EBOOK
120 Essential
Weight Loss Tips
Rena Greenberg, Director
Rena Greenberg’s 120 Essential Weight Loss Tips
Congratulations on your decision to lose weight permanently! It is my deep hope that these suggestions will be of benefit to you. I used to eat ice cream three times a day, and now it’s been over twenty years since I’ve had any and I never even think about it!! It is absolutely possible to change the way you think about yourself and food, turning your life around forever. I did it, and I know that you can, too! If there is any way that I can help you, please feel free to contact me at my website:
EasyWillpower.com or call 800-848-2822 Rena Greenberg
1. Never say that you are on a “diet”. Just the thought of dieting can actually cause you to gain weight! Whenever we feel deprived, we are naturally going to want more of what we actually want. Instead, think in terms of changing your lifestyle and eating habits permanently.
2. Motivation is the key. Write down the reasons why this is important to you, and why you are determined to make this change. Read your list frequently.
3. Tell your friends and family what you are doing, so that you can get support, and also to keep you sticking with your plan, even if you don’t feel like it.
4. Don’t let your transient moods control you.Make your decision and commit to it.
“The greatest discovery of any generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering the attitudes of their minds.” Albert Schweitezer, M.D.
5. To avoid dieting, simply remember the obvious equation: How much you take in, vs. how much energy you put out is what equals weight gain or weight loss.
6. Based on this equation, create your plan and make it likely to be a POSITIVE experience. Select foods and activities that you enjoy.
7. Create a list of foods that are no longer an option. Do not see this list as a way to deprive yourself, rather a gift that you are giving to yourself.
8. For many people, sugar, sugar substitutes, alcohol and simple carbohydrates are highly addictive. Cut them out as much as you can.
9. Bake your own desserts, if you like, and sweeten them with fruit or dried fruit.
10. Figure out your own appetite triggers and plan ahead. Find new, creative ways to cope with these situations.
11. Do NOT compare yourself with others. Adopt the attitude that you don’t care what other people eat or how much they exercise, instead focus on yourself.
12. Keep your focus on your own feelings. Be aware of when your stomach feels full compared to when it feels empty. Just as you only fill up your car when it needs gas, only feed yourself when you are physically hungry.
13. Do NOT let yourself get too hungry. Each time you allow yourself to get extremely hungry, you are setting up the likelihood of an oncoming binge.
14. Eat regularly throughout the day.
15. Eat your protein first. There is something about animal protein (meat, chicken and fish) that satiates hunger the way carbs or vegetable protein can not.
“If you can imagine it, you can achieve it. If you can dream it, you can become it.” Anonymous
16. Switch to complex carbs such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, whole grains.
17. Let your carb be your dessert. For example, have protein and vegetables for dinner, and then a small potato with a little butter and sea salt for dessert.
18. Find healthier substitutes for foods you really enjoy. For example, if you love toast in the morning, switch to the whole grain variety.
19. Do not starve yourself. Starvation leads to bingeing. Really take that in and know it.
20. Recite affirmations aloud. Tell yourself that you love and care for yourself and your body.
21. Stand in front of the mirror naked and appreciate your body parts and how your body serves you. Send appreciation and gratitude to your body.
22. Put the past behind you and commit to honoring and caring for yourself and your body.
23. Write down your affirmations. There is a power in writing things down.
24. Sneak exercise into your day. Park further from your destination and walk the rest of the way. Small amounts of exercise do add up.
“If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” Thomas A. Edison
25. Take the stairs instead of the elevator anytime you have the chance.
26. It’s better to be active more frequently for a shorter duration, than to work out with high intensity once a month for two hours and be sedentary the rest of the time.
27. As a pick-me-up, do ten jumping jacks during the day.
28. Don’t overdo your exercise. Steady, regular exercise is the key. You don’t want to run 6 miles one day, and then not be able to move for a week. Do not push yourself to exhaustion. Be gentle, but firm, with yourself, setting realistic goals and sticking to them.
