1. Eat breakfast. This meal gets you off to a good start in lots of ways, and a big breakfast is preferable to a small one. Breakfast is breaking the food fast of sleep, and you need energy to breach the day with.
It’s been shown the people who eat breakfast while on a diet, lose more weight than ones who don’t. Your breakfast doesn’t have to elaborate. Have a half a bagel spread with low fat cream cheese or peanut butter and a piece of fruit. Two hard boiled eggs, a glass of skim milk and a few crackers. A fruit smoothie made with nonfat yogurt, fresh strawberries and orange juice.
2. Make lunch your next biggest meal and dinner a light supper. You need energy to get you through the busiest part of the day. Food eaten in the evening just sits in your tummy and makes you feel heavy, and is is used to make fat, calories in breakfast and lunch mainly goes to calorie burning. Make it a rule not to eat after 8 PM every evening.
According to my doctor, the weight loss pattern of big breakfast, smaller lunch and small dinners, works well.
3. Exercise before you eat. Exercise boosts your metabolism and decreases your appetite. You don’t have to go to the gym, a brisk 20 minute walk will do it. You can exercise inside as well. Try going up and down the stairs, running in place, doing 15 minutes of Pilates or your favorite exercise regime. Take your break at work and use it to stretch.
4. Eat every four hours. That means three meals and two snacks for most of us. Keep the snacks low calorie. The idea is to keep your blood sugar on an even level. You won’t be starving and give in to the candy machine.
5. Decrease the level of stress in your life. Stress causes an increase in the hormone cortisol, which is linked to fat storage. When you feel stressed take a time out to meditate, practice deep breathing or just think about a happy memory.
6. Make sure you’re getting your vitamins and minerals, taking a daily supplement to boost what you’re getting from your food can be a good idea. There are studies that show calcium has fat blocking properties and vitamin C helps with insulin production.
7. Picture yourself at the weight you want to be. Don’t belittle yourself with the weight you haven’t lost but congratulate yourself with the weight you have lost. Keep a positive body image.