I reached out to the Coach Calorie Facebook community to ask them what their key to losing 50+ pounds was. Thank you to all who contributed. Literally hundreds of tips were emailed in and posted on Facebook. All of the tips were compiled, and a common pattern began to take shape. Here they are – 20 of the best healthy weight loss tips from people who have lost over 50 pounds.
Drink Water
Making sure the quality of your liquid intake is up to par by ensuring you’re predominantly drinking water is one of the best things you can do for your health and waistline. This tip was probably the most popular of all submitted.
The body is more than 60% water and every function of it relies on water and hydration to run optimally, and that includes burning body fat. And let’s not forget drinking more water displaces some of the more calorie dense drinks in your diet.
Keep a Food Journal
Food journaling changes your eating from a mindless event to a mindful one. Studies have shown that people who journal their food intake end up losing twice as much as compared to not doing it at all [1].
There are many degrees of journaling – counting calories, counting fat/carb/protein grams, or simply writing down when you ate, what you ate, and possibly how you felt at mealtime. Any increase in food awareness helps.
Count Calories
While not 100% necessary to lose weight, counting calories is definitely effective for many people. I like to think of calorie counting as a means to an end. As time goes on you should be moving more and more towards intuitive eating.
The simple act of counting calories raises your mindfulness around food. It also involves a form of journaling, and as you just read, it can increase your chances at losing weight. If you aren’t sure how much you should be eating I would check out my calorie calculator.
Control Portion Sizes
I’m a big fan of portion control for losing weight. It’s a behavioral habit that keeps you in tune with your own body’s intuition. Here’s what I recommend…
- a portion of protein the size of your palm
- a portion of starch the size of your fist
- a portion of fruit the size of your fist
- a portion of veggies the size of your fist
If the majority of your meals look like that you’re going to do exceptionally well on your weight loss journey. This is part of the process for losing weight without counting calories.
Don’t Diet
The best “diet” is the one that you enjoy, can be consistent with, and can adhere to for the long term. Once you find that, it’s no longer a diet – it’s just a way of life.
One of the best healthy weight loss tips people sent in was to approach weight loss as a lifestyle change, and not as a diet. Once you get it out of your head that there’s an end date, you can start focusing on the day-to-day realities of living a healthy lifestyle. Being fit is not a destination – it’s a way of life.
Be Consistent
I always say that consistency and adherence are the two most important parts of any change process. Without either of them you will never get in the necessary repetitions to build habits, nor will you stick with the plan long enough to experience transformation.
No one is perfect. We are all going to make mistakes. But successful people eat healthy 80-90% of the time, and they are exercising several times a week – every week.
Plan
The old saying – “a goal without a plan is just a wish”, applies here. Wanting to lose weight or wanting to eat healthier is really just a wish unless you have a solid plan attached to it.
That means getting in the routine of planning your meals in advance and not winging it day to day or meal to meal. It also means planning out your workout schedule so you can mentally prepare for your exercise.
Make Small Changes
Make small changes consistently until they are habit and you no longer have to think about it, and then make another change. There’s no need to completely change your lifestyle all at once. You’ll be much more likely to stick with your new healthy lifestyle if you make small changes.
Try changing one thing at a time. A lifestyle change is not an on/off switch – it’s a transition. Here are 10 healthy habits to get you started.
Educate Yourself
Learn the whys behind your actions. Don’t just do something because someone said to or because it worked for them. There’s a reason why it worked for them.
Many people just want a meal plan or blueprint to follow for weight loss. However, the successful people that lost weight and kept it off long term started taking an interest in how nutrition and exercise impacted their bodies. They stay humble, always keep an open mind, and know that health and fitness is a lifelong learning process.
Get Active
Nearly everyone who lost over 50 pounds added in some form of physical activity. Even if it was just a little bit, the fact that they were more active helped them lose the weight.
The trick is to find an activity you enjoy. Do it because you like it – not because it might provide a possible outcome. Then find ways to push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Don’t Beat Yourself Up
You’re going to mess up. We all do. But successful people don’t beat themselves up over it. They don’t overcompensate for the mess ups either.
They get right back on track with their next healthy decision. Their healthy lifestyle and weight loss continues to move forward and make progress because they allow themselves to make mistakes, learn from them, and then end up stronger as a result.
