1. Forget the Past and Future. A lot of progress is lost when thinking about all of the times you’ve tried to lose weight and failed, putting off dieting for a later date, or being stymied by all of the things you’ll have to do in the days to come. Focus on the now and get started!.
2. Don’t Sugar Coat Your Current State. Come to terms with how bad you’ve let yourself get, and make a promise never to return to where you’re at. It’s OK to be unhappy about the way you look, as long as you channel that energy into positive changes.
3. Don’t Overeat. This seems like a no-brainer, but overeating is one of the hardest habits to break, and one of the most detrimental things you can do to your body.
4. Take on a Weight Loss Challenge. Ninety days is the length of most challenges these days, but you can also find 30 and 60 day ones as well. What a challenge does is gets you to go hard out for a finite amount of time, so you can wrap your head around it. Just be sure to have a plan for when the challenge is finished.
5. Don’t Target a Specific Area. Spot treating rarely works, and can be very demotivating. Focus on improving your entire body and you’ll see those troublesome areas get better over time.
6. Don’t Let Giant Food Corporations Weigh You Down. It’s unfortunate the kind of “foods” the big food companies try to sell us. They’re filled with all sorts of additives and chemicals to get us to eat more of it. Take a timeout on pre-packaged fare.
7. Take Mandatory Me Time. If you’re always providing for others you won’t have the time needed to focus on your weight loss and fitness goals. Be sure to schedule some alone time to collect your thoughts.
8. There’s No One Way to Lose Weight. Don’t pigeonhole yourself into thinking that there’s only one way you could possibly get the results you want which is a mistake many people do when it comes to weight loss. There are many roads that lead to the same path, it’s about choosing the one that works best for you. For example, protein powders for weight loss, using supplements correctly can aid the process.
9. Why Not Live Up to Your Full Potential? Larry Winget says that the human race is the only living thing in the universe that chooses not to live to its fullest potential. The fit and healthy you is possible, so why not go for it!
10. Integrate Your Different Life Spaces. If you find that you’re an angel while at home, and a devil at work when it comes to eating junk, or vice versa, try to connect your different personas so you’re not working against yourself.
11. Eat More Superfoods. Lost on healthy foods to add to your diet? Our list of 66 Super Foods will give you plenty of insight.
12. You Can’t Get It Wrong. Many dieters think they’ve got to get it just right in order to be successful. But trying and failing is better than not trying at all. Every step you take in the right direction is helping, and is better than a step in the wrong direction.
13. Turn Up the Love. Dieting can put you in a state of self-loathing and grumpiness if you let it, but this is actually detrimental to your overall well-being. Show some love for yourself and be grateful for what you have and your efforts will be more effective.
14. Avoid Toxic People. You’ll likely find that there are some people in your life that seem to bring you down, especially when they see you start to change for the better. It’s best to avoid them if at all possible, and re-evaluate your relationship with them.
15. Find a Step-by-Step Program. If you’re just venturing into the world of fitness, or are too busy to develop your own plan, find one where they lay it all out for you, and just connect the dots each day.
16. Try Kettlebells. Kettlebells can be a bit intimidating at first, but they’re so effective because they combine an aerobic routine and strength training into one. Take a class to get the right form down, and then you can go off on your own.
17. Hack Your Life. These days it’s possible to look up any problem you’re having on the road to weight loss and get a fast answer from someone that’s been there. Example: Having trouble peeling a hard boiled egg? Here’s a way to skip the peeling process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN2gYHJNT3Y
18. Stop Changing the Formula. A true fitness professional has dedicated themselves to getting other in excellent condition. Follow their advice and stop trying to add your own ideas or methods, or twisting it up from what works.
19. Go to Bed Early. You set up the next day by how well you sleep the night before. If you’re staying up late into the night you’re making it more likely that you’ll start the day off on the wrong foot. Plus your organs and systems need sleep in order to function at their best.
20. Wake Up Early. If you go to bed early enough, you can wake up early and still get your eight hours. You’ll also be allowing your body to flush out toxins by emptying your bladder and evacuating your bowels at the optimal time of day.
21. Imitate Your Favorite Celebrity Chef. The more meals you cook for yourself the better. You’ll have more control of the ingredients you use, and appreciate your food more since you made it.
22. Take a Longer View. We all want to lose weight like yesterday, but it took awhile for you to get to this point, and it’s going to take some time to get yourself back to good. Be patient and keep the bigger picture in mind.
23. Switch up the Chocolate. Just because you’re dieting it doesn’t mean you have to give up the chocolate, if that’s your weakness. Just make sure that it’s dark chocolate, and that it’s in moderation.
