Three Tips for Successful Weight Loss
1. TRACK!
I know, I know – you hear this from us every week in your appointment, but really, it works! There are many ways that you can track your food; the JumpstartMD Tracker, writing it down in a food journal, SmartPhone apps such as MyFitnessPal, or even your own self-created spreadsheet – and all of these are effective. A study published in The American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that dieters who tracked their food 6 or more days out of the week lost twice as much as those that did not track! This remains the one tip I most frequently hear our most successful JumpstartMD participants are following.
2. Try Not to Practice “All or Nothing” Thinking.
We have all had those days where we ate something unplanned (a cupcake at that party or an extra glass of wine) which then resulted in an entire day of guilt-filled overeating. Try to remember there is no “right” or “wrong” or “good” or “bad” with this program – this is a lifestyle change that has to be something you can embrace long term – which means forgive yourself for any non-program-friendly choice, and get back on track the very next time you eat. There may be times when it’s appropriate to have a treat (maybe a slice of birthday cake on your birthday) – if that is the case try to plan that indulgence. If you know that you’re going to have it, you will be less likely to go overboard or feel guilty afterwards. Learning to forgive yourself and move on after one treat is a lot less damaging than a whole day crammed with extras that you’ll be regretting for days afterwards!
3. Don’t Skip Meals (or Snacks).
Not only does skipping meals cause your body to go into fat-storing starvation mode, which makes it harder to burn calories and lose weight, but it can also often lead to overeating at your next meal. When we get too hungry before eating, we tend to eat faster and not make as healthy of choices at our next meal. Always start the day with a healthy and protein-filled breakfast (2 eggs with salsa and some sautéed spinach is one of my favorites) within an hour of waking in order to get your metabolism out of the fasting mode that it enters when you sleep. After that you should be eating every three hours in order to regulate blood sugar and prevent those drops and spikes which lead to hunger, fatigue, and often overeating.
