People who have lost weight only to regain it back know all too well that losing weight is actually easier than maintaining the weight loss. If this is you, it might be time to skip the fad diets and make more lasting changes in your daily food habits.  Here are some weight loss tips to help you get on track.

Find Balance

When trying to lose weight, many people believe it is about quitting one food group or another. But this kind of restriction is very difficult to keep up and can easily lead to binging or gaps in normal nutrition.  

So rather than trying to quit carbs, or quit dairy altogether, you may want to try staying healthy by finding balance in the foods and food groups that you eat.   This can help you get all the important nutrients like iron, zinc, calcium, vitamins B and C, folate and fiber that your body needs to function properly. This means keeping your metabolism, immune system, and cellular repair working at 100%. 

Overall, eating nutritious food, with a good variety of fruit and vegetables, lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, legumes, dried beans, wholegrains and dairy is associated with lower weight gain over time than following a fad diet. Good habits that give balance are also much easier to follow over long periods of time than the alternative.

 Eat Your Veggies

One of the best weight loss tips you can get is to remember to eat your greens.  This means fruits and vegetables. Plant-based foods are high in fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants but typically low in calories. Following a diet that is predominantly made up of fruits and veggies can aid in weight loss over time.  It may not get you the quick results you are so anxiously looking for, but a little can go a long way in the long run. 

The best vegetables for weight loss are cauliflower, spicy peppers, green leafy vegetables and carrots. The best fruits are blueberries, apples, and pears. On the other hand, corn, peas, and potatoes are the worst for those shooting to lose weight.

Portions, Portions, Portions!

The bigger portions that you are served or serve yourself, the more you are likely to eat. This seems like common sense, but as Americans most portions we get at restaurants are typically over 2x the healthy amount.  It is easy to keep eating until your plate is empty, rather than when you are full just because the food is in front of you.  So try eating slow, and splitting your meals in half to keep to regular portions throughout the day.