20 Tips for Weight Loss That Actually Work
If you’ve ever come across strange weight-loss suggestions—like drinking celery juice daily or swapping meals for special cookies—you’re not alone. While myths and gimmicks flood the internet, real, sustainable weight loss comes from science-backed strategies and expert advice.
We reached out to certified nutritionists, registered dietitians, and fitness professionals to bring you practical and effective tips to help you achieve a healthy weight.
Keeping a food journal may help you hit your goal weight.
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Over the years, you’ve probably heard your fair share of wacky weight loss recommendations, whether it’s to drink celery juice every day or replace your meals with weight loss “cookies.” While there’s an abundance of misguided advice, there are also many legitimate, research-backed tips for people who are in the right mental health space and have weight loss as a personal goal.
We spoke with nutritionists, registered dietitians, personal trainers, and other experts to give you the most effective and practical tips for weight loss. Here are 25 expert-approved and science-backed tips that can help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
1. Slow Down While Eating
“Take your time with each bite. Focus on flavors and chew thoroughly. Eating more mindfully helps you recognize when you’re full and enjoy your food more,” says a registered dietitian.
2. Savor What You Eat
Don’t force down foods you don’t enjoy. Instead, experiment with different produce and cooking styles to make meals both healthy and enjoyable.
3. Eat Slowly
“I have my clients learn how to choose foods they like, really taste each morsel going into their mouths, and chew deliberately. I advise them to chew slowly, swallow only when the food is all chewed up, and repeat. It takes time to know we're full. Eating slowly not only allows us to enjoy our food more but gives us better cues of satiety.”
4. Enjoy the Food You Eat
“So often we’re told what to eat, and then when we don’t like that specific food, we’re less apt to create long-term healthy habits. Try new fruits and vegetables. Find out how to prepare new dishes that provide variety and flavor. Add herbs and spices to elevate flavor. Or if you prefer, savor the sweetness of fruit and the depth of raw and steamed vegetables. There’s no reason that your relationship with food can’t be pleasurable.”
5. Keep a Gratitude or Mood Journal
Many people eat in response to emotions. Writing down what you’re grateful for—or journaling during stressful moments—can help reduce emotional eating.
6. Prep Meals Ahead of Time
Batch cooking saves time and helps you stick to healthy eating. Preparing meals for the week can prevent last-minute unhealthy choices.
7. Keep a Daily Gratitude Journal
“Our eating habits are sometimes connected to our emotions, whether we realize it or not. When we're stressed, we may use food to help cope with the stress. I work with clients on keeping a daily of things they're grateful for — or even just a journal to write in when stressed — so that they're better prepared to cope with the stress by acknowledging it and utilizing other tools, rather than reaching for food as a coping mechanism.”
Finding the right tools can make a big difference in your weight loss journey. Check out our curated list of the best weight loss apps to help you stay on track, set goals, and achieve your fitness objectives.
8. Batch Cook and Prep
“Every Sunday I batch cook my meals for the week. For breakfast, I combine oats, peanut butter, flax, and protein powder so all I need to do is add water and microwave. I also prepare lunches for the week and pack them in individual containers so I can grab one a day to bring to work.”
9. Incorporate Strength Training
Lifting weights 2-3 times a week builds muscle, which boosts your metabolism. More muscle means your body burns more calories, even at rest.
10. Prioritize Good Sleep
Lack of sleep messes with hunger hormones, often making you crave sugar and salty foods. A good night’s rest helps regulate appetite and decision-making.
11. Don’t Forget the Weights
“Make sure you are lifting weights or doing another form of strength training two or three times a week. Using moderate to heavy weights — three or four sets of 10 to 15 reps with weights that challenge you — helps increase your muscle mass. When you have more muscle on your body, the food you eat is more likely to be utilized as fuel, rather than be stored as fat. Research also shows that resistance training can make a weight loss plan more effective.”[1]
12. Get Enough Z’s
“A lack of sleep increases your hunger hormone, ghrelin, and decreases your satisfaction hormone, leptin, which can contribute to weight gain. When we are sleep deprived, we crave more salty and sweet foods. Why? Because anytime you feel more intense hunger, your cravings for higher energy — aka higher calorie — foods intensify. We also know that the way we think and process our emotions is affected by inadequate sleep, so it’s easy to connect this with an impaired ability to make reasonable choices in many areas of life, including with food. If we flip the coin, we can safely assume that when we are well rested, our bodies work better. When it comes to eating, that would mean that we would eat when we are truly hungry and eat just until satisfied.”
13. Avoid Skipping Meals
Going too long without food can trigger binge eating later. Aim to eat every 4 hours to stay fueled and prevent overeating.
14. Stay Hydrated
Drinking water before meals may help you eat less and prevent confusing thirst with hunger. Plus, staying hydrated supports overall well-being.
15. Don’t Skip Meals
“Remember, our body's ultimate goal is to stay alive. As soon as we are being kept from calories, which are literally the life energy for our bodies, it will do things to survive. Our body knows what foods are higher in energy density, and we will crave those more. Honor your hunger and don’t allow your body to think it's being starved. Research shows that the benefits of fasting — like a potential decrease in LDL (“bad”) cholesterol — typically disappear when the fast is over.[2] This goes against many dieting tactics, but those tactics truly don't work well for people in the long term. I generally recommend eating every four hours.”
16. Stay Hydrated
“Research has found that people who drank two glasses of water before a meal lost more weight than people who didn’t drink water before meals — and they kept it off.[3] This simple tip works in two ways. Thirst can mask itself as hunger, causing you to eat more. And water makes you feel fuller, causing you to eat less during a meal.”
17. Use Flavor to Cut Calories
Opt for bold-flavored ingredients like aged cheese or spices so you can use less without sacrificing taste.
18. Balance Your Plate
Visualize your plate: half should be vegetables, one quarter whole grains, and one quarter lean protein. Be mindful that starchy veggies (like corn and potatoes) count as grains.
19. Cut Calories, Not Flavor
“With flavorful ingredients, a little goes a long way, so you end up reducing the calorie content of meals without sacrificing taste. By choosing options such as sharp cheddar over mild cheddar, you can use less, but you’ll still get a lot of flavor without feeling like you're on a diet.”
20. Reorganize Your Plate
“Make half your plate vegetables, a quarter of your plate whole grains, and a quarter of your plate lean protein. When you switch the portions of grains and vegetables on your plate, you'll see a difference. The only caveat: Potatoes, corn, and peas are starchy vegetables, so they go in the grains category.”
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