These tips have been around for a long time and were tested in scientific studies. They are quick and easy to implement and I thought they were VERY interesting as a way to lose weight.

Tip #1 to Eat Less: Use smaller plates, bowls and spoons — Several studies have confirmed what older folks have know for a long time. It has been proven that the size of the plate, bowl or spoon that you use can directly influence how much food and calories you consume. Bigger plates cause people to eat more.

Richard Wiseman, in the book 59 Seconds, talks about one study conducted where party guests were randomly given either 17 or 34-ounce bowls and 2 or 3 ounce spoons, and allowed to help themselves to ice cream. It was found that the party guests given the large spoons and large bowls ate 14% and 31% more ice cream respectively, than the people using the smaller spoons or smaller bowls. How’s that for an interesting statistic?

Another study at the University of Pennsylvania used a bowl of M&Ms left in the hallway of an apartment building with a sign next to the bowl that told people to help themselves to the M&Ms. Some days a tablespoon sized scoop was used in the M&Ms and on other days, a larger scoop was used in the bowl. The researchers found that the larger scoop caused people to take TWICE the amount of M&Ms on average compared to the people that had used the smaller scoop.

Other studies referenced in the past that showed that people who used larger plates consumed more calories than those using smaller plates.

These studies indicate that using smaller plates, bowls, and silverware can cause you to inadvertently reduce your calorie intake. This also means saying NO to seconds and thirds!

Tip #2 to Eat Less: Eat your food slowly. — You’ve probably heard that eating slower can help you to eat less because it gives time for the fullness signal to reach your brain and shut off your appetite before you’ve eaten too much.

This may be true, but a study found a twist on this old saying!

According to Mr. Wiseman in the book “59 Seconds, a study at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center had overweight participants eat a meal at 3 different speeds:

a) their normal rate
b) half their normal rate
c) their normal rate at first, followed by half their normal rate (normal-slow combo)

The results were interesting… Eating at the slower rate caused the men to eat less, but not the women (that’s weird!). However, the 3rd group that combined the normal pace at first with the slower rate after that caused both the men and women to have a large reduction in their appetite and eat less. The normal-slow combo was found to be more effective than just the slow-only group. I have no idea why it worked out this way, but the results are interesting.

Mr Wiseman stated that the lesson learned here to eat less is “to start at your normal speed but savor each and every mouthful”. I think what he means is to slow down and enjoy each mouthful of food without overeating.

Tip #3 to Eat Less: Chocolates or other sweets — According to the book “59 Seconds”, a series of experiments conducted in offices compared putting chocolates right on people’s desks vs placing the chocolates six feet away. In another experiment, the chocolates were put inside either transparent or opaque jars.

The results showed that when the chocolates were on the person’s desk instead of 6 feet away, people ate on average 6 more chocolates per day per person. Also, the chocolates in the transparent jars were eaten 46% more quickly than the opaque jars.

This experiment just proves… food out of sight is food out of mind! Every nutritionist in the world will recommend never having junk food around your house at all. If the junk food is not there, you’re never tempted by it and you’re forced to only eat healthy foods. But, if you are following a diet from “The Truth About Abs“, then you can use your weekly cheat meals to eat junk food at a restaurant. That way, junk food is never in your house to begin with!

Tip #4 to Eat Less: Avoid eating by the television — Studies have found that when people are distracted by TV, movies, games, or other distractions, they eat significantly more than when they don’t have distractions. In one experiment mentioned in the book “59 Seconds”, people who were more absorbed by a movie ate significantly more popcorn compared to those who were paying less attention to the movie.

In another experiment, people who actively listened to a detective story during lunch (being distracted by the story), ate 15% more food than those who sat in silence during their lunch.

The lesson to be learned — ditch the TV and avoid other distractions when you eat your meals. Instead, focus on your food! Go back to trick #2, enjoy every bite of your food and you will naturally consume less calories while enjoying your food more.

Get more diet and exercise tips to lose weight fast by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist and Author of The Truth About Six Pack Abs

A copy of Mr. Wiseman’s book can be gotten by following this link 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot (Borzoi Books).

