Lose Weight With One Change A Day

Recently I've been chatting with web entrepreneur Chris Pirillo about weight loss. Chris has been keeping up a steady pace of weight loss by counting calories and exercising fairly regularly. Yet even Chris experiences a day that ends with a "F*ck it!" and an extra helping of something or other. We all do.

What if you want to lose weight, but you're in no real big hurry to do it? You want it, but slow and steady, at nothing more than one pound a week. Is there anything you can do that doesn't take a dramatic shift in diet or routine, and doesn't involve an expensive magic pill?

I'm been reading Michael Pollan's, "In Defense of Food", the sequel to "The Omnivore's Dilemma", and Chapter Four lists most of the tips I tell my clients at Seattle Direct Counseling if they just want to make a change at a time towards healthier eating and subsequent weight loss.

Here's the skinny on those tips, with my additions [in brackets]:

1. Pay more, eat less. [By paying for higher quality food, you're likely to need and eat less].
2. Eat Meals. [Eat real meals, and snack less. At the very least, don't eat meal-sized snacks].
3. Do all your eating at a table. [And the computer desk does not count as a table. See #7]
4. Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does. [Corn is biodiesel. Get rid of it.]
5. Try not to eat alone. [You're less likely to binge, and you eat slowly and enjoy eating]
6. Consult your gut. [Learn internal cues to satiety and satisfaction].
7. Eat slowly. [Your brain needs more time to figure out you're full]
8. Cook, and if you can, grow a garden. [You're more likely to know what's in your food, and you can learn to portion it correctly].

You can try instituting one of these tips a day, and see what effect it makes. For example, take your lunch to work, but eat in a public space with other co-workers, and chat it up. Or with Tip #2, skip your office's doughnuts offered as mid-meal snacks, and have a small apple and sparkling water available if everyone else is standing around eating and you feel legitimately hungry.

None of these tips are designed to give you fast weight loss, but all of them are safe, and all of them are associated with the habits of the most health-conscious and lower weight cultures on the planet.

I'll be putting together my best weight loss tips for you in an eBook soon. In the meantime, let me know how any of these tips from Pollan's books are working for you to either help you lose weight slowly over time, or maintain a healthy lifestyle.