Tips for Weight Loss That Actually Work

From savoring your food to prioritizing protein, check out this practical advice for losing weight, courtesy of registered dietitian nutritionists.

Over the years, you’ve probably heard your fair share of wacky weight loss advice, whether it’s to drink celery juice every day or replace your meals with weight loss “cookies.” And often those tips are promoted by people without any health expertise. (Read: Proceed with caution.) But just as there’s a ton of misguided weight loss advice out there to be avoided, there are also a lot of legitimate, research-backed, and expert-approved suggestions for people who are in the right mental health space and have weight loss as a personal goal. One such tip is to pick a time to exercise — and stick to it. A study published in July 2019 in the journal Obesity found that exercising consistently at a certain time each day may help you successfully maintain weight loss.

MENU Everyday Health Logo NEWSLETTERS Facebook Twitter Pinterest Copy Link WEIGHT 23 Tips for Weight Loss That Actually Work From savoring your food to prioritizing protein, check out this practical advice for losing weight, courtesy of registered dietitian nutritionists. By Lambeth Hochwald and Leslie Barrie Medically Reviewed by Kelly Kennedy, RDN Reviewed: August 12, 2022 Medically Reviewed keeping a food journal Keeping a food journal may help you hit your goal weight. Chad Verzosa/Shutterstock Over the years, you’ve probably heard your fair share of wacky weight loss advice, whether it’s to drink celery juice every day or replace your meals with weight loss “cookies.” And often those tips are promoted by people without any health expertise. (Read: Proceed with caution.) But just as there’s a ton of misguided weight loss advice out there to be avoided, there are also a lot of legitimate, research-backed, and expert-approved suggestions for people who are in the right mental health space and have weight loss as a personal goal. One such tip is to pick a time to exercise — and stick to it. A study published in July 2019 in the journal Obesity found that exercising consistently at a certain time each day may help you successfully maintain weight loss. More good advice is to choose nuts over heavily processed snacks. An article published in December 2019 in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health found that cutting back on processed foods and upping how many nuts you eat by half a serving (for example, from half an ounce to 1 ounce) each day is linked with less weight gain and lower odds of obesity. There’s also evidence that a weight loss counselor could help you trim your waistline. A study published in November 2019 in JAMA Internal Medicine found that for people with type 2 diabetes, pairing such counseling sessions (in this case, weight loss via low-carb dieting) with group medical visits helped them lose weight and take less medication compared with a group that did not undergo counseling. A win-win! MOST HELPFUL What Is the Shibboleth Diet, and Can It Help You Lose Weight? The 18 Best Apps for Weight Loss: Diet Plan Tools, Fitness Trackers, and More 8 Reasons You Aren’t Losing Weight Your mindset can matter, too, when it comes to weight loss. Research published in February 2022 in the journal Obesity found that those who lost weight and maintained it embraced their setbacks, seeing them as temporary pauses in their plan, rather than as failures. What doesn’t work? Endless dieting. In obese men, taking a two-week diet break may have aided weight loss, according to a small study published in August 2017 in the International Journal of Obesity. Follow those sorts of tips and you just might find yourself shedding pounds. Discover other tips for losing weight here. . Eat Slowly “I have my clients learn how to choose foods they like, really taste each morsel going into their mouths, and chew deliberately. I advise them to chew slowly, swallow only when the food is all chewed up, and repeat. It takes time to know we're full. Eating slowly not only allows us to enjoy our food more but gives us better cues of satiety.” — Janet Zinn, a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist in private practice in New York City