Here's another one.

Don't Diet - Change!

ooooo, I like that one!

I have tryed to loose weight countless times, and everytime I fall off the healthy eating wagon and give up. I have found writting down what my goal weight is on a sheet of paper and then taking a pic of it with my camera phone and setting it as my background has helped me stay on track this time. I normally only last a week or 10 days at the most. Ive been doing this 6 weeks now and lost 7lbs. Seeing that number every time I use the phone (which is a lot) helps me stay focused much easier.

The best one I heard is to eat lots of little meals. It not only helps your metabolism, it keeps you from overeating and getting that "gross never eating again" feeling!!

Get a good night's sleep every night!!!

The other day, we had a visitor that showed up at 10 PM and we stayed up past midnight talking. Once I went to bed, I had a hard time falling asleep and I figure I had only 4 hours of sleep (or less) that night. The next day, regardless of how much I ate, I was ravenous! Nothing would satiate my appetite. And because I was so tired (and hungry) I made a lot of poor choices (and missed my morning run because I just couldn't fathom getting out of bed).

Carrying food (healthy snacks) and a water bottle with me everywhere I go. I can't let myself get overly hungry, or it gets ugly when I finally find food. I now have high-protein granola bars, Laughing Cow Cheese, Wasa crackers and other assorted "goodies" in my purse, my briefcase, my car ...

I don't eat a lot of carbs past 4:00. I also love the feeling of not being totally full. Weird? I read where one poster on some website said she felt that being not getting full and left wanting a bit more was like a "badge of honor."

Most helpful tip for me is that it's not "all or nothing"... you can have a donut, it won't kill all of your weight loss efforts leading to that day and all the days after... everything is fine in moderation, so have your donut and then get right back on plan. Your body will hardly notice the blip. This is LIFE, not a diet.

And one more...

the whole exercise thing gets easier over time. The beginning is always the most difficult. This tip is GOLD.

Don't get starving hungry. It takes a lot more calories to recover from ravenous than to keep it at bay. Always have something available for a snack that's on plan and ready to eat.

I think setting reasonable goals (and figuring out a reasonable plan to achieve those goals) has been one of the most helpful things psychologically for me. Knowing that say, I want to lose 5 pounds this month, and planning to go to the gym 4 days a week and eat so many calories, (or whatever your plan to get there), it makes it so much easier to do well. So much better than the ambiguous "I want to lose weight" goal and not really having any way of acheiving it other than vague plans to cut down on pizza and fries and working out 'more', its a way to keep yourself accountable and I think you feel more accomplished when you hit your goal.

As far as actual tips to lose I've found that taking the time to figure out all the healthy foods I like, and making sure to eat them more often. feta cheese, jalapeno peppers, onions, scallops are some of the ingredients I've been making it a point to cook with because I love them and they're healthier than my old staple ingredients. Also, looking at what foods I like that aren't quite healthy and finding ways to make them better. hungry girl's website has a lot of tips to make things that aren't healthy better for you.

Also allowing myself to eat things I crave in moderate portions rather than depriving myelf entirely. its not sustainable to never eat your favorite things, just don't have a 1000 calories worth in a sitting and do it every night and you're going to be fine

If you find yourself wandering into the kitchen looking for something to nibble - chew gum instead. Or have a sugar free drink. Or always have some sugar free jello in the fridge and have some of that.

Don't go food shopping when hungry.

Log your intake.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." - Michael Pollan