Setting realistic goals must be the primary concern because unrealistic goals will not be achieved and this can result in depressing the person having the weight loss plans. Set small plans so that it is achieved. This will motivate you to stick to your plans.

Preparation is the key to success in any weight loss plan. You must stop consuming all those food articles that can hamper your weight loss plans. Preparing your mind for making that sacrifice is the most important thing to do. The best thing to do is avoid being in the vicinity of such foodstuffs so that you do not have the tendency to cheat on your weight loss regime.

Rewarding yourself while completing the levels of weight loss plans is a great thing to do as this will keep you motivated in sticking to the weight loss plans. Breakfast is the most significant meal of the day and skipping this meal is not advisable especially when you are following a weight loss regime.

Exercising is also important, as it will help you in burning the additional calories. Proper diet and exercises are the most important constituents of any weight loss plan. This is why a lot of exercises must be added on to your regime. Keeping these tips in mind can help you attain great results.

There are many products offered in the market for managing the hunger of dieters. Protein shakes are one of the highly sought after product coming under this category. They can act as replacement meals. Taking more protein will also help you in burning your accumulated fat too.

A diet rich in fiber content can also be extremely good for dieters. The fiber content in the diet will help you to control the hunger as it will keep you stomach full for a long period. It also aids in maintain a normal blood sugar level. For this, you can add a lot legumes and nuts in your diet. Eggs are also great ingredients for this diet as it is rich in protein content.

You can also rely on the various appetite suppressants available in the market. It will help you in controlling the hunger as it initiates a reduction mechanism in the human body. The presence of anti-oxidants in these appetite suppressants is the causative factor for this effect in the human body. It does not matter the way in which you are curbing the hunger. Importance lies in the fact that the excess hunger is curbed so that the weight loss efforts are not ending up miserably.

If you plan on making significant changes in your diet or planning on using supplements in your diet plan, it is a wise thing to consult with your doctor to make sure there are no side effects that will put your health at risk.

• Maintain a daily exercise and food log – while you are on a weight loss program, keep a record of how much you exercise and how much you eat each day. Keeping track of how many calories you consume will make you more conscious and motivate you to lose more weight.
• Do not check your weight too often – while trying to lose weight, check your weight at regular intervals like once a week or a month. If you check your weight on a daily basis, make sure to check it at the same time every day. Maintain a graph of the changes that take place each time.
• Follow your diet plan – Make sure you make the right food choices and most importantly eat an appropriate quantity of it. Following these two rules strictly will lead to very quick and noticeable weight loss.

Besides these, some other tricks to shed those excess pounds is to avoid skipping meals, exercise regularly and sleep well.

All of these tips will help keep you on the right track to losing all the weight you want. They generally work on any and every body type and are extremely easy to follow.

A healthy diet plan is nothing more than selecting the right type and right quantity of food that will help to lose excess weight. There are certain tips that can be used which one can follow on a diet plan to lose weight. Some of the tips are:

1. Increase water intake

Water is basic need of life. It is responsible for proper functioning of body parts of a living being. As a basic requirement a person who weighs about 100 kilo should drink 1.5 to 2 litres water per day. This is the basic requirement of weight loss through diet.

2. Increase intake of fibrous food

As the name indicates fibrous food means food such as green leafy vegetables, and certain fruits which are rich in fibre. Fibrous food helps create appetite and also proper digestion of stomach. But one has to take the right quantity to follow a diet pattern.

3. Reducing foods rich in fat

As each and every one of us know that excessive intake of fatty foods leads to overweight. The favourite example of this kind is certain dairy products and certain animal meat, which form the part of saturated fat. Hence one needs to reduce fatty food by avoiding saturated fatty foods and intake unsaturated fatty foods. Some of example of unsaturated fatty foods is skimmed milk, peanut butter, boiled cooked chicken meat etc.

4. Restrict your sugar intake

The intake of sugar does not seriously bring any change in the diet pattern. Sugar generally provides more calories when taken. Hence to be on a safer diet it is always better to minimize the intake of sugar.

By following these basic tips one might lose weight through diet and get away from the psychological drawback of being obese.