Tips to Help Lose Weight

It's a bit late for New Year Resolutions but it's never too late in the year to show resolution, especially if you've gained any weight over the Xmas break. Over Christmas it's all too easy to gain weight with parties, christmas dinners and suppers. It comes as no surprise to find that most people's New Year resolution is start a diet and lose weight. Equally unsurprising is the fact that few people succeed. Here are a set of tips to help shed a few pounds.

Avoid alcohol, especially in the evenings

Alcohol is fattening in it's own right. Worse, drinking lowers your resistence to temptation. Have you ever experienced the Midnight Munchies after drinking? Snacking at night after a few glasses of wine (don't cheese and wine go great together?) is a surefire recipe to weight gain.

Don't wear loose-fitting clothing

Don't lounge around the house in causal clothing such as jogging bottoms and a tee-shirt. If your jeans are feeling tighter after Christmas, make a point of wearing them. Feeling slightly uncomfortable in your clothing will be a reminder you need to lose weight and will reduce the temptation to eat between meals.

Don't diet, just eat less

Duh! Isn't eating less going on a diet? Well it all depends. Going on a fad diet, e.g. only eating vegetables, will work for a short while but it simply isn't possible to keep such a diet going. Most people fail within a few days or simply cheat from day one. Unless your diet is particularly unhealthy, e.g. involving lots of sugary food, don't change what you eat simply try to eat less of it, less often. A lot of fad diets are spectacularly boring and the human palate likes variety. Fad diets are a recipe for failure.

Change your routine to make food less accessible

This doesn't mean put a padlock on the fridge! Instead, don't have periods where you are bored around the house. Get out and about, go for a long walk, take up a new hobby but occupy yourself and distract yourself from eating. If you work, it should be relatively easy to drop a few pounds after the holidays since you'll be naturally distanced from food and temptation.

Buy less food

This tactic is childishly simply. If you have guilty foods you know you either shouldn't eat, or should eat less often, then simply don't stock up on them. For example, don't buy biscuits. Try going a few days without bread in the house. Bread is very high in carbohydrates and is a great tempter to keep stuffing.

Try cooking different meals occasionally

Try out new recipes some days of the week. Recipes based on beans can be high in roughage and a great weigh of detoxifying and losing weight.

Don't crash diet

Above all don't go on a crash diet and starve a few pounds off. The weight will go straight back on as soon as you can no longer starve yourself. Crash diets come in different forms. One of the least successful is to starve yourself during the week and then eat normally, i.e. binge, at weekends thinking you deserve some treats after a hungry week. You'll never lose weight with this kind of diet.

Hopefully these tips will be useful and help you lose weight. Early January is the best time to think about losing weight since most people are feeling over-stuffed from Xmas. Try being strong-willed and in a couple of weeks you'll soon have lost any weight gained over the Christmas break.