Over the years, I’ve given out thousands of different weight loss tips to my patients - everyone from politicians and athletes to housewives and retirees.

And after every visit, I’ve followed up and noted which tips were:

• The easiest to implement
• The most effective in long term, sustained weight loss.

The biggest indicator that these tips work?

When his patients walk into my office, grinning from ear-to-ear, and happily say, “Dr. Mark, I’ve lost 6 lbs!”
“Dr. Mark, I lost 10 pounds!”

After all, dieting isn’t really about just losing a few pounds, is it?

It’s about getting that “bounce back” and no longer dragging through life…

Getting through work days like they’re a piece of cake, and having energy after to do the things you love…

Feeling loose, limber, and amazing, so you fully enjoy time with friends and family…

And being confident in your own skin!

So - let’s get to the tips.

Tip #1: Keep a diary of your daily food intake

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “What gets measured gets improved”...

But one of the real gems about keeping a food diary is that it can help you figure out if your cravings are based on real hunger, or if they’re based on emotion.

We all have our good days and our bad days, don’t we?

Whenever you feel yourself reaching for something indulgent, write down what was happening right beforehand.

You may notice a triggering event before cravings, and patterns may begin to emerge.

Then next time, you can call an old friend… Take a nice bath… Enjoy a quick walk outside…

You’ll find yourself energized, without taking in the empty calories.

Tip #2: Take photos of your food

This is similar in concept to the first tip... But if you don’t feel like writing things down, you can simply take pictures of all the food you eat in a day.

It’s something that only takes a few seconds, but it’ll still help you measure and manage what you’re eating. Your phone camera works great for this.

And oftentimes….

The thought of creating photo evidence of those guilty treats can prevent you from eating them in the first place.

And as many of my patients have found - having lots of evidence that you’ve been eating healthy is incredibly motivating.

Tip #3: Eat Shiitake Mushrooms

Have you ever had those tasty, Japanese shiitake mushrooms?

Well according to an animal study published in the Journal of Obesity, a daily dose of those delicious mushrooms inhibits the growth of fat tissues… Even if excess calories are consumed.

The more shiitake received, the small their fat mass was at the end of the experiment. While the exact mechanism isn’t known, one theory is that the shiitake reduces the absorption of fat from the diet.

Tip #4: Skip breakfast

Skip breakfast. Avoid the blood sugar swings. And I promise, you’ll actually get used to it! Yes, you can think of this as the “16/8” model of intermittent fasting, where you abstain from eating 12-16 hours within a 24 hour period.

Studies have shown you won’t eat more, nor will you exercise less due to skipping breakfast. Many breakfast foods are incredibly calorically dense… So you can potentially reduce your calorie intake by 500, 600 calories or more.

Did you know reducing your daily caloric intake by 100 calories a day can be all you need to lose 10 pounds in a year?

Tip #5: Eat more protein

Protein has been proven countless times to be extremely satiating, preventing you from overeating.

But here’s a surprising benefit not many people know about protein:

It takes energy for us to digest our food. And in the case of protein, research has shown our bodies will spend 10-30% of the total caloric content to digest the protein you eat, on top of boostin your metabolism!

In other words, if you ate 500 calories worth of protein… Your body would only absorb 350-450 calories, while still getting the appetite-blunting effects.

How’s that for an easy way to reduce daily caloric intake by 100 calories a day?

Tip #6: Walk it off

When you eat, (much of) your food gets converted to into glucose, and insulin gets released to help move the that glucose through your body.

And the more calories (and sugar) that you eat, the more insulin gets released (hello, diabetes).

But... muscle contraction ALSO works to move glucose around in your body.

And if your muscles are contracting following a meal - like when you’re walking! - it can actually reduce the amount of insulin that gets released... leading to less fat storage, and more stable energy levels for the next few hours.

In the research we studied, participants walked for 20-30 minutes following their meals. But even five minutes of movement can help!

If it’s cold where you live and you’re stuck inside, then try simply standing up, and pacing around for a few minutes, maybe while you’re watching the news or catching up on your phone.

I know it’s utterly simple, but hey... when simple works, why go complex?

So {{ first_name|default:"hi there" }}, there you have it - 6 of my simplest weight loss hacks.

I hope you can see that you don’t have to turn yourself into a human lab rat who takes frigid cold showers just to lose weight… Or whatever else these crazy kids do these days :-)

Weight loss does not have to mean self deprivation and torture.

It can be as easy as adding in a few simple habits and supplements to watch the pounds melt off.

So that’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed these tips… I’ll be back with more tomorrow!

To your health,
Dr. Mark Rosenberg