29. Make exercise fun! Jump on a trampoline, go rollerblading, or do water exercise.
30. Adding music is a great way to increase the pleasure of movement and go into that no-time zone.
31. Eliminate caffeine from your diet! It just revs up your adrenals, but ultimately leads to fatigue and hunger.
32. Get rid of the fake sweeteners. These chemicals only deplete your body and cause you to crave more junk. This includes diet soda.
33. Only eat when you are physically hungry. Don’t force yourself to clean your plate. Instead wrap it up and eat the leftovers next time you are hungry. Food tastes better when you are actually hungry.
34. Notice the difference between hunger and appetite. Be aware of your tendency to eat because it’s a certain time of day or you are in a particular environment. Choose to break that pattern.
35. Stay away from fast food restaurants. Instead carry healthy snacks around with you, in containers, in a cooler bag.
36. Don’t eliminate salt, sugar and fat at the same time. Your food will taste hor- rible. This surely leads to eating these “forbidden” foods in extremes. Instead, per- haps eliminate sugar, cut back on salt, and switch to healthier fats.
37. When you are eating – eat. Don’t do other things while you are eating.
“You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true.” Richard Bach
38. Savor each bite. Chew your food slowly and enjoy every bite.
39. Breathe. Take a deep breath in between forkfuls. This will help you to savor your food, and be more aware of a satiated feeling in your belly.
40. Your body needs fat. Include healthy fat in your diet. Olive oil and flax seed oil are best. Your body needs the Omega-3 healthy fat. A fat-free diet creates
hunger. Use these healthy oils in moderation.
41. Snack throughout the day. Remember that you don’t want to let yourself get too hungry. Include protein in your snacks, e.g. a slice of cheese with an apple, a slice of turkey with celery, or some peanut butter with a carrot.
42. Include more fresh vegetables in your diet. Think of all the delicious vegeta- bles and create a meal by selecting a variety of different colored veggies, e.g. purple cabbage, orange carrots, red beets, green kale. The rainbow diet is a sure way to get all the essential nutrients your body needs.
43. Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day. This does not include tea, coffee, juice or any other beverage. Start your day by drinking water upon arising.
44. Each day affirm to yourself, “I am absolutely determined to succeed.”
45. Visualize yourself thin and fitting into your clothes easily. The subconscious mind does not know the difference between imagination and reality. What you imagine can become your reality.
‘The ancestor of every action is a thought.” Ralph Waldo Emerson 46. When feeding others, buy snacks that you don’t like. Avoid temptation by making sure that the snacks you keep around the house are foods that you’re not attracted to.
47. When you have company or are serving others, make a huge salad with dark leafy greens and olive oil dressing. Take a large portion for yourself and eat a lesser amount of the entrée you are serving.
48. Have the salad as your meal. Make the salad be the focus of your meal even when eating alone. Simply top it with some broiled salmon or roasted chicken, and a small amount of goat cheese and/or roasted nuts to make it appealing.
49. Enjoy your food! This is the key. Especially when eating whole grains, veg- etables and salads, top these healthy foods with just enough yogurt, cheese, sea salt, olive oil or nuts to make them delicious to your taste buds. This will help you to begin to prefer and even crave healthier foods.
50. Never shop when you are hungry. Always go into the grocery store on a full stomach.
51. Free food is not so free. There’s a cost and it is your health, self-esteem and possibly your life. Select the foods that your body needs, and let your wallet’s
concerns be separate. Never eat food simply because it is being offered to you at no charge. Remember the true cost of such indulging.
52. Balance the type of foods that you are eating. Be good to yourself by keeping your blood sugar steady with regular amounts of protein throughout the day.
53. Healthy food is water rich food. Eat unprocessed food as much as possible.
54. Take a local cooking class. Learn to prepare healthy foods. Your local health foods market may have a class in healthy cooking that could give you a real jump- start on preparing healthier selections.
