Ten Habits for Weight Loss

In this article:

• Healthy habits can make weight loss easier and more sustainable.
• Eating more vegetables, drinking more water, watching portion sizes, and sticking to a bedtime are some habits that can help you lose weight.
• Lark's personalized program has more tips. Lark can also help you form healthy habits for weight loss.

Do you want to lose weight more easily? Then form healthy habits! That way, you can do healthy behaviors while you're on auto-pilot. It takes less effort when you don't have to think about every decision. 

Lark can help you form healthy habits by reminding you about some good choices to make. Here are 10 habits to consider that can help you lose weight.

1. Drink more water.

A study published in Obesity (Silver Spring) found that drinking more water was linked to greater weight loss. Plus, it turns out that drinking more water is an easier habit to form than eating certain foods or exercising more. That's what an article in American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine says. It doesn't matter how you get to a higher daily total. You could, for example, drink an extra glass before or with meals, set a timer to drink at regular intervals, or just make sure you down an extra pitcher of water daily.

2. Log your meals.

Meal logging works. In a study of overweight people in a Diabetes Prevention Program, people who logged more meals lost more weight. That study is in BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care. Lark can help you log meals by reminding you. You can also turn it into a habit by using the meal as a cue - just log every time you eat.

3. Weigh yourself often.

A study published in Journal of Obesity says that participants who weighed themselves every day lost more weight than those who didn't. It's best not to get bogged down in the daily ups and downs on the scale. You might want to choose a regular day each week for an "official" weigh-in. But weighing each day can keep you on your toes and motivate you to make good decisions. Lark can give you feedback and a more personalized program when you weigh yourself often, too.

4. Choose whole grains.

Mayo Clinic says to eat more whole grains to lose weight. A great thing about choosing whole grains is that it may not require much change to your lifestyle. Just swap regular refined grains for whole ones. These are some examples.

• Plain oatmeal or unsweetened whole-grain cereal instead of refined cereal.
• Sandwiches on whole-wheat bread, English muffins, wraps, or pita instead of refined white versions.
• Whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, and quinoa instead of white pasta and rice.

Check labels while doing your grocery shopping to get great whole-grain foods. Make sure the first item in the list of ingredients is a whole grain.

5. Add a vegetable.

Eating more vegetables can help you lose weight. In part, that may be because eating a lot of vegetables can help you feel more full after a meal, according to results of a study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. You might get in the habit of including at least one serving of vegetables in most meals and snacks.

Here are some examples.

• Breakfast: scrambled eggs, omelets, or egg muffin cups with vegetables.
• Lunch: burrito bowl with beans, brown rice, grilled vegetables, salsa, and avocado.
• Dinner: stewed chicken with carrots, onions, green beans, and sweet potato.
• Snack: baked kale chips with parmesan cheese.

For more ideas, here are 20 tips for sneaking vegetables into your diet.

6. Watch portion sizes.

It makes sense that you can lose weight by taking smaller portions of certain foods. You don't have to measure each food exactly. You can be on the right track if you take a little less than you usually eat of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods. Fatty meats, white bread and other refined grains, sugary foods, fried foods, and fatty foods are examples. If you're feeling hungry, fill up your plate with vegetables, fruit, and lean protein instead!

7. Swap fruit for dessert.

Desserts are high in sugar and calories. Eating sugary foods, and drinking sugar-sweetened beverages, can spike your blood sugar and increase risk for weight gain, diabetes, and high triglycerides. Desserts are often high in calories from fat and starch as well as sugar. Mayo Clinic suggests choosing fruit instead of dessert. As a bonus, people who eat more fruit may be able to lose more weight, according to research published in PLOS One. A good habit is to choose fruit instead of a sugar-sweetened dessert or snack.

8. Choose lean proteins.

You can save a lot of calories by choosing leaner proteins, or proteins with less fat. It's a good habit to look for a leaner option whenever you buy a protein food, or to trim off fat when you prepare it. Here are some examples of calorie reductions from selecting lower-fat choices.

• Choosing 3 ounces of extra-lean ground turkey instead of 85% lean ground saves 90 calories.
• Choosing 3 ounces of skinless chicken breast instead of chicken breast with the skin on saves 60 calories.
• Choosing 1 soy-based hot dog instead of 1 beef frank saves 100 calories.

Egg whites, low-fat cheese and yogurt, fish, shellfish, beans, and meat substitutes are usually lean choices.

9. Go to bed on time.

Getting enough sleep can help with weight loss. Sleep deprivation, on the other hand, changes hormones, increases hunger, and makes it harder to control blood sugar. Going to bed "on time" means leaving enough time to get adequate sleep before you need to get up to start the next day. It can help to establish a bedtime routine to help get to bed on time. That's another healthy habit!

10. Be positive.

Being positive is a habit you can form. These are some ways you can practice being positive.

• Make the best of things, such as checking a menu for a healthy choice instead of giving up on your healthy intentions every time you go to a restaurant.
• Praising yourself for your accomplishments, such as losing a pound or using marinara sauce instead of high-fat Alfredo sauce.
• Using Lark, since Lark points out when you make good choices, and encourages you to keep going even if things didn't go so well.

Losing weight and eating well can have big returns. They can boost health, energy, and confidence. And they can be part of your daily routine. You can even eat your favorite foods and lose weight.

Lark makes weight loss and healthy eating simple. With Lark, weight loss and healthy living happen when you make small changes that fit into your lifestyle. Lark offers tips, tracking, instant feedback, and friendly suggestions. Over time, small healthy changes can become habits for long-term success. Your personal Lark coach is available 24/7 through your smartphone so you can get expert tips, track meals, physical activity, and weight loss.

The entire program may be available at no cost to you if your health insurer covers it. Click here to find out if you may be eligible for Lark! You could be minutes away from taking the first steps to hitting your weight loss goals and improving health.