Slim down the simple way.
6. Choose whole foods instead of processed foods.
Give your body the nutrients it needs to lose weight. Ditch the processed foods! This includes boxed dinners, bagged snacks, and refined grains (I’m looking at you sugary cereal!).
Instead, focus on clean foods filled with nutrients. Plan your menu using clean-eating recipes like these 7 Skinny Dinner Entrees, or our Top 15 Clean Slow Cooker Recipes. Start the day with some whole eggs and veggies. Snack on apples and clementines. Your body will quickly start feeling more energized.
7. Don’t skip meals.
It’s common for people trying to lose weight to skip meals. The problem is that when your body starves, it starts craving sugary, fatty, calorie-packed foods. One skipped meal of whole grains and proteins means you might end up doubling the calories at dinner.
We often justify our bad choices, thinking that since we skipped lunch, we can get that milkshake and those extra large garlic fries guilt-free. When you actually do the math, it turns out your skipped lunch cost you progress.
To maximize weight loss, commit to eating three healthy meals and two nutrient-filled snacks daily. While this might vary from person to person, this general guideline is a good place to start.
Fill your menu with tasty dishes like Caprese and Smashed Avocado Toast or Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl. And check out these 7 Best Weight Loss Meal Plans to get an idea of what a day’s worth of food should look like.
8. Get moving.
You don’t need to break a sweat with a workout to burn calories. Take every chance you can to move your body. Crank out a few sit-ups during a TV commercial rather than staying on the couch,  walk to a colleague’s office instead of sending a text, and take the stairs rather than the elevator.
There are several good ways to track your movement throughout the day. Fitness watches are some of the best known. Nevertheless, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars to get moving. Most smart phones come with pedometers to track your steps. Aim to reach 10,000 steps each day.
If you need a little help reaching your goal, get some inspiration from these tips to reach 10,000 steps.
9. Add weight to your workout.
Adding weight to exercise forces muscles to work harder. In turn, that burns more calories and raises the metabolism for more efficient fat burn.
Your body uses more calories to maintain muscle than it does to maintain fat tissue. What this means is that two people weighing 150 lb. might not burn the same amount of calories throughout the day. The person with more muscle mass burns more calories.
Increase your muscle mass to raise the number of calories you burn while at rest. It’s the diet-free way to lose weight!
Check out this beginner weight lifting workout that shows you basic moves you can do with dumbbells.
10. Start each meal with one full serving of vegetables.
Fresh veggies and healthy vegetable recipes offer a low-calorie way to fill your stomach before you hit the meal’s protein and carbohydrates. Similar to drinking water before a meal, starting with vegetables helps you eat fewer calories.
It can be as simple as eating a salad before each meal. Make it a rule to always have a tasty low-calorie vegetable dish on your dinner plate. Try something like this Super Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice or this 4-Ingredient Roasted Broccoli.
And those are our 10 most important steps for healthy long-term weight loss. Forget all about fad diets the block out whole food groups. Just focus on eating right and making the healthy decision whenever possible. Your body will thank you and you might find that losing weight wasn’t as hard as you thought!
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