routine.
9. Get an exercise buddy so that you can keep each other accountable.
10. If you get home from a day at the office and you feel too tired to
workout, you're not physically tired -- you're mentally tired. Getting some
exercise will help to replenish your energy.
11. Always pace yourself during your workouts so that you don't burn out
early.
12. To avoid boredom, find an activity that is stimulating for your mind
as well as your body.
13. Try not to take too many days off from exercising. It's easier to
keep going if you keep up your momentum.
14. Make exercise a real part of your life, not just a chore. After a
while it actually becomes hard not to exercise, and one day you'll suddenly
realize that you're one of those weirdo active people. Give yourself a
chance to get there.
15. Exercise that is hard for you won't become easy until you push
yourself to do something harder. Then, what was once difficult becomes
easier.
16. If you feel overwhelmed, anxious, or uncertain about exercise, just
start slow. Start with 10 minutes of walking if that's where your fitness
level is.
17. If you feel uncomfortable about exercising in public, workout DVDs
are a great option. You can get inexpensive used copies online, and you can
try out lots of different activities that you might have otherwise avoided.
18. It's useful to have a goal. Many people like to sign up for short
races, like a 5 or 10 K, to give themselves something to work towards.
19. Organize a lunchtime walking group at work.
20. When you get home from work, make time to go outside and run around
with your kids!
21. Turn household chores into a workout. Put on some music and clean and
organize with some vigor straight through until you're done.
22. Give yourself a dollar for every day you get in a good workout. Save
for a while, then spend it on something fun for yourself.
 23. Try a sport that you've never participated in before.
24. If you belong to a gym, attend some of the group fitness classes. If
you like them, you can keep going. If you don't like them, you don't ever
have to go again.
25. Bring your workout clothes with you to work so that you don't have to
go home before you go to the gym.
26. On the weekends, involve your whole family in a fun activity
outdoors.
27. There are always many volunteer options available that can provide
you with a workout while you're helping a good cause.
28. Make sure that you put some effort into your workouts.
29. Give yourself enough rest time. When you push your muscles to
soreness, that means they've been torn down and are now rebuilding
themselves. If you work them too hard again before they've healed, then
won't have a chance to build new muscle in addition to the old.
30. Try one of the active video games like Dance Dance Revolution.
They're really pretty fun and do give you a good workout once you get the
hang of them.
Food
31. Replace dairy milk with soy or rice milk. Milk alternatives contain
no cholesterol or saturated fat.
32. Find some healthier convenience foods that you can use in a hurry. I
like Amy's brand frozen meals and frozen burritos.
 33. On salads, choose vinaigrette dressings instead of creamy dressings.
34. On pastas, choose red sauces instead of white creamy sauces.
35. Don't skip meals. Eat at least three times a day. Eating frequent
small meals is better for your metabolism than eating infrequent large
meals.
36. Search the internet for new recipes. When you eat the same old things
every week your body adjusts to the amount of calories and nutrients, which
can create a weight loss plateau. Eating new foods, even with the same
amount of calories, can help prevent plateaus.
37. Bulk up your meals with vegetables. For example, chop up veggies to
throw into your pasta sauce. This is an easy way to eat more vegetables if
you don't particularly like vegetables because they will taste like the
sauce, and it expands the quantity of food you get to eat without adding
many calories.
38. Stop buying butter. Instead, do all of your frying/sautéing in a
little bit of olive oil or even some non-stick cooking spray.
39. Stay away from dangerous areas of the grocery store, like the bakery
or candy aisle. Just don't go there.
40. Once a week (or as often as you like), replace a beef burger with a
veggie burger.
 41. There are ways to eat fruit for dessert that are more tasty and
dessert-like than you'd think. Try baked apples with cinnamon. Again, look
for recipes online.
42. Simply eat less food than you used to.
43. Do not buy foods that you would feel guilty about eating.
44. Give your new diet a full a month before you decide whether it is
working or not.
45. Read restaurant menus carefully. The adjectives used to describe the
foods can be quite telling: creamy, rich, fried, breaded, decadent, and the
like are indicators that you're looking at a diet-buster.
46. Don't be afraid of the "natural foods" area of the grocery store. It
has better stuff.
47. Figure out which types of foods are filling without being too heavy
on the calories. Usually foods with protein are the most satiating. Protein
can be found in many places other than meat – nuts, beans, cheese, yogurt,
and even bananas, just to name a few.
48. Replace sodas with flavored sparkling water.
 49. Don't completely deny yourself something that you want. Instead, find
a healthier version or eat a small amount of it to satisfy your craving.
50. Be honest about the amount of calories you're eating.
51. Eat foods that you like. Don't force yourself to eat awful diet foods
because you think that you should. It's very possible to find healthy foods
that you like, and to modify your old foods to fit the new lifestyle you're
building.
52. Stay away from diets that have you cutting out entire food groups.
Aim for a balanced diet that doesn't smack of being "a little crazy".
53. As often as possible, eat whole foods instead of processed foods.
54. Eat whole fruits instead of fruit juice.
55. Read ingredient lists when shopping. Try to stick to short lists of
ingredients that don't include lots of words that you can't pronounce. Your
food should be made of food.
56. Commit to water and tea for your main beverages. If you can't do
that, be very mindful of what you're drinking. Beverages often have just as
many calories as foods.
