25 Best Ever Weight Loss Tips

1. Turn off the screen
Getting away from your desk to eat lunch will help keep your stomach trim. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found those who ate their lunch at their desks ate twice as many calories than those without work distractions. Memory, the research shows, is vital to modulating appetite, and eating while distracted impairs your brain's ability to process calorie intake, so take fifteen minutes out to focus solely on your food to curb cravings.

2. Skip that second drink
Apart from the empty calories there is another reason why you shouldn't imbibe too many alcoholic drinks. Knocking back the equivalent of two glasses of wine (or two beers or two mixed drinks) slows down your fat burning by a massive 73%. According to researchers at the University of California this is because your liver converts the booze into acetate. . Consequently, when acetate levels rise, your body simply burns more acetate, and less fat. In essence, acetate pushes fat to the back of the queue.

3. Eat breakfast (always)
Skipping breakfast sends your body into starvation mode, so your metabolism slows right down to conserve energy. So what breakfast treats should you be eating that are slow to digest and leave you feeling fuller for longer? Try a mix of lean protein with complex carbohydrates and healthy fats - such as an egg white omelet and half a cup of oats mixed with a quarter cup of frozen berries followed by a teaspoon of omega-3 loaded fish oil.

4. Sip java
Make sure you don't skip your morning trip to Starbucks, as a cup of the coffee can increase your metabolic rate by up to 16%, according to a study published in the journal Physiology & Behavior. Caffeine stimulates your central nervous system by increasing your heart rate and breathing. Just make sure you skip the sugar and opt for a straight filter coffee.

5. Eat dessert
No really. "A small amount can signal that the meal is over," says Barbara Rolls, author of The Volumetrics Eating Plan. This doesn't give you carte blanche to end your meal with a massive cream cake though - it is recommended that you end your meal with a small piece of high-quality dark chocolate.

6. Paint it blue
If possible eat your dinner in a blue room; the colour is meant to be a natural appetite suppressant. Blue lights make food look less appealing, while warmer colours such as yellow have the opposite effect. Fast food restaurants have known this for years - which is why almost all of them have yellowish interiors - they want you to consume more food.

7. Go further with Fartlek
Fartlek involves jogging for 1min 30 seconds followed by running hard for 30 seconds, and decreasing the recovery jog by 15 seconds each time and you don't need a treadmill to reap the rewards of this Fartlek-style running. Simply pick a landmark - for example a tree, lamp-post, or phone box - and run to it hard, then jog for a few seconds until you've recovered, then pick another landmark and so on. This random approach tricks your metabolism into working harder, and actually burns more fat then just running at a continuous pace.

8. Pop pills
If you combine regular exercise with fish-oil supplements, it increases the activity of your fat-burning enzymes according to a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Look for brands containing at least 300 milligrams of the fatty acid EPA and 200 milligrams of the fatty acid DHA per capsule and pop two of these two hours before your workout.


9. Keep a food diary if you want to drop the fat.
In their 2008 survey of 1,685 overweight or obese adults, investigators at the Kaiser Permanente Centre for Health Research in the US found the most powerful predictor of a subject's ability to lose weight was how many days per week they kept their food diary. Focus on portion size especially and you'll be surprised how much you overeat. Remember, a 'portion' of veg is the size of your fist or a tennis ball; a portion of rice or pasta should fit on the palm of your hand; a portion of meat should be no bigger than a pack of cards.

10. Picture yourself
Keep a picture of yourself on your refrigerator door at both your original and current weight. Or hang photos of women who inspire you. Either way, every time you reach for a bite, you'll see a reminder of why you should stick with healthy foods.

11. Eat half a grapefruit
Maybe there is something in the grapefruit diet after all. Scripps Clinic researchers found that half a grapefruit before each meal helped dieters to lose between 3.3 and 10 pounds over the course of 12 weeks. The scientists are not sure why this works as the same amount of calories were being eaten, but they think that it may have some sort of fat-burning effect. At only 39 calories per half it's definitely worth a shot.

12. Go green
Green tea has been called deemed a 'metabolism potion' and it's not hard to see why. It contains a plant compound called ECGX which helps promote fat burning. According to research, consuming two to four cups of the green stuff per day could help you burn an extra 50 calories a day.

