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Common Sense Tips for Losing Weight

Updated on March 6, 2020
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Don and his wife love to cook. They enjoy new and different recipes and experimenting with interesting combinations of ingredients.

Be Your Own Diet Police

Diet Police
Diet Police | Source

Diet Police - That's what I need.

What a great idea.

Let's be our own Diet Police and manage ourselves when we eat.

It's a simple plan, we can lose weight or at least control our weight ourselves without having to keep jumping on the latest Fad Diet Bandwagon. Nearly every day there seems to be yet another Diet Plan out there.

And when you read the fine print, there is no magic formula. They all want you to eat less and exercise more, and maybe even take their "Magic Pill" that by the way costs a fortune.

You eventually find that each one of these Diet Fads is just attempting to take your money and so what if your pride takes another hit when this new diet fails.

Well, there are certain facts about our bodies and the foods we put into it that we all know, but tend to ignore. Losing weight can be done quite easily if you stick to certain constraints and look at your diet as a long term plan and not a miracle to be performed in a few weeks.

So, what I am going to list here are some simple things that anyone can do and help themselves eat less and by eating smarter and eventually even lose some weight.

There will be no magic formulas listed here.

There will be no combinations of rare foods, chemicals or other strange ingredients that are supposed to "melt those pounds away".

Nope, these are just Common Sense things that anyone can do that will help them lose weight, or at least control their weight better.

Simple Things that anyone can do.

The things listed here are really just some proven, simple and Common Sense things that anyone can do to help them eat less and eat Healthier.

They are listed alphabetically and not by any preference or priority.

You should just pick the ones that you feel that you can do and try those.

And, then, try the others later, if and when you get the urge or are ready for the next step in your personal weight control program

Many of these things are just simple habits that you can start, that will trick your mind and body into eating less.

Simple Eating Tricks

Try changing your eating habits with these simple changes and you will lower your Carb, Fat and Calorie intake every day.

BUTTER

Stop eating so much Butter in your foods and on your foods. Butter is FAT!

Eating small amounts of Butter, generally speaking is generally considered OK for a healthy person because Butter and other natural Fats are easily consumed by the body and these Fats give a person much-needed energy.

But, if you are trying to lose some weight control the levels of Fats you consume each day to reasonable levels you should be all right, and not gain weight from these fats.

Most Doctors will even tall you to avoid margarines and other Butter substitutes. The reasoning is that too many of these Butter (fat) substitutes have ingredients in them that have not gone through very reliable testing and could possibley not be healthy.

BREADS

First of all, you should Stop Eating so many Breads. Bread itself can be an unhealthy food for many of us; and it is a food item that can be easily controlled to help lose weight.

Breads today are loaded with Calories and Carbs which are both the major things you need to control. If you read the labels on those mass-produced breads you will find in many supermarkets include numerous chemicals, and you will find that some of these chemicals are preservatives while others are there for questionable reasons.

You want to avoid eating any bread that is labeled as; "enriched". The flours used to make these enriched breads are loaded by the manufacturer with several chemicals that are intended to "simulate" the missing vitamins and minerals in the processed white flour they use.

Today, it is becoming more prevalent not to eat so much bread at all, and especially these "loaded" with extra ingredients. In today's world, these breads are not a necessary staple for a healthy diet in our daily life.

Cut bread out of you diet immediately, and you will see that your daily calorie intake will have dropped significantly. If you are a Diabetic, your Blood Sugar will usually drop and you will typically begin to feel healthier overall.

And fast food? If you end up in a fast food restaurant line, go ahead and get that Cheeseburger, but throw the bread away and eat the stuff inside.

You don't need to eliminate breads from your diet forever, but you should eliminate it until you get to your ideal weight. Then, be smart when you want to eat breads. Purchase your breads from a bakery and know what the ingredients are. Go for the truly "whole grain" breads that are fresh baked and without those strange chemicals in them.

Potatoes, French Fries

Just say NO!

French Fries are served up to us everywhere. It is an easy food to serve customers that will fill them up and provide some starches. But, we all eat far too many of these Fries. You have to stop eating them immediately. French Fries are full of Starches, Calories, Fats and Carbs.

These days, almost every fast food restaurant chain will have several fresh salads available for you to order, so it's not that hard to say NO to French Fries. And, sit down and eat the foods you know such as that cheeseburger without the bread and the small side salad rather than Fries.

Sitting for ten minutes to eat this meal will allow you a little time to relax and help your digestion. So, Slow down and avoid the fast foods at the fast food joints.

So, if you want to lose weight, you can just do without these two foods, Breads and Potatoes, and you will slowly start to see yourself losing weight.

Yes, it's just this simple, be your own Diet Police and stop eating Breads and Potatoes.

