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10 Tips to Help You Lose 10 Pounds

34 Comments

Balanced diet with fruits and vegetables

Balanced diet with fruits and vegetables

For many women, a key to living a calmer, healthier, and sexier life is learning to feel good about their bodies. And for some women, this means losing a bit of weight. If you need to lose weight, consider setting a goal of losing just 10 pounds over the next two months. Fall is a perfect time to adopt healthier eating and exercise habits, and you have plenty of time to make significant changes before the holidays. And if you’re like most women, a 10-pound weight loss would be enough to help you look and feel better – and improve your health. Plus, it’s a goal most women can achieve, if they develop and follow a plan. If you’re ready to get started, here are 10 tips that can make help you lose 10 pounds.

  1. Make a plan.  You need something more specific than “I need to lose weight.” Set a reasonable goal (like 10 pounds over the next two months) and focus on achieving it.
  2. Weigh or measure food so you know how much you’re eating.  An inexpensive kitchen scale really helps monitor servings and calories. Most people underestimate how much they’re eating, so use simple tools to monitor your intake accurately.
  3. Keep track of everything you eat.  Studies show that people who monitor their food intake by recording it (on paper or electronically) lose more weight than people who don’t. Use an app like MyFitnessPal on your phone or computer, or just write it down.
  4. If you don’t know how much you should be eating, aim for about 1500 calories per day. Most women can lose weight on that amount.
  5. Eat primarily whole foods and reduce processed, packaged, and fast foods. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, lean meat and other protein, lean dairy, whole grains, and small amounts of nuts. Eliminate or reduce fast food, restaurant meals, snack food, sodas, and other processed foods.Basket of fruit
  6. Consider reducing (not eliminating) carbohydrates from grains. Some people  lose weight more easily if they decrease the amount of grain-based foods (bread, pasta, cereal, etc.) they eat. I’ve found that reducing these foods dose allow me to lose weight more easily. One reason is that my carbohydrate cravings decrease after I have decreased grain carbs for a week or two. The other is that it’s easier to cut calories when I’m eatingless bread and pasta.
  7. Move your body every day. Regular exercise or physical activity burns extra calories, tones muscles, and helps you feel great. It’s an essential part of losing weight and keeping it off. In addition, I think that regular moderate exercise helps to control appetite and cravings. I can’t cite research to prove it, but that’s been my experience. So figure out ways to get up and get moving almost every day. For busy women that often requires figuring out ways to incorporate exercise into your daily life.
  8. Give your body and mind time to adapt to a new way of eating. I won’t lie to you – the first 1 to 2 weeks of a healthier eating plan can be tough. But if you can stick with it through that initial difficult period, things will start looking up. Your new way of eating will gradually become your normal way of eating, and yearnings for unhealthy foods will wane. I’m not saying you won’t ever crave cookies, but my experience is that the longer you go without eating cookies, the less you crave them!
  9. Organize your kitchen, shopping and food preparation in a way that makes weight loss easier.  Plan meals at the beginning of every week. Make a list of healthy meals you can put together quickly and easily. Put together healthy snacks so you can grab them on the run. Prep vegetables and fruits so they’re easy to reach. And keep foods that you don’t want to eat out of your kitchen.
  10. Be kind to yourself.  Friends, we tend to be too hard on ourselves. If you need to lose weight, you’re probably already beating yourself up. Don’t. Instead, make a plan and start working it. If you get off track, just get back on. Enlist someone who supports your weight loss efforts to help you. Reward yourself for progress. And allow yourself modest food treats so you don’t feel deprived. For example, when I’m trying to lose weight I seldom eat cookies or cake, but I do allow myself small amounts of dark chocolate as a treat.

What weight loss tips have worked for you? Please share them in the Comments – I would love to hear from you.

