Top 12 Tips to Keep Your Weight-Loss Goals

You started a diet just in time for summer. But now that bikini season is almost over, is your willpower fading? Are cravings kicking in? I have 12 tips to help you stay on track long past summer. Plus, test your food portions IQ…

Any way you slice it, dieting is a challenge. But little tricks can help you stick to your goal and shed pounds – and keep them off. Here are my top 12 tips to keep you motivated:

1. Cheat
Give your diet a rest for a day. It’ll help you lose weight faster. Really.

Cheating helps weight loss by manipulating leptin, the powerful “anti-starvation” hormone. It fluctuates with calorie intake. Low levels of leptin tell the brain that you’re not eating enough (causing the body to preserve fat as a starvation protection mechanism). Normal to high leptin levels signal the body to use fat as an energy source.

Leptin levels plummet when a person diets (by about 50% after only one week). But it takes only a day of splurging to bring levels back to baseline.

So each week, take a one-day vacation from your diet to enjoy your favorite foods.

2. Scale Back
If you like to torture yourself, weigh yourself every day. If not, step on the scale only once a week – at most.

Body weight fluctuates throughout the day because of shifts in food weight, body-water balance, hormonal changes, etc. If you step on the scale daily (or several times a day), you’re just setting yourself up for disappointment. You could be doing everything right, but a simple shift in water balance could have you weighing a pound more the next day.
In reality, weekly measurements are much more reliable, as long as you’re consistent in your measuring method. This means always using the same scale and always weighing yourself at the same time of day.

3. Pig Out on Low-Cal Foods
Lose weight and feel full? Yeah, right, you’re thinking. Well, the secret lies in choosing high-volume, low-calorie foods.

Take pasta, for example: Spaghetti and other pastas pack a considerable caloric punch (220 calories per cup, and that doesn’t even include the sauce). But a cup of green beans totals only 27 calories, half of which are fiber. Do the math: You’d have to consume more than 8 cups of green beans to equal the calorie content of a single cup of pasta.

Research has shown that total volume, not calories, determines how full someone feels after a meal. By eating foods with a high-volume-to-low-calorie ratio – such as fruits, vegetables, salads and lean proteins – you can consume fewer calories while upping your overall satisfaction with meals.

Conversely, foods like pastas, pizza, fast food, bagels, breads and potatoes all cram tons of calories into a small space.

So cut back on high-calorie dishes and pick lower-calorie, higher-volume foods.

4. Get Portable
In our busy lives, eating three meals a day – and healthy snacks in between – is hard. Here's one way to make it easier: Choose portable items, especially for those between-meal snacks. Here are some examples of ready-to-eat healthy snacks:

Fruit: Full of phytochemicals, fiber, vitamins, low-glycemic carbohydrates and many other nutrients, fruit is one of the best foods you can reach for.

Beef jerky: High protein, extremely portable and delicious!
Nuts: Just be careful not to overdo it. Take only a small handful, then close the lid.

Click here for the 5 healthiest nuts.

Meal replacement shakes: Simply add water and mix, and you’ll have a meal to go. For even less prep, pick up ready-to-drink versions.

5. Never Eat Carbs Alone
When was the last time you ate a plate of pasta for dinner or a bowl of cereal for breakfast? Last night? This morning?

Don’t beat yourself up. Carb-heavy meals are common and contribute to our nation’s obesity epidemic.

Why are carbs a problem? When starchy foods (think breads and pasta) are consumed by themselves, lots of sugar is rapidly released into your blood. The dramatic rise in blood sugar results in an equally massive surge of the storage hormone insulin, and fat burning comes to a screeching halt.

Fortunately, you can easily circumvent this by substituting protein for some of the meal’s carb content. Combining nutrients slows carbohydrate digestion, yielding a more stable, steady release of sugar into the blood.

