If anyone could give me their absolute best tips to lose weight, I would be greatful

[stevedevane]

As a matter of full disclosure, I'm a rep for this company, but I've lost about 25 pounds since the first of the year on this diet.

[cadmar]

There are only 2 things to do to effectively lose weight for good. 1) Find the emotional reason for your position so that when you do get to the weight you want, you won't be doing it again as the same cause will still be there and you will be fighting against it.

2) What I did was to go on a bike ride across the country. After two weeks, I went 100 miles a day and it took me about 10 - 12 hours. In a month, I was in the best shape ever. Find something you like doing and do it on the weekend to get into shape and then for a vacation just do that. This breaks you from your old habits and routine. After this break, you will be new, fresh to then tackle a new routine.

[Revolution]

I recomend food combining. [Fit for Life: A New Beginning] Harvey and Marilyn Diamond.

[Sheamus]

By making relatively small changes to one's diet - quite basic stuff - you can lose weight easily and quickly.

I blogged about this very subject a while back:

8 Easy Changes You Can Make To Your Diet Today To Drop 7 Pounds In Just One Month | i am Sheamus

For a bigger impact, I'd recommend following these tips:

1. Eliminate All 'White' Foods

This means white bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and milk. Stop eating them completely. If you normally consume these items like most people, within a month of letting them go you'll have dropped a significant amount of weight.

I'd also consider dropping any and all starches - things like corn, and that kind of thing.

2. Switch To Diet Drinks

Do not drink your calories! Eliminate all sugar drinks, and this includes fruit juices. Switch to all Diet sodas, drink LOTS of water (minimum 2 litres per day, preferrably 3), and stop adding sugar and cream to coffee. No liquid that goes into your mouth should contain a calorie. Otherwise, there are no limits to how many sugar-free drinks you have, and that includes black coffee.

3. Eat Lots Of Vegetables And Pulses

With pretty much every meal, even breakfast if you can stomach it. Pulses - stuff like black eye peaks, butter beans, pinto beans etc - are filling and contain lots of good stuff, plus a reasonable amount of protein.

4. Eat Nuts For Your Snack

Eat nuts whenever you're peckish. Don't go overboard - keep it to 50g/day or thereabouts. And variety is the spice of life - don't just eat peanuts. But after a while you'll crave nuts and it'll replace your cravings for chocolate, chips etc.

5. Eat 4 Meals Per Day

Four smallish meals, as opposed to there bigger ones. Each meal should be made up of:

A. Lean protein - chicken, pork, steak, fish etc. And I *mean* lean!
B. Pulses (as above)
C. Vegatables, pref. fresh

For breakfast eat a couple of eggs (with yolk), with ONE slice of wholemeal bread (very lightly buttered), and whatever pulses and veg you can stomach at that time of the day. No juice, remember.

Try different kinds of pepper and other spices on your meals. It's amazing how much of a difference these simple additions can make to keep your meals interesting.

Otherwise, get used to eating the same kinds of meal - a lot. This is one of the key secrets to weight loss.

6. Don't Eat Fruit

At least, not regularly. The sugar spike won't do you any favours.

7. Bonus Day - Once Per Week, Eat Whatever You Like For 24 Hours

That's right - one day per week you can eat whatever you want, and that includes the 'banned' foods above! Choose a Friday or a Saturday as it's a good working goal for the week. I personally recommend eating stuff like ice cream, chocolate and other high-calorie, quick fix meals on this day. When the day is over - and this mean's the stroke of midnight - get immediately back on track.

8. Exercise Regularly

Consult your doctor before beginning any new fitness plan, but the minimum is 4 x 30 minutes per week of reasonably intensive cardio and/or high-intensity strength lifting.

If you stick to these bullet points for 3-6 months - and the 'bonus day' makes it easier than you might think - you'll lose a ton of weight.

Best of luck!

[Esuna]

Originally Posted by Natsu

This site provides very simple and useful information, specially about why dieting is not the solution, and why you need to do life-lasting changes.

Flat Stomach Exercises - How to Flatten Your Tummy

This is the best part:

Healthy Eating Habits - Increase Your Metabolism



If you don't mind I'd like to ask you something related. I am really trying to lead a good eating lifestyle, I'm really trying to get good eating habits. But.