55. Food is supposed to taste good. No more dieting and no more eating diet foods.
Think in terms of health when you are choosing your foods, not just weight loss.
56. Find activities that you enjoy and fill your time with them. When you are happy, weight is more likely to come off you naturally and easily. Don’t focus on the problem (overweight), rather put your attention on the solution (you feeling happy, fulfilled and energized).
“You create your reality according to your beliefs. Yours is the creative energy that makes your world.” Jane Roberts
57. Drink water with lemon. Adding lemon to your water will help to cleanse your system, leaving you feeling more energized and cleaner inside.
58. Talk to your food. Before you eat something, imagine what it is going to do to you on the inside. Let the food know that you are no longer going to be controlled by a pleasing taste or smell.
59. Be patient. The weight wasn’t put on instantly. Understand that it will take some time for it to come off.
60. Get rid of the scale. Weighing yourself constantly is a way of putting to much pressure on your self. Instead let your success be determined by the way your clothes fit.
61. If you make a mistake, let it go sooner. Don’t obsess about “mistakes,” or beat yourself up. Just take physical steps to bring your body back into a state of balance: drink lots of water, eat fresh, raw vegetables, and take an extra walk. The key is to engage in healthier behaviors so that your body can balance out and begin to prefer healthier foods again. Mistakes are a natural part of the process. Let them go.
62. Don’t let taste be your only guide. Think of the EFFECT the foods you are eating have on your body before you make the decision to eat them. Imagine the chocolate or pizza lodging directly on your thighs, rather than even needing to go through your digestive system at all.
63. Eat breakfast every day. Studies show that if you eat breakfast within two hours of waking up, you are much more likely to maintain a weight loss.
“The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or heard, but must be felt with the heart.” Helen Keller
64. Avoid emotional eating. When you are feeling bored, tired, angry, sad or upset, allow yourself to have the space to feel these feelings and let them move through you. Do not eat as a way to cope with or stuff these emotions. Accept yourself even with your difficult feelings and know that they, too, will pass.
65. Reward yourself. Treat yourself to pampering and comforting activities that do not include food. Get a massage, or take a mini-vacation and enjoy basking in the sun, or enjoy the delight of reading a book while resting in a hammock.
66. Don’t tell anyone that you are on a diet. Instead talk about your lifestyle change and how you are starting to select foods based on their health-inducing
properties, or how you are going to improve your mood naturally with nutrient-rich, whole, natural foods.
67. Spray on the salad dressing. Mix olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a spray bottle, with a little bit of sea salt, and dried herbs such as dill, cilantro or basil.
Spraying it on will likely reduce the amount of dressing you use on your salad.
68. Read labels. Don’t eat processed foods with ingredients that you can’t pro- nounce.
69. Avoid sugars in all forms. Other words for sugar end in “ose.” Avoid glucose, maltose, fructose, etc.
70. Never eat high fructose corn syrup. This poisonous ingredient is in more foods that you can imagine. Avoid it at all costs.
71. Go for one pound a week. A lb. per week is an excellent goal to set for yourself. Anything more than that is likely to create unnecessary stress for your body. The experts always say, “when it comes to weight loss, slow and steady ulti- mately wins the race.”
“Yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well- lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.” Anonymous
72. Write down the foods you eat. So much of your eating may be happening unconsciously. Forcing yourself to write down what you are eating will help you to make your habits more conscious. This in turn will assist you in doing what you really want to be doing.
73. Avoid feelings of deprivation. Accept that overeating leads to being over- weight. You don’t want to be overweight, so therefore you are CHOOSING to eat less. Avoid feeling that this is something bad being imposed on you. Realize that you are tired of the natural consequence to unhealthy behavior and that is why YOU are making a new and better choice. Attitude is everything. If you don’t want the consequence of going to jail, you won’t rob the local bank, even though you may be TEMPTED by the money in the vault. Adopt the same attitude when it comes to food. It is thoughts of deprivation that lead to bingeing.
