The following tips are just a few ways to shed pounds within a few weeks. However, following these tips alone is not enough to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In addition to these tips,  you must exercise regularly. Consistent healthy eating, decreased daily calorie intake, and daily exercise will certainly help you to lose body fat, decrease your overall body weight, and firm up your muscles. When exercising, be sure to incorporate all components of physical fitness into your workout. Not only will these components of physical fitness help you to lose weight, they will help you to get through your daily activities without being exhausted at the end of the day.

1. Portion Control – Try eating 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day. This may help to keep your metabolism higher. Three large meals in a day can be higher in calories and can be more difficult for your body to burn these calories up.
2. Do not starve yourself – Your body can actually hold on to fat and go into “starvation mode”.
3. Eat food slowly – This can have the effect of making you feel satisfied sooner, helping to consume less food and fewer calories.
4. Reduce your intake of refined sugar and refined flour products – Substitute these with whole grain and multi-grain products.
5. Limit use of sauces, dressings, and creams – Always ask for it “on the side”.
6. Do not go grocery shopping when hungry – People tend to buy junkie snacks and unhealthy foods when they are wanting to eat.
7. Avoid eating fried foods – Instead of frying foods when cooking, try to bake, broil, or grill.
8. Try to cook without adding butter, margarine, or oils – These can add a lot of unwanted calories.
9. Always start the day with a healthy breakfast that includes complex carbohydrates and lean protein – Breakfast will boost your metabolism and keep your energy high and hunger low throughout the day.
10. If trying to loose weight/body fat, try reducing your caloric intake by 500 kcal per day – 3,500 kcal equals one pound of fat. So if you cut out 500 kcal every day for 7 days, you can loose one pound in one week.
11. Keeping a food diary can help to reduce your weight – Keeping track of calorie consumption has been proven to be effective in weight reduction and loss of body fat.
12. Have a support group – Talk to close friends and family about your plans for losing weight. They will be there for you!
13. Water is best – Avoid soft drinks and juice. These are high in calories and sugar. Your body is approximately 80% water. Drink up.
14. Alcohol contains a lot of empty calories and interferes with proper physiological functions of the body. Drink alcohol in moderation or preferably cut it out until you reach your goal.
15. A positive lifestyle change rather than a crash diet is most successful in losing weight. Exercise, healthy eating, and motivation will help you reach your goals.

I was recently training two of my male clients at a local country club. I love these two guys, very fun, hard-working, nice, and both overweight. I put them through extremely challenging workouts consisting of high-intensity circuit training burning at least 600 calories per hour session twice a week. For the past 2 years I’ve been teaching these clients about healthy eating habits and the proper way to lose weight. Each of them needs to lose at least 25 pounds to get down to a healthy weight.

As with many people, my clients enjoy good food and great wine. What’s wrong with that, right? They over indulge, just like most people in America. I’ve been teaching them that all the exercise they do is not going to help them lose weight if they are not cutting back on their consumption of food and drink (alcohol). Of course, their weight has not changed much over these past several months because they have not been consistent with their changes in calorie consumption. It’s been disappointing for them, and for me, when stepping on the scale. When your main goal is to lose weight, you must cut back on caloric intake and change your behavior with food and alcohol.

While training my clients at their country club, an old friend of theirs was working out too. I’ll call him Jay. When my clients saw Jay they barely recognized him. In the past 6 months, this gentleman lost 77 pounds! After hugging him and congratulating their old friend, my clients asked, “How’d you do it? How’d you lose all that weight?” Jay enthusiastically said, “I stopped eating crap and cut out alcohol.” AH-HA! Thank you very much old friend! I smiled and told him that I”ve been teaching these guys this approach to weight loss for 2 years and they still haven’t embraced it! I had just met Jay a minute before and I felt so proud and happy for him. What an accomplishment!

