- Never skip breakfast—Skipping breakfast is the biggest mistake most people make when they are trying to lose weight. Breakfast is important because it is the first energy your body receives after fasting for 7-8 hours of sleep (hence you are ‘breaking the fast'). Breakfast jump starts your metabolism in the morning. How could you drive to work in the morning if you didn't crank your car? Eating a proper breakfast will give you more energy throughout the day and prevent you from overeating at lunch.
- Never overeat—Overeating, especially at lunch and dinner, is another huge mistake people make with their diet. Normally, those same people who skip breakfast load up the plate at lunch and overeat, forcing their metabolism to digest huge amounts of food all at once. This puts extra stress on the body and causes the body to become sluggish after lunch, which, for this very reason, is also known as naptime.
- Stop drinking soft drinks—Soft drinks, sweetened tea, so-called ‘healthy' juices, and many other beverages are LOADED with sugar and calories. Stay away from these as much as possible. Treat any regular soft drink like a dessert. Diet drinks are not much healthier, but at least they don't have any sugar. If you drink diet drinks, try to limit yourself to no more than 2 per day, and drink lots of water throughout the day.
- Balance your meals—A good rule of thumb to follow for lunch and/or dinner is a meat and two vegetables, with a splash of carbohydrates, especially after a workout. If you have carbs for lunch, seriously cut back or cut out the carbs at dinner. If you are dining out, look for dishes with a grilled meat and two vegetables and stay away from carbs.