Maybe it’s your sister or your best friend or a colleague. I bet you know someone who’s lost weight—and kept it off. They look fantastic, they’re healthier than they’ve been in ages and they always seem to have plenty of energy. Here, they share their secrets.
1. Go slow. The weight didn’t come on overnight and it’s not going away overnight. The important thing is to start moving in the right direction.
Make your meals go slow, too. Husband-and-wife team Marilyn and Robert Kelley of Chelsea learned to take their time eating through UAB’s EatRight program. Marilyn, 67, says, “Eating more slowly lets my mind catch up to what I’ve eaten. I might be looking for dessert, but if I wait 15 or 20 minutes I’ll feel full and my head will know it.”
2. Be realistic. You’re not going to start working out every day and brown-bagging a healthy
lunch five days a week. Master a smaller step—perhaps a 10-minute walk most days and a healthier version of your typical lunch—and then build on your success.
3. Eat breakfast. “A lot of people don’t eat breakfast,” says Debbie Strong, MBA, R.D., UAB’s EatRight coordinator. Skip breakfast and you’ll pay for it at lunchtime, when you’re likely to take in too many calories to stave off the hunger that’s been building.
4. Write it down. Robert Kelley, 70, says he’s lost 30 to 40 pounds in the last three years. When
he wanted to change his diet he wrote down every calorie he ate for a month. “I don’t need to keep tracking it anymore, because now I can tell you in a second how many calories are
in the foods I eat,” he says.
5. Eat what you want. Learn how much to eat and the healthiest ways to prepare your favorite
foods. Accept that you’ll have cravings, and figure out how to work them into your plan. The Kelleys halve their favorite restaurant meals to keep their portions under control.
6. Get support. There’s a tendency in the United States to eat in times of stress. Develop a support network of friends to turn to instead.
7. Watch the liquids. People tend not to count—or notice—the calories in liquids. But they add up. Robert Kelley saw his weight start to drop when he gave up his after-work cocktails. And Strong says people take in a lot of calories with juice, coffee drinks and smoothies.
And a bonus tip—get the timing right. While you may be motivated to lose weight for a family wedding, tackling weight loss won’t come easily when you’re facing other big issues. Stick in maintenance mode until you finish the move, get settled in the new job or get back from vacation. “You’re fighting an uphill battle—wait until things settle down,” Strong says.
Don’t worry—you’ll be a loser yet.