24. Turn Off the TV. You’ll not only benefit by being more likely not to veg out on the couch, you’ll skip the ads for all the fast food, pizza, and chain restaurants.
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25. Meditate and Use Visual Imagery. Rather than focusing on how hungry you are or on the things you’re giving up, spend time clearing your head and picturing yourself the way you want to be.
26. Get a Therapeutic Massage. It’s more than just calories in and out, it’s about feeling good and few things can get you there faster than a massage by a licensed and experienced physical therapist.
27. Stop with the Fizz. Cutting carbonated beverages can go a long way towards helping you reach your goal weight. They not only work to dehydrate you, but many contain caffeine, and even more contain High Fructose Corn Syrup which will really trip up your efforts.
28. Work the Core. This doesn’t mean doing endless crunches or spot treating the stomach. There are many variations of exercises you can do. The core muscles help with many movements throughout the day, and can help relieve pressure on the back.
29 Take a Pass on the Latest Craze. Once you step back from the merry-go-round of the latest trends you can see how silly they are. Choose a solid program to follow and stick with it.
30. Focus on Being Healthier All Around. Yes, the goal is to lose weight, but if you dig deeper you’ll see that feel better is the core of the motivation, and that involves improving the body’s many functions with a holistic approach to health and well-being.
31. Ready, Fire, Aim! Don’t sit around waiting for the perfect strategy to come by, just get started doing something. The interesting thing is that once you start down the road to weight loss, the answers you need will come to you effortlessly.
32. Get to a Happy Place with Your Parents. In his book Heal the Hurt That Sabotages Your Life Bill Ferguson explains that a lot of the struggle in life comes from feelings of unworthiness caused by a dysfunctional relationship with your parents. If you have emotional connections to food this is a good place to start.
33. Pick a Guru, Any Guru. The problem is that there are so many gurus out there, many saying the same things, and others saying everyone else has it wrong, that it can stall your start. Pick the one that resonates most with you and go with what they say, at least until you reach your target.
34. Go Organic Whenever Possible. A recent study tried to debunk organic foods but missed the point entirely. You don’t buy organic because they have more vitamins or minerals (although they do). You buy it for all it doesn’t contain, like pesticides, chemicals, and additives.
35. Make More Money. It seems odd that money is connected to weight loss, but many people find that they need to start buying new clothes, eating better food, and getting more active. That costs money, and a lack of it can inhibit your progress.
36. Swim. This is one exercise that gets the whole body involved, helps with circulation, burns calories, and leaves you feeling great if you do it right. Don’t know how to swim or need a refresher? Check out the Total Immersion Swimming techniques here
37. Buy a New Pair of Pants. Buy a pair of pants in the size you want to be. But be careful to use them as a motivating factor as you near your goal, and not a demotivator as you struggle to get into them.
38. Use Better Metrics. Overall weight loss shouldn’t be your main goal, because this includes muscle mass that you can end up losing on starvation diets. What you should really be checking is your Body Fat Percentage (BFP) and your Body Mass Index (BMI). Choose healthy levels for each and strive for those.
39. Learn to Chillax. One characteristic that many dieters seem to share is that they get antsy and feel like they should always be doing something, because it’s being lazy that made them fat. But you have to learn to take some time to just relax and let your mind and body rest, especially now when you are making so many changes.
40. Eat a Light Breakfast. Your digestive juices are just getting going in the morning, so don’t overdo it. Keep it light so you fuel your body without slogging yourself down. SEE: 45 Healthy Breakfasts
41. Eat a Substantial Lunch.This is when your digestive juices are at their strongest, so you should have your largest meal of the day at this time.
42. Eat a Light Dinner. Your body is starting to slow down at this time, and this includes your digestive power. Try to avoid a heavy meal and keep in mind that meats take a long time to digest, so are best avoided later in the day.
43. Use Sea Salt Instead of Regular Salt. All of the nasty stuff that industrial grade salt is blamed for is not true for sea salt. In fact sea salt can help the body absorb and utilize the water that you drink.
44. Stop Smoking. It’s typical to gain some weight when you stop smoking, so if you’re overweight and a smoker you should cut out the cigarettes first, and then work on losing the excess pounds. SEE: 10 Ways to Quit Smoking
45. Have More Sex. This is one way to burn more calories and have fun at the same time.
46. Cut Back or Cut Out Alcohol. Alcohol not only contains a lot of calories, it’s also toxic to the liver, and the liver has a big role to play on making sure your colon, heart, and other organs are working in proper order.
47. Decide If You’re Going to Have a Free Day. A lot of modern workout programs include a free day, where you’re authorized to eat what you’ve been craving, skip on the exercise and then get back to the program the next day. You’ll need to decide if this will work for you, or if you think it would be too hard to go back to the program after a day of cheating.
