A good weight loss diet tip or two can make your diet much more effective – implementing just one or two of these is likely to make a big difference.
Each weight loss diet tip is based on the best scientific evidence as to the best way to lose weight, together with our years of experience of working with busy people from many different backgrounds.
Why not incorporate one or two of these fat burning tips into your plan?
Effective Weight Loss Diet Tips
#1. Weight loss starts in your mind
If all you do is focus on the food you eat you’ll fail, simple as that.
The way you think about food is more important than what you put in your mouth. It influences what you eat.
If your first thought when you think of chocolate is “Yummie!”, you’re more likely to eat it than if your first thought is “That’s going to make me fat”.
If you eat junk you are choosing to be fat, choose not to be fat and don’t eat it.
Until you understand why you make the food choices you do, no diet in the world is going to help.
And unless you develop a positive mental attitude, the stress that dieting can cause will be waiting to derail you. Manage your stress and weight loss will be less of a challenge.
#2. Make a commitment and just do it
You’ve got to want to lose weight. It’s a bit obvious we know, but pretty much everyone who is overweight says on a regular basis, “I need to lose some weight”.
Again, it all boils down to a choice. Choose to be slimmer than you are, make a decision and get started with your next meal.
You can plan – procrastinate? – all you want, but you’ll never shift those pounds until you make a start.
A great weight loss diet tip? Don’t wait until Monday, do it now!
If you need some help with getting yourself motivated take a look at our article on weight loss motivation or read a few weight loss inspirational quotes.
#3. Make your own schedule
Most of us are far too busy to stick to rigid diets, we’ve got action-packed lives to lead. Take control!
You decide what you eat, when you eat it, how often you eat (within reason of course!). Design your eating patterns around your lifestyle, not the other way around.
Remember, every little bit helps…there are so many easy ways to burn 100 calories.
#4. Eat a bit more
“What, I’m on a diet!”, we hear you scream. Ever heard the weight loss diet tip “Dieting makes you fat” before?
For most of human history food has been scarce. Your body has evolved a survival mechanism against prolonged periods of starvation – the Starvation Response.
Your metabolism starts to slow down, so conserving energy. Your body also starts burning muscle for fuel. Your muscles consume most of the energy you burn each day, so you conserve even more energy.
Guess what? Your body equates dieting with starvation. The result? If you drop your calorie intake too far the starvation response kicks in and your diet becomes less and less effective until eventually you stop losing weight.
Do you know how many calories a day you should be eating to achieve a healthy weight loss?
#5. Eat breakfast
Ever heard the saying, “Breakfast like a king, lunch like a lord, dine like a pauper”? An invaluable weight loss diet tip.
Breakfast has always been the most important meal of the day. Yet studies show that nearly half of us leave home in the morning with no more than a cup of tea or coffee inside us.
Think about it, you’ve been asleep all night, your body is desperate for food so feed it and kick start your metabolism.
Some protein works best, with a few complex carbs thrown in.
For some quick, easy, tasty and nutritious breakfast ideas, why not take a look at our free weight loss menus?
#6. Eat every 3-4 hours
How many times have you congratulated yourself on eating nothing all day? Think you’ve been good? Think again!
If you go more than a few hours without eating anything your body thinks you’re starving and your metabolism switches from fat burning to fat storing.
It’s easy to miss meals when you’re busy, so take this weight loss diet tip and keep some snacks with you – a banana, a yoghurt, something convenient.
#7. Be realistic
OK, so when was the last time you weighed 120lbs? Set yourself realistic goals. 1-2lbs a week is the most body fat you can lose in a week.
Losing weight any faster than that is not a good idea and in the long term exposes you to the dangers of rapid weight loss.
Lose weight too quickly and you may also experience loose skin after weight loss. A problem that many people who lose significant amounts of weight in a short period of time suffer from.
So, think about it, there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat. 500 calories a day less equals a pound lost in a week. That’s safe, healthy and achievable.
1lb a week equals 52lbs in a year. Wow! Soon adds up, doesn’t it?
#8. Cut out the sugar
You don’t need it, a crucial weight loss diet tip for you to understand. Sugar, apart from the calories, has little nutritional value at all.
Sugar is also easily broken down by the body and quickly floods the bloodstream. Your body then produces the hormone insulin to regulate your blood sugar level.
The sugar is then either burned for energy or, as is more likely sent off to be converted to fat. Insulin is your fat-storing hormone.
Don’t reach for the sugary snacks, eat some fruit instead as fruit contains the sugar fructose, which is a slow-release carbohydrate.
#9. Eat enough protein
Protein is the most important macro-nutrient when it comes to weight loss. So how much is enough?
We’re not talking the Atkins Diet here, although Dr Atkins got this weight loss diet tip spot on. But don’t overdo it.
Ideally, you need approximately 1g per pound of lean body weight or around 70-100g for the average woman and 110-150g for the average man.
Protein helps you feel full (can you eat a 24oz steak in one sitting?) and combats hunger.
Dietary protein also spares muscle tissue and fires up your fat burning metabolism.
So, if you want to feel full and burn more fat, try eating some more protein.
#10. Eat less fat
Bit of a no-brainer, right? A weight loss diet tip you’ve heard many times before so we won’t labour it.
Fat has twice as many calories weight for weight as carbs and protein so limit how much you eat. Around 20-30% of calories from fat is about right.
Want to lose weight? Eat less fat.
#11. Be more active
Surprisingly, studies have shown that physical activity isn’t particularly effective as a way of losing weight, much less effective than dieting.
This is mainly because we don’t do enough exercise, of the right type nor often enough.
However, combining dieting with exercise is the best way to burn fat and lose weight. But, you’re busy, right?
Making time for exercise is difficult when life is hectic, so take a look at our weight loss workout articles for more information on short, intense, effective workout ideas to burn more fat in less time.
#12. Ditch the scales
Yep, one sacred cow for the scrap heap. The scales are not the best measure of whether you are losing body fat, which is the weight you want to lose.
So, don’t weigh yourself, or if you must, weigh yourself no more than once a week, same day, first thing in the morning after you’ve been to the toilet.
Measure your vital stats instead, or just take a long, hard look in the mirror.
Firmer, tighter, more defined – it’s working! The same with weighing and measuring food – forget the scales.
Ease off on the calorie counting – it can be counter-productive and become obsessive. Instead, use your hand – a handful is a good measure of portion size!
#13. Be patient and take your time
Perhaps the most important weight loss diet tip of all. You live in the real world full of challenges to your good intentions, such as your busy schedule and the food that surrounds you.
You’ll have good days and bad days. You’ll need a strategy to cope. One that enables you to deal with the odd transgression without experiencing floods of guilt.
Get off the yo-yo diet treadmill, each short term fix becoming increasingly ineffective. Your body knows what you’re up to – you’re starving, remember!
You need a long-term approach – a healthy weight loss plan – so you can get slim and stay slim then get on with your life!
And if you feel you need to make a few small changes as time goes by, why not try one or two of our free-weight-loss-tips now?
There you have it, then, a weight loss diet tip or two that together add up to the beginnings of an effective weight loss program that works.
There’s a lot more useful information on this site and many more tips peppered throughout.