5 tips to lose weight and keep it off!

Someone I know refused to try the weight loss system I use because when they stopped the weight would just come back on! You know what, that is true about any diet plan. I have found that I need to make permanent life long changes to lose and keep the weight off.

With that in mind, I decided to list five tips that can help with both losing weight and keeping it off.

1. Mindset!! Napoleon Hill in his book “Think And Grow Rich” tells us that what we think about in what we become. So we think about being thin, feeling thin, and being healthy, we will become that person.

Darren Hardy on his morning posts recently told of a woman who was continually ill. She went to many different doctors complaining about her ailments. Finally she went to a doctor who after examining her, he gave her a prescription he had never given out before. He told her to say every hour throughout the day, I am getting better and better every day in every way. She was not happy she wanted real medicine, however, she agreed and in about 30 days she was healthy, and happy. To hear the whole store and see the video go here: http://www.darrendaily.com/decide-now (I recommend you sign up for Darren’s Daily posts they are always great)

So Think and Grow Thin!!

2. Find a program that you can stay with for life! Okay, that doesn’t mean that after you lose all the weight you want acme you don’t make some changes, it just means that you cannot go back to your terrible eating habits and expect to stay in perfect health! Most if not all weight loss systems have a maintenance plan! I like to joke that the system I use has a reset button. (Whenever I go off the plan and put a little weight back on, I just start again and get rid of it)

cake For me, it was all about finding a plan that I could follow where I really wasn’t hungry all the time. I tried other things, and they worked as long as I followed them. I just found that all I thought about was how long is it till I get to eat again and how can I get the most to eat within the bounds of the diet! (I was always hungry and that was no fun- and I like fun!)

3. Stock up on good for you snacks that follow your plan, so when you do get hungry you won’t go off the plan!

I like cheese sticks, vegetables that are already cut up ready to eat or a piece of fruit. snacks

4. Walk 10,000 steps a day! What 10,000 steps every day! I can hear you! That is a really good goal to help you lose weight, plus I have read from several sources that walking is one of the best ways to flatten your stomach and we all know that a flat stomach makes us appear taller, thinner, healthier! How can I possibly walk 10,000 steps a day you say (remember I can hear you!)

You probably will have to work up to it, unless you are already doing it. IF you are already doing it, Kudo’s to you! Set a goal to walk a few more if you are already there!

The first step (No pun intended) is to find a way to measure your steps or you will never know how many you take. Many people use their phones, I like a pedometer better. The one we use clips to your clothes, goes in a pocket or can be carried in a bag, and it works great! You can also see how many steps you have taken over the last 8 days. It is even more fun if you compete with someone who also wears a pedometer!

Other actions to help get those steps up! Walk around when you are talking on the phone, park farther out when you are in a parking lot, every time you get out of your chair do 100 extra steps. Take your dog for a walk or get a human walking buddy. Run up and down the stairs a few times a day, just to do it! Every time you are waiting for something walk around, for example waiting for your food to heat up, walk around the kitchen, waiting for the kids to come to the car, walk around the car, waiting for that print or copy or scan! I know you can do it!

kldmjd2 5. This one works really well for me and others I know! Do your plan with a friend! This is a group sport, why do you think weight watchers has meetings? They cheer each other on, I know I did weight watchers once. A support system is really important. It not only keeps you going when you would otherwise quit, it makes you feel great when your work is acknowledged. It always puts a smile on my face when someone says “You look really great!” Or “You are fading away to a shadow!” And it helps you be accountable when someone else knows what your goal is and is doing it with you!