48. Get a Few Wins Under Your Belt. If you’re coming off a long string of dieting losses, try setting a few weight loss goals that you are pretty sure you can achieve. This will boost your confidence in your abilities, and allow you to go after bigger goals down the road.
49. Get a Makeover. Getting a new body involves getting a new hairstyle and some new clothes. Make it a total body makeover and honor the new you that’s emerging.
50. Go the Extra Mile. Not literally, unless you want to, but Napoleon Hill includes this as one of the things that separates winners from losers. Those that succeed are willing to do a little more than the rest of the masses, and that’s why they get the things that few people have.
51. Simplify the Process. Apply the 80/20 principle to your current weight loss efforts. Find the 20% of things that are producing 80% of your results and do more of those things. Considering cutting down on or eliminating unfruitful actions.
52. Discover Five Things You Can’t Do Now. This is a way to not only see how far you’ve got to go, but it will be amazing to see how far you’ve come. If you can’t walk up three flights of stairs without being out of breath, one day you will and that will help you quantify your achievement.
53. Research Your Local Area. Scour your local area for exercise facilities, basketball, tennis, and racquetball courts, saunas, swimming pools, yoga classes, and nutritionists. That way you’ll have a go-to list of places to help you along your journey.
54. Check Your Sources. It’s hard to take advice from someone that doesn’t have what you want. Make sure your source is in the sort of shape you’d expect them to be in order to be dishing out health and fitness advice.
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55. Fly Like Peter Pan. When Peter Pan had to learn to fly it was suggested that he hold just one happy thought in order to move the process along. That same wisdom can be applied to your current situation. Think happy thoughts while you’re trying to lose weight, and your efforts will be multiplied.
56. Don’t Get Overloaded with Information. With so much information out there, both good and bad, it can be hard to know what’s right and what isn’t. Plus, you might get lost in the information-gathering phase and not take step one towards getting yourself in better shape. Get just enough information to move forward, and then get a little more as you go along.
57. Question Why You Do Unhealthy Things. It’s often interesting to delve into where bad habits started from. When exactly did you start doing the things you’re trying to stop? What gave you the idea that it was OK? The answers can be enlightening, but don’t spend too much time in self-analysis.
58. Tell a New Story. Start telling it how you want it to be, instead of how it is. If you’re old story painted you as overweight and out of shape, start telling a new story. First, one of transformation, and then one of achievement, health, and happiness.
59. Read Self-Improvement Books. Keeping positive and upbeat while losing weight can be hard at first, and these books will give you the guidance and right thinking to help you through it.
60. Don’t Overwork Your Body. Unless a bunch of eating contests caused your weight gain, you don’t have to go to extremes to lose weight.
61. See an Holistic Doctor. They’ll be able to do blood work and recommend all-natural supplements and advice based on your specific needs.
62. Be Ready to Deal with Change. Change can be hard, and your body will fight you on it, so be sure you’re ready for the fight and stick to your guns.
63. Try Lots of Things. If this is the first time you’ve tried to lose weight, you may have to take a tour of the different weight loss methods before finding what works for you. Don’t be afraid to try them out and evaluate the results as if you were conducting an experiment.
64. Have a Garage Sale. Clear out some of the clutter in your life, and at the same time perhaps make enough money for some home gym equipment.
65. Be Specific About the Body You Want. Having a vague idea of “getting slimmer” won’t keep you there for long. Build up a strong desire for the exact body you want, and don’t take no for an answer.
66. Stop Trying So Hard. Sometimes the harder we push for something, the more it pushes back. Take things down a notch and go with the current, not against it.
67. Stick to Meal Hours. When you eat at oddball hours, or you change your meal times frequently, your body doesn’t know what’s going on. Stick to a set time so your digestion knows the score.
68. Make Your Own Workout. If you like some things from one workout program, and some things from another, build your own workout that suits you. You’ll be more likely to stick with it.
69. Don’t Overstate How Great Things Will Be. Often we exaggerate just how amazing life will be when we finally reach our goal. But if you set your expectations super high you might feel like your hard work wasn’t worth it once you get there. Just know that many aspects of your life will improve.
70. Get to Unconscious Competence. That’s the point when you don’t know what you know, you just do it automatically. At first you have to keep reminding yourself to eat right and exercise, but do it long enough and you’ll just do it on autopilot.
71. Let Your Real Friends Know. Pick a few close and trusted friends and let them in on your weight loss goals. It’s good to have encouragement from those that know us and love us best.
