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Weight Loss Tips & Tricks

Here are some tips that work! Send us your ideas as well, and we'll add them here.

1. Keep a food diary (see our downloads page for a downloadable file).
2. Get a workout buddy.
3. Keep a fitness and/or exercise chart (see our downloads page for free downloadable files).
4. Join a group, such as TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), that will inspire you! Click here for a list of Alaska TOPS meeting places & times.
5. At minimum, get a calendar, and use it for writing down your food intake and exercise each day, as well as use it to record your weight each week.
6. Say affirmations every day. Click here to see a list of affirmations; you can use these or write your own!
7. Write down your own tips, collect them from your friends, or click here to see a list of tips we've collected from web sites and other dieters.
8. Read weight loss books and success stories for inspiration and ideas.
9. Create a weight loss or TOPS notebook just for you. At right (in the orange box) are some ideas of what to include.
10. Treat yourself to regular rewards.
11. If you're hitting a plateau or craving junk food, go clothes shopping,

    look in those 3-way mirrors, and see if that stops the cravings!
12. Just weigh yourself once a week (for example, at a TOPS meeting) so you won't focus on the daily weight fluctuations.
13. Get rid of your fat clothes as you lose weight to keep you motivated to continue to lose. Perhaps keep one "fat" outfit to try on when you're feeling discouraged so you can "see" how much you've lost!
14. Craving sugar or chocolate? Try eating an apple or banana. Or try making a chocolate shake out of a Slim Fast (or similar weight loss drink) can...mix water, ice, and Slim Fast in a blender...and enjoy! You can also use sugar-free hot chocolate in your blender, or make a fruit, water, and ice smoothie. Another trick is to freeze a Slim Fast can upside down, open the bottom, and eat with a spoon. It takes a lot longer to eat, and you'll feel like you're eating ice cream!
15. Try chewing sugarfree gum, especially bubble gum, to solve your desire to chew something.
16. Try drinking more water or other drinks...sometimes what seems like hunger is actually thirst!
17. Go to bed earlier. One dieter used this tip to end her late-night bingeing.
18. A recent woman's magazine suggested the three apple a day diet helps some women lose weight...try eating an apple before each meal. They claim it cuts down on the amount you eat at each meal as well as cravings.
19. Write a personal mission statement. Here is an example: My mission is to be as attractive and healthy and fit as I can be and to feel confident in my appearance.
20. Now set goals that will help you achieve your mission! For example: For the next 4 months, I will keep a weight loss diary, I will make losing weight and getting in shape a priority in my life, I will exercise at least 5 days a week,I will attend TOPS meetings each week, and I will avoid eating sweets.
21. Do you need a weight loss diary and exercise calendar? Check our downloads page here for templates, including one created just for Weight Loss Alaska readers.
22. Water, water, water! Drink lots of it; water is filling and cleansing. And it’s easy to start carrying water bottles with you everywhere—in your purse, in your car, at the office, on the baby stroller. If you have it with you, you’ll be more likely to remember to drink it. Some people wear bracelets to remind them to drink water.
23. Join a group, such as TOPS or Weight Watchers, or start one of your own with friends or family. Have weekly weigh-ins and “pep talks.”
24. Arrange with a buddy to exchange calls when cravings overtake you!
25. Move it on up! Now is a great time for evening strolls, dog walking, mowing, raking last fall’s leftovers, chasing a ball, or putting on the CD and dancing the night away. Many successful dieters attribute their weight loss to regular exercise more than any other factor. Get a friend to go with you, and have fun groaning together! It only takes 5 days for something—good or bad—to start becoming a habit, so why not make it a good habit?
26. Keep a food diary for a week just to see what you are eating. Most people are surprised to find out how many calories they take in in one day (that tiny Hershey’s kiss has 26 calories, so a bag of them can easily help you exceed your daily recommended calories). One Anchorage resident recently lost 40 pounds over a few months simply by stopping drinking 4 cokes a day. Then, if it’s still not obvious that you are overeating, count the calories, or bring your list to your doctor for an assessment.
