Top 10 Best Tips to Lose Weight

Losing weight is not as difficult as it is keeping the weight off (you probably know that).

But keeping the weight off is not as big of a mystery as you might think. You really don’t have to resort to some crazy diet plan like eating only rice or grapefruit, you do (however) have to change a lot of what you are doing. Remember the definition of crazy is trying the same thing over and over but expecting new results (and you want new results).

 

10 Best Tips for Weight Loss

If weight loss is your goal, here are the top 10 tips to lose weight.

1. Stop Short Thinking

Most people think that they can go on a diet and lose the weight that they want to lose and once they achieve their goal they can go back to eating the way that they were eating before their diet (not realizing that the old way of eating is the cause of their weight gain).

So when you are looking for a new diet plan, find one that you can live with the rest of your life. Yes, you read that correctly: The Rest of Your Life. The reason why you have a hard time losing weight and keeping it off is because most people eat foods that were never meant for humans. When you are looking for a diet, pick one that nourishes your body, allows you to lose weight, and is something you can do for a long time. What does that look like? Read on.

2. You Don’t Have to Spend a Lot of Money

Any plan where you have to shell out a lot of money is a bad idea. Weight loss is simple (well, maybe not so simple to do, but simple to understand). In order to lose weight you simply have to give your body what it needs and your body will respond by giving you what you want: a lighter, healthier body.

3. Don’t Trust Prepackaged Anything

If you want to lose weight, you are going to have to stop letting other people make your food. Both restaurants and food companies want to make you happy. And in order to make you happy they are going to fill their food with magic addictive ingredients: Sugar, Salt. While salt is not that bad (health-wise), it is addicting and that added sugar (or foods that act like sugar) is guaranteed to bring you back to the table over and over again (but also guaranteed to add to your waistline).

4. Remove Food Allergies

Most people don’t know that they are carrying around a lot of extra weight in the form of water weight. Your body holds on to water when you are eating foods that you are allergic to. Food allergies are an unknown source of weight gain. How do you know if this might be you? Try an allergy elimination diet (see my article: I’m Allergic to Everything). The most common food allergies are probably the foods that you like most: wheat (and gluten-containing foods), nuts, shellfish, dairy, soy, corn and eggs.

5. Eat Your Veggies

You don’t eat enough veggies. How do I know that you don’t eat enough veggies? Because no one eats enough vegetables. You may know that eating enough vegetables is a good thing to do (after all, your mom told you to do it), but veggies are not only good for you but they are also good for your weight loss. Researchers have shown that people who eat a lot of vegetables weigh less than those that don’t.

6. Be Careful with Fruits

Fruit gives us the illusion of health. They are fresh, good tasting, and most people can enjoy them unprocessed. But fruit was only meant to be consumed part of the year (in Fall). The sugars inside fruit (mostly fructose) are processed differently than other sugars: the body easily turns fructose into fat. This makes sense when you think about it: fruit is available in Fall when most animals need to pack on extra weight before winter. Choose wisely when choosing fruit and pick the lowest-sugar versions you can.

7. Exercise

I’m guessing that this is not the first time you have heard that you need to exercise in order to lose weight but I’m going to mention it here because exercise is critical to your weight loss. The only way to get your metabolism back is to make sure you are building new muscle. Get out there today and get some exercise.

8. Cut Out Dairy

While many people are allergic to dairy products (and that can cause weight gain) that is not the main reason why you want to kick dairy out of your life. Raw milk is great for you (if you can get it), but once you pasteurize and homogenized dairy, it becomes another processed food we should avoid.

Worried about calcium? Check out this post: Calcium Myths

 

9. Enjoy Meat

Many people are afraid of meat, but it is what we should be eating. Worried about fat or calories? Don’t be. Our bodies need (and crave) the fats found in meat. New research has shown us that we need not be worried about cholesterol, that fats in meats are good for us, we feel fuller when we eat meat, and we lose weight.

 

 

 

10. Stop the Sugar

This is the big one. If you want to lose weight, you have to stop the sugar insanity. Sugar is easily turned into fat in our bodies and kicking it out of your life is a great way to keep the pounds off. But let me warn you that if you are trying to stop sugar you also have to stop eating the foods that act like sugar in our bodies.

 

 

 

 

There you go: Top 10 Tips to Lose Weight.

About the Author

I'm Dr. Scott Olson ND. I'm a Naturopathic doctor who specializes in diet, health, nutrition, and alternative medicine. I've written numerous books and articles on health, medicine, and alternative medicine I want to help you get healthy! Take a look at my blog and make sure you join in the conversation!

2 Comments on this article. Feel free to join this conversation.

  1. Ryan January 26, 2011 at 1:19 pm - Reply

    I really like your website and information.

    I am a bit confused however about a couple of things.

    1) Last I checked skim milk has 0 g of fat. http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/generic/skim-milk/

    Are you referring to 2% milk?

    2). How come you recommend whole milk on your 30 days without sugar plan but recommend against it here? It seems that whole milk has only 1g less of sugar (http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/generic/whole-milk/)

    3). I like the great tips in the Calcium Myths link as well. I’ve heard there are certain things that can inhibit the absorption of calcium. Do these apply to any type of calcium source or only to milk-based calcium sources?

    • Dr. Scott January 27, 2011 at 7:44 am - Reply

      Ryan,

      You are not the only one who is confused. The reason why skim milk say 0 grams of fat has to do with labeling laws that allow a manufacturer to say “no” fat if it is below a certain threshold. Skim milk still has .50 percent of fat by volume and that is 13 percent fat by calories. The milk industry likes measuring calories by volume because their product is mostly water (so the fat calories take up very little of the volume), but when you look at the percent by calories a 13 percent fat food is lower than, say, a 50 percent fat food, but it is still a good source of fat.

      The reason for the discrepancy between the 30 Sugar Free Days and this article is that the 30 SFD program was designed as a sugar detox and people with blood sugar control and I want people to understand how different food effect their blood sugar. I am, though, not a big fan of milk and think it deserves a reputation as bad as sugar when it comes to our health.

      A lot of things can block calcium absorption, but this is mostly a laboratory observation (scientists give rats huge amounts of calcium and, say, magnesium and compare that to no magnesium) and one I’m not sure plays out in foods.

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