72. Walk a Dog. It doesn’t even have to be yours! Ask a neighbor if you can walk their dog, or if you’re a dog lover without a dog, consider getting one. They need daily exercise too!
73. Trade Out Bad with Good. Indiana Jones swapped out the gold idol with a rock. You kind of want to do the opposite by switching your bad habits with new good ones.
74. Broaden Your List of Foods. Many diet programs provide a list of approved and disallowed foods. Be sure to run the gamut on the approved food lists and don’t get bottlenecked into the same two or three foods. Try a p
75. See a Nutritionist. It might sound expensive, but you only have to see them once. They’ll consult with you, run some tests, and develop a tailored menu for you.
76. Be Safe. It’s tempting to push the limits in the old “no pain no gain” mindset, but above all you have to lose weight safely and not jeopardize your health in an effort to improve it.
77. Remember that Diets are a First World Problem. It’s easy to play the world’s smallest violin and complain about dieting, but remember that it’s not the worst problem you could have, and be grateful that you live in a nation that allows for an obesity problem.
78. Cut Out the Candy. Candy bars are laced with trans fat and sugar, which increases your risk of gaining weight.
79. Track Your Progress. No matter how you do it, be sure to keep a log of the progress you make. Subjectivity can be very misleading.
80. Find a Role Model. If the people around you are all crabs in the same bucket, you might have to look elsewhere to find someone that lost the weight and kept it off.
81. Get Ready to Achieve Your Goal. It sounds strange, but if you still view yourself as a fat person, you’ll stand a risk of regressing back to your old ways. Prepare your mind to be a new, thinner, healthier version of yourself.
82. Get At-Home Exercise Equipment. Taking away any excuse for not working out is key. Rain or shine you’ve got to get moving.
83. Link Losing Weight to a Different Long-Term Project. Accomplishing two big goals will help keep your mind distracted from cravings, and will allow you stay motivated on two different levels.
84. Be Present During Mealtime. Be sure you sit down and enjoy your food. Try turning off the TV and really concentrating on how things taste.
85. Get Rid of the Artificial. Manmade chemicals might make things taste better, but they’re typically not good for the body. Sticking to natural foods and flavorings is best.
86. Consult with Your Doctor Before Starting Any Diet Program. This advice is often given as a disclaimer, but it really should be followed, especially if you have a lot of weight to lose.
87. Know That There’s No Secret Formula. The key to losing weight isn’t held under lock and key anywhere, so don’t be lured in by a program promising you the secret that no one else knows about.
88. Get a Fitness Gadget. The Fitbit is one such gadget that can track the steps you take, and can graph out your progress online, even turning it into less mundane things like climbing Mt. Everest.
89. Go Ape! You don’t see monkeys going on diets. They eat when they’re hungry, stop when they’re full, and they know how to relax. Take a page from their notebook and devolve a bit.
90. Avoid Seasonal Mood Swings. If you live in a climate where it’s cold and gray for many months, you have to watch out for things like Seasonal Affective Disorder. Stay positive during these months and be aware of mood changes.
91. Cut Out Movies. Movies are great now and then, but they can encourage us to spend 2+ hours parked in front of the TV, or at the theater with a big tub of popcorn and a soda.
92. Stop Eating When You Feel 80% Full. This is a way to make sure that you don’t push yourself past the point of being full. By the time the full signal hits, you’ll have already stopped eating. Perfect!
93. Give Yourself a Non-Food Reward. Come up with some things that you love doing, or having, and set milestones on your way to your goal weight. It’s rewarding good behavior without using food as the reward.
94. Make a Workout Mixtape. OK, so nobody uses tapes anymore, so make it an MP3 playlist of your favorite workout songs. Only listen to them when you’re working out, and it will be a way to make your workouts special.
95. Take Saunas. There’s debate as to whether these can help you lose weight, but there’s one thing that no one argues about: they feel great! They can relax sore muscles after a workout as well.
96. Look as Good as You Can. You don’t have to wait until you lose the pounds before looking your best. Part of the feel good process is to look your best, and you can start doing that right now.
97. Equip Yourself. Need hiking boots to go hiking? Need a pedometer to count your steps? Don’t miss out on activities because you’re not well-equipped.
98. Get a Series of Colonics. This will not only help your colon work better going forward, but can also help to clean out some of the accumulation over the years.
99. Get Objective Feedback. If you’ve gotten accustomed to seeing a fat person in the mirror, you might be a bit hard on yourself when you start showing real results. Let others be your eyes and let their compliments trump your negative view.
100. Do It For You. Many people have many reasons for wanting to lose weight. But one that gets overlooked is just doing it for you. There’s really no better reason than that, and all other reasons come back to you anyway.