Surround Yourself With Positive People
We are highly influenced by the people close to us. Many successful people had to move forward with their lives and leave old friends and lifestyles behind. It was a hard decision to make, but they understood how important it was to surround themselves with people who believed in their dreams.
Start
How do you expect to accomplish your goals if you never start trying to achieve them? Beginning is half the challenge. Don’t be afraid of failure.
It’s really easy to get analysis paralysis, but the only real way to learn is through action. People who lost over 50 pounds stopped waiting for things to happen, and went out and made things happen.
Ready. Fire. Aim. Do it in that order.
Stop Making Excuses
Successful people made the shift and realized that the reasons for why they weren’t reaching their weight loss goals were actually just excuses. It was a hard idea to accept, but once they were honest with themselves, they spent less time making excuses, and more time finding ways to accomplish their goals.
The idea is empowering because taking responsibility for where you are means you have the power to change it. There’s always going to be a reason things are difficult. It’s up to you if it’s going to hold you back.
Do It For Yourself
Make ME #1. Lose weight for Me, not because of pressure from other people or society. We all have our own reasons for wanting to lose weight, but a common denominator among the healthy weight loss tips sent in was that the successful people undertook their new lifestyle because they wanted to.
They weren’t pressured into weight loss by friends or family. They did it for themselves, and as a result, they inspired others to do something for themselves too. Even better, because they put themselves first and took care of their wellbeing, they were better able to serve others.
Be Patient
You didn’t gain your weight overnight, and you aren’t going to lose it that way either. We all want the weight gone quickly, but once you realize that weight loss is a process, you can stop beating yourself up for not reaching your far-fetched weight loss goals.
Stop looking at weight loss as a day to day challenge. This is a lifetime commitment to changing. Set realistic expectations for how long it should take to lose weight so that you aren’t disappointed when you fall behind your lofty pace.
Stay Positive
Negative thoughts lead to negative actions and results. You are the result of what you think. Keeping a positive mindset on your weight loss journey increases the odds of your success.
You will learn a lot about yourself during your lifestyle transition. There will be many challenges and difficulties, but it’s important to understand that even though it might not be easy, it will be worth it.
Discover Your Relationship With Food
Why are you making unhealthy choices when you know it won’t help you reach your goals? Make the connection between your eating habits and your emotions. Get to the root of your negative lifestyle choices. Know when your body needs food and when it wants food, and find new ways to reward yourself other than with food.
I like to have people ask “am I hungry” before they eat. If the answer is yes then eat slowly, mindfully, and stop at 80% full. If the answer is no, then follow that question up with another question – “I’m not hungry, so what am I seeking in food? What need is this food fulfilling?”
Don’t Try to Be Perfect
Perfection is the weight loser’s enemy. It’s never possible to achieve, so you’ll always be falling short of your goals. That’s a horrible mindset to cultivate.
No one is perfect. Even the people who seem to have it all together mess up. The key is to find that happy medium – the place that keeps you satisfied, engaged with the journey, and making small progress over a long period of time.
Never Give Up
Weight loss happens the moment you don’t give up. Many people don’t realize how close they are to achieving success. There comes a time when things just click, but that doesn’t happen until you’re ready to throw in the towel and call it quits.
I constantly remind people that the struggle is a normal part of the change process. You cannot change without it. The biggest leaps in progress happen when you persist through that struggle and come out the other side having learned something about yourself.
I had a lot of fun writing this article. There were so many helpful weight loss tips sent in from first-hand experiences. The many personal weight loss journeys were inspirational to read.
Again, thank you to all who contributed. This truly was a community effort. Be sure to check out the rest of the tips that were posted on Facebook here and here, and if you have another tip that isn’t listed above, please take a moment and share your tip in the comment section below!
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I love this list. I didn’t have 50 #s to lose, but I did lose 30. I followed every thing on that list, except I didn’t have the positive support around me. My family including my husband would laugh and mock my efforts, but that just made me more determined to prove them wrong! Now I am back down to 105#s, feel great, and have achieved my other goal…6 pack abs! Guess who’s laughing now!!! 🙂
The three biggest tips for me were counting calories, portion control and patience. Learn to enjoy the process and make it a life style…it will happen, just give it time!!
