No more diets! Lose weight and keep it off.
Throughout our lives, many of us struggle with weight fluctuations and diets that just won’t stick. Gale Compton’s (co-founder of SkinnyMs.com) own personal struggle continued, on and off, starting in her teenager years. Disappointing fad diets and disheartening weight gain were a part of Gale’s life, for most of her life. Like many people, she occasionally lost weight, but eventually gained it back. After becoming fed up with being overweight and out-of-shape, she came to the realization that if she wanted to get healthy, she would need to change her lifestyle forever.
You’re familiar with the cycle. You lose weight, feel great, and then return to your old habits, which guarantees that you’ll gain back the weight you’ve lost. For many, the cycle continues for years. In an effort to break this unhealthy cycle, she developed simple weight loss techniques that anyone can easily implement into their lifestyle. Once these changes have become a routine part of one’s life, weight maintenance is no longer the struggle it once was.
Gale knows from personal experience that women need practical tools and resources to make positive lifestyle changes. She has made it her mission to make these resources available to women of all ages, sizes, and fitness levels. Her recipes, shopping lists, menu plans, and fitness regimens are geared toward busy women who need realistic, wholesome, healthful solutions. She works tirelessly to spread her uplifting message, “If I can do it, so can you”!
If you are finally ready to lose unhealthy pounds and inches, and keep it off forever, read on. The plan described below is meant to last a lifetime. It’s not a temporary fix for weight loss. It’s a permanent one. Below, Gale has included the exact weight-loss techniques that she used, and still employs, to lose weight and maintain her goal weight.
Plan
Review the steps below, create a plan of action, write it down and keep it in a safe place where you can review it whenever you feel the need.
Toss the Junk
Through attrition, get rid of the processed foods in the pantry and fridge. If you finish a box of cookies, don’t replace it. When the bottled soda runs empty, recycle it, and don’t restock.
Related: 5-Daily Menus – How I’ve Maintained My Ideal Weight for 5 years
Read Labels
Read the labels of every food item you buy, and you’ll know exactly what you’re putting into your body. Soon, reading labels will become second nature and you will be able to scan a label in a matter of seconds.
Eat Real Food
Eat primarily whole foods. What is a whole food? It is minimally processed, if at all, without its nutrients and healthy fiber stripped away. It does not contain additives or preservatives. It’s as close to its natural state as possible. The fewer ingredients, such as preservatives, coloring, and additives, on a label, the better.
Avoid Refined Sugar and Flour
These ingredients are heavily processed and add calories without lending any nutritional value.
Skip the Artificial Sweeteners
To artificially produce a sweet taste, these products contain chemicals which are harmful to your body and may actually cause weight gain.
Drink Water
Drink plenty of water each day. I drink 4-5 (12 ounce) glasses of water each day. Avoid artificially flavored or sweetened water.
Move
Exercise 5-6 times each week. Your routines may include weight training and cardiovascular exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes per day.
Small Plates
Eat smaller portions and always eat on small plates. I recommend eyeballing your portion sizes. For example, the portions of your food should be approximately the size of the palm of your hand. That means ‘normal’ restaurant portions should to be cut down in size to fit on your smaller plate. To make it simple, use a salad size plate of about 7-inches in diameter.
Eat More Often
Eat three small meals and two to three snacks per day. Keeping your blood sugar level steady and your hunger in check will ensure that you don’t crave unhealthy snacks!
Journal It
Keep track of everything you eat by writing it down in a food journal. This process takes less than two minutes each day. I’ve timed how long it takes, so you have no excuse! Two minutes per day is well worth it!
Related: Lose 10 Pounds in 30 Days
Once you’ve gotten started, be sure to like our Facebook page and follow us on Pinterest for clean eating tips and healthy lifestyle resources.
Do you have any questions or comments for us, or favorite recipes from Skinny Ms.? We’d love to hear from you. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Amazing! I would love to try this …. lord knows I need it, lol.
I am def going to try this. I can use to lose at least 30 pounds and have been trying everything unsuccessfully. The only thing I wish this page would do is make things in a printable version so its easier to follow!!!
Debbie, Thank you for the feedback. We'll definitely take this into consideration and will do our best to make lists printable. 🙂
I agree with Debbie, would love to be able to print this easily and put it up on my Frig — it's a great motivator, thanks for compiling it!
I agree with Debbie, I would love to be able to print this because I cannot remember everything here that I have read. Thank you
Hi, I recently found this website & I love it , I think it's great , I'm 30yrs old & I have an overweight problem 206lbs 🙁 I want to start working out & start eating healthy but I don't know what routines to do to start working out .I would like for you ladies to help me out if you wouldn't mind please, I would really appreciated , Thank You
Margie, All of our recipes are generally lower calorie, clean eating, and great for weight loss. Why don't you try one of our menu plans for weight loss? This one is great: https://skinnyms.com/21-day-no-diet-weight-loss-me… Here is a walk/run running program for absolute beginners: https://skinnyms.com/running-program-for-absolute-…. There's a free downloadable schedule. Also see this article about keeping a food journal: https://skinnyms.com/2-minutes-a-day-to-successful… and consider taking the Small Plate Challenge: https://skinnyms.com/skinny-plate-challenge/.
Thank you so much 🙂
This is almost exactly what I did. I'm not as faithful to the exercise anymore (or really at all). But I have cleaned out my pantry/fridge, read labels (sodium content was a biggie for me to look at too), I journal on MFP and try to keep it under 1450 cals a day. I've lost from 293 to 203 doing this (i saw 199 one day.. that was sweet), but I'm not willing to restrict my calories anymore than that. I occasionally cheat, but it's with my calorie count. I love the clean eating and don't really miss the other refined stuff… or at least I look at it like poison, so I'm afraid to take a chance on the uncontrollable cravings returning. I love your site… I catch most of your posts on facebook… Thanks for inspiration to keep on keeping on 🙂 Oh and I must add when temptation wants to rear it's ugly head 1st Corinthians 10:13 is a treasure for me.
Jennifer, Your story is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing it and for the advice:)!!
How can I follow you on facebook so that I don't miss your posts?
Hi Katie,
Here are a few options for you to see our new content. On Facebook, be sure to leave a comment here and there in order for us to show up in your newsfeed.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkinnyMs
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/skinnyms
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skinnyms
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+skinnyms/posts
Enjoy!!
What is your favorite recipe? Also how did you come up with the recipe?
Hailey, Hands down, my very favorite recipes are Momma’s Roadhouse Chili and Grandma’s Applesauce Cake for dessert. Of course, these are both recipes handed down from my mom and grandma, so they have special meaning as well. Give them a try and let me know what you think. 🙂
Ok thank you they both sound very good
I found this article really useful! I am trying my best to eat clean as I have always had issues with fluctuating weight, I’ll lose a load, then get discouraged when it starts to plateau but don’t know where to go from there. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Also one random question, is wholemeal/wholegrain bread okay to eat if I’m trying to eat clean??
Thanks!
Hi Hannah,
I’ve found that the key to eating clean as a lifestyle is to eat foods that you like, but learn how to make them clean. Every recipe on our site is clean. I definitely recommend using portion control, i.e. follow recommended serving sizes. Also, to avoid being hungry and over eating try the following: Eat three small meals each day and 2-3 healthy snacks; aways use salad size plates, always.
Regarding the bread, for me personally, I seldom eat bread but when I do, it’s always whole wheat or whole grain. I think of bread as a treat and indulge when we go out to eat. I hope this helps. 🙂