101. Consider Cutting Back on Meat. The benefits of a vegetarian diet have been shown in fewer cases of heart disease and cancer. If you can’t bear the thought of cutting it out entirely, try confining it to lunchtime, the best time to eat meat since your digestion is strongest and it has a while to digest before bedtime.
102. Put the Blinders On. For the first few weeks or even the first month, don’t stop and check to see how you’re doing. Avoid mirrors, the scale, and seeing if your clothes fit better. Give yourself time to see more dramatic results.
103. It’s Not About Achieving Something Huge. It’s about starting on a small step that you can do today, and then doing that again and again. The byproduct will be that you’ve accomplished something huge.
104. Get Religious About Your Fitness Goals. Treat these new habits as sacred, and don’t let anything get in their way. It’s often about making it a priority in your life, much the same as you would for your loved ones, your faith, and other things you hold dear.
105. Watch for Other Positive Changes. Once you start getting yourself on the right track with food and exercise, be on the lookout for other positive things that will come into your life. This can help motivate you even more, and you’ll see just how powerful your actions are.
106. Do Yoga. The benefits of yoga are well-documented, and it works to get your mind and body on the same page.
107. Have Something to Look Forward To. Plan a trip or other fun thing so you have a future even to look forward to. It can help you stay positive and motivated, especially through long winter months.
108. Let Your Food Digest. If you eat when you’re not hungry it means the last food you ate is still digesting. Your system will stop digesting that, and start to work on the new food, leaving the old stuff partially digested. Not good for weight loss.
109. Skip the Pills and Potions. The answer is not in a bottle. If it were, everyone would be taking it. This often means you’re taking too short of a view.
110. Get Organized. If your life is a chaotic mess, it’s not really conducive to a weight loss program, and will only get in the way. Get your ducks in a row before starting up, but don’t use this as a way to delay your start.
111. Put It Down on Paper. Write down your weight loss goals, as well as your strategy to attain them. Read them daily. It’s so easy to forget or to change things that aren’t written down.
112. What’s the Deal with Calories? If calorie counting hasn’t worked in the past, try something different. Calories don’t have to be the enemy unless you make them out to be.
113. Don’t Bring It Into the House. Many times once we buy the food it’s going to get eaten. Shopping markets are well-designed traps, so get in and get out and just get what you need.
114. Get Into Alignment. You don’t have to visit a chiropractor. The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion is packed with techniques that will have you feeling great and wanting to exercise more.
115. Get On with the Rest of Your Life. Weight loss is a lot easier than many people make it out to be, and it doesn’t have to consume your entire life. Be sure to keep it in perspective.
116. Make the Process Fun. Who said diet and weight loss has to be a struggle? It seems to be the order of the day. Break the mold and have a great time!
117. Take More Steps. It doesn’t have to be 10,000, just make it a point to walk a little more each day. A pedometer helps immensely.
118. Combine Dieting, Strength Training, and Cardio. This is the synergistic trio that works every time. Good food leads to more energy, leads to more exercise, which leads to more lean muscle and cardiovascular strength., if you want something quick to make in the morning, protein powders for weight loss is the best way to go. Getting an exercise bike can help you build muscle and improve cardiovascular performance.
119. Get a Personal Trainer. If you’re worried about price, just get the form down and then stop the sessions.
120. Get a Workout Buddy. Only if it works for you. For some it can be accountability, and for others it could be a codependent system of procrastination.
121. Be Aware of The Dip. Seth Godin talks about The Dip in the book of the same name. It’s the part when all the excitement of starting out wanes and you’re left with the task before you. Fight through the dip!
122. Avoid Temptations. Temptations can come in many forms, so be sure to keep your guard up. Plan ahead so you don’t get into the panicky starving mode and reach for anything.
123. Start with an Attainable Goal. If your goal is to lose 100 pounds, you might not believe you can do it. Try going after the first 30 and then seeing what the world looks like.
124. Drink Enough Water. The amount varies by the individual, but one way to measure it is through your urine. Clear to lightly colored is best, so tinker with it until you find your happy water levels.
125. Train Your Brain. There are many brain training software programs available that can improve your focus and ability to think more clearly. Weight loss is mostly a mental game, so beef up your mental muscle.
126. Small Changes Sustained Over Time Lead to Big Results. If overhauls and quantum leaps haven’t worked for you in the past, perhaps this is the time to apply a slow and methodical approach for success in the long run.
127. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. For some dieters the first Cheeto eaten causes the entire system to collapse. Don’t let the big picture come crashing down because of one goof-up. It’s many goof ups accumulated over time that is the real problem. Keep calm and carry on.