GOOD FOR YOU!!!! KEEP UP THAT WAY!!! AT THE END, YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE HEALTHIER AND MORE BEAUTIFUL. 🙂
CONGRATULATIONS!!
Hi there,
I just want to know how could you count calories especially when you eat a home made soup for ex. I am not good on it. Please give me some tips. Thank you for your time.
I have a great free calorie counter help, livestrong.com Gteat website!! I lost over 20 pounds counting calories alone! It works and its free, try it!!
Spark people .com has a recipe calculator. Just enter ingredients and how many servings and tells you the calories.
find a free calorie counter and measure your food out before you cook, the calories in the food after its done cooking should be the same as when they were added together in the begininng. home made foods usually have less calories because you arent using anything sweetened or with added fat or preservatives. 😉
Try ‘Spark” it has a free calorie counter and all sorts of help and advice, etc. Also as Erika said keep track of what you are putting in your soup, measure it out and then write it down for next time.
Hi tatyana,
I eat only home made food also. Can’t eat anything pre-packed because I have so many food allergies. But as commented by everyone else, I calculate or measure the calories of all the items I am cooking with by using an on-line calorie calculator then I divide by the number of portions that I get out it. Food generally ends up being really low in calories especially it it’s soup, stew or casserole.
Try http://www.myfitnesspal.com
great calorie counting website
i lost 75 pounds over a year ago and maintaining. now trying to take it a little further with 10 more pounds….
good luck!
Girl,
you deserve a hubby who is supportive and loving. not mocking.
xox
totally agree,
anyone who doesnt support you in your choices in life doesnt deserve to be there for your successes
Well done Raquel. You must be so pleased with your achievement.
Don’t know why your family and husband did not support you. You will have a longer and healthier life for loosing that weight. Fantastic effort.
Thanks for the list Coach Calorie. My biggest thing is not drinking enough water and not writing down everything that I eat but I will now. Thanks
I am losing weight right now and I understand what you mean about the lack of support. I have tried to lose weight many times, and at this point i think a lot of people just expect me to give up again. My sister is my support system, though. My biggest mistake in the past was imagining some kind of end date. I do know that these changes have to be lifestyle changes, and people like you really keep me motivated. thanks for sharing.
They laugh because they are insecure and jealous. What awesome results. I have more than 50# to lose and and starting over.
Hi Rachel,
Congrats on losing 30 lbs. that is so great and for not giving up. I too lost 100 lbs now my hubby can’t keep his hands off of me. God Bless! I tell folks all the time, your stronger than you think you are. Take care!
When I lost my weight it was hard keeping a food journal. Instead of writing I took pictures. I always had my phone with me, so there was no excuse not to document. The visual of portions and becoming aware of the bad food I was eating got easier. I also started my day with protein and fiber.
thats a great idea
that way when your taking the photo you can feel good about what your taking a pic of and probably order or make a healthier plate because you know you have to take a pic of it.
I have lost 17 pounds so far. One of my tricks to losing weight is eat very slowly. Chew your food, put your fork down between bites and sip some water between bites. This really works. And I do not deny myself if I am craving sweets. Instead of a chunk of cake or a big slice of pie I take a piece that will be only a few bites and eat it slowly. It has worked well for me so far. Still have about 40 pounds to go.
Thanks for the reminder about slowing down well eating – This is my biggest down fall of them all. I am always on the go and eating way to fast. I may put an elastic on my wrist and snap it when I notice I am eating too fast. Maybe that will help remind me to slow down.
These are the best. Especially those at the top. I always thought I could keep up with calories and portions in my head. Writing down or keeping your food on a website (I use myfitnesspal.com) keeps you in check. It also helps you see what you did wrong and right. Don’t get discouraged. It didn’t go on in a day and it won’t come off in a day.
Myfitnesspal.com is the best! My sister told me about, and now I am hooked!
I LOVE myfitnesspal.com! I’ve lost 90 pounds over the past 18 months. Keeping track of what you’re eating is key. Knowing that I have to log every almond that goes into my mouth, makes me eat much less than I would otherwise. Not to mention, seeing how much sodium and sugar is in processed foods definitely affects the choices I make. Between that, and making sure I get in some kind of workout 5 days a week, it’s actually been getting easier and easier.
great post! Love your site
the list is right on i have lost a 163lb doing the thing above
WOW! Good for you! Gives me some hope and inspiration to keep going!
