We all know the basics of losing weight – consume less calories than you burn. We also understand that there are lots of fast weight loss diets that just don’t work. If you really want to quickly lose weight then these 20 weight loss tips will help you on your way.

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Important: These 20 weight loss tips should be used as guideline measures only. You need to consult your doctor before deciding to lose weight quickly or dramatically changing your diet.

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Tip 1 – Make a weekly record of what you eat in a food diary.

Various studies have revealed that overweight people who write down what they eat in a food diary lose weight more easily. This is partly because it was revealed that people consume additional calories on weekends. Keeping a food diary makes you far more conscious of what you consume and when. It will provide you with an important insight and help you gain full control on your calorie intake.

Tip 2 – Once you’ve finished your breakfast only drink water.

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When we say only drink water we don’t mean eat nothing. What we mean is that you should cut out all the other juices, pop and anything else that contains calories and stick to water. Sugar based drinks can add hundreds of extra calories to your daily intake and can mean the difference between losing weight and gaining more.

Tip 3 – Eat a little less of each meal you get.

If you can do this you can shave off up-to an extra 100 calories a day. Leaving the last few mouthfuls from every meal will really make a difference over the days and weeks. Over the course of a year it could add up to a few extra pounds.

Tip 4 – Spend 1 less hour a day watching TV.

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There have been countless studies on TV and weight loss. If you’re watching TV not only are you sedentary and not burning calories you’re also much more likely to be actually eating more. So ditch one show a night and do something where you’re a little more active.

Tip 5 – Don’t eat your next meal until you hear the rumble.

People eat for many reasons, many of them emotional. It’s amazing how little we eat purely out of real physical hunger. Our favourite of our 20 weight loss tips, our advice is to wait until your body is crying out for a meal and you stomach starts rumbling before you eat. Try to be conscious of when you’re feeling peckish and put it off until you’re really hungry.

Tip 6 – Spend some time eating in the mirror.

I know this one of our 20 tips to lose weight sounds bizarre but anything goes. Especially if you really want to lose weight quickly. A weight loss study revealed that people who eat in front of a mirror cut the amount they eat by a third. Apparently, eating in front of a mirror makes you much more conscious of your weight loss goals and so helps you lose weight more quickly. We never said our weight loss tips would be normal.

Tip 7 – Five days a week have cereal for breakfast.

Another of our great weight loss tips, people who eat cereal for breakfast most days have been shown to be much less likely to be overweight of suffer from obesity or other weight related diseases. This is because proper cereal is much lower in fat, higher in calcium and fibre and lower in overall calories than many other breakfast alternatives.

Tip 8 – Swap fruit juice for actual fruit.

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Amazingly most people don’t realise that a glass of fruit juice is loaded with calories. A single glass of orange juice could contain the juice of up-to 5 oranges. So it’s important to just switch to actual fruit which will keep you fuller for longer with less overall calories.

Tip 9 – Strange but true cast your eye at the colour blue.

Now we never said all these 20 weight loss tips were going to be straightforward but this one’s actually based in science. Did you ever stop to thin why almost no restaurants have blue interiors? Incredibly it’s because the colour blue acts as an appetite suppressant. If you really want to lose weight why not try dishing up the dinner with a side serving of blue. Plates, the table cloth, a blue top all should help keep you from overeating.

Tip 10 – If you’re going to snack eat a handful of nuts.

A scientific study has shown that overweight or obese people who were eating a regular diet lost more weight when they snacked on almonds a couple of times a day. This is because the nuts help stave of hunger for longer and helps keep your metabolism ticking over.

OK, so we’re halfway through our 20 weight loss tips. If you have any quick weight loss ideas of your own you can always enter them in the comments section at the end.

Tip 11 – Make the effort to walk for 5 minutes every couple of hours.

If you, like me are stuck at your desk all day you’ll understand just how little exercise you get during the day. If you get up and about for 5 minutes every couple of hours and go for a walk you’ll lose calories and keep you mind of snacking.

Tip 12 – Eat your food more slowly at every meal.

It’s an incredibly bad habit to eat your food quickly. If you do the brain can’t register your fullness quickly enough so you tend to eat more. Slow down and eat at a moderate pace. That way you’ll know when you actually become full, not when you’re full because you just can’t move.

Tip 13 – Cut the condiments and add more vegetables to your meals.

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Did you realise that you can have a much bigger plate of food for the same amount of calories of you substitute condiments such as mayonnaise for vegetables? This is because most condiments, although very tasty are stacked full of fats like vegetable oil.

Tip 14 – After you’ve eaten your meal brush your teeth.

This one’s pretty simple but it’s one of our pretty canny weight loss tips. If you brush your teeth after every meal you are symbolically telling yourself that that was it and no more food is being eaten for a while.

Tip 15 – Eat more in the morning and less in the evening.

There are plenty of metabolic studies out there to back this one up. The facts are that your body’s metabolism is more fired up in the morning and slows down later in the evening. Not only that, you’re likely to be much more active during the morning and a big part of the day than you are later on in the evening.

Tip 16 – Try not to have your meals with large groups of people.

We all love a family meal once in a while or eating out with a bunch of friends. Trouble is, research has shown that if we’re in a large group of people we tend to eat more than we usually would. There are number of reasons for this but the biggest one is that we tend to spend longer at the table.

Tip 17 – Eat more fresh foods that are rich in water.

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Again, there is plenty of research out there to back this quick weight loss tip up. The facts are that eating water rich foods such as tomatoes, watermelon, green peppers or cucumbers can fill you up whilst helping you avoid those extra calories.

Tip 18 – Switch your milk from whole to semi skimmed.

If you do this you could end up cutting your calorie intake by as much as 20%. That’s a big reduction in calories so if you’re still drinking whole fat milk it’s time to switch. We all appreciate that it doesn’t taste the same but it’s a small sacrifice to pay in the pursuit of quick weight loss and better health overall.

Tip 19 – Stop buying food that has sugars as a main ingredient.

When you’re in the supermarket check the labels of anything you’re not sure of. If you see sugar or fructose as one of the ingredients close to the top of the list then don’t buy it. There may be a lot of controversy surrounding sugar but at the end of the day the more sugar the more calories and we are after all aiming for a calorie controlled diet.

Tip 20 – Last but not least, sniff away your appetite.

That’s right, you did read that correctly. The final and oddest one of our 20 weight loss tips. Research studies have shown that when a person is feeling hungry you can trick your brain by sniffing a peppermint. 3000 volunteers tried this and the more often they did the greater their overall weight loss was.

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Important: These 20 weight loss tips should be used as guideline measures only. You need to consult your doctor before deciding to lose weight quickly or dramatically changing your diet.

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