Everyone is always on the lookout for the latest and greatest ways to lose weight. Previously I have written about how I believe that the only way to lose weight over the long term is to make changes to your everyday habits. The problem with diets is that the changes you make while on them are always radical and temporary in nature. As soon as you go off the diet, you go back to your old habits and the weight comes back. Making simple, long term changes to your eating habits is the key. In this article I’m going to outline some more simple changes that can help you achieve real, long term weight loss.

One of the biggest obstacles for weight loss, particularly for children, is the availability of soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi. They contain so many calories in the form of refined, concentrated sugar that you can easily drink your entire daily caloric intake in one sitting. What’s worse is that so many restaurants these days offer bottomless refills, making it easy to overindulge. Whenever possible, it is best to avoid this glorified sugar water. Any kind of fruit juice would be preferable, and plain old water is the best. If you really feel like having a Coke, limit yourself to one glass. Pop should be viewed as a treat, like chocolate cake. To lose weight, you need to break yourself of the habit of having it with every meal.

For the sake of time, too many people out there skip breakfast. The big problem with skipping breakfast is that people often find themselves famished by the time 10 am rolls around. As a result they often grab whatever they can, which usually means an unhealthy choice like a pastry or doughnut. If you are rushed for time in the morning, try grabbing a piece of fruit like an apple. If you are just not that hungry first thing in the morning, this might be a sign that you are eating too much too late in the evening. In such a case try eating a smaller dinner, and try eating it before 7pm.

One of the best ways to lose weight is to eat more food in the form of fruits and vegetables. In your heart of hearts, I bet that you know that you should eat more fruits and vegetables too. Fruits and Veggies are all nutrient rich, low cal, and filling. When you eat a healthy serving of produce, you will feel fuller longer, and will wide up eating less in the long run. The only caution here is to go easy on the creamy dips, dressings, butter and cheese sauce that can often accompany such meals. Also, with produce like apples, always remember to eat the skin whenever possible. The skin often contains lots of fiber and nutrients in it’s own right.

In a perfect world, you’d have the time to cook yourself a healthy meal every night. However, the world we live in is far from perfect, and we are often rushed. This is why we often grab fast food as a last resort. To combat this tendency, plan ahead for these hurried moments by having some healthy, frozen meals available ready to go. If this saves you from one trip to McDonald’s, it will be worth it. Here’s an additional tip. If you buy your healthy frozen meal from store, you will find that they often pretty skimpy on the vegetables. Try to round out the meal by adding a salad or some other fruit or vegetable.

The last habit that can help you lose weight is to get more sleep. Most people know that they could use more sleep, although few understand the connection between proper sleep and weight loss. The reason for this is that when you are groggy due to lack of sleep, you will often try and make up for it by grabbing a high calorie sugar food as a pick me up. When you are feeling tired, you are also much more likely to skip whatever workout regime you are on. This is why getting enough sleep is one of the easiest ways to lose weight there is.

So, there you have it. If you are interested in losing weight over the long term, all of these habits listed above can help you. None of them are difficult to do, yet all of them can lean to real, long lasting results. As I stated earlier, the way I lost 30lbs, and have kept it off, was by changing my habits. Always remember, diets don’t work! If I can do it, so can you. If you have any questions feel free to visit my website and leave a comment using the "contact me" form. Good luck!