You Can Lose Over 50 Pounds: Just Take Your Time

Losing a lot of weight can be extremely intimidating. Start with a few simple steps, see quick results, and stay motivated to continue on with your success.

1. The first step is acknowledging that you did not gain 50 pounds overnight, so you aren’t going to lose it that quickly either. Experts recommend aiming to lose 10% of your body weight over the next six months. This means losing 20 pounds in six months if you weigh 200 pounds.

Chances are, this is not the amount of time you had in mind to lose 20 pounds—many people want it off in a month or less. But once you recognize that slow and sure is the way to get it off and keep it off, you’ll be more comfortable making simple changes in your diet for lasting weight loss. You probably know from numerous crash diets in the past that losing eight pounds in a week doesn’t mean a thing when you gain it right back; nor is it pleasant to be starving for any length of time.

Eating a healthy diet means the weight will come off in time, and you won’t be suffering during the next several months while you lose weight.

2. Second, you can’t know what to change in your diet without knowing how you eat on a typical day. We don’t usually realize all that we eat during any given day: the Danish we hastily gulp down at the breakfast meeting; the quick drive-thru lunch to give us some energy before we get back to work; the leftovers we clean off our child’s plate; the munching we do while watching TV: these all add up to hundreds of calories a day without us even realizing we’ve eaten any of it! So it’s imperative you start keeping a food diary.

Just write down what you eat within 10 minutes of eating it (or selective memory will forget you ever ate it). This helps people lose weight by making us aware that we are going to eat something. You’ll find that very often you stop and think, “I don’t really want to eat this—I’ll have to write it down and add it to my intake list and it’s a lot of empty calories”.

Trust me on this: try it for two weeks. Numerous research studies have proven this as an effective weight loss technique that works without going on any crazy diet.

3. Finally, learn to eat reasonably. This doesn’t mean you can never eat chocolate again or you can never go out to eat again: Start with just trying to eat a basic, healthy diet. You know what good foods are and what crappy, high-calorie/empty nutrition foods are. Just eat more of the better ones (like fruits and whole grain and veggies and low-fat dairy) and less of the junky ones.

Schedule meals if you have to, like you would an appointment. Skipping breakfast invariably leads to making up for it later; same with lunch. Have a sensible breakfast (cereal or toast or yogurt and fruit) that doesn’t take up too much of your time if that’s an issue in the morning; find a lunch you like and try to stick with a consistent menu every day…. Maybe a frozen diet meal with less than 300 calories with a salad or fruit you can add to round it off, or a sandwich and some veggie sticks and a yogurt or string cheese.

Dinner should be a lean, broiled or baked meat portion of 6 ounces or less, a vegetable, and a cup of starch (such as pasta, rice, or potatoes). Plan a snack in the evening if you like to have one; just find one that has less than 200 calories and save yourself another few hundred over that bag of chips or pint of high-fat ice cream.

Including 30 minutes of walking a day will be a big help also. The more you move, the more calories you’ll burn.

The idea is to change your lifestyle for good. Try small and easy changes one step at a time so that you replace all the bad habits that led to gaining weight, with great habits that will keep you lean and healthy for the rest of your life.

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Eat The Part You Like!

I happened upon a great method of weight loss a few years back, when I made friends with a woman at work and we started having our lunch together. We quickly discovered we liked different parts of the same dishes in many cases: she liked the chowder and I liked the clams; she liked the chocolate chips and I liked the cookie; she liked the apple pie filling and I liked the crust. We started to share certain foods, realizing we were only eating half as much as we would have been had we ordered the food by ourself! We would share a slice of layer cake at office birthday parties, she taking the chocolate layer and handing me the white which I preferred.

This is a great principle I have developed and used by myself in the years since: only eat the part you like! Even though I don't work with this woman any longer, I remember that I didn't miss the apple pie filling when we split a slice and I ended up with a plate of just apple-moistened crust. I now order hamburgers in restaurants without the bun (I don't care for the bread, but enjoy the meat patty) and salads without the cheese or croutons; I remove the crumbs from breaded fish and pick the meat and green beans out of beef stew, leaving the carrots and gravy behind.

I leave things on my plate that aren't my favorite instead of feeling compelled to eat the entire dish. And then I count the calories left behind, adding them all up in my head to calculate how much weight I won't gain this month because I didn't eat the part I didn't like!

What can you leave behind to save a hundred calories?

Make Friends With Snacks

Are you struggling to lose weight? Can't stick to your diet? Is one of your rules "No eating between meals?" Well toss that one right out the window! Snacks can be a nourishing contribution to your diet, as well as a great pick-me-up in the afternoon. The key, as you may have guessed, is choosing the right snacks.

Here are a few rules to follow to keep your snacks smart and healthy and prevent them from sabotaging your diet:

1. Plan snacks ahead of time. Know that you have one coming up can really help get you past a dessert craving or walk past a candy dish. Keep smart snacks in your desk at work or even in your handbag so their available whenever the hungries start to overwhelm you. I'm a big fan of granola-type bars like those pictured above. Look for those providing less than 150 calories, and containing some vitamins and fiber. Also try to compare labels and choose the lowest fat grams per serving. If you have the storage facilities, other healthy snacks are fresh fruits (canned fruits work, too), yogurt (again, look for those under 150 calories per serving), or a bowl of cereal.

2. Have that conversation with your inner child. When you hear that two-year-old having a tantrum in your head, screaming "I want a candy bar now", take a minute to address her instead of just trying to push her away with a loud 'NO'... after all, think about how that's worked for you in the past. Go ahead, even though it sounds silly, and ask her, "what is it you're looking for right now?". Chances are that part of you is stressed, or bored, or anxious, or--yes--maybe even hungry. If you're hungry, it's time for a healthy snack! If you're looking for something else, food won't really help. Consider taking a break from your desk, a quick walk, a drink of water, or emailing a friend to vent. Give yourself ten minutes to wait and see if the child settles down. Even if this works one or two times, you're getting some positive results!

3. Start living with healthy habits. Get a mantra to help you dedicate your behaviors to what really is important in your life. Whatever is meaningful to you (like, "I am nourishing my body and treating it right so it will treat me right when I'm older", or "garbage in, garbage out", or even "my body is my temple") write it down and post it everywhere until it becomes imbedded in your brain so it is a belief you don't even question! Challenge your inner child when she starts whining and convince yourself to avoid the vending machine: How much satisfaction will you get from that candy bar? Most people answer "about two minutes"--as long as it takes to eat it! How long will you be feeling good about skipping the candy bar? As soon as the craving passes you'll be patting yourself on the back for at least the rest of the day! And the results will be showing on you for the rest of your life, every time you choose the better option.

Decide what's really important to you, and if it's living healthy, that includes eating healthy! Make up your mind to develop new habits and eat right every day, every hour. (And if you mess up one hour, don't beat yourself up about it! Just get back on track the very next minute and don't wait until Monday!)
Now go out and buy some healthy snacks so you can start living right tomorrow, and throwing away your fat clothes in a few weeks!

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