I've tried a handful of fad diets, and nothing stuck until I learned of and developed some habits around calorie deficits.
Use a BMI calculator to figure out where you're currently at and where you might want to be. A good one will tell you your maintenance calories and the calories you should target to lose weight.
Invest in a good kitchen scale and make it your best friend.
Use an A5 notepad and rubber-tipped pencil to count calories daily. Food, drinks and all. No more than one sheet per day is a constraint that works for me. Use a highlighter to reflect and identify your mistakes at the end of the day.
Be militant about portion control. Use the advice written on boxes for cereal and the like. Measure your milk portions with cereal and any hot drinks too.
Another tip is to replace treats with low calorie alternatives. Hartley's sugar-free jelly is magic!
In the UK, folks typically weigh themselves in stones (st). I prefer weighing myself in pounds (lbs). When looking at the scale every other morning, it takes weeks for 21.00st to become 20.00st. Weighing yourself in pounds seems more satisfying. May be the same for kilogrammes to lbs too.
I use a few spreadsheets. I took the numbers from the BMI calculator and created a spreadsheet with three columns showing how much I would weigh at particular dates in the year if I maintained -1lb a week, -1.5lb a week and -2lbs a week. It shows that I could reach my goal by next year - and that's incredibly motivating. Weekly weigh-ins going into a line graph with a trendline helps too.
The trick is that I don't feel like I'm on a diet. The food hasn't actually changed all that much. It's just that I'm now mindful of the portion sizes and learning to say no so that I hit my daily targets.
Use a BMI calculator to figure out where you're currently at and where you might want to be. A good one will tell you your maintenance calories and the calories you should target to lose weight.
Invest in a good kitchen scale and make it your best friend.
Use an A5 notepad and rubber-tipped pencil to count calories daily. Food, drinks and all. No more than one sheet per day is a constraint that works for me. Use a highlighter to reflect and identify your mistakes at the end of the day.
Be militant about portion control. Use the advice written on boxes for cereal and the like. Measure your milk portions with cereal and any hot drinks too.
Another tip is to replace treats with low calorie alternatives. Hartley's sugar-free jelly is magic!
In the UK, folks typically weigh themselves in stones (st). I prefer weighing myself in pounds (lbs). When looking at the scale every other morning, it takes weeks for 21.00st to become 20.00st. Weighing yourself in pounds seems more satisfying. May be the same for kilogrammes to lbs too.
I use a few spreadsheets. I took the numbers from the BMI calculator and created a spreadsheet with three columns showing how much I would weigh at particular dates in the year if I maintained -1lb a week, -1.5lb a week and -2lbs a week. It shows that I could reach my goal by next year - and that's incredibly motivating. Weekly weigh-ins going into a line graph with a trendline helps too.
The trick is that I don't feel like I'm on a diet. The food hasn't actually changed all that much. It's just that I'm now mindful of the portion sizes and learning to say no so that I hit my daily targets.