Want to lose weight but tired of weight loss gimmicks? Follow this sensible advice.

1. Eat only real food: how much of what you eat comes from a box? If it’s processed, it’s probably no good for you. Real foods are the foods that you find in the fruit and vegetable aisle of your grocery store. Come in a box? Read the ingredients. If there are too many, or the names of the ingredients are unpronounceable, then don’t buy it. In doubt? Leave it. Fruits, vegetables, complex carbohydrates and lean proteins should be your diet. Don’t waste your money on processed foods that will only bog you down.

2. Eat whole grains: Whole grains are complex carbohydrates, which means they give you energy while keeping your blood sugar levels from spiking, so that you don’t crash and burn. They also provide fiber, and fiber fills you up and cleanses your insides out without adding extra calories. Fiber is your best friend if you’re trying to lose weight. But this doesn’t mean go out and buy a fiber supplement powder. Eating the actual food is the best way to go. Brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, teff, and spelt are all great sources of complex carbs and plenty of fiber, along with most fruits and veggies.

3. Make sure you’re eating enough good fats: in order for our bodies and cells to work properly, we need fats. The mistake so many dieters make is to try and cut out fat from their diets, which leads to junk food cravings – your body is trying to tell you something. In order to stop those cravings for unhealthy fats, you need to provide your body with the healthy kind. Without going into a long technical explanation, here’s what you should be incorporating into your diet: avocado, eggs, cold pressed flaxseed oil mixed into cottage cheese (this tastes so good, though you wouldn’t think so), salmon or other fish, pumpkin seeds, coconut milk, and cold-pressed olive oil over salads. The fats that you should avoid are basically anything that is deep-fried or in a processed food.

4. Cut out wheat, corn and soy: these foods are common allergens and can cause bloating, gas and/or indigestion and inflammation – sapping energy from your body, preventing you from absorbing vital nutrients and causing weight gain. Even if you’re not strictly allergic, these foods may still inflame the walls of your intestines, impede digestion and absorption of nutrients, and weaken your immune system. Food is supposed to give you energy and nourish you, not leave you feeling tired.

5. Get rid of all junk food in your house: out of sight, out of mind. This is perhaps the most important tip you will ever get. When you’re hungry, you will reach for the most convenient thing. If there’s no junk in your house, then you’ll be forced to reach for the healthy stuff. Picking up an apple when I’m hungry isn’t my first reaction either. When you’re shopping, have a list and stick to it. Don’t let junk food cross the threshold into your home. Stand firm on this one and weight loss will be thousands of times easier.

6. Eat at home or pack a lunch: After you’ve followed steps 1 through 5, eating at home or packing your own lunch becomes essential for weight loss. If you want to lose weight, the worst thing you can do is go to a restaurant on a regular basis: all those choices, all those desserts, the social eating atmosphere – it’s a dieter’s downfall for sure. If do you have to go on a regular basis, then inform yourself of the choices ahead of time and stick with the healthiest options. But packing a lunch only takes a bit of effort, and if there are no microwaves to heat things up where you work, then consider using a food thermos.

7. Don’t Starve Yourself: don’t stuff yourself till you feel sick, but starving yourself will accomplish nothing either. A healthy diet shouldn’t include going hungry – your body is trying to tell you it needs energy, once you look past its cries for chocolate and candy. Keep healthy snacks and meals on hand to keep you from feeling hungry. Brown rice and beans is a great option for a filling, non-fattening dish. Don’t deny your hunger, just make sure you’re filling up on healthy food. Aim for approximately 70% fullness each time you eat.

8. Get support from family and friends: the last thing you want is your husband digging into a bag of chips while you sit next to him munching on carrot sticks. If your spouse doesn’t want to get on board, then you need to have a serious (friendly) talk. Make sure your spouse knows how much you value his/her support and how important losing weight is to you. He/she needs to keep the junk food somewhere inaccessible to you, and you need to change your habits. Get out for a walk after dinner or read a book instead of watching TV, if that’s where and when the chips come out.

9. Go to sleep earlier: the later you stay up at night, the more potential time there is to snack. Also, for some reason, we have fewer inhibitions and less self-discipline at night, so if we snack, we choose items of less nutritional value. Getting to bed earlier, and keeping busy until bedtime, helps curb snacking. Also, an early bedtime means more sleep (you should be getting at least 8 hours a night in a dark room), which keeps you from feeling tired during your days – which prevents you from reaching for those high-sugar snacks. It also helps you deal with stress during the day because your body has had time to regenerate. And, who knows, if you get up a little earlier, maybe you’ll have time to squeeze in some morning yoga or other exercise before work.

10. Incorporate exercise into your day if possible: can you go for a walk during lunchtime? Can you bicycle to and from work? Even just walking the flight of stairs to the bathroom is a step in the right direction. While cardio exercise doesn’t induce weight loss directly, it does boost your mood, helps protect against many diseases and distracts you from eating.

11. Cleanse and revitalize your cells: cells are the building blocks of your body. Healthy cells functioning at their optimum levels means that your body and metabolism are running smoothly, which means you’ll have more energy to stay on your diet. If your cells aren’t running properly, it’s a lot harder to lose weight. Here’s a good article on cellular health.

12. Build muscle: the more muscle you have, the more fat you will burn – even when you’re not exercising! Numerous studies have been done (like this one http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/82/1/298) that show that increasing muscle mass will increase your average daily metabolic rate, which helps to burn more calories. You don’t have to bulk up like a bodybuilder, but pick up some free weights and get lifting.

13. Tap into the power of visualization: a friend once told me, the universe can’t give you what you want if you aren’t even clear on it. So clarify what it is that you want. Professional athletes use this technique all the time, as a sort of mental rehearsal for success. Close your eyes and visualize yourself as you would like to be. How will it feel to walk, to move at your ideal weight? How will you feel about yourself for having accomplished your goal? Now, visualize yourself working to achieve your goal. See yourself working hard, eating healthy, practicing the alternate solutions you’ve come up with for when you’re tempted to eat but aren’t hungry.

Weight Loss: Why Diet & Exercise Aren’t Enough

Visualize these things often, maybe just before you go to sleep at night.

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