1. Eat protein at every meal. Eating enough protein will help you stay satisfied and resist the temptation to snack excessively between meals. If you want to lose weight, aim to eat approximately .7 grams of protein for each pound of your body weight. Just multiply your body weight, in pounds, by .7 to determine the number of protein grams to eat each day. Protein also helps boost your metabolism, since it takes more calories to metabolize compared to fat and carbohydrates. Some high-quality protein sources include: lean beef, chicken breast, fish, lentils, beans, and Greek yogurt.
2. Don't drink your calories. You've heard it many times before, but drinking your calories, with sugary drinks, juice, or alcohol, is an easy way to sabotage your diet. Dehydration, though, is an underlying cause of food cravings, so do drink plenty of water! Water helps to keep you full and is a key way to detox your body. To calculate your water needs, take your body weight and divide by two. This is the number of ounces of water you need to drink every day. If plain water sounds boring to you, flavor it with fruit or veggie slices for a fun twist.
3. No eating after dinner. Late-night snacking is a problem for many people, especially when it's done mindlessly while watching TV or browsing the Internet. When you snack after dinner, your body will be busy digesting your food while you sleep instead of burning the fat. You want your body to be burning fat while you sleep so stop eating after dinner. This is a key to losing weight more quickly!