32 Weight Loss Tips That’ll Actually Make You Lose Weight (2020)

How to lose weight naturally

Are you looking for weight loss tips that actually work?

Who doesn’t dread the thought of having to lose weight?

It’s like you wake up one day, and you just know you should lose a couple of pounds.

So you start

But then the weekend comes…

And well, we all know how that goes.

If this is your first time here, let me take you back a little. My fitness journey actually started as a weight gain story. I was a skinny mini.

But I’ve come a long way since then. Like gaining over 20 pounds (the wrong way), losing over 27 pounds, gaining over 40 pounds, and losing 17 pounds again.

It’s been quite the ride, one I know many of us have been on.

But if you’re over it and ready to jump off this rollercoaster, let’s do it.

In this post, I’ve compiled a list of simple and easy weight loss tips you can do right now to start your weight loss journey.

A list that is also meant to encourage and inspire you to ditch any trends that don’t make you happy.

1. Create a healthy mindset

First things first. You know you need to lose weight, but things need to be different this time. Don’t go pedal to the medal.

Get to know your why. Get past the physical and really ask yourself why you want to lose weight? Yeah, fitting into a tight dress feels damn good, but nothing will compare to the benefits you’ll reap from taking care of your health. The boost in your confidence, fewer visits to the doctor, reduced anxiety, and more.

Check out this post on The Benefits of Eating Healthy.

2. Set small goals and rewards

Slow and steady wins the race, and you know that. This is a lifestyle you want to create. Yeah, maybe things didn’t work out in the past, but today things are different.

If your goal is to lose 20 pounds, set a small 3 – 5-pound weight loss goal to start, or ditch the scale goals overall and focus on creating better habits like remembering to drink more water, going on a walk, or trying a new vegetable.

3. Create a routine

Have you ever felt hungover from food? I’m not sure if it’s a thing, but I’ve experienced a little something like it. And it goes like this.

Eating food that’s no good for me and waking up feeling lazy—rolling out of bed with absolutely zero intention to accomplish any personal goals. In fact, the only personal goal is to get my work done for the day, and that’s it.

This version of you is no fun.

Set yourself up with a routine, set the alarm, get up no matter what, and do what you said you were going to do yesterday.

4. Plan ahead of time

You’re probably no stranger to running around trying to get a million and one things done.

Get in the habit of picking one or two days out of the week to look at your upcoming week and planning it out.

Make one grocery trip, meal prep, get laundry done, and schedule in personal “YOU” time to just sit back and relax.

5. Get enough sleep

You have to get in enough sleep if you want to function throughout the day. Schedule in your bedtime on your phone; this way, you know that no matter what, you’re getting in at least 6 hours of sleep to reset your body.

How can you conquer the day and show up for others if you’re barely hanging on for dear life throughout the day?

6. Get rid of stress

Are you stressed out about money? Debt? Family? Work? Or school? Whatever it may be, feeling stressed is overwhelming, no fun, and like the bad kid, no one wants at the party.

Write down a list of the things keeping you up at night and what you’re going to do about them.

Get that part-time job if you have to, talk to someone about how you really feel, and celebrate every little bit of progress you make along the way.

Stress has a way of making you hold onto weight and a huge factor; many overlook when it comes to losing weight.

Related: How to Start Making Money as an Instacart Shopper

7. Drink water

Because sodas and packages juices are filled with artificial junk that can be harmful in the long run.

Drink or sip on a glass of cold water in the morning, I’m not going to lie and say I chug an entire glass as soon as I wake up, but I will let you that the more you drink water, the more your body will crave it.

8. Eat a good breakfast

Okay, maybe you’re not a 7 am or 9 am breakfast type of person, and that’s okay. Breakfast literally means breaking the fast. The “fast” is the time between your last meal the day before and your first meal the next day.

We all have different schedules, so make it a habit to eat something that’ll give you the energy you need to function for the next couple of hours.

You can make a quick protein-packed smoothie or grab and go with overnight oats on your busy days.

9. Meal prep

Okay, maybe this isn’t your thing, but let me help you. Start small.