This weight loss story is a successful one due to behavior modification or changes made in Jay’s  lifestyle choices. He changed his behavior of eating food and drinking alcohol. He stopped going to restaurants to eat so he could control what goes into his meals. He also completely cut out alcohol for 6 months. This may sound terrible to some of you, but if you are serious about making a change to your body and your health, this is a very important, yet difficult, step. Jay was consistent with his exercise program and consistent with the changes in his diet until he reached his weight loss goal.

Now that his goal has been reached, he goes out to restaurants once a week. He drinks alcohol, in moderation, once a week. He exercises regularly every week. These behavior modifications helped to change and save Jay’s life. Losing weight can be a continuous lifetime battle for some of you. It’s difficult to change your lifestyle and behaviors. However, consistency, persistence, patience, and motivation must be intertwined in your life to have a successful weight loss story like Jay’s.

I asked Jay how he feels with that 77 pounds gone. He said, “I feel great! I feel like a new man!” If you’re needing to lose weight, you have to change your behaviors with food, alcohol, and exercise. Less food, less alcohol, more exercise. Behavior modification and healthy life-long choices will certainly help you reach your goals and change your life just like Jay. Nice work, Jay!

Got your attention with the title. Guess what? There is no real “magic pill”. Motivation, consistency, and discipline when eating and exercising are my magic pill. MOTIVATION, CONSISTENCY, DISCIPLINE! With these 3 magic words, you will succeed on your journey to weight loss. Of course, these three words alone will not help you to lose weight/body fat and keep your body healthy for the rest of your life. This is where my Guidelines to Weight Loss come in to play. Following the Guidelines will help you to make small steps towards losing the weight that you want to come off. Make small changes in your daily routine, every day, and you will achieve success.

1. Portion Control – Try eating 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day. This may help to keep your metabolism higher. Three large meals in a day can be higher in calories and can be more difficult for your body to burn these calories off.
2. Do not starve yourself – Your body can go into “starvation mode” and actually hold on to fat when enough calories are not consumed. Eat lean protein to stay satisfied longer.
3. Eat food slowly – This can have the effect of making you feel satisfied sooner, helping to consume less food and fewer calories.
4. Reduce your intake of refined sugar and refined flour products – Substitute these with whole grain and multi-grain products.
5. Limit use of sauces, dressings, and creams – Always ask for it “on the side”.
6. Do not go grocery shopping when hungry – People tend to buy junkie snacks and unhealthy foods when they are wanting to eat.
7. Avoid eating fried foods – Instead of frying foods when cooking, try to bake, broil, or grill.
8. Try to cook without adding butter, margarine, or oils – These can add a lot of unwanted calories.
9. Always start the day with a healthy breakfast that includes complex carbohydrates and lean protein – Breakfast will boost your metabolism and keep your energy high and hunger low throughout the day.
10. If trying to lose weight/body fat, try reducing your caloric intake by 500 kcal per day – 3,500 kcal equals one pound of fat. So if you cut out 500 kcal every day for 7 days, you can lose one pound in one week.
11. Keeping a food diary can help to reduce your weight – Keeping track of calorie consumption has been proven to be effective in weight reduction and loss of body fat.
12. Have a support group – Talk to close friends and family about your plans for losing weight. They will be there for you!
13. Water is best – Avoid soft drinks and juice. These are high in calories and sugar. Your body is approximately 80% water. Drink up.
14. Alcohol contains a lot of empty calories and interferes with proper physiological functions of the body. Drink alcohol in moderation or preferably cut it out until you reach your goal.
15. A positive lifestyle change rather than a crash diet is most successful in losing weight. Daily exercise, healthy eating, and motivation will help you reach your goals.

These 15 tips are just some of many ways to help in the battle of weight loss. Be aware, every day, of the food you’re eating and the amount of physical activity and exercise you are doing. Thinking about a healthy lifestyle every day will help you to incorporate more of the tips presented throughout your daily routine. Small changes over a long period of time will certainly add up to weight loss on that scale.