74. Use a smaller plate. The smaller the plate, the smaller the portion of food you are likely to eat.
75. Eat in eating areas. Only eat in the kitchen, don’t eat in bed or while watching television.
76. Write down your goals. Writing things down impresses them on the subcon- scious mind.
77. Carry a bottle of water with you everywhere you go. It flushes out your system and gives you something to reach for.
78. Instead of sweets, eat an apple. The fiber helps to fill you up.
79. Walk wherever you can. If you have the option to walk to your destination, do it.
“And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” Abraham Lincoln
80. Examine the phrase, “I love to eat.” Love your body and your self more than you love to eat and simply enjoy your food, as you enjoy nature.
81. Get up and stretch. Let go of some of the tension you hold in your muscles with a good stretch, throughout the day.
82. In a restaurant, ask for salad dressing on the side and just dip it onto the lettuce with a fork. Better yet, request olive oil with vinegar for the healthiest dressing.
83. Find positive role models. Aspire to achieve the same results that others have before you. Realize that people who have lost weight and kept it off are no different than you and have walked in your shoes. Allow them to inspire you to do what it takes to succeed.
84. Cancel negative self-talk. If you hear yourself saying that you are too weak or lazy to succeed, stand up to that thought by affirming the opposite. Say to your self,
“I am strong. I have everything I need to be successful.”
85. Believe in yourself. Know that you do have the inner power necessary to turn your life around. Look at others areas of your life where you have succeeded, despite obstacles, and know that the same is possible in this area of your life.
86. Give yourself positive feedback. Acknowledge your successes and make a big deal of them. Focus your attention on the positive behaviors that you are acquiring.
87. Slow and steady wins the race. For permanent weight loss, the formula is a calorie-controlled nutritious diet of foods that you enjoy, over the long term.
88. Expect plateaus. They are normal and natural. Just because you hit a plateau is no reason to go back to your old, unhealthy behaviors. Tell yourself that you are at least headed in the right direction.
89. Make your goal ridiculous. Tell yourself that you will walk outside only to your mailbox and back, or get on the treadmill for just three minutes. The idea is just to get yourself moving. Once you do, movement will become a positive habit.
90. Create an image of how your life will be once you have achieved your ideal weight. Spend a few minutes each day basking in the image of being the person you wish to be and doing the things you would love to do.
“The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, but in what direction we are moving.” Anonymous
91. Don’t eat diet food. Eat real food but less of it. It tastes better and it’s better for you, too.
92. There are no shortcuts. Long term weight control requires taking on long term healthy eating habits. Quick fixes lead to the opposite result. Unless you change your habits over the long term, the weight will come right back.
93. Do not go carb-free. Carbohydrate is the major source of energy for the body.
This is because, of all nutrients, it converts most readily to glucose which is the body’s preferred fuel. Just eat less of the carbs and eat them combined with protein and fat, to slow down their rate of absorption.
94. Exercise is the key. Vary your exercise routine by trying dancing or jumping on a trampoline. Exercise is the most important component to boosting your metabolism. It even increases your metabolism while sleeping.
95. Remember that your taste for food will change. The good news is that the less you eat high-sodium, sugar rich, fatty foods, the less you will desire them. By the same token, the more you choose water-rich, unprocessed foods, with small amounts of sea salt and healthy fat, the more you crave these types of foods.
96. Eat lean meats. Roasting, baking, grilling, and broiling are healthy methods for cooking meat. Use non-stick pans and instead of oil or butter use cooking sprays to prepare it. Another way to reduce fat is to strain cooked ground beef and rinse it with hot water.
97. Choose healthier chicken. Select chicken that is hormone-free and antibiotic- free. Avoid fried patties, chicken fingers, nuggets and franks. Switch to broiling, roasting, baking or steaming. Use a non-stick pan with cooking spray or cook in broth.