Bulk prep your proteins, veggies, rice, or potatoes to pack small snacks, so they are ready to grab and go, cook protein pancakes for the week, stick them in the freezer, or meal prep overnight oats.

This way, you’ll set yourself up to make better choices for your meals instead of having to eat whatever’s in plain sight.

10. Move your body more.

If you’re not the worky worky out type or not ready to step foot in the gym, no big deal. I actually lost 17 pounds working out from home with little to no weights. But if you’re still not ready to get in any type of workout do the following:

Walk more and set a goal of 10,000 steps
Take the stairs
Ride your bike to work
Park further

This year I finally gave in and invested in a Fitbit inspire at the beginning of the quarantine to give me a better insight on how much I was moving, and so far, I love it.

11. Work on having a healthy relationship with food

I think this topic should be talked about more.
There are no such things as bad foods, I repeat, there are no such things as “bad foods.”

Carbs aren’t the enemy, and neither are carbs, so you better believe it’s possible to eat the donut, enjoy it, and still lose weight.

Work on not separating foods by whether they are good or bad, but more so nutritious or less nutritious.

Because honestly, a piece of frozen dark chocolate is GOOD in my books.

12. Avoid the all or nothing mentality

The all or nothing mentality was my biggest struggle. If I was out and drinking screw it, I might as well order the bar food and enjoy myself because at this point, “my diet is starting again on Monday.””

This mentality can set you back real quick, and we’re trying o get off that ride, remember!

Check out this post I wrote on how to lose weight without giving up alcohol and staying healthy on the weekends.

13. Swap out foods

If your first instinct is to go for high calorie, overly sugary or nonnutritious food, swap them out for healthier options.

Eat foods that are going to make you feel good and feel fuller. Are you craving that chocolate truffle dark chocolate ice cream (okay, I am), have it, but instead of eating the entire pint eat half and toss fresh fruit on top and healthy fats like walnuts.

14. Try new activities for fun.

If you’re usually weekend consists of Friday happy hour and only eating out on the weekends, you can still do that and try and do things that get your body moving more.

Go dancing
Hiking
Rockclimbing
Bike riding
Paintballing
Skydiving

Find a new hobby that’ll surround you with more people who have similar goals to you.

Living a healthier lifestyle.

15. Keep packaged food at a minimum

Can you imagine making a trip to the grocery store and not paying $100 for five things? How does $10 +4 + $7 = $100 anyways?

Save money on your next grocery trip, skip out on the packaged foods, and limit down to a couple of items than usual.

Besides, some of the packaged foods advertised as “healthy” carry way more calories than they’re worth.

related: How to Shop for Healthy Groceries on a Budget (+ Stop Throwing Your Money Away)

16. Eat more protein

Protein protein protein. And I don’t mean down protein shakes three times a day, get more of it into your meals. Protein helps you feel fuller longer; it’s satiating, helps you hold on to your muscles during weight loss, and helps grow muscles.

related: 5 Easy Ways to Eat More High Protein Foods (Even If You’re Plant-Based)

17. Eat whole foods

Do I mean, only eat organic? If you choose to go ahead, but if you’re grocery shopping on a budget like I do, of course, you can still reach your goals by not eating organic.

Just go back to the basics. Keep the packaged food to a minimum like we talked about earlier and pick up a new fruit or veggie you usually never go for.

18. Eat more veggies

Okay, I know I mentioned staying away from packaged food, but this is where I make the exception. Frozen veggies are just as good as fresh veggies.

Aim for two servings of veggies per day, not only do they fuel you up with a ton of micronutrients, but they also leave you feeling fuller.

related: The Best High Protein Vegetables (You Need to Be Eating These)

19. Eat more fruits

This is why giving up carbs is no good (my opinion). Fruits are delicious, hydrating, and the perfect snack.

If you’re craving something sweet, have a piece of fruit, and if you love to make everything spicy like me, sprinkle a little chile piquin or tajin with a squeeze of lemon juice.

20. Eat more healthy fats

Healthy fats are higher in calories because they digest slower than protein and carbs do, which means fats help you feel full and not hungry for longer than carbs or protein.

