If you don't like the numbers flashing on your scale, here are 50 weight loss tips:
- Don't use a cafeteria tray - you can pile too much food on it. Only eat what you can carry to the table with your own two hands.
- Avoid the cafeteria's self-serve ice cream. A Dairy Queen self-serve ice cream cone is 280 calories.
- Avoid yogurt toppings. A medium scoop of yogurt is 113 calorie, but that doesn't include all the brownie chunks, sprinkles, gloppy fruit sauce and M&M's that college students dump on it.
- Stop binge drinking. Five 8-ounce margaritas equal up to 2,500 calories. Five 12-ounce beers equal up to 800 calories. Five shots of liquor add up to 1,000 calories.
- Don't play Beer Pong, Flip Cup and other drinking games -- you'll drink more than you think.
- Post this warning on your dorm mini fridge: To loose one pound of weight, you must burn 3,500 calories more than you consume.
- Don't eat anything straight out of a bag or carton.
- Avoid dorm vending machines. You don't need a Kit Kat bar at 1 a.m.
- Visit Rachel & Ramen for healthy cooking tips from a student attending College of William & Mary.
- Start a food journal and write down everything you eat.
- Use an online calorie counter.
- Wear a pedometer, which counts your footsteps.
- Air pop popcorn instead of using caloric microwave popcorn.
- Avoid mega, super and large sizes.
- Drink 100% fruit juices. Orange, grapefruit and pineapple juices are healthier than apple, grape or pear juice.
- Get enough sleep.
- Drink lots of water.
- Bored with water? Try flavored water, seltzer water or unsalted club soda.
- Never eat second helpings.
- Use a salad plate for your dinner plate.
- Eat breakfast. Eating in the morning makes you less hungry later and reduces the temptation to pork out at lunch.
- Eating breakfast will jump start your metabolism and give you more energy during the day.
- Avoid fast food. Duh.
- Only eat a serving size:
- A serving size of meat is about the size and thickness of a deck of cards.
- A serving size of cheese (one ounce) is about the size of four dice.
- One teaspoon of butter is about the size of your thumb tip.
- Get emotional support. Have your friends support you if you're trying to lose weight.
- Set realistic goals. It's better to aim to lose one or two pounds a week rather than decide you want to lost 30 pounds as soon as possible.
- Write down your food goals and how you hope to achieve them.
- Eat slower. You're more likely to stop eating when you're full if you eat slowly.
- Get off your butt. Sign up for an intramural squad.
- Visit the gym. College health centers are often gorgeous and they are usually FREE. Try to exercise for at least 30 minutes a day.
- Eat healthy snacks like:
- Edamames - delicious soybeans you can heat up in microwave.
- Quarter cup of nuts.
- Raw veggies and hummus.
- Frozen grapes, frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries.
- Graham crackers.
- Pretzels.
- Peanut butter with apple slices.
- Frozen fruit bars with no sugar.
- Rice cakes made from whole grain rice.
- Forget weight-loss pills. They can be dangerous and the effects are short lived.
- Eat less pasta.
- Don't assume that you can eat more because you're drinking a diet soda.
- Ditto for sugar substitutes.
- Don't eat late at night.
- Set a time to weigh yourself each day or week and stick to that time.
- Don't hate yourself for messing up from time to time. It's going to happen.
