- DO Study Food Labels. Become curious and start paying attention to what you’re eating. You’ll probably be surprised at what are considered serving sizes and just becoming aware of the ingredients in the foods you’re consuming will dramatically help you choose better foods. Remember that ingredients are listed in order of most to least, so be prepared to see corn syrups and other sweeteners regularly listed first and second.
- DON’T Starve Yourself. You wake up and you’re not that hungry so you skip breakfast (-400 calories), lunch comes and you’re kind of hungry but you’re able to eat just a small snack (-500 calories). Then late afternoon hits and you’re STARVING, unable to fight your hunger you start eating everything until you go to bed. (+2000 calories). Don’t make this mistake. Eat throughout the day and keep your hunger scale around a 5, so that you can make good food choices throughout the day.
- DO Relax & Rest. Have you heard the saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? In weight loss this is especially true. If you make relaxation and rest a priority you’ll lower your stress levels and be able to automatically make better food choices. Which is the key to losing weight easily because it’s infinitely easier to avoid 400 calories than it is to burn 400 calories.
- DON’T Tell Anyone. Seriously, just keep it to yourself when you start (this starter kit will help you). I know you’re excited, but something strange happens to people when you tell them you’re trying to eat better and lose weight. It’s like it becomes their mission to sabotage you. So, it’s better to be quiet about it and let them notice after you’ve lost 15 pounds.
- DO Learn From Your Mistakes. You’re going to overeat or make the wrong choice at some point, EVERYONE DOES. The secret is that you look at that mistake and learn from it. What could you have done differently, if you get in a situation like that again what else could you do? Don’t beat yourself up because that leads to more overeating. Learn and move on.
- DON’T Start Exercising intensely. If you haven’t exercised in months or years, do not jump right into some extreme exercise program because you’re likely to over-stress your body and/or hurt yourself. Both of which can sabotage your weight loss more than a case of Ben & Jerry’s. Start out slow with your exercising and remember that consistency is more important than intensity.
- DO Set Up A Reinforcement System. When it comes to changing your habitual behaviors you have to plan for how you’re going to maintain the changes after the initial excitement fades. You do this by having a support system in place that keeps you focused, motivated and inspired until being thin and healthy becomes completely automatic. The Motivation Machine will help you with this.
- DON’T Give Up Foods. You don’t have to swear off ice cream and chocolate forever to lose weight. Actually giving up foods is one of the top reasons people fail to lose weight. As soon as you start thinking about how you’ll never be able to eat your favorite food again, you’re in trouble. The truth is you don’t have to give up any foods to slim down, you just have to eat less of them. Remember you want to lose weight to increase the quality of your life, not make yourself miserable.
- DO Expand Your Time Frame. I know this is a tough pill to swallow for most people because we want results yesterday. But, the truth is that thinking about how much weight you can lose in days and weeks leads to trying harmful, unsustainable eating and/or exercise plans. People often overestimate how much they can lose in a month and underestimate how much they can lose in 6 months. The secret to easy weight loss is thinking about it in longer terms.
- DON’T Diet. The chances are really good that if you’re reading this you’ve tried at least 10 times to lose weight by dieting and failed to lose the weight or keep it off. This should be proof enough that dieting doesn’t work, but I know it isn’t. So, think about all the people you know. How many of them have lost weight (and kept it off) with a diet? You know the saying that “insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting a different result” well don’t be a crazy person. STOP DIETING. Knowing what to eat isn’t enough. What you really want is a new lifestyle. You don’t want to just lose weight. You want to be healthier. Have more energy, feel happier and be more relaxed.