How to Lose Five Pounds Fast and Jumpstart Your Diet

Tip #1 - Set Your Meal Times

Setting your meal times is a very important step in your weight loss journey. You should plan to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same time each day. For example, breakfast at 7:30am every day, lunch at 1:00pm, dinner at 6:30pm every day. Try to stay as close to this schedule as possible and make it a habit. They say for something to become a habit it takes doing something repeatedly at least 21 times to make it a habit. So, try to stick with the same meal schedule times for at least 3 weeks.

To take this tip one step further try having the same meal for breakfast or lunch everyday. It will help make it easier to lose weight if you don't have to spend too much time thinking about what you're going to eat. Keep it simple, such as an egg white omelet and veggies for breakfast every day or a fruit and protein powder shake. For lunch try having a salad and lean wrap each day.

Tip #2 - Green Coffee Bean Supplements

I'm one of those people that needs to gradually work my way into diet mode, I can't go cold turkey! One of the ways I've found to help jumpstart a diet is by taking Green Coffee Bean Supplements. I first heard about these supplements on the Dr. Oz show where they did a 12 week trial on viewers/patients. Overall the test was successful and most of the patients lost a considerable amount of weight over the 12 week period.I

Tip #3 - Eat a salad every day

Eating a salad every day may be hard for some people to do, but it's worth the effort. Leafy greens like lettuce and spinach are fibrous carbs which are filling but don't contain many calories! So do what it takes to make having a daily salad easy and convenient. You could buy the salad bags in the grocery store or prepare and store enough salad for a couple days at a time in the refrigerator. In a pinch you can even hit the drive through at McDonald's or Wendy's for a salad! They have some great salad choices topped with fruit, nuts and cheeses. Remember to go light on dressings.

Tip #4 - Snack Twice a Day. Every Day

Eat a morning snack and an afternoon snack every day. These snacks help to keep you from getting too hungry between meals and binging at mealtime. Vary your snack choices. Some healthy snack options are a piece of fruit, almonds, vegetables, nuts, yogurt, vegetable broth, an apple and peanut butter, grapefruit, carrots and blueberries.

A good tip to make it easier is to prepare all your snacks in advance. For example, on Sunday fill 14 baggies with healthy snacks and you'll be ready to go for the week. Keep these 14 snack bags in a drawer in your refrigerator ready to grab and go.

The key to making it easier to eat healthy is to do what it takes to make it effortless. Preparing your snacks ahead keeps you from having to think about what you're going to snack on each day. All you have to do is remember to eat them. This preparation will set you up for more success in your effort to eat healthy and lose weight.

Tip #5 - Hydrate Properly

Your choice of Beverages is very important!

• Drink 4 bottles of water (16oz each) daily. You can add lemon slices or lemon juice for flavor. Ideally first thing in the morning before breakfast you should drink an 8 ounce glass of water with lemon. I fill a very large 64oz bottle with water in the morning and just have to be sure it's all gone by the end of the day.
• Drink only water, diet soda, unsweetened tea and coffee.
• Eliminate fruit juices, milk and soda.

Tip #6 - Take a Multi-Vitamin every day.

It's important that you take a mult-vitamin so your body gets the vitamins and minerals that might be lacking in your diet. There's no magic pill for weight loss, but a recent study in China showed that while eating their same diet over a 6 month period one group of obese women took a multi-vitamin daily and lost about 4 pounds, and those that didn't take the multi-vitamin didn't lose weight.

A multi-vitamin may help also help you burn more calories by keeping your metabolism functioning properly. It's also believed that taking a multi-vitamin may help curb your appetite. So, it can't hurt, and taking a mult-vitamin each day may actually help you lose weight.

Tip #7 - Cut out White Breads and Pasta

This is one weight loss tip you should begin doing immediately. Switch from white bread to wheat or whole grain bread. Whole grain breads contain more fiber and nutrients than white bread. The whole grain breads and grains fill you up more and your body has to work harder to digest them. Eating whole grain breads instead of white breads will help you lose weight.

You should also switch from white pasta to eating whole grain pasta. It is much better for you. I must admit though, when I make pasta most times I boil half white pasta and half wheat pasta in the pot. I'm on board with the whole grain bread but whole grain pasta just doesn't cut it so I serve half and half to our family.

Tip #8 - Get Moving, Exercise

There's just no way around it, you have to get moving (the dreaded "E" word: Exercise!)

So, here are a few ways to get moving:

• Join a gym and go to the gym at least 4 times a week to lose weight
• Make time to do the following at home each day: Do 20 pushups, 20 lunges and 20 bicep curls twice a day, Walk up and down the steps 20 times a day, Walk for 20 minutes two times a day. The Leslie Sansone Walk off Fat Fast DVD is a great motivator.s
• Find a neighbor or friend that lives close by and meet every day or so for a walk together. Make this a habit, no backing out. Walking and talking makes the time go faster than if you walk by yourself. Walk every day and you'll see that you'll feel better and lose weight at the same time.
• If you have a dog commit to taking him for a walk once or twice a day. I have a friend that lost 10 pounds in a month and the only thing she did different was to start walking the dog. She walked less than a mile each day.

Tip #9 - Cut Out Red & Processed Meats

Losing weight isn't the only reason to cut out red meat and processed meats from your diet, studies show they cause cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Gradually begin eliminating red meat, deli meats, bacon, sausage, and ham from your menu and add replace them with boneless, skinless chicken breast, fish, turkey, and beans.

Even a small change like switching to turkey bacon instead of regular bacon will make a difference. If you eat deli meat five days a week, cut back to two or three days a week. If you only had a salad once a week, make the change to have a salad three times a week and build up to every day. These small changes will help you to develop better lifetime eating habits and keep the weight off rather than just making short term temporary changes to lose a little weight.

Tip #10 - Keep Track of your Diet and Exercise

You can keep track of your diet and activity with a pen and paper or you can use one of the great fitness apps, just make sure you do it! Recording everything we eat helps us be aware of what we've eaten as well as how much we're eating and when we're eating. It's been found in recent studies that using mobile devices is more effective than just writing it down.

There are a variety of apps you can use on your SmartPhone, Kindle, Ipad or Iphone for fitness tracking. These apps will help you track your meals, activity, sleep and exercise. Tracking is really helpful because we become more mindful of exactly what's going on with our food intake and activity. It might take you a while to become consistent with tracking, but it's definitely a great tool!

A great tracking tool is the FitBit. The FitBit is a bracelet you wear that will keep track and sync your activity with your SmartPhone where you can use apps such as MyFitnessPal that keeps track of nutrition, diet, exercise activity and more!

After several weeks of consistently following the ten tips above you're sure to feel great! Keep following these tips on a daily basis for at least 30 days and they will become part of your regular routine. In no time you’ll see the pounds start to slip away! Remember, the safest and best way to drop a few pounds is to cut back on calories, eat a well-balanced diet every day and exercise at least 4 days a week. Good luck with your efforts!