10 Weight Loss Tips I’m Following to Help Me Lose 20 lbs

Losing weight is hard. Let’s face it food taste so good and it’s hard to kick bad eating habits. I remember when I weighed 125 lbs back in my 20′s even then I thought I was over weight. As I got closer to 30 years old I realized I was gaining weight. I weighed in and I was 135 lbs. How in the world did I gain 10 lbs in 5 years doing absolutely the same things I was doing when I was my 20′s. Turned out my thyroid decided to go on vacation and I was diagnosed with Hypothyroid. Long story short my thyroid would now need a supplement to keep things under control. I take medication every day to keep my hormones where they should be and make sure my body is getting enough thyroid hormone. Weight loss has been a struggle ever since, especially after turning forty, three years ago.  I’ve found some wonderful tips and tools to share with you to offer 10 Weight loss tips I’m following to help me lose 20 lbs in the next 5 months. I’ve already lost 5+ lbs in the last 2 weeks following these tips.

Weight Loss Journey start date: January 6, 2013

Weight 1/6: 156

Weight 1/19: 150.4

1. Food Journaling : I never realized exactly how much food I was putting in my mouth each day.  I eat 3 meals and day and snack in between but what exactly was I eating. It’s hard to see the over all picture  so I started to keep track by writing down what I was eating and drinking by food journaling. This is a difficult task but a helpful one. I’m using myfitnesspal.com. Not only can you food journal but you can keep track of your weight and exercise calorie burn along with make friends to share weight loss tips and your journey.

2. Exercise: Walking, Dancing, House work, work out tapes, lifting weights whatever it is that you like to do you need to do it.  I read that if you take three 10 minute walks a day that it’s better for you than exercising 30 minutes a day. I imagine it is because you start your metabolism up 3x a day rather than just the 1 x. Your metabolism is like a fire burning.  Every time you exercise it’s like throwing a log on the fire. You burn calories.

Finding time to Exercise: I exercise when the kids go to bed. I put them down about 9:30p and after they fall asleep I put in a Xbox Kinect Zumba Workout and go for 45 – 1 hour and that’s at beginner level. If you love to dance and you can get off the couch you don’t need to follow the moves perfectly just do what you can. I break a sweat every time.

3. Work out Partner:  Losing weight in groups is a great way to motivate everyone. Watching weight loss programs like Biggest Loser  where competition is high is a great way to get health tips and watch as real people transform their appearance and attitudes towards exercise and healthy eating. If you can’t find a friend to exercise with you join a weight loss group online. I’ve joined the great group of Bloggers at the BiggestLoser.com to compete against other groups to see who can lose the most weight.

4. STOP the (Soda) Pop:  I love Pepsi. I drink it daily but there’s a lot of sugar and calories in 1 can of soda and I know it’s not good for me.  I found I was drinking 2 can’s sometimes 3 a day. Not good! So I stopped the Pop. I know a lot of people switch to diet but I can’t stand the taste of diet soda. I’ve not stopped drinking it completely I did have 3 cans this week but I hope to eventually phase that out.

5. Increase your Water Intake: Increase your water intake to 8+ glasses a day. I’ve now made sure that I drink a glass of ice water the first thing after I weigh my self in the a.m. Then a glass with every meal, 2 while I exercise and one before bed. To drink enough water throughout the day try replacing sugary drinks and juices with water. You’ll cut calories and rehydrate your body helping you flush out  fat and other toxins. If you don’t like the taste of water you can add a few flavor drops of Crystal light or Dasani flavor drops to enhance the flavor.

5. Weight Loss App:  My fitnesspal.com (free on android and ios) has a weight-loss app that you can download to help you keep track of your food, exercise and calorie intake in the moment and while your on the go.

6. Use a Smaller Plate for Portion Control: One of the biggest things I noticed is that I was eating the portion size for 2 people and having seconds. Way to much food for even me but at times I was so hungry that I couldn’t help my self. I think this is one of the main reasons why people do tend to over eat because of the larger plates and portions that are offered. If you take a look at any prepackaged meal program you’ll see the portion size is a lot smaller than what your normally used to.  Knowing the right portion size is key to eating properly.

7. Feed the Hunger: I’ve increased my meals. I’ve started eating 5 smaller meals a day instead of 3 large one’s.  I have a low calorie fiber bar in between meals, mixed nuts, or a small salad with fruit.  Sometimes just I just eat half. This helps with hunger in between meals. I know I don’t need the food but keeping the body nourished and feeling satisfied will make sure my body doesn’t go into fat storing mode. Sometimes just drinking a glass of water helps.

8. Daily Vitamins & Omega 3:  Some say your body gets enough vitamins if your eating properly. I disagree.  I started taking a daily vitamin in my 20′s and for some reason I stopped the past 3 yrs. I noticed that my hair isn’t as shinny and I just feel that my body really can use the vitamin benefits I get from taking them. Omega3 is said to help you feel fuller longer so you don’t have the urge to eat as much. I also want to start taking a pro-biotic too to help rid my body of toxins. So I’ll be adding those in as well.

9. Food I’m avoiding: It’s been known that eating rice, white bread, pasta along with corn and  peas are foods you should avoid when dieting. I don’t avoid them completely but when I do cook them for the family I eat only half the portion (1 cup) or I skip it all together. Dessert is also something I skip during the week but on the weekend I allow my self 1 treat but not over indulge. Until I get down to a weight that I am happy and comfortable with then I’ll reevaluate that rule.

10. Boredom Snacking: This is one of my huge week spots. When I blog I’m busy typing but I am usually up late and I start thinking about snacking.  Instead of grabbing a bag of Doritos and a Pepsi I now get a stick of gum and a glass of water. The gum takes away that urge to chew something and the water helps to fill me up.

Note: Weigh your self when you 1st wake up in the a.m before you do anything. This will be your true weight. I use the Precision Getfit Body Fat Scale.

And one last thing make sure your getting enough sleep. If you’ve ever weighed your self before you go to bed and weighed again in the a.m you’ll notice you lose weight when you sleep. Depending on how many hours you sleep at night the weight loss will be different. So be sure get  between 7-8 hours of sleep in your schedule to burn the most amount of calories.

Be sure to check out my post on how I loss 10 lbs last winter. You won’t believe it!  Right now I’m actually only 4 lbs away from my weight then. Pretty cool and I’m excited to be on the right track to losing weight.

Do you have any weight loss tips you’d like to share?

disclosure: All links to sites are the sites that I use or items I reviewed. No compensation has been provided for sharing this information.