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Spring Weight Control Tips: 5 Easy Steps to accomplish your weight management goals

Posted: Mar 11 in Favorites, Weight loss, Weight Management Strategies by

The difference between gaining and losing weight can be as little as 50-100 calories per day. Any of the following tips can convert you from slowly gaining weight to slowly losing weight. These strategies can add up to 10 or more pounds of weight loss per year!

1) Drink 16 ounces of water before breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Clinical studies have shown that drinking a 16oz glass of water before meals was found to improve weight loss by 40%, while the “64 ounces per day” instruction was not found to impact weight loss. Before you eat your meal, drink your water!

2) Use an inconvenient restroom.

Many people find it hard to increase activity because there is no time left in the day to go to the gym. Instead, find ways to move around more during the day. Using a restroom far from your office (better yet – up 2-3 flights of stairs) can really help clear the cranial cobwebs and support your metabolism!

3) Increase protein, especially early in the day.

Oh yeah – and remember to eat 5 meals per day!

Focusing on eating less is probably the best way to GAIN weight, because it is a NEGATIVE goal. Instead, focus on eating MORE. A great way to do this is one of CNC’s protein supplements. 100-150 calories gets you 15 grams of protein and usually less than 10 grams of carbohydrate (or try our new Optifast HP – 200 calories, 26 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrate, available in chocolate or vanilla). Clinical data is clear – meal replacements do work both for weight loss and long-term maintenance. Our patients seem to do best by using a protein for breakfast, for a 3:00 PM meal, or both. This is also a great strategy to reduce nighttime eating.

4) Be accountable to yourself: Journal!

Mindless eating continues to be one of our biggest challenges. One of the best ways to conquer mindless eating and eat mindfully is by journaling. This has been reported as one of the most effective long term weight management strategies in the national weight control registry. We have added several new journal ideas to our web site that you can print out and use. Or, try CNC’s new professionally printed 2 month journal, available at our online store or at the office for only a few dollars ( to cover printing costs) .

5) Find something good to read.

What better way to get in the right mindset? We have posted a list of Reading Recommendations on our website. Or, if you’d like a structured approach, our new LES Modules from Optifast (lifestyle education series) are available to all patients at CNC, not just individuals on the Optifast programs. We have an 8 lesson series or a 21 lesson series. Again, these are available at the front office. Please check them out!

-Ethan Lazarus, MD

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