27. No, a balanced diet does not mean a cookie in each hand. Simply put, have some variety. Too many of us forget the minimum 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day we should eat. In fact, if you increase your fruits and vegetable intake, you’ll probably start losing weight, because you’ll be fuller and eating fewer high-calorie foods. Try it for 2 weeks and see if you lose weight and feel better!
28. Set rules. Write yourself a contract. You know yourself best, and you know what works for you. Do you need to have something sweet everyday? Set limits on what it is and when. Are you good at following through on set schedules or calendars? Then make a weight loss and exercise calendar. One Palmer woman lost 50 pounds by giving up chocolate 363 days a year. The other 2 days she ate “everything chocolate from midnight to midnight,” but it worked for her. She kept the weight off for over 4 years.
29. Relax and reward yourself. Often we overeat sweet foods because we are overstressed and need the comfort. Are there other things that make you feel better about yourself? A massage? A new book? A movie? Give yourself gifts. You can also design a reward program for each pound (or 5 or 10) lost, such as a bouquet of flowers or a new candle or a trip to a beauty salon.
30. Be nice to yourself. Don’t let excess weight ruin your mental health. Love yourself as you are; dress well, eat well; do the things that make you happy. Think of dieting as a gift to yourself instead of a punishment.
31. Try going vegetarian or vegan for a week or two, and see how you do!
32. Take a multivitamin daily.
33. Are you a "snacker"? Substitute healthier snacks for yourself, such as butter-free popcorn, pretzels, graham crackers and other low-fat crackers, raw vegetables, sugarfree gum, and fruit.
34. One dieter says to buy yourself pretty, scented candles to relax.
35. Take up a craft or project that keeps your hands busy, such as puzzles, sewing, needlework, crochet, knitting, playing piano, and gardening.
36. If watching television causes you to snack, as it does many of us, make a rule that you can only watch t.v. while exercising. You will exercise more and watch t.v. less!
37. Try brushing and flossing your teeth - some people don't like to eat after doing this.
38. Buy bottled water. Surprisingly, some report that they drink more water and enjoy it more when they purchase small bottles that they can easily carry.
39. Many diet experts recommend that you make a rule to yourself that you will not eat late at night (and don't forget that most also recommend that you eat a good breakfast). Keep dinner light and early. Go to bed earlier if you need to!
40. Some recommend that you eat five small meals instead of three larger one in order to keep your metabolism working at its best and to keep blood sugar levels stable.
41. Try to add a few minutes of exercise every day (or week, if that works better for you) to what you did the day before.
42. Do some weight training two or three days a week, if you can.
43. Drink skim, 1%, or no milk. Humans are the only animals who drink another animal's milk and who drink milk beyond infancy. Are we really supposed to? Think about what a cow's milk is designed to do - make a calf gain a lot of weight in a short amount of time!
44. Get into the habit of drinking a full glass of water before each meal.
45. Try chewing your food slower. Maybe force yourself to count 15 or 20 chews before swallowing.
46. Here is a great tip from another web site: Write down tomorrow's meals the night before and the times you plan to eat. That way you are eating "matter-of-factly" rather than on impulse.
47. Try exercising first thing in the morning - get in that habit (remember, it only takes 5 days to make something a habit - good or bad!). That way you won't put if off or avoid it later because you're too "busy" (for you!).
48. More to come! Keep checking back! And click here to e-mail your own tips to us to share with others!

Links to More Weight Loss Tips

• http://www.advancedweightloss2.homestead.com/

• Collage: Where I Will Be, What I Will Do, and What I Will Look Like!
• Favorite Articles
• Weight Loss Journal
• Exercise Journal
• Tips and Inspiration
• What Works for Me!
• Personal Rewards and Awards: Ideas

ADVERTISERS: Help support our site and reach Alaskans who are trying to lose weight. Click here to e-mail the webmaster for information.

New Y ear's Resolutions & Weight Loss

Exercise & Food Chart in Excel - Free Template! Click here to go to downloads.

BMI - What Is It and Is Mine Too High? Click here to check your height and weight against a BMI table.

Getting through a Plateau - see bottom of links page.

GET A WEIGHT LOSS DIARY FREE

Click here to download our 16-week weight loss diary and calendar (in Word). Or go to our downloads page for more!

NEW - Here is our 3-month 2004 food diary and exercise calendar, also in Word.

Click here if you want a PDF version of the 16-week food diary (99 pages).

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