 

Comments

  2. bbh999 says

    Gaye,
    Might I propose a different approach? I lost 30 pounds several years ago (4 or 5?) and have easily kept it off ‘till now.
    I learned a long time ago that, with calorie restriction, you think about food and eating for a looooong time before you lose one pound. My method involves eating as much as you wish without measuring or logging or any of that – which most of us will not do anyway. What you eat rules your appetite and my way of eating automatically ends up being (counter-intuitively) lower calorie and lower fat – as measured in grams of fat per day.
    In addition, I started exercising for the first time in my life (age 69) with the idea of doing resistance training and building muscle. Muscle burns calories 24 hours a day and body-weight training or training with free weights such as dumbbells or kettlebells increase all areas of fitness: Strength, stamina, flexibility, balance and coordination. As a woman, resistance training will NOT make you look like Arnold!
    These two strategies cause fat loss and that’s really the goal – not weight loss. I started the recommended diet and in two weeks or so my belly was flat. This was from diet only. I had not done any significant exercise at that point.
    Here are the resources I recommend to implement this fat-loss and fitness program:

    Simple diet: http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf Website by a Swedish MD. Eating this way should cause your appetite to automatically regulate itself.

    Exercise – Build a better-looking body; increase physical competence in everyday tasks; lose your aches and pains (at least mine went away):
    Amazon: Get Fit While You Sit Torkelson Exercise for the immobile.
    Amazon: The Men’s/Women’s Health Big Book of Exercise. Good exercise and diet advice.
    http://www.benderfitness.com/ Exercise video routines for all purposes and all fitness levels. Free.
    Kettlebells (Coordinate body & mind) This man is a good trainer and his first concern is your safety:
    kettlebellmovement.com/kettlebell-workouts/
    kettlebellmovement.com – Go to the bottom of the page. Click on the highest number. Work backwards to go from basic to more advanced.

    Dumbbells and kettlebells require very little space so you can take them with you almost wherever you go. You never have to miss a workout.

    Equipment to help you get started (Of course, you don’t need any of this if you are doing body-weight exercise). Way cheaper than a gym membership:
    http://www.walmart.com/ip/ProForm-25-lb.-Adjustable-Dumbbell-Set/46320912 Two adjustable dumbbells 12.5 pounds max each. Minimal freight.

    http://www.walmart.com/ip/ProForm-25-lb.-Adjustable-Single-Dumbbell/46320888 One adjustable dumbbell 25 pounds max. Minimal freight.

    http://www.target.com/p/marcy-50-lb-kettle-weight-set-vkbs50/-/A-13693515?ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=13693515&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=pla_sports+shopping&adgroup=weight+set_sc&LID=14pgs&KID=27e9e01e-6f2e-f828-dacb-00000c671cb3&kpid=13693515&gclid=CKCy9r3Ds8gCFZKBaQodl-sFHQ Delivered to the store of your choice. No freight charge.

    One of your commenters said she needed to buy a scale. I think I have a better suggestion. Take a ‘before’ picture and others as you progress. Also, measure neck, upper arm, chest, waist and thigh. Track those measurements as time goes on. That’s better than a scale because muscle you build weighs more per volume than fat and weight might not give a true picture of a person’s progress. Lastly, pay attention to the fit of your clothes! That’s the real morale booster.

    This is not a program you can abandon when you’ve reached your goal. It must be maintained for life or failure will again be your companion.

    Reply

    • GC says

      Hi bbh – Thanks for sharing all of this information. You make some excellent points, and I am certain that the approach you have used successfully could work for other women as well. I have a feeling that one size does not fit all when it comes to weight loss. I will definitely be checking out the resources you mentioned.

      Gaye

      Reply

  4. A. Blake says

    I was just thinking about this last night, I need to watch what I eat because I get home from work late. I need to have a big lunch and a mid-afternoon snack so that I am not starving when I get home at 7 pm.

    Reply

    • GC says

      Thanks Bethany! I love MFP too – I think it would be really difficult to lose weight/keep it off if I wasn’t tracking food and exercise.

      Gaye

      Reply

    • GC says

      Hi Carlabree – I agree, weight loss is hard and can be very discouraging. I’ve found that it takes a pretty intense commitment and determination to succeed. I wish you the very best in your weight loss efforts.

      Gaye

      Reply

  7. myturnforus says

    Just pinned and shared on Facebook!! Thank you for sharing at Freedom Fridays and thank you for being one of my Five Faves!!

    Have an awesome day:)

    Reply

Trackbacks

  2. […] Lose weight – If your weight has been bothering you for a while, or you know it’s affecting your health, you may want to focus on losing weight as your primary health step for the year.  It’s not easy; you may need to adjust your schedule and commitments to make time to do it.  Here’s some information that may help you get started – Maintain a Healthy Body Weight and 10 Tips for Losing 10 Pounds. […]

    Reply

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