“What lies behind us and what lies before us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
98. Healthier ways to prepare turkey. If you’re preparing a turkey, try cooking the stuffing separately to reduce its fat content. This prevents the turkey fat from soaking into the dressing. Take the skin off the turkey before you eat it.
99. Select healthier carbohydrates. Whenever you have the opportunity, choose whole grains as your bread choice. White flour is filled with empty calories and cre- ates cravings for more of the same. Whole grains burn more slowly in your diges- tive tract.
100. Try healthier milk options . When cooking use powdered milk instead of milk or heavy cream, or dilute some of the milk with water.
101. Stop eating before you feel stuffed. When your stomach begins to feel full, get up from the table and start doing something else, like clearing the dishes. It takes the brain a little while to register the “I’m full” signal from your belly, so get moving before you get that stuffed feeling.
102. Try fruit instead of dessert. If you must have dessert, switch to fruit.
103. Don’t use food as an excuse to take a break. Find new pleasurable activities that you can do when you take a break, like taking a walk or listening to an audio book. That way you can relax without the tendency to over-eat or eat unconsciously.
104. Consciously relax throughout the day. To keep your overall stress level low, practice self-hypnosis, remembrance (as taught in The Right Weigh: Six Steps to Permanent Weight Loss) or meditation regularly each day. If you feel like you need some help, use a hypnotic cd to help you to tap into the relaxation zone.
105. Don’t chew gum. It only increases your appetite.
106. Stop fantasizing about food. Don’t spend a lot of time creating positive images of food in your mind or staring at food that is around you. Get busy with something else.
“People often say that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder,’ and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the
beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves.” Salma Hayek
107. Start living the life of your dreams. Often we eat because we are bored or dissatisfied. Search inside your soul for what you truly want, and start taking steps now to enhance the quality of your life. Decide on one action a day that will have you moving in the direction of fulfilling your heart’s desires.
108. Stop the all or nothing thinking. Just because you had a little junk food doesn’t mean you’ve “blown it.” Most people who are at their ideal weight don’t have this mind set and you shouldn’t either.
109. Focus on the benefits. Think about how wonderful your clothes will feel, how proud you’ll feel about your accomplishment, how good it will feel to be lighter.
Focusing on the benefits will drive you closer towards your goal.
110. Avoid the temptation to use pills, patches or teas that promise quick weight loss. There’s no such thing as a magic pill, and it’s all those magic pills and promises that have resulted in huge weight gain for people. The only thing that works is eating less and exercising more.
111. Think of your calories as money in the bank. Spend them wisely by selecting foods that you enjoy and at the same time eating foods that will sustain you over a period of time (combinations of fresh vegetables with protein and complex carbohydrate.)
112. When dining out, it’s OK to have one slice of bread or a few tortilla chips, only if you can stop after that one slice or couple of chips. However, if you know that you won’t be able to resist the whole basket, it’s best to ask the waiter or waitress not to bring the bread or chips to your table, at all.
113. Carry around carrot sticks and celery sticks to munch on.
114. Nuts are a good source of protein, but be careful with them. They are very high in calories and rarely make you feel satiated. Therefore it’s easy to eat large quantities of nuts and still feel hungry.
115. Take in lots of fiber. Fiber fills you up and keeps your bowel movements regular.
116. Remember the quote, “Nothing tastes as good as being in control feels.”
“Winning starts with beginning” Anonymous
117. Do not wear loose clothing or elastic waist bands. It gives you the illusion that your clothes aren’t too tight, and you may conveniently “forget” that you are eating too much.
118. Notice your calorie intake. Even if you don’t count calories, it’s very good to have an awareness of them. Is that extra slab of butter on your baked potato really worth the calories? How about that day old slice of bread? Thinking about the calories makes it easier to forego unnecessary indulging.
119. How many servings is that? Read labels carefully and notice how many servings of a particular food you are actually eating.
120. For a delicious, healthful snack, freeze bananas and eat them like popsicles, or make a milkshake with a frozen banana and low-fat milk.
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