The following weight loss tips are not just a random list of minor tips that will help you burn a little fat, these are 10 extremely important, major weight loss tips that are at the very core of what’s required for healthy, sustainable, and rapid weight loss.

These tips helped me lose 80 pounds, and if you take advantage of them you can see the same, hunger/stress-free weight loss success that I saw, which will change your life forever!

1. Don’t go hungry

Rule number one with healthy weight loss, is to not starve yourself. Many years of bad dieting advice has led so many of us to believe that to lose weight, especially quickly… that we need to simply endure eating less, which in my book means starvation.

When you finally discover and understand the true power of eating healthy for weight loss, and let go of the notion that hunger means burning fat… you’ll find that losing weight is something that is easily manageable, sustainable, and even enjoyable.

Losing weight the healthy way means MORE, not less. It means bringing more healthy foods into your life, eating lots of them, and feeling full and satisfied even though your body is burning fat.

How does it work?

Healthy foods that have not been modified from their natural state, are super nutritious and filling despite being low in calories. When you replace unhealthy foods with these super healthy ones, you naturally put your body in a calorie deficit, as your belly is full but not with excess calories and insulin spiking chemicals.

So all you have to do to lose more weight, is eat MORE healthy foods, and everything else will naturally fall into place without you having to stress over it.

2. Eat healthy AND Exercise

Although the most important and effective aspect of losing weight is healthy diet, that doesn’t make exercise any less important.

If you really want to get the fastest and best fat loss results, then you should both eat healthy every day and exercise regularly.

It may seem like adding exercise on top of trying to change your diet would make things even harder, but the truth is that the results of the two combined are so amazing that it actually makes your journey much easier.

While eating healthy foods, the fat burning results that you see from your workouts will be intensified, and vice versa your healthy diet will work even better when you are exercising.

With both healthy habits in place you will not be working against your own weight loss efforts by eating unhealthily or having a sedentary lifestyle… rather every part of your routine will be working together, towards your ideal weight.

3. Lift Weights to burn more fat

If you are looking for a super effective workout for losing weight, you may be happy to discover that weight lifting is amazing for burning fat.

Lifting weights for most people is much more enjoyable than long sessions of cardio, and many studies show that it is just as or more effective for weight loss as well.

“Resistance training” is any exercise that works your muscles enough to exhaust them completely. Typically, the easiest way to do this is by lifting weights, since you can work your muscles before getting too exhausted with cardio… where pure aerobic exercise can tire you out before your muscles get the chance to break down.

But you can also work your muscles with bodyweight exercises, which are a great way to get a good balance of both cardio and resistance in your workout… which provides even better results because of the combined effects of raising your heart/breathing rate, as well as using up the energy in your muscles.

4. One step at a time

Something you can do to make sure that you can stick to your healthy diet and exercise routine, is to take things one step at a time rather than trying to make one big change overnight… which is extremely hard to handle and is one of the biggest reasons people give up even when they are doing things the right way and seeing results.

Making gradual changes is one of the most important things that led to my successful transformation.

For the longest time when I was younger I didn’t even know how to lose weight, but even after I learned how to lose weight by eating clean I found it extremely hard to change my diet, especially when I would try to wake up the next morning and change in a day.

When I finally got in the right mindset and decided to change for good, I started making healthy changes to my diet, one step at a time. I realized that if I gave myself a little time to bring healthy foods into my life, that I could solidify the changes I was making as time passed, and that I could have the confidence of knowing I would not give up this time.

Start with one healthy meal per day, and then once that becomes a natural thing for you and you know you can step it up again with confidence, add another meal!

In a matter of weeks your entire diet can be healthy, and you can be on a clear path to reaching your long-term weight loss goals, without risk of falling off track.

If you want to follow a clear, easy to follow diet and exercise plan that helps you make changes and lose weight one step at a time, try the 8-week weight loss challenge! The program will help you transform yourself, gradually.

5. Don’t be perfect with your diet

Progress and making consistent improvements is the key to reaching your goals, not perfection. The idea of perfection can ruin a good diet, because it makes you feel like any little thing can stop your momentum.

So many people are doing very well with their diet, almost perfect you could say… then something doesn’t go according to plan, they give into one craving or miss one healthy meal and then fell that everything is messed up, which leads to giving up.

Don’t be hard on yourself, not when you break your diet plan… and also by not setting yourself a plan that is impossible to follow. So long as your current eating habits and diet content are significantly improved from your previous habits, then you can have the confidence of knowing you are going to make great progress.

Don’t add the extra stress of trying to be perfect, where you spend tons of energy getting a diminishing return and run the risk of giving up because you are having to struggle all of the time.

Not only can you lose weight without being perfect, you can actually get super lean and strong and still give into your cravings once in a while and live your life a little!

When it comes down to it consistency is what makes people lose weight fast. By being far less than perfect but consistently working towards your goals each day, you’ll constantly be surprised at how quickly you are transforming week after week.

6. Envision the new, healthy you

Getting in shape isn’t just about all of the technical stuff, the mental aspect of weight loss and motivation that it requires to make big changes is just as if not more important than food and exercise, because without a strong mental foundation that will keep you taking action, everything else falls apart.