Get some Fitness and Calorie APPs

That's right, stop lying to yourself about what your lifestyle happens to be.

Nearly everyone today has a Smartphone.

And, there are so many APPs available that will help you track your lifestyle.

  • There are APPs that measure every step you take and calculate the calories you have burned.
  • There are APPs that monitor your Heart Rate.
  • There are APPs that allow you to input everything you eat throughout the day so you can see how you are doing with everything that you put in your mouth.
  • There are APPs that will communicate with special Health Monitor watches and measure your Heart Rate, Calories Burned, etcetera and convert the data for you to monitor and use to manage your Diet and exercise.

So, if you are serious about changing your lifestyle, losing weight and becoming a healthier person, there are dozens of APPs available for you to use as you manage yourself.

Clothing, Look Good in well fitting clothes.

Get out of that baggy Moo-Moo dress and those XXXX shirts and those enormous sweat pants.

Start caring about how you look.

Get some clothes that fit you tighter and look better on you. Sure, if you continue to lose weight, they will get too large for you, but that's what you want, isn't it?

Wearing those enormous and ill-fitting clothes are just helping you hide your size from yourself.

Everyone else knows what you look like and how big you are, so get over it.

You may be overweight, but take some pride in your appearance and dress like you care about yourself.

Besides, there's nothing like wearing a slightly too-tight shirt or pair of pants when you eat to remind you to control yourself and your food intake.

Are Meats and Deli Meats healthy?

Fat makes meat taste better, but we still need to reduce our Fat and Carb intake as possible.

If you cook a steak, cook it with the fat on it, but, trim the fat from the meat before serving.

Some people will even pat down a steak off of the Grill or frying pan with a paper towel to get rid of some of the excess Fat.

If you use ground meats, get the lower "% fat content" selections to reduce your fat intake.

DELI MEATS - Buy Natural Deli Meats

Many Deli Meats are full of preservatives and other chemicals as well as high levels of fat that are just not Healthy, so you should be selective when you go to the Deli.

Whether you are buying sliced Ham, Beef, turkey,Chicken, or whatever, you should ask the person serving you for Natural Meats without any chemicals, preservatives or additives, especially Hormones and Sugars.

The meat selections available to you will shrink dramatically when you purchase deli meats that meet this criteria, but what you buy will usually be lower in Fat, generally tastier, and better for you overall without the many chemicals that are fed to animals today.

Change your Eating Habits

Eat ONLY one Plate Full!

One really good beginner dieter rule for anyone that wants to lose weight is Only Eat one Plate of Food at each meal.

Before you start Controlling Portions, try to JUST EAT ONE PLATE FULL of food for each meal. Do not get additional portions of your favorite dishes.

Start with One Plateful of food per meal, and after you and your brain have accepted this as your meal limit, you can go to other portion control methods. But at first, Just One Plateful!

Plate Size

I mentioned that you should eat just one Plateful of food for a meal.

I know people that have lost weight by using a smaller plate for their meal. This works because, if you go to using a 10-inch versus a 12-inch plate, your plate will look full while actually holding less food.

Thus you will eat less in your One Plateful per Meal.

Eat Slowly

When you sit down to eat your meal, eat it SLOWLY, regardless of how hungry you think you are.

If you gulp don your food ravenously, you will overeat before all of the food gets to your stomach and the stomach can tell your brain that it is full.

Eat Slowly and you will get allow your body to tell you that it is full and then you will eat less.

Drink COLD Water with Your MEAL

This one is a simple trick to force your body to burn a few extra calories.

If you Drink Cold water with your meal, your body will automatically attempt to raise the temperature of the food in your stomach to a normal body temperature for digestion.

This "extra Burn"may not be much, but everything helps in your battle to Lose weight.

Drink WATER Before Eating

This one is so simple that I am surprised that everyone doesn't do it regularly.

Just drink a glass full of Water about five minutes before you eat your meal. This water will pre-fill your stomach to a certain degree, and when you eat your meal, you will get full sooner than if you had not had the water.

Drink water throughout the day

One great thing that we should all do is carry a water bottle with us throughout the day. Most of us do not drink enough water each day, and by drinking more water, your body will be able to flush impurities in your body away.

According to some experts a person should try to drink as many as eight glasses of water a day.

Fried Foods are to be avoided

There are far too many Fried Foods out there today ,that we eat regularly. We love them because they are loaded with Fat and Fat tastes so great; but we all need to minimize our Fried Food Intake wherever possible.

Try to avoid Fried Foods as much as you can, but if you do eat something fried, you need to minimize your portion size, or maybe try a stir-fried dish rather than a deep fried one.

Breaded Fried Foods are even worse for you. That breading is designed to hold even more of the Grease that it is cooked in, for you to eat.