57. Stop eating when you're full.
 58. Write down everything that you eat. Some of the major diet plans
require that you do this, and for good reason. At the very least it makes
you aware of what you're eating.
59. Some people find it useful to make a written plan of what to eat for
the entire day ahead of time, and to then stick to it, no matter what.
60. Cut down on refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
61. Remove trans-fats and partially hydrogenated oils from your diet.
62. Keep healthy snacks with you at work.
63. On a day off, cook some freezable meals to use throughout the week.
64. Choose whole grains over enriched white grains and flours. "Enriched"
flours and grains have had their natural nutrients stripped away, and then
replaced again with poorer quality nutrients.
 65. Try new fruits and vegetables. This will introduce new nutrients into
your diet, and you can use your new finds in the recipes you found.
66. Drink more water! Work up to eight 8 oz glasses per day.
67. Identify your trigger foods. Trigger foods are foods that cause you
to lose control. I can't eat just one slice of pizza -- I end up eating half
an entire pizza or more. Once you've identified these trigger foods, it will
be best to stay away from them while you're trying to lose weight.
68. On a busy day of running errands, bring healthy snacks with you in
the car to avoid grabbing junk food while you're out.
69. Identify foods that you should always have available. These are
healthy foods that you enjoy, you feel good about eating, and work to your
advantage within your diet. One of my best foods is strawberries. They are
extremely low in calories and I've loved them for as long as I can remember.
 70. Don't starve yourself! That will slow your metabolism and cause you
to gain weight in the long run.
71. Fresh, raw vegetables can taste good with a healthy dip like hummus.
72. Always keep low-calorie snack options around for "emergencies".
73. If you crave sweets, find something that you can eat that won't blow
your diet and just have a little bit when you need to. That way you won't go
crazy later on and eat an entire cake.
74. If you're on a diet plan that has you using specific quantities of
food, such as cups or tablespoons, measure those amounts until you're very
sure that you know what they look like. Later, measure them again to refresh
yourself. They have a way of growing over time.
75. Eat slowly and enjoy your food.
Mind
76. Find a diet plan that fits your lifestyle and stick with it. Choose
one that allows you to eat foods that are similar to what you'd already eat,
but still encourages you to eat healthier than you're used to eating.
77. Set small goals. For example, break up your weight loss into chunks
of five pounds at a time.
78. When you first change your diet, either by eating less food or
healthier food, you will need a few days to adjust. You can have lower blood
sugar than usual, cravings, headaches, or other symptoms. Junk food is
physically addicting and these uncomfortable feelings are similar to a
detoxification. It doesn't mean that you'll be hungry forever, so don't quit
just yet.
79. Acknowledge your successes.
80. If you weigh yourself every day, don't worry too much about the
number. Everyone's weight fluctuates from day to day, and even from morning
to evening. Only pay attention to the number on a specific day once per
week.
81. For five minutes a day, visualize yourself having the body shape and
being the weight that you desire.
82. Cultivate a peaceful environment and a peaceful mindset for yourself.
83. Realize that it's not that you can't have the "forbidden" foods, it's
that you're currently choosing not to.
 84. Look at clothes online that you would like to wear and imagine
yourself wearing them. Begin to feel as if you already look great in these
clothes.
85. Pay attention to your speech patterns. If you're always referring to
yourself as "fat", "lazy", or "out of control" that is what you will
continue to be because you are constantly reinforcing it to yourself.
86. If you "blow it" one day, don't give up. You've only really blown it
when you completely stop trying.
87. Only discuss your weight loss journey with those who are supportive.
88. Try not to compare yourself to other people. Everyone is different
enough that not much can be learned by a comparison.
89. I highly recommend a practice like yoga or tai-chi to help with
stress.
90. Learn to recognize the difference between physical hunger and
emotional hunger. Emotional hunger comes on quickly and is usually related
to a specific food, while physical hunger builds slowly.
91. When considering buying that candy bar, imagine it taped to your
hips/thigh/belly.
92. Don't worry about how long you're going to have to diet. Only worry
about what you're going to eat today.
93. Take your measurements once a month. Sometimes when you're not losing
pounds, you're still shrinking, especially when you're doing a lot of
exercise.
94. Hang up pictures of yourself at your ideal weight. If you don't have
those, find a photo of someone at a healthy weight who has a similar body
type as yourself and hang that up.
 95. When you look in the mirror, focus on the things that you like about
yourself.
96. Ignore anything that seems to be a magic pill or other instant method
of weight loss. They do not work, ever.
97. If you have a habit of rewarding yourself with food, try to change
that. Reward yourself with non-food items -- anything that fits your budget
and really feels like a reward to you.
98. Motivation is key. It helps tremendously to have a specific reason to
lose weight. Reasons like, "because I should," or, "because I'll look
better," aren't ever enough when chocolate is calling you.
99. Some people do well when involved with a support group. Some weight
loss plans have meetings. If you're not subscribing to one of those, you
could find an online support group or start one at work or school.
100. Pay attention to how your clothes are fitting just as much as the
number on the scale, if not more.
101. Whatever happens, keep at it. Just keep at it.
You can purchase this as a printable
PDF eBook for only $2.99 at
eBookMall.com.
101 Easy Ways
To Lose Weight
|