Have a handful of nuts throughout the day, sprinkle chia seeds in your oatmeal, have nutter butters with your apples. My new favorite right now it spreading tahini over my white sweet potatoes.

21. AVOID SNACKING

Whether it’s late at night, at work, in between meals because you’re bored, don’t it!
Make sure you’re hydrated first, and if you still want to snack on a little something, check out this list of 100 calorie healthy snacks.

related: How to Stop Mindlessly Snacking (Why You Can’t Stop)

22. HAVE ACTUAL MEALS

Have you ever snack so much, looking back that could’ve been an entire meal.
If you’re still snacking, get in the kitchen and have an actual meal.

23. never grocery shop while hungry

Please follow this! Your grocery trip will turn into, “oh, I’ve never had these before.”

Or “Hmm, I haven’t bought these in a while.”

Avoid bringing home anything you know will hinder your weight loss goals.

24. Share your weight loss journey

Because nothing keeps you more accountable then putting yourself out there, this is actually how I was able to lose my first 27 pounds.

You don’t have to let the world know your goal is to lose 20 pounds if you don’t want to but share your meals, progress, or walking to get your steps in.

25. Find an accountability partner

If you can’t find a friend to join along hop into a Facebook group, join a challenge, or after sharing for a while, trust me, you’ll motivate someone to join along with your journey after seeing what progress you’ve made.

26. Track what you are eating

You’re telling me that half of that banana bread has 300 calories? Not cool. Out of sight, out of mind, right? At that moment, yes, but wait a minute because we know how things like to add up around here (remember our $100 grocery talk).

Track what you eat in a day so that you’re aware of what’s going on. Give yourself a sense of direction; there’s nothing wrong with that. In the long run, this will help you work on your portion sizes. Yup, you can have your cake and eat it too (guilt-free).

related: Your Simple Beginner’s Guide to Myfitnesspal

27. Eat at your maintenance calories

This is huge. Why? Because while both you and I know that you have to eat fewer calories than you burn in a day to lose weight is true, there’ll come a time where that won’t work anymore.

You’ll hit a plateau. And with a plateau comes doubt, frustration, and excuses not to stick to your goals.

Sometimes you need to hit the reset button your metabolism to figure out where it’s at. Eat at your maintenance calories for a couple of weeks or months. Eating at maintenance calories will help build your metabolism back up again if you’ve been dieting for months on end.

28. Count your macros

Okay, we talked about tracking how much you eat in a day and eating at maintenance calories, now let’s talk about the biggest game-changer.

Count your macros! If this is something new, check out this post I wrote that talks about the life long benefits of counting macros.

29. Be consistent

Instead of chasing diet trend after diet trend, pick a handful of healthy habits you want to improve on and work on checking those off your list every day.

Be reasonable, realistic, and, more importantly, consistency.

30. Be patient

We live in a time where patience …hmmm… patience. Where can I get some of that? Ha, just kidding.

Success doesn’t happen overnight, and it comes with a lot of hard work, dedication, and commitment. Every day won’t be easy, but that’s why the progress you make every day and your results will be valuable to you.

Stay in your lane, don’t compare yourself to others (really, don’t do it), and pop up a motivational video on youtube when you need it, btw Les Brown’s motivational speeches make you feel like you can do anything and laugh at all the bumps along the way.

31. Get rid of the excuses.

Yeah, it’ll be a messy start, but at least you know you’re making progress.

The habits you’re comfortable with right now aren’t going to get you moving along your weight loss journey. Well, scratch that some will and some won’t, but be honest with yourself on which won’t and ditch them.

There really is never a “perfect time.”

Go, do the dam thing!

32. Be confident and OWN your journey

These weight loss tips won’t mean anything if your attitude isn’t in the right place.

Your attitude is going to lead you to where you want to go. I can’t tell you how many frustrating moments made me question my goals.

So sure have your moment, but get right back up. At the end of the day, every little step in the right direction is progress.

the conclusion to weight loss tips

If you want to lose weight but not sure where to start, I hope this list of weight loss tips helps you ease into living a healthier lifestyle.

Let me know, are there any weight loss tips here you haven’t tried before?