So if you do get a fried dish, try to remove as much of the breading as possible to reduce the total fat content of the dish.

And pat it down with a paper towel or napkin, if you can, to remove even more of that extra fat.

FRUITS are GREAT for You

Change your selection of foods that you keep in the house so that you will always have some of your favorite Fruit around.

Eat whatever Fruits that you want, at first, and get used to having at least that one serving of fresh Fruit in your diet each day.

At some point, increase your Fruit intake in an effort to replace some of your less healthy foods in your diet. Eating Fruits and Vegetables invariably means eating good nutrients as well as increasing your fiber intake.

Later, as you gain control of your eating habits, you can get into such things as selecting specifically healthier FRUITS to eat. Just eat some kind of FRUIT to get started.

Snacks can be your downfall so only eat Healthy Snacks

Sometimes you will just be hungry and it's not anywhere near meal time. Rather than jumping into a bag of Chips or Cookies, you can prepare Healthy Snacks for you to eat at those times.

Some of my favorite snacks are;

1- Cut up a couple of Carrots and or stalks of Celery into short thin strips and keep them in the fridge for when you need to eat something, just to quell that hunger pang.

2- Cut up some Broccoli and or Cauliflower into small pieces for a little variety.

3- Put ten low-fat Saltine cracker into sandwich bags and keep them in the pantry for when you just have to eat something a little salty. They may be ten calories each but they are very filling.

4- Also, try eating Nuts, Fruits, Yogurt, and other low fat products for a snack.

Or, come up with some way to have something that you like, ready to eat, in a small portion to quell your hunger.

Don't wait until you are hungry and open a large container of anything. You can easily jump in and eat way more than you need to before you can stop yourself.

Use Less Salt and Salad Dressing on your Food

In today's world, we all eat too much Salt in our meals.

One bad habit that so many people have is to add Salt to a dish before they even taste it. Just take the time to taste the dish and then, if you want to add some Salt, do so. But add Salt frugally, and get used to a lighter salt taste.

After a while of reducing the salt in your foods, you will find that you are enjoying the taste of the dish better. And, less Salt in your food will generally mean that your body will retain less fluid which is so healthy in so many ways.

SALAD DRESSINGS

Make your own Healthy Salad Dressing. It is a simple thing to do, and you can control the Calorie, Fat and Carb levels in your dressing and still get the flavors that you want.

Make your Own Salad Dressing - You can even go to a craft or other specialty store and purchase a small (4-6 ounce) plastic container that you can carry with you when you go out to eat, that has your own favorite Salad Dressing in it.

There as so many healthy recipes out there, on the web, for making your own salad dressing, but two of my favorites are;

(1)- If you are a ranch Dressing person, buy it and cut it with half 1% milk and half dressing.

It may be a little more runny, but it will also be lower in calories and fats.

(2)- I like vinegar and Oil and I often mix up 2-parts Vinegar, 1-part Olive Oil, then I add a pinch Pepper, and other Herbs for a great custom flavor.

Eat less Sugar and more Vegetables

Sugar, that grand sweet thing that we all love to indulge in, is so bad for you in so many ways. but the most important to you if you want to lose weight is the fact that eating foods with sugar in them is unnecessary and can lead to becoming Daiabetic.

Switch over to foods with the new more natural Artificial Sweeteners when you can, and save those rare days that you just have to eat a dessert, for special occasions. And, special occasions are not every day, maybe eating a real dessert is OK once a week but keep it special and keep these days rare and not a habit.

VEGETABLES

Change your foods so that you eat a serving of some kind of VEGETABLE with each meal.

Eat whatever Vegetables that you want at first and get used to having at least one Vegetable in your diet for each meal. Eating vegetables invariably means eating good nutrients as well as increasing your fiber intake.

Later, you can go to such things as selecting the healthier vegetables available to eat. Just eat some kind of Vegetable to get started.

The Next STEPs to take for Losing Weight

At some point, you are going to have reached your ideal (for you) weight. At this point, you need to change your lifestyle over to a "maintain" mode so that you do not gain back that so hard to lose weight.

Try the things listed below to help you maintain your weight.

Diet Maintain Mode

At this point you will be in the MAINTAIN mode for your diet. Now you can use these exeptions and rules to eat better and not gain your lost weight back.

BREADS - Eat Healthy Breads, if You eat Any Bread

If you have to eat a piece of bread, then read the label. If there are other chemicals in the bread for preservation or it is "enriched" or if it has been bleached, stop eating these breads.

If you want to eat healthy Breads, then you should be eating Whole Wheat or Whole Grain Breads at least. And, by the way read the label carefully, because at this time, there are no FDA regulations on what the terms Whole Wheat or Whole Grain mean, so the manufacturers have free rein to use their own definitions.