There are lots of little things you can do to motivate yourself in the moment, but the biggest thing you can do to motivate yourself on a deeper, long-term level, is to truly envision yourself reaching your goals.

There are so many reasons to start losing weight… so many rewards that comes along with your hard work and the success that comes from consistency, but each of us can find something that we want more than anything from getting in shape, that drives us to make changes and stick with them more than anything else.

Some of us already know what this is, and most of us should do some searching to connect with the vision, reward, or idea that means more than every other thing.

Look forward to as many things as you want when it comes to the future, fit you, but let the reason that move you the most be your deepest source of motivation that you can call upon when it gets hard to stay on track.

I stay closely connected with what is is that I want more than anything, and to do this it takes a constant reminder of what is most important to me, and the fact that my good decisions are leading directly to my dreams. It’s not just about the feeling of motivation I get when I think of my driving reason, it’s that this mental connection actually provides “meaning” and “reason” to my whole journey and everything that I do.

When you know your “why”, making healthy decisions becomes easier and a point of pride, because instead of thinking, “I’m doing this because I want to lose weight,” which doesn’t have much power without specifics… but rather you think, “This is the type of decision that if I make over and over, it will lead me directly to (Insert image of your dream… perhaps going on a confident date, or maybe going to a pool party, or even playing sports with your kids).

7. Set smaller goals too

Of course, the most important goal to you will be your ultimate goal, at your ideal weight.

But looking forward to just that one goal can set you up for a long wait until you get to to enjoy the rewards of all your hard work.

Set progressive goals for yourself that you can reach along the way, so you will constantly be happy about going through your journey and not disappointed about not having reached your end goal yet.

Look forward to losing that first 5 pounds, then 10, and then that amazing feeling of having lost 20 pounds which may just be a portion of the weight you want to lose… but will make a huge difference in the way you look and feel. All of these steps add up quickly, and once you find your groove you can go on to lose 50 or even 100+ pounds!

Let your ultimate goal drive you forward and keep your excitement for it but also appreciate all of the achievements you reach along the way, whether it be going down a size, reaching a certain weight, or actually being able to do something that you couldn’t before.

8. Vegetables are the perfect weight loss foods

Vegetables may not be the most loved weight loss food, but they are hands down the best. All of the qualities that make healthy food great for weight loss, are dramatized in vegetables, especially leafy green vegetables (spinach/kale) and cruciferous vegetables (broccoli/cauliflower).

What makes any food great for burning fat, is the quality of being high in nutrients but low in calories, and also large in volume despite the low-calorie content.

Vegetables top the list when it comes to being super nutritious, filling, and low in calories, which means that you can eat them freely and have the confidence that you will be working towards your weight loss goals.

By filling up on healthy foods you allow your body to remain in a calorie deficit (i.e. fat burning mode) while you are full and satisfied, unlike restrictive diets which usually cause hunger from the calorie deficit they induce, as quality of food is not focused on.

So eat more vegetables and you will naturally consume way less calories per day, and also naturally replace other unhealthy foods that you would have eaten if you had not filled up on healthy food.

9. Water is a big part of a healthy diet

Water is usually expressed as a side note for weight loss and healthy dieting as a trick that will boost your rate of fat burning, but in reality it’s just another super important piece of a healthy diet, albeit a liquid.

Just like with solid foods…. If you are not drinking the good stuff, then all that’s left to satisfy your thirst is the bad stuff.

It’s not just that if you drink water you’ll lose weight a bit faster, it’s that if your body doesn’t get the water that it needs to carry out normal bodily functions such as burning fat and extracting nutrients from food, then your fat burning abilities will be hindered.

It’s amazing how many things we drink in modern society that are not water, and how often we go without drinking good old plain water.

I was guilty of this at my heaviest and most unhealthy, I went for days and days without drinking water, and what’s worse was most of what I used to drink was soda.

Drinking more water will intensify the results you see from healthy dieting and exercise… it is needed on a cellular level by your body to burn fat, digest food and extract the most nutrients, and also to expel waste that comes from the fat burning process.

Strive to drink ½ gallon of water per day, and ultimately try to reach up to a gallon per day for the best results and for feeling great as well.

10. Focus on eating “more”, not less

If you are seriously wanting to change your diet, and to finally be able to stick to it once and for all, one of the best things you can do is to simply focus on bringing more healthy foods into your life, rather than worrying about restriction, counting, and as a result… being hungry.

When I finally made the change to eating healthy, there were tons of unhealthy foods that I had to let go of, but it was something that I didn’t even think about… it just happened over time as I ate more and more healthy foods every day. I ate healthier and healthier, until the small changes added up to make a completely healthy diet, and me having lost 80 pounds.

As mentioned above, eating whole, healthy food naturally replaces unhealthy foods, and naturally puts you in a calorie deficit because of how easy it is to be satisfied but how hard it is to go over on your calories when eating natural foods.

So rather than stress over restriction and trying to cut foods out, simply focus your efforts and thoughts on adding healthy foods and everything else will fall into place naturally.

Like these 10 tips? Check out my top 3 tips!

To get started with your weight loss journey right away, with a step by step plan you can follow and finally stick with, try the 8-Week Challenge!