Tips for Weight Loss Success

1. Eat palm-sized portions.

Forget about counting your calories or weighing your food. You’ll do well to eat  portions the size of your palm. That doesn’t mean the whole meal needs to fit into your palm, but each component of it should.

2. Eat five colors a day.

Eating five colors a day will help ensure you get a good balance of nutrients. This means eating bright colors (sorry, M&Ms don’t count) and limiting your whites and browns, which are typically the colors of processed foods. Fruits and vegetables tend to be colorful and packed with nutrients (with the exception of cauliflower, which despite its pallor is plenty good for you).

Dull-colored processed foods, on the other hand, are full of chemical ingredients including artificial flavorings and additives. White bread and rice should also be largely avoided, and since there are so many other grains available this shouldn’t feel like a big sacrifice.

3. Be consistent.

Kirkpatrick doesn’t believe in “cheat days,” a diet strategy where you’re allowed to eat whatever you want one day a week, which some think makes a diet more sustainable. That’s because many people’s favorite foods are salty or sugary and high fat (read: very addictive) and eating them in unlimited portions once a week can make it hard to get back on track.

Instead, she tells clients to eat good-quality calories 85% of the time every day. With the other 15%, you can eat foods that aren’t quite as good for you, such as white rice if that’s your thing. “Good” calories confer nutrients; they tend to be less processed than “bad” calories—think brown rice or quinoa versus white rice.

4. Get adequate sleep.

You might as well throw all the above tips out the window if you’re getting less than six hours of sleep a night. Research has shown that sleep deprivation can make it very difficult for us to control our appetites.

Fitness

Exercise tips from Jeanette DePatie, a Los Angeles-based licensed fitness professional who is known as The Fat Chick.

1. Make peace with your starting point.

Often, when people start exercising after a long hiatus, they find themselves upset that they’re not starting from where they left off. There’s often a little grieving process that happens when people realize that they’re not where they used to be, fitness-wise. It’s important to acknowledge these feelings then work to move past them.

2. Rock your block.

A great way to determine your new exercise starting point is to see how many times you can walk around your block. Sure, it might be a bit repetitive, but if you crank up your favorite tunes on your iPod, it can be fun. And it beats walking for 10 blocks in one direction, realizing that’s your limit, then having to hitch a ride back home. DePatie’s website has tips on how to begin this exercise.

3. Build up gradually.

Often, new exercisers start off with too much intensity. This can lead to injuries and burn out. A good rule of thumb is to start off gradually and to make sure you don’t increase the frequency, intensity or duration of exercise by more than 10% a week. For example, if you exercise for 100 minutes one week, exercise for no more than 110 the next week.

4. Grab some buddies.

Friends can make exercise more fun, and help hold you accountable to your goals. A welcoming exercise class can also do the trick. In her classes, DePatie fosters an environment where everyone can go at their own pace. When one heavyset man first joined her class, his entire workout consisted of getting from his car up the steps to the second-floor studio. He sat and caught his breath during the class and joined the group for the cool-off. He stuck with it and was gradually able to exercise for the full hour (and even better than that, to take his wife dancing for the first time in 25 years).