6. Grab a Late-Night Snack
Believe it or not, a pre-bedtime snack can be good for you – if it’s done right.

However, you can’t reach for that piece of leftover cake, cookies or chips. Instead, pick up a slow-digesting source of protein, such as chicken, fish or turkey. These low-carb, high-protein choices won’t give you an insulin boost (the major reason after-dinner snacks are discouraged) and will fuel muscle tissue as you sleep.

For example, if you finished dinner at 7 p.m. and then ate nothing until the next morning at 7 a.m., you just went a full 12 hours without feeding your muscles. That’s a sure recipe for muscle loss, especially when you’re dieting.

A protein snack may help you sleep better, too, because many proteins – like turkey – are rich in tryptophan, an amino acid that relaxes mind and body.

7. Fill Up On Half the Portion
It’s possible to cut your daily calorie intake, fill your belly and improve overall health all at once. The key is to fill half your plate with vegetables.

Veggies are low in calories and high in fiber, so you’ll automatically decrease the caloric value of your meal and satisfy hunger. You’ll also add loads of vitamins, minerals and health-boosting antioxidants and phytochemicals to your daily diet.

So what to pile on the other half of the plate? A portion of lean protein and another of slow-digesting carbohydrates, such as fruit, beans or whole-grain rice. Remember: 1/4 lean protein + 1/4 slow-digesting carbohydrates + 1/2 veggies = healthy weight loss.

8. Beat Belly Fat
Why is it that most people tend to store fat in their love handles and tummy?

Blame it on the stress hormone cortisol. People with high cortisol levels have higher amounts of belly fat. Those with lower levels tend to be leaner.

The No. 1 way to cut cortisol is with a solid exercise and stress-management program. The easy way is taking nutritional supplements.

One compound called phosphatidylserine, also known as PS, has been shown to reduce high cortisol levels by up to 30%.

Take 800 mg of this supplement (available in pill form) split over two doses − 400 mg in the morning and 400 mg in the evening.

9. Empty Calories
Have you ever counted the calories you drink from juice, soda or other sweetened beverages? If you do, you’ll be surprised.

In a typical day, a person might drink a 12-ounce glass of orange juice, a couple of cups of coffee sweetened with sugar, a glass of sweetened iced tea and a soda. That adds up to a whopping 500 calories! And they don’t fill your belly, curb cravings or increase dietary satisfaction.

Regularly drinking sugar-rich beverages can easily tack on an extra 3,500 calories each week. That’s equivalent to one pound of fat!

The simple solution: If it has calories, don’t drink it. That includes fruit juice.

If you want the vitamin C in a glass of orange juice, eat an orange – the actual fruit contains even more nutrients and fiber, and much less sugar. Go with calorie-free beverages such as plain water, flavored waters, “diet” teas, or other diet-friendly flavored drinks such as Crystal Light.

10. Count Fiber, Not Calories
Tired of counting calories? There’s an alternative: Watch your daily fiber intake instead. It works almost as well as calorie counting and is easier to manage. Why?

As you try to eat more fiber – shoot for 35 grams a day – you’ll automatically choose healthier foods and consume fewer calories. Foods high in fiber (such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains) are typically lower in calories as well.

Increasing dietary fiber will slow digestion and keep blood sugar and insulin spikes at bay throughout the day.

11. Substitute Teaching
Just because you’re dieting doesn’t mean you can't eat out. You can order almost anything on a menu when you learn proper substitution.

In the mood for a cheeseburger? You can get the flavor of a cheese-smothered, flame-broiled beef patty without all the calories. First, lose the processed bun and ask for a fork and knife. Second, substitute those greasy fries for a healthier side. Try fresh fruit, mixed vegetables or a side salad.

It may not be the same as a Whopper, but it will satisfy your craving.

12. Liquid snacking
Have an intense between-meal or late-night craving? Guzzle down a large glass of water. It’ll make you feel full and control the craving.

If you’re not a fan of plain H2O, try flavored or sparkling water. But make sure your beverage of choice is both calorie and sugar-free.

Some products labeled as “water,” such as Vitamin Water, are anything but. They pack loads of calories and sugar into each bottle.