Top 25 Tips to Acheiving a Healthy Weight

1. Wait at least 20 minutes before going back for seconds. It can take at least 20 minutes for the food you eat to affect the release of the hormone peptide YY in your gut that tells your brain that you are full.  Going back too soon for more food can make you overeat and gain weight. So enjoy your meal and company and you may find that in a few minutes your desire for more "seconds" will diminish.
2. Find a buddy to work out with.  If there is not someone close by you can workout with, consider a virtual work out partner.  This could be an “online” partner that you agree to check in with each day you exercise to keep each other on track. By creating your own support team and accountability you will find it harder to come up with excuses when exercise does not sound as appealing.  You may also find that helping someone else reach their health goals inspires and energizes you as well.
3. Plan your snacks and meals ahead of time so you are not tempted to buy quick processed foods such as those in vending machines.  If you wait until you are hungry you are much more likely to grab anything you can find to satisfy your hunger, and often this leads to over eating and feeling stuffed later.  Take a few minutes the night before or morning of to plan out healthy options to snack on at scheduled intervals during the day. This will not only improve your health and energy but will also save you time and money in the long run.
4. Half of every plate should be fruits and vegetables.  Most of us think of our main entrée of our meal as the meat but we need to change that thinking to making the vegetables and fruit the centerpiece.  By doing this you will be increasing the nutrient dense, calorie light foods and giving your body the antioxidants it needs to age well and maintain health.  You will also find that the fiber in the fruits and vegetables will fill you up and keep you from overeating high calorie foods later.
5. When you are hungry eat a vegetable, don’t starve yourself!  I do not believe in starvation diets and when I am hungry I never feel guilty about eating more vegetables as long as I do not add any unnecessary fat to the vegetables like butter or cheese sauces.  The vegetables will not only give you vital antioxidents but their fiber content will help fill you up and they are naturally low on the glycemic index so they won’t lead to a sugar high.  Most people don’t realize that it will take 20 large bins of spinach to equal the calories in one typical fast food meal and in over 13 years of practicing medicine I have never seen someone gain weight from eating too much steamed broccoli with lemon.
6. Get at least 7 hours of sleep a night.  When you don’t get enough sleep it makes your body even more resistant to insulin and more likely to gain weight.  Studies have shown that people who sleep less tend to eat more calories and have a higher percentage of their diet as carbohydrates to help boost their energy.  This, combined with insulin resistance, is a bad combination for those trying to obtain their healthy weight. 
7. Don’t reward yourself with food; pick a favorite activity instead. Beginning in childhood it is a very common practice to reward with a “treat” food that is often loaded in sugar or fat.  This programs our mind and body to associate good times with unhealthy food, so it is no surprise that when we feel down or want to celebrate, we crave junk food.  Break that association for you and your family by making rewards nonfood based such as giving yourself time to do an activity that you enjoy but often put off due to time or money.
8. Write down how your life will be better when you obtain your goal weight and keep that on your phone or in your purse or wallet so that you can read it when you feel tempted to not stick to your healthy lifestyle.  So much of our culture is designed to encourage us to buy food that is unhealthy or seek indulgences that take us away from our plans to exercise or spend time reducing our stress.  To combat those temptations keep this list close to you throughout the day so you can visualize how your life is going to change with your new lifestyle.
9. Buy smaller sized plates to reduce portion sizes.  It is amazing how what we see visually affects how we feel.  There is a reason that “all you can eat” buffets give you small plates, so you should do the same at home.  Seeing a full plate, albeit smaller one, will make you feel like you are getting a lot of food even though you are reducing your portion size.  In our world of supersized portions, use this strategy to reduce your portions and thus your calorie consumption for your meal.
10. Share your diet plan with a partner, family member or friend to get encouragement.  Once you share your plan with someone else it suddenly feels real.  Now those that care for you can be your ally keeping you from cheating and praising you for your success.  Often you will find that your plans and determination inspire them and they will join you in becoming healthier which makes the journey even more gratifying and worthwhile.
11. Write down everything you eat at least one day a week in a journal to keep tabs on food/beverages.  It is amazing how much we eat without even thinking.  It does not really matter how your journal but just the act of writing down what you eat and drink is associated with a significant improvement in weight loss.  When you have to stop and write down items you will be forced to consciously decide if you really want to follow through with what you are thinking of eating or if there could be better options to consider.  Share your food journal with a friend and you may get some great suggestions you never thought of before to get healthier.
12. Eat only whole foods or products made with whole foods.  If you can’t pronounce it or buy every ingredient listed in the store then don’t eat it.  This approach will reduce the amount of foods made with preservatives and thus reduce foods that tend to increase inflammation in your body.  One way to look at it is if God made it it’s probably good; if man made it then likely it’s not.
13. Eat healthy protein with every meal.  Ideally every meal should be balanced with healthy fats, quality carbohydrates, and lean protein.  Incorporating quality protein into each meal will help you keep your blood sugar steady and your hunger in check.  Quality protein can come in many forms and does not have to be animal based.  Greek yogurt, quinoa, brown rice and beans, and nuts are just a few examples to go along with more traditional sources of protein like eggs, fish, and skinless poultry that is not fried.
14. Don’t eat and watch TV because it leads to over eating.  When you are engrossed in a show you are not paying attention to how much you eat and before you know it, you ate more than you planned.  Another important point is that if you typically eat while watching TV then your mind and body will associate TV with food (think movie theater and popcorn) and anytime you turn on the TV you will be programmed to go to fridge for food.  Lastly, many programs on TV like the news are negative and if watching those programs makes you feel bad then this will hurt your digestion and your body’s ability to absorb nutrients from the food.  Eating peacefully and mindfully will help you stay in control of your nutrition.