One trick you can use is to check the Fiber, Carb and Fat levels per slice of bread. These can at least give you an indication of how to compare all of those different breads on the shelves.

CEREALS - Eat the High Fiber, Low Carb, Low Fat Cereals.

Breakfast is a very important meal that everyone should eat every day. But, if you eat breakfast, eat a high fiber cereal that has no sugar or other additives, such as a Bran Cereal.

Also, try to minimize the Fat, Carb and Gluten content cereals when you select one.

And, if you want a sweet taste, use a flavored low fat Soy Milk or even add one packet of your favorite artificial sweetener. That's one packet, only.

Cooking Oils - Eat Healthy by Cooking with less of the right Oils

At some point, when you have a favorite recipe that needs to be cooked in Oils, you need to start using the Healthier Cooking Oils such as EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), Flax, Canola, Corn, and certain others.

Many cooking oils are not that good for you but some have very special health and nutritional strengths that you should use these as much as possible.

And minimize how much cooking oil you use. You will be surprised by how many of your favorite recipes can be implemented with a significant reduction in the level of Cooking Oil used. This especially true if you use the proper cooking pans, and cook at the proper temperatures,

Eat more meals more often

A little thing that most Diabetics understand that can really help everyone eat better is the fact that your body sugar peaks when you eat a meal. But, by about two hours later, that food is digested and your body sugar level from that meal or food will have dropped significantly.

Our society says to eat three meals a day, and these are typically at four hour intervals, such as Breakfast in the morning, Lunch at mid-day, and Dinner at sometime around 4-6PM.

So, you can see that if your body sugar drops after two hours, you are invariably hungry by the time you eat your next meal of it occurs every four hours or more.

That's why so many Diabetics are careful to eat, in addition to those three main meals a day, a Healthy Snack in between each meal, and often another snack a couple of hours after their Dinner, in order to keep their blood sugar up.

Getting into this habit of eating a healthy small snack between meals will help you avoid both the unnecessary hunger pangs and the loss of energy that you feel before you get to your next meal.

Exercise is a necessary part of your Health Plan

You need to exercise, and you need to do the best you can getting at least some level of exercise, over time. besides the obvious fact that exercise burns fat, it keeps your body and its organs healthier.

Start out with simple exercises such as;

1- Just stand up more. Get off of your Butt and stand up rather than sit. Just this simple act will burn more calories than sitting.

2- Start walking further. If you can walk, start walking more often and longer distances. Walking is a great minimal impact exercise that most people can do and increase over time.

3- Put a small ankle weight on yourself when you walk to increase the fat burned when you do walk.

4- Keep a log of when you exercise, how much you exercise along with your goals as you extend your exercise regimen.

And, if you are lucky enough to have a healthy body, you should move on to more

SOY MILK

Use Soy Milk for your Cereal and Coffee and even on your Fruits.

Stop using regular milk and use Soy Milk. You can get great tasting Soy Milk, both regular and flavored that is low in fat, that you can use in place of Milk. It is healthier for you and it has a much longer expiration date than Milk.

For a snack, I will often put a little vanilla flavored Soy Milk over a bowl of fresh fruit for a tasty snack dessert that I didn't have to add any sugar to.

VEGETABLES - EAT HEALTHY VEGETABLES

Eventually, you need to start looking at those Vegetables that you do eat, and start changing either how you prepare them, or select healthier Vegetables to consume.

You need to eat those Vegetables that are low in Carbs, Fat, and Calories and are at the same time high in vital nutrients and Fiber. Maximize the good and minimize the Bad Vegetables.

YOGURT

Yogurt is a great food to add to your diet, either alone or with fruit.

First, read the labels and make sure that you are getting pure Healthy Yogurt without added sugars or other chemicals, and use it with or as a part of your snacks.

Yogurt helps keep your intestinal bacteria working for you and it is just a great overall food to eat that is low fat and low in calories.


A Disclaimer from the author.

OK, I hate doing this, but in this article, I am suggesting to people what they could or might do to aid them in losing weight, that might, in some way, affect their health.

So, I need to tell you that the information in this article is meant to provide a healthy and normal person with ideas and data that could help them get onto a road towards losing weight if they feel that they need to do so.

If you, the reader, feels that you need to lose weight, then you should always consult your physician before you attempt any weight loss plan, and carefully review your health and what you actually plan or want to do, with your Doctor.

The author of this article is is in no way responsible for the readers health or for any potential side affects or health problems that might occur from the use of this or any other weight loss plan or suggestions that the reader might adapt or use after reading this article.

The author assumes absolutely no responsibility for any reader health situations either present or future that may occur after reading this article.

Some more good ideas to help you lose weight

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

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