Tips for Healthy Weight Loss

Follow these 6 tips to be on your way to weight loss...

1. Adapt the plan to yourself: decide what you want to accomplish and the best way to go about it; make realistic short and long-term goals; don't be discouraged if a friend or significant other is losing weight faster than you are - remember that everyone is unique and will lose weight at different rates and on different areas of their bodies.


2. Control night-eating and emphasize breakfast: eat a hearty breakfast to prevent binge eating at later meals; eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day; try to consume most of your calories earlier in the day to avoid eating late at night.


3. Include a variety of foods: follow the food guide pyramid (http://www.mypyramid.gov/) for serving amounts; limit your intake of fats, oils and sweets; try to eat a variety of foods within each food group; drink lots of water to stay hydrated and satiated.


4. Modify your way of eating for life: control portion sizes; replace high calorie sweets with fruits and veggies; replace high fat protein sources with lean protein sources (i.e. eggs, fish, chicken); don't cut anything out of your diet completely - instead, eat what you like in moderation; if you "screw up" one day, don't give up - just eat better the next day.


5. Increase your activity level: studies have shown that when people diet alone they lose 28% muscle, with diet and aerobic training they lose 3-4% muscle, and when strength training is added muscle increases; aim for 200-280 minutes of physical activity per week (approx. 30-40 min/day); make small changes to burn extra calories (i.e. park further from the store, take the stairs instead of the elevator, walk to your co-workers desk instead of sending an email, etc.)


6. Rate of weight loss: aim for no more than 2 pounds of weight loss per week; decrease your total calories taken in and increase the total amount of calories burned (through physical activity) to lose the weight; don't rely solely on the scale to monitor your progress (you may be losing fat and replacing it with muscle) - instead, consider how you feel and how your clothes are fitting you.