weight loss tipsWhether you have had weight loss surgery, you are preparing for surgery or you just want to lose a few pounds, losing weight and keeping it off can be tough. There are so many diets out there that promise you’ll ‘lose weight, fast’, but what they don’t tell you is that often you’ll put it back on even faster!

New research into successful weight loss strategies showed that whether you are restricting fat or carbohydrates it doesn’t really matter; what is important is that you restrict your overall calorie intake by making changes that are easy to maintain over a long period of time, or even indefinitely. The researchers looked at the different eating habits of 123 women over a period of 12 months and came up with the three most successful ways of losing weight, and keeping it off.

1/ Don’t skip meals. Skipping meals or fasting does two things, it makes your body panic that it isn’t going to get any food so, while it will dip into fat resources in the body, it will slow down energy consumption meaning that you burn fat at a slower rate than normal. Secondly, once you stop fasting, your body will be so worried about being starved again that you will feel absolutely ravenous and feel the urge to eat everything in sight when you do eat!  The best thing to do is to eat at least three balanced meals a day so that your body knows it will get regular food and burn energy at a consistently high level.

Women who never skipped meals lost on average 8 pounds more than women who skipped meals

2/ Keep a food journal. Keeping a food journal makes you think twice about what you eat and monitor it more closely. If you have to write down that you finished off the children’s dinner, or last night’s left overs at breakfast then you will be much less likely to do it! Additionally, keeping a food journal may help you to see things that you eat without even noticing, such as a chunk of cheese when you open the fridge to get the milk, or a cookie while you are waiting for the kettle to boil.

Women who kept a food journal lost on average 6 pounds more than those who didn’t

3/ Don’t eat out at lunch. Women who ate out more than once a week were much heavier than those who rarely ate out, regardless of where they ate. Only 10% of the women regularly had fast food at lunchtime but they all suffered the same problems in losing weight. Whilst eating out is a lovely treat once in a while, you can’t really know how many calories there are in a meal in a restaurant; what may seem like a healthy salad could have hundreds of secret calories’ worth of dressing on it. Try to limit lunching out as much as possible or try having lunch at home and a drink with friends in the restaurant (make it a skinny drink though!).

Women who ate out more than once a week lost an average of 5 pounds less than those who ate at home

If you are struggling to lose weight and would like to talk to one of our case workers about the right weight loss treatment for you then call us on 1.866.668.9263.