13. Burn extra calories by chewing gum
A study published in the journal Appetite found that gum-chewers ate 36% fewer calories each time they snacked because their appetite had been sated. Chewing gum burns eleven extra calories per hour. That's 19% more calories than just sitting in front of your computer screen. While that doesn't sound like a lot, if you chew for four hours daily it adds up to 4.5lbs per year. And that's without counting the calorie savings from the snacks you're not eating

14. Grab some metal
Your period can throw a spanner into your metabolic machine every month as you lose iron during menstruation which is the mineral that helps carry oxygen to your muscles. If your muscles don't get enough O2 your metabolism starts to slow down, so stock up on iron-rich foods such as spinach and broccoli every month.

15. Drink milk
Here's a way to feel better about having the occasional off-day. Wash your meal down with a glass of skimmed milk. According to the University of Copenhagen, calcium may help reduce the amount of saturated fat your body absorbs by up to 80 calories. Like fibre, calcium binds with fat molecules and helps flush them out through the intestine. Supplements don't have the same effect.

16. Make a stand
When you talk on the phone, get to your feet and stand for the duration of it. You won't think of it as exercise, but it can help you burn as much as 54 calories for every 20-minute conversation. Just an alteration that burns as little as 100 calories a day can start you on the road to weight loss.

17. Eat with your other hand
Picking up a fork with the hand you don't usually use automatically slows you down and makes you focus on your meal, meaning you will consume it slower and will be therefore less likely to overeat. Studies have also shown that with regular practice, this kind of switch can also increase your overall willpower, meaning if you're offered a cookie by a work colleague you are more likely to say no

18. Follow a plate pattern
Make sure your evening meal follows this ratio, one quarter of your plate should be lean protein like poultry, fish or eggs. The rest should be plant food. And make sure your veggies are a diverse mix of colours - as each colour signifies a different nutrient. This will guarantee you eat a well-balanced and nutrient-rich meal every evening.

19. Run to feel fuller
Exercising to lose weight may not be the most revolutionary notion but Brazilian scientists have found that exercise heightens the activity of your neurons that control feelings of fullness; ensuring you eat slowly and steadily. A 30-minute pre-work jog may leave you desperate for breakfast but it'll also stop you reaching for the sweet jar later on.

20. Go fish
Eat more of Nemo's pals to lose weight. Fatty fish like tuna and salmon are loaded with omega-3 fatty acids which quash hunger. Healthy fats trigger the "I'm full" signal to your brain quicker according to the National Institutes of Health, meaning you are less likely to overeat.

21. Get an early night
If you're not getting enough Zzzs you're throwing off the amounts of appetite-regulating hormones that your body produces. According to researchers at Stanford University people who hit the sack for less than 7.5 hours per night experienced an increase in the Body Mass Index (BMI). So make sure you hit that snooze button.

22. Downsize your plate
You might think you look daft but eat your food off a saucer-sized plate (about 6 inches in diameter) but keeping it small can help you lose weight. A study from Cornell University found that people who ate off smaller plates believed they were eating an average of 18% more calories than they actually were. Those eating off dinner plates were under no such illusions - proving you really do eat with your eyes, not your stomach.

23. Take the stairs
Use stairs instead of escalators, get off the bus one stop earlier and leave the car at home for short trips. University of Virginia studies show you can lose weight four times quicker by adding light bursts of exercise - up to 30 minutes in total - to your daily schedule.

24. Pack protein in your packed lunch
Cramming protein into every meal helps build and maintain lean muscle mass. Muscle burns more calories than fat does, even at rest. Protein is also more satiating than fats or carbs (aim for about 30 grams of protein at each meal), and the best source? Turkey. It has the fewest calories per ounce of any animal protein and contains the amino acid leucine, which keeps the metabolism running at full speed.

25. Guzzle ice cold water
Chase your morning coffee with a glass of ice-cold H2O. Researchers at the University of Utah found that volunteers who drank eight to 12 glasses of water a day had higher metabolic rates than those who only drank four. Keeping it ice-cold also helps stoke your metabolism as your body has to burn more calories to heat the liquid up to core temperature.