My advice is to start and to progress every step. My training really took off when I joined a facility similar to crossfit. Having a coach help you with your diet and giving you a training programme is invaluable.
Great Post!
Here are my favourite free Apps for food logging, these are really helping me keep track of my eating
http://www.myfitnesspal.com – has a huge database of every type of food you can imagine, or you can scan the barcode to log
http://www.eatery.massivehealth.com – you take a pic of everything you eat – it goes on a feed and people rate it if healthy or not, it’s pretty fun!
Great story!
my big tips are
1.dont eat Diet Foods, instead get heaps of veges into your diet so you are not ever hungry.
2. Eat a refuel meal each week- a refuel meal can really help to prevent blow-outs during the week, helps you be more disciplined around temptations, and helps to reset your metabolism for maximum fat burning
they say not to strive for perfection, yet put a pic of thebest looking torso i have seen, which is something i have tried to get for years without starving myself and i just cant. makes me feel like crap to be honest 🙁
Good advice. I think drinking water is the one I need most to get serious about.
Good list! Stop making excuses is huge–maybe even #1 in importance. I made excises for years and years, until I was 250+ pounds and developing diabetes. I lost 110 pounds–no more excuses!!!
Never Give Up… that is the toughest tip on the list. I’ve yet to have rum at weight loss that hasn’t ended in giving up for an extended period of time. Here we go again, have to get this done this time…
One consideration: Regardless if you exercise, eat right and get proper rest, if you have considerable stress in your life, you won’t lose weight.
I agree with every tip on this page. In fact I found a website that tracks it all. Its called FatSecret. This site along with Coach Calorie has helped me obtain most of my goals so far. Since April 22,2012 I have gone from 198 lb’s to 163 lbs. The scale is of no value as I lost a lot of inches and gained muscle. I also believe eating clean is a fantastic way to go.
Wow, I loved the compiled list above. I started my journey back in April this year. I weighed in at 213.3 and I’m down 191.2. I’m down 22 would love to be down 32 but it takes patience and well, when it comes to weight loss, I don’t have it. What changed my eating habits for life, was being on vacation and visiting the porcelain God at 1AM. Earlier that day, I had fried food and french fries. Later that night I had stomach pains and cramping. Once I got sick, I said enough is enough. I drank lemon water all day the next day and nothing else. I love documentaries and recently watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and last night I watched Forks Over Knives. Wow! Life changers for sure.
I set myself up 3 mini-goals and 3 major goals along the way. I hit my 1st major goal of getting out of the 200’s. Yay! (I treated myself to a massage )I hit my 1st mini-goal of weighing less than my pre- pregnancy with my youngest at 193 and now I’m working on my next mini goal of weighing less than my pre-pregnancy weight with my oldest (180) and my next big goal of being back into my wedding dress at (168). I still have 1 more mini-goal and 1 more major goal but for right now, baby steps and 1 pound at a time : ) I’d like to check back in from time to time and hear more success stories. Thanks Shan
I agree with 99% of this.. I lost 65lbs in 9 months.. I did start off using weight watchers but what I learned from weight watchers was Portion control (since they don’t count calories but points). I took the knowledge for portion control and continued on the journey myself (because I hated the food log and the counting points). Making healthy food choices and doing everything else on this list besides the food log and the counting calories (plus joined a gym).. I went from a size14 (192lbs) to a size 6 in 9 months and then decided to do a figure competition to challenge myself and got down to a size 2 in another 9 months for the competition. Anything is possible with consistency and patience.. My journey was typically 1-2 lbs a week lost and it took time but not as much time as you would think. Being on the other side is worth it.
that is great!!! 🙂
I lost 35 lbs. in 2008 with Weight Watchers and am now a Lifetime member having maintained a 30+ lb. loss for four years. I double track with Weight Watchers e-Tools and Myfitnesspal so I see the Points Plus Values and Calories (plus protein, carbs, and fat) I am eating daily. I agree with all of the summaries in this article and have applied them all to my life since I started the journey of weight loss and maintenance. I started out a size 14 at 193 lbs. and am now a comfortable size 8 at 160 lbs. My next challenge is to get 10 more lbs. off in the coming months. Tracking my daily food intake and watching portions has been a huge key to my success. What I put in my mouth is even more important than any workouts I get. Although I do some form of activity six times a week. I’m 50 and never thought I could achieve this kind of fitness before this journey!