But I think I am addicted to sugary stuff. I can live without chips, without soda, without salty snacks. But one day without sweets, pies, cakes or ice creams, and the craving arrives. Weird thing is I don't drink alcohol or smoke, I never had. Do you think sugar can be addictive? I get really strong cravings, despite how much I want to lose weight. I'm not fat now, but am slightly overweight and if I don't get control of my body and health now I'm 29, later on it's going to be worse.

So, how would you stop the craving for sweets? I know that they give me nothing good... During years of attempts to leave them, I've learned at least to sense how greasy and heavy they are. I have managed to cut out doughnuts and other very greasy sweets. But chocolate, panettone and ice creams still get the best of me. How would you leave them? I have no problems with my weight... Or I wouldn't if I didn't crave for sweets that much. Has anyone had this problem? Has anyone gotten over it?

Sugar is absolutely addictive. People who only get sugar from natural fruits, etc, don't gorge on is. But processed sugar is another story, and is definitely my stongest addiction. I quit smoking, but I haven't been able to quit sugar for more than 2 weeks. I believe sugar is the main source of my feeling generally unhealthy, and my extra weight. I have a belly that pokes out from all the bloating (read: candida). I see people all the time who look just like me - tired, fatigued, depressed, irritable, with the same puffy belly. I've tried quitting sugar, but when I allow myself any, even moderately, my cravings go NUTS. This is true for me when the sugar is just white flour, too - it makes me want tons of other unhealthy, carb-laden stuff. So I'm trying to gradually move into a raw diet for awhile, which I've never done before.

[TheOpusMovieCommunity]

1. Eat normally, but change your mindset. Develop affirmations that say "I weigh X pounds." and repeat them everyday.

2. Exercise! Go for a run, walk, swim, jog, ride a bike...just do something that will get blood pumping and make you sweat. Exercise can be fun if you do something you enjoy.

[Natsu]

Originally Posted by Esuna

Sugar is absolutely addictive. People who only get sugar from natural fruits, etc, don't gorge on is. But processed sugar is another story, and is definitely my stongest addiction. I quit smoking, but I haven't been able to quit sugar for more than 2 weeks. I believe sugar is the main source of my feeling generally unhealthy, and my extra weight. I have a belly that pokes out from all the bloating (read: candida). I see people all the time who look just like me - tired, fatigued, depressed, irritable, with the same puffy belly. I've tried quitting sugar, but when I allow myself any, even moderately, my cravings go NUTS. This is true for me when the sugar is just white flour, too - it makes me want tons of other unhealthy, carb-laden stuff. So I'm trying to gradually move into a raw diet for awhile, which I've never done before.

I asked my doctor about it, and she confirmed just that: sugar is addictive. It seems it produces serotonines which activate the pleasure centers of your brain, and it's hard to leave it up. Problem is, I've been stuffed with sugary stuff since about age two, some family members had lived the "hunger years" and were more than glad to give me as many sweets as they could, and of course having suffered scarcity, they didn't know there could be something wrong in abundance. I am having huge trouble leaving it.

I think I'll try to do a sugar-detox program by eating what I like. If I try to diet by leaving potatoes, leaving bread, leaving rice and pasta and all my favorite foods and sugar, I won't be able to do it. I'll try a month of normal eating, eating a bit of everything, leaving out just sugar. And when I'm done with sugar, I may be able to do a proper diet. So far I am constantly on withdrawal syndrome if I try to diet. I think that solving my problem of addiction first with a "eat what you like diet" will be easier than trying to quit it all at the same time.

[Remiel]

I didn't read all of the posts so I don't know if this has been mentioned yet. I would recommend hiring a personal trainer. I've recently done this and am getting immense benefit from being taught by someone who does physical development as a career. Half the reason I choose to do it is I didn't want to invest my time into learning physical fitness on my own. I'd rather spend that time developing other areas like my business. So I do the exercise 6 days a week and learn from the trainer rather than teach myself outside of the gym. I find its a bit more effective because they have experience with what produces good results.

To me diet without exercise is only solving half the problem.

[Flavia]

Eat small meals throughout the day. Do not allow yourself to get super hungry to the point that you lose control.

Lift weights.

Excercise regularly. Walk for 30 minutes after dinner.

Make small changes. Don't try any drastic or silly diets that aren't liveable. Adopt a diet that doesn't drastically change your lifestyle.