You don't need to eat soup for a week or cut out carbohydrates to lose weight. Following crash diets or limited meal plans may actually cause you to gain weight over time. Making a lifestyle change is a healthier way to shed the extra pounds. Take your first step toward improving your eating habits and try these specific weight loss tips.
Dieting
Around 45 million Americans diet each year, spending about $33 billion on weight loss products annually, according to Boston Medical Center. Although they spend a lot of money on weight loss products, over 60 percent of Americans are overweight or obese. In a 2007 review in "The American Psychologist," the authors discovered that 30 to 60 percent of dieters regain more weight than they lost during their diet. The authors concluded,"There is little support for the notion that diets lead to lasting weight loss or health benefits." Since dieting isn't the key to weight loss success, try the simpler route of changing your daily habits.
Habit 1: If You Eat it, Write it
When trying to lose weight, studies have shown that using a food diary is one of the most productive uses of your time. It's equally effective to carry a food diary with you, or to use an online program or phone app. Food diaries can make you aware of your current eating habits and help you assess them, deciding what areas to focus on.
Habit 2: Listen to Your Body
Because of busy schedules, many Americans have learned to ignore hunger and fullness signals. Some signs of hunger include an empty feeling in your stomach, headache, lack of energy, difficulty concentrating, irritability or a focus on food. Eating when you're hungry and stopping before you're uncomfortably full are simple steps to help you lose weight naturally. Using a scale from one to five, rate your hunger and fullness levels in your food diary before and after eating. This can help you realize if you're eating for reasons other than hunger, and to pick up on patterns in your eating habits.
Habit 3: Focus on Your Food
Focusing on your food while eating may be another way to lose weight. A 2006 study in the "British Journal of Nutrition" found that participants experienced a reduced desire to eat when they ate without distraction. So turn off the television and use meal times as an excuse to take a break and focus on yourself. When using these tips in place of dieting, you may find that you not only lose weight, but you have more time to enjoy your food and yourself.
References
- Boston Medical Center: Nutrition & Weight Management
- "The American Psychologist"; Medicare's Search for Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not the Answer; T. Mann, et al.; April 2007
- "British Journal of Nutrition"; Effects of Distraction on the Development on Satiety; Deffrey M. Brunstrom and Gemma L. Mitchell; 2006
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