Top 5 Weight Loss Secrets

By Lindsey House, RD LD Certified Personal Trainer through the American Council on Exercise

Everyone is looking for a weight loss secret. In reality, a few pearls of wisdom do exist. Here are five tips that are sure to help you achieve success.

Secret Number 1:  Do not skip meals or planned snacks!
You should aim to eat every 2-4 hours. When you skip a snack or meal, you lose an opportunity to increase your metabolism and the feeling of starvation may overtake you before your next eating opportunity. When you allow yourself to get too hungry, it is easier to eat fast, eat too much, and make poor food choices. Those easy to grab chips may be an irresistible temptation. Your goal should be to start every meal and snack feeling completely in control.

Secret Number 2: Avoid grazing.
This term refers to a behavior that could sabotage your weight loss efforts. Grazing is the act of never sitting down to a meal, but instead, grabbing little bites of food all day long. Grazing calories really add up which could be the difference between weight loss, maintaining your weight or gaining weight. Write out a meal/snack schedule and do not eat until a specified time.

Secret Number 3: Pace your food portions throughout the day.
It is easy to watch your portions during the day and rack up calories while relaxing in the evening. Does this sound like you? Your breakfast and lunch are small but your dinner is large followed by evening grazing. The problem with this behavior is that even if your total number of calories for the day looks good, you are consuming the majority of calories right before going to bed. Don’t be afraid to bulk your calories earlier in the day, so you are not hungry in the evening. 

Secret Number 4:  Alcohol may not be for you.
Remember, based on your stage postoperatively, you should either avoid alcohol or drink small amounts responsibly. Based on your surgical procedure, alcohol can be quickly absorbed leading to intoxication.

Additionally, calories from alcohol can add up quickly. Four ounces of wine ranges from 62 to 160 calories. Keep in mind, larger wine glasses can hold up to three times this! Beer consumption is easier to keep track of because beer comes in a pre-portioned container. A 12 ounce beer can range from 100 to 200 calories. One and a half ounces of liquor is approximately 115 to 200 calories. Be sure to keep track of these calories and remain consistent with the guidance from your bariatric program. 

Secret Number 5: This is the biggest secret to losing weight…EAT!
This cannot be emphasized enough. You must eat throughout the day to have weight loss success. It’s understandable that you might not be hungry or you may even feel nauseated about food in the morning; there are ways to work around these barriers. Protein shakes and high protein bars can be a great option for a quick morning jump start.

You are now armed with five top secrets so go ahead and assess if you can make some changes to commit to your weight loss success.