15. Allow yourself one meal a week of anything you want regardless of its nutritional value and enjoy it without feeling guilty. Diets are not successful so make your relationship with food different.  If you are eating healthy food 80-90% of the time, the rest of the time is “on the house.”  This way no food is off limits and you can avoid cravings and feelings of deprivation that can sabotage your ability to stay with healthy eating.  When you eat less healthy food, do not tell yourself that the food is going to make you fat or go to your hips because your body is always listening to your mind and it will try to do what you tell it.
16. Drink hot or cold brewed green or white tea; do not buy already made bottled tea.  Brewed green tea has a powerful compound in it called EGCG. This has been showed to help your body burn fat, not muscle, raise HDL, and based upon initial studies, could be a part of an anti-cancer diet.  Commercial bottled versions often have sweeteners and other artificial ingredients, so brew your own tea.  There are many flavored green/white tea options that can give your beverage a unique taste and if you want to drink it cold make it up the day before and chill in overnight in the fridge.
17. Avoid products with high fructose corn syrup. Although in some circles this can be controversial, we are of the strong opinion that this is a very beneficial rule.  Due to government subsidies, high fructose corn syrup is a very cheap sweetener that is used to make certain products like flavored yogurt and juices extra sweet.  These sweet products unfortunately train our taste buds to expect and crave sweet stuff all the time thus leading to our over consumption of sugar with all its deleterious effects. In addition, there has been some basic science research suggesting that high fructose corn syrup is metabolized in the liver differently than sugar and this difference aggravates insulin resistance and fatty liver disease. 
18. Eat your most nutrient dense food first, i.e. your vegetables and fruit. By doing this you will be able to decrease the amount of high calorie food you eat later in the meal and also reduce the likelihood of going back for seconds.  If you are not in the habit of eating a lot of fruits and vegetables then eating them when you are most hungry will make it easier and help you retrain your test buds so that your enjoyment of them will increase over time.
19. Eat an apple, 5 almonds, and drink a glass of green tea prior to your biggest meal in order to reduce the amount you eat at your largest meal.  Many people over eat because they are so ravenous when they get to their meal that they scarf down the food to satisfy their hunger.  Unfortunately it takes time for the brain to send the “I’m full stop eating” signal, so if your eating quickly you will not get that signal until you have eaten more than you needed and you feel stuffed.  So start with a healthy appetizer 30 minutes prior to your meal and outsmart your hunger.  The fiber and protein in this will fill you up and curb you hunger. The hot tea will help your digestion and also stabilize your blood sugar so you won’t crave carbs later.
20. Exercise at least 3.5 hours a week and include muscle toning/building exercises in that program for at least 30% of the time.  Record your exercise in a journal so you can track your consistency with your plan.  One great thing about exercise is that it does not have to be done in large chunks of time, in other words you can individualize your plan to meet your schedule but ideally aim for 3.5 hours a week.  Including some activity to build muscle is important because increasing your lean body mass will increase your metabolism and reduce your insulin resistance. Finally, especially if you are new to exercise, be sure to record in some kind of journal the type of exercise and how long you performed it.
21. Avoid artificial sugars, use stevia or a small amount of regular sugar if needed.  It is really tempting to drink or eat products with artificial sugars because the calorie and sugar count are so low. Unfortunately, there are many studies that show the effect of drinking diet drinks with those sweeteners is just as bad as those made with sugar or high fructose corn syrup.  Some have tried to explain this by stating that when you eat something artificially sweetened your brain sends the signal that something sweet is coming down the hatch and your body releases the same insulin it would with sugar thus metabolically the effect is the same.  Furthermore, since your body did not actually get the sugar it was anticipating you may end up craving carbs and sugar the rest of the day.  If nothing else, consuming artificially sweetened food just further strengthens our addiction to sweet food and takes us away from enjoying other more subtle flavors.
22. Don’t eat on the run, instead, sit down and eat slowly with gratitude.  Eating on the run will lead to poor digestion and over eating.  In addition, your body will be in more of a fight or flight mode and won’t care about digestion.  This is a recipe for heartburn, bloating, and gas, none of which probably fit into your busy schedule.  Sitting down and taking a moment to be thankful for a break to eat good food will not only make you more productive later but will also help you maximize the nutrition from your food and use it for energy instead of storing it as fat because your stress hormones are high.
23. Spend at least 10 minutes a day on an activity that reduces stress.  We are used to thinking that we need to make time to exercise but how many of us take time to improve our emotional wellness?  Your emotional state may have a greater role in your health than either nutrition or exercise but we just don’t take the time to foster it.  It could be as simple as doing nothing but listening to music. Taking time to give your body and mind a “time out” could be the most important thing you do all day.
24. Do not drink your calories: no diet or regular sodas, sweet tea, or more than 3 ounces of fruit juice a day.  You would probably not eat a teaspoon of straight sugar, but that is what you are doing when you have one can of soda.  It is so easy to drink calories and not even be aware of what you are doing to your metabolism and weight.  It’s much more enjoyable and filling to eat your calories so try drinking chilled green or white tea or water flavored by lemon or limes.
25. Avoid all flour products like your typical bread, crackers, cereal, pretzels and eat only whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, steel cut oatmeal, or sprouted grain bread.  Think of each little pellet of flour as a mini sugar bomb waiting to go off in your intestine after you eat it.  Since flour has no protective coating, it digests very quickly which leads to a sudden release of sugar into your blood steam.  Intact whole grains will have their outer coatings which delay digestion in a time released fashion.  This keeps your sugar from spiking and bottoming which triggers more carb cravings.  In our clinical experience, avoiding flour products is one of the quickest and most straightforward ways to lose weight.