Practical Tips to Lose Weight:

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1. Listen to your body - Spend a few moments thinking about how best you can feed your body and provide nourishment as opposed to what foods will provide the best taste and will provide a temporary feeling of satiety. 
    

2. Don't eat until hungry - If you are not hungry yet, don't eat. Your body still has some stores of energy left in it. Why add more. It will just go to fat. 
    

3. Don't drink your calories - The process of eating requires us to spend some energy. This helps cut some calories and also helps transmits signals to the brain that we are starting to get full. It is quite easy to consume large amounts of liquid calories without realizing it. So try not to drink your calories to avoid over consumption. 
    

4. Eat 25-30 grams of fiber a day - Fiber keeps us full, helps us maintain healthy microbiome in the gut and maintains bowel regularity. Make it a point to get at least 20-30 grams of fiber daily. 
    

5. Plan your meals ahead of time - Often times, we fall victim to delicious and decadent calorie rich food when we are extremely hungry and have not had time to plan a healthy meal. Indulging in yummy desserts, driving through fast food windows and chowing down tasty calorie rich foods are examples. Spend time on planning and preparing healthy meals to avoid this trap. 
    

6. Don't eat carbs which contain no fiber - These are the refined sugars and processed carbs. Examples are sugars (high fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, other sweeteners), anything ready made with grains (cereals, snack bars, cookies, all desserts), bread, pasta, spaghetti, rice, noodles, and carbs or sugar containing drinks. 
    

7. Don't eat high density calorie foods - Again these are foods which contain high amount of refined carbs and/or fats. Giving up the following food groups will most likely help lose weight. 
    

   • All grains (wheat, oats, rice and any other grains)​

   • All dairy (cheese, creams, milk, yogurt)

   • Refined and processed sugars (by themselves or mixed in any food)

   • Red meat (steak, pork, beef, burgers etc.)

   • Large amounts of fats (oils, large amount of nuts)
      

8. Eat low density calorie foods - Often these are fiber containing foods but can also be good quality proteins. Some examples are, 
    

   • Vegetables (greens, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peas, celery, beets, squash, zucchini​, egg plant, cucumber, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, ginger)

   • Fruits (apples, oranges, peaches, berries)

   • Beans and legumes (all types of beans, lentils, leave peanuts since those are calorie dense)

   • Plant based milk, yogurt

   • Small amounts of nuts and healthy oils (one to two servings each per day)
      

9. Visualize future body and health - Staying focused on the idea of maintaining youthful, healthy and vibrant body can motivate us to stick to a healthy lifestyle. 
    

10. Develop a healthy relationship with food - When we become unhealthy, we are often falling victim to food indulgence or avoidance or a combination of both. This causes a long term emotional tug of war which cannot be healthy. Think of food as the medicine in the cabinet which we must not overdose on but should take it when we need it. Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food. 
     

11. Use a non-food based reward system - Food stimulates more pathways in the body than any other external factor. All five senses (touch, taste, smell, vision and to some extent, hearing) are stimulated by food. In addition, countless metabolic pathways are set in motion when we just begin to think about food, let alone start eating food. This makes food an easy target for becoming a reward system. Often this is done at a subconscious level. However, reward based eating often leads to craving for more and indulgence. Try to identify if this is happening to you. Build a non-food based reward system such as taking a day off, spending time with loved ones, spending times on hobbies etc. 
     

12. Create food free zones throughout the day - Similar to fasting, when we are not eating, our bodies call upon food reserves (glycogen and fat stores) to get energy. This helps open metabolic pathways to lower insulin and burn calories. Fasting (12-24 hours) is a good way to achieve this. Read more about fasting here. Certain medical conditions and some situations may not allow for healthy fasting. In that case, try to at least avoid eating in between meals. This means no snacking, no munching and no food intake other than water. Try to get body used to eat and gradually go longer. An important point to keep in mind is to not overeat when fasting is over. This will cancel all the good effects of fasting. 

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