22 Weight Management Ideas

Every person is different. You may already be using some of these tricks, but hopefully there is a clue or two here about something useful.

  1. Keep a diary and see if you can figure out what emotions trigger over eating or eating of comfort foods you know are not in your best interest.

  2. Develop the habit of eating real food. Refined processed foods (e.g. those containing white flour, white rice, sugar, artificial sweeteners, partially hydrogenated fats and artificial ingredients) do not nourish your cells, or your good bacteria and you will be hungry again soon. Veggies are extremely important for disease prevention and are low in calories but high in water and fiber that feed the good bacteria. In turn they begin to make you crave veggies.

  3. Planning meals ahead of time and shopping when you are not hungry helps a lot. Once a food is in the cupboard or fridge, it becomes a temptation. Research shows that when people buy large size packages (e.g. at the club stores) they eat more.

  4. Sugar plays havoc with your blood sugar creating fatigue. (Read more about sugar.) Each meal should contain protein because it helps metabolism and reduces between-meal hunger. Learn about low glycemic foods. Remember that liquids are calories too.

  5. Don’t be afraid of dietary fat—good fats actually burn body fat. Book on the topic.

  6. Drink plenty of pure water because the body is 70% water and uses water in virtually every chemical reaction. Water improves metabolism and reduces appetite. Of course, you want water without toxins so buy an excellent filter.

  7. Don’t skip meals if you find that makes you hungrier later, e.g. breakfast. (Just make sure it isn’t a toaster pastry!) Some people do better without breakfast and the research makes it seem you shouldn’t force yourself. In any case, eat often enough that you don’t get too hungry. (If you do your survival instincts take over and good judgment goes out the window.)

  8. Blunt your appetite with water 30 minutes before meals.

  9. Select portion sizes that are less than you think you need. You can go back! Use a smaller plate because it has been shown to help. If eating out, ask for a to-go box when you order and set aside half of what are so typically giant portions. Stop eating when you are full even if your plate is not clean. (No matter what guilt mom might have implied, those starving children in the 3rd world will still be hungry even if you are over-stuffed.)

  10. Pay attention to where and how you eat. Don’t eat in the car or in front of the TV where you will be distracted from the rest of these factors. Get yourself into a peaceful mood (saying Grace perhaps?).

  11. Try to avoid eating around people who have bad eating habits—those are contagious.

  12. Eat slowly and chew thoroughly, focusing on the food with all your senses. This helps digestion and provides more psychological satisfaction from a meal.

  13. Stop eating at 6 PM if you can. Besides the unneeded extra calories (late night grazing is probably not on celery, right?), your metabolism should be shutting down for the night. The extra food also short circuits Leptin, the signaling mechanism that tells your body to burn or store fat.

  14. Of course you know you should exercise but don’t forget strength training. Muscle burns fat even when you are not exercising. Vigorous exercise helps with the blue moods that can drive us to comfort foods. Read more.

  15. Good digestion and even the right type of organisms in your digestive tract help boost metabolism. It has been found that obese people have a different blend of probiotic organisms in their digestive track than do slim folk. Read about probiotics.

  16. Check your thyroid function because that gland regulates metabolism and therefore how much fat you can burn. Learn more about iodine that is needed to make thyroid hormone. This links to a show on iodine.

  17. Also pay attention to the liver. If it is congested with toxins, fat storage increases. The liver loves fresh vegetables. Also consider the supplement Liver Care by Himalaya.

  18. A good supplement program will keep your chemistry running smoothly and help avoid cravings. Consider adding chromium to your basic plan because it helps regulate blood sugar and therefore reduces cravings.

  19. Forgive yourself if you break a rule. Start over again. Getting blue about failure may itself lead to more eating.

  20. Read about the motivating benefits of movement.

  21. Be more concerned about the percentage of your body that is fat than what the scale says. Doing strength training adds lean tissue that burns fat.

  22. Try an app to change how you view food and your cravings. EatRightNow

If you have been doing a pretty good of following these suggestions and the weight is stubborn, check out the page on thyroid and the one on food sensitivity.

Copyright 2014-2024 by Martie Whittekin, CCN