Reader's Digest put together a list of easy ideas to lose weight.
1. Once a week, indulge in a high-calorie-tasting, but low-calorie, treat.
2. Treat high-calorie foods as jewels in the crown.
3. After breakfast, make water your primary drink.
4. Carry a palm-size notebook everywhere you go for one week.
5. Buy a pedometer, clip it to your belt, and aim for an extra 1,000 steps a day.
6. Add 10 percent to the amount of daily calories you think you’re eating, then adjust your eating habits accordingly.
7. Eat five or six small meals or snacks a day instead of three large meals.
8. Walk for 45 minutes a day.
9. Find an online weight-loss buddy.
10. Bring the color blue into your life more often.
11. Clean your closet of the “fat” clothes.
12. Downsize your dinner plates.
13. Serve your dinner restaurant style (food on the plates) rather than family style (food served in bowls and on platters on the table).
14. Hang a mirror opposite your seat at the table.
15. Put out a vegetable platter.
16. Use vegetables to bulk up meals.
17. Eat one less cookie a day.
18. Avoid white foods.
19. Switch to ordinary coffee.
20. Use nonfat powdered milk in coffee.
21. Eat cereal for breakfast five days a week.
22. Pare your portions.
23. Eat 90 percent of your meals at home.
24. Avoid any prepared food that lists sugar, fructose, or corn syrup among the first four ingredients on the label.
25. Eat slowly and calmly.
26. Eat only when you hear your stomach growling.
27. Find ways other than eating to express love, tame stress, and relieve boredom.
28. State the positive.
29. Discover your dietary point of preference.
30. Use flavorings such as hot sauce, salsa, and Cajun seasonings instead of relying on butter and creamy or sugary sauces.
31. Eat fruit instead of drinking fruit juice.
32. Spend 10 minutes a day walking up and down stairs.
33. Eat equal portions of vegetables and grains at dinner.
34. Get up and walk around the office or your home for five minutes at least every two hours.
35. Wash something thoroughly once a week — a floor, a couple of windows, the shower stall, bathroom tile, or your car.
36. Make one social outing this week an active one.
37. Order the smallest portion of everything.
38. Switch from regular milk to 2%.
39. Take a walk before dinner.
40. Substitute a handful of almonds in place of a sugary snack.
41. Eat a frozen dinner.
42. Don’t eat with a large group.
43. Watch one less hour of TV.
44. Get most of your calories before noon.
45. Close out the kitchen after dinner.
46. Sniff a banana, an apple, or a peppermint when you feel hungry.
47. Order wine by the glass, not the bottle.
48. Watch every morsel you put in your mouth on weekends.
49. Stock your refrigerator with low-fat yogurt.
50. Order your dressing on the side and then stick a fork in it — not your salad.
51. Brush your teeth after every meal, especially after dinner.
52. Serve individual courses rather than piling everything on one plate.
53. Passionately kiss your partner 10 times a day.
54. Add hot peppers to your pasta sauce.
55. Pack nutritious snacks.
56. When you shop, choose nutritious foods based on these four simple rules:
1. Avoid partially hydrogenated.
2. Avoid high fructose corn syrup.
3. Choose a short ingredient list over long; there will be fewer flavor enhancers and empty calories.
4. Look for more than two grams of fiber per 100 calories in all grain products (cereal, bread, crackers, and chips)
57. Weed out calories you’ve been overlooking: spreads, dressings, sauces, condiments, drinks, and snacks.
58. When you’re eating out with friends or family, dress up in your most flattering outfit.
Visit their site for more details on each of these tips!