Great job Karen! You’ve got it right that your nutrition is the most important thing when it comes to weight loss.
Great list. I would add “eat healthier foods” just like replacing sugary drinks and artificially sweetened for pure water, tossing out ‘bad foods’ and putting in good ones makes healthy, almost without regard for quantity.
I look forward to reading this info every day. Awesome coaching and day to day strategies that work. Thanks so much.
no potion just self-discipline…
I started by not eating anything with ADDED SUGAR in the ingredient list. From there, I just slowly added healthier foods and work out about five days a week. In seven months I’ve lost about 50 lbs. eating small meals five times a day has helped me not to crave food and hardly feel hungry. Thus while I’m preparing my food I make good choices and not desperate attempts to just put anything in my mouth. I’m also drinking about 2 to 3 littler a of water a day.
Great tips. I lost over 50 post pregnancy pounds. I owe it all to many of your tips. Slow and steady worked for me.
Great List to go by..i like the Don’t Diet : Being fit is not a destination – it’s a way of life!… I used to think once i get there Im done and Yo Yo diet most of life once i figured out that Diet is not a dirty word its just the way you eat as My diet consist of Protein, veggies, good fats,and Limited fruit and carbs not foods that restrict just eat smaller portions and allow myself to have choc or things not normally on my reg diet on occasions
“Don’t beat yourself up” for a second there I thought that meant physically lol! I did crossfit for about 6 months, though it was a great workout and I lost fat and added muscle, I was constantly in pain or getting hurt, I’ve stopped doing x fit since then but continue to be vey active and losing fat.
someone above mentioned sticking up a picture of what you want to look like and ended up just feeling bad. I went the other way – i stuck up a picture of a seriously obese person as a reminder of what I will look like if I don’t make any effort at all. Just like many years ago when my dad stuck up a picture of a ‘Sewer Unblocking Technician’ as a reminder of why I needed decent grades at school
I have recently lost 100 pounds and I did it at age 64. I had tried many times in the past but failed miserably. Two things were different this time:
— I quickly realized that I was drinking (alcohol) the same number of calories that my adopted deficit diet would allow (1200/day). So I had a simple but very challenging decision to make: alcohol or food. Of course I chose food. FACE IT: Many of you will HAVE TO STOP DRINKING ENTIRELY to be successful. If you are not willing to do so, you will very likely FAIL. Period.
— I hired a trainer at a local gym to guide both my exercise and my diet. I kept him for 4 months at a cost of about $450/month for 8 sessions per month (2, 30-minute sessions per week). This proved to be another CRITICAL choice I had to make. Without someone with substantial knowledge and experience around what I was doing encouraging me, especially in the early going, I doubt I would have kept at it.
— I very closely monitored my eating using myfitnesspal.com, a free, easy-to-use website with lots of very useful features. I never let a day end without logging EVERYTHING I consumed (including water).
These are 3 things I never tried in the dozen or more previous attempts at weight loss and I am certain all 3 were critical to my success. Everyone is different, but these are 3 pretty basic things that I strongly urge everyone who is serious about losing LOTS of weight to consider.
Hi Tony. I like that the theme of your articles is to just stick with it and be consistent. I struggle with this as I have been actively gaining or losing weight my whole adult life.
Recently I was on a loss trend of about a pound a week through whole foods (1350-1450 cal/day) and 30-40 minutes of exercise (mostly running and HIIT) six days a week. I had finally broken into the 150s!
Then, in three days I went up two pounds and I seem to be stuck there. I’m trying not to binge or give up but I just can’t understand where this gain came from. Any ideas as to why this sudden gain happened and what to do? It’s not my monthly cycle, the only thing different was I had a little more carbs than usual two days ago (124 is my max and I had about 189). Help!
Hi Jennifer, could be any number of things. If you were losing 1lb/week eating 1400ish calories I would just stick with it. Weight fluctuates daily, but also weekly. I have had clients go more than a month without a loss and then suddenly start losing again without any changes to their diet.
You have to trust the process. If you’re being honest with yourself and you really have done nothing different then there’s nothing else you can do but be patient. In the meantime, stay engaged with the process and take action because it makes you feel your best.