Making the healthy changes that helped me lose weight, wasn’t easy. Looking back at how many times I had failed to lose weight in the past, the following weight loss rules were born from seeing my own mistakes, and silently agreeing with myself that I would not let these potential pitfalls that I had already experienced before, trap me again.

When I finally started my journey at 245 pounds, although I took a very gradual and relaxed approach to changing my diet, I followed these rules very rigidly as they provided a framework for never failing, and giving myself the best chance for success.

Never “start over”

When you have a tough day and give in to your cravings, it can feel like you have failed and that you need to start over again. A lot of people end up in an endless cycle of doing well with their diet, having a tough day, spiraling out of control, and then starting over again at a later time.

Constantly pressing the reset button on your diet happens when you feel like you need to be perfect, are hard on yourself, and make the conscious decision that you have failed. But no matter how far back you slide on your journey, don’t give up and start over, simply get back on track.

Starting over and getting back on track may sound like the same thing, because either way when your diet slips you’ll need to renew your efforts… but the key difference is that when you don’t view it as failure but simply a bump in the road, you can truly learn how to deal when things get tough and find your way to sustainable weight loss.

Never go to bed hungry

One of my most important weight loss rules that I followed was to never go hungry.

There is no need to be hungry when losing weight, and going to bed with hunger pains is one of the most troubling things I hear people mention when they talk about struggling to lose weight. I have been there myself. When I was younger I lost 46 pounds on 1200 calories per day, lost all of my muscle and gained the weight back simply because I didn’t know how else to lose weight except for going hungry.

It’s a sad state to be stuck in, feeling that to get in shape you’ll have to endure hunger… but it’s just not true. Weight loss has mostly to do with eating whole and healthy foods, and if more people knew they could burn lots of fat without feeling hungry all of the time, I think more people would be doing it.

If you skip breakfast, do it right

Skipping breakfast can actually be a very effective fat burning method, if done correctly.

One of the common ways people skip breakfast is to simply cut out the first meal of the day without replacing it later, leaving too big of a calorie deficit. Then some people will skip breakfast but still snack or drink sweetened coffee during the time their body could have been burning tons of fat.

If you do skip breakfast, you should still consume a whole day’s worth of food during the time that you do eat, and zero calories during the time you don’t. The idea is to allow your body to be free of food and calories for an extended period of time and to enter completely into a fat burning state.

Skipping the first meal of the day in the correct way, is called intermittent fasting. Check out this article to find out how intermittent fasting works for weight loss, and how it can improve the effects of healthy eating.

Weigh yourself once per week

Weighing yourself once per day or even multiple times per day can be detrimental to your confidence, and by extension your likeliness for long-term success. You’re expecting your hard work to be reflected on what the scale reads, and even if you have already read this, seeing a bad number can really be disappointing.

There are so many fluctuations that occur in your weight throughout the day that stepping on the scale too often can be a bit of a gamble with your emotions.

Considering my changes in water weight… and the amount of food in my stomach…. and muscle gain… I rarely ever weighed myself more than once per week when I lost the bulk of my weight even though I really wanted to. Because of this, I was always happily surprised by the number I saw on the scale.

Always have a variety of healthy food around

Just as soon as I start running out of healthy options to eat, my diet starts falling apart and I turn to junk food. It’s not just that junk food is more convenient, but the hungrier you get, the harder it is to resist cravings for unhealthy foods. This is why it’s an absolute must for me to always have easy access to healthy food.

Keep healthy food in the house, cooked and ready to go in the fridge, in the car, in your bag, at work… Always have the ability to make a healthy choice, and to kill your cravings before they go out of control.

It’s hard enough to make the healthy choice when you have the option, but there’s no choice when you leave yourself with no options.

Maintain your muscle

This may sound like more of a guideline, but I consider it an absolute rule. If I can’t find the willpower to workout hard enough to build muscle, I at least spend a few minutes maintaining what I have already worked hard for. I make it a point to work every major muscle group at least once per week for at least a few minutes, even during the toughest times when motivation is super low.

I think of it as telling my body, “Hey I’m still using this, don’t throw it out!”

So many people let their precious muscle go, by either falling off track for too long, focusing too much on cardio and not at all on resistance training, or as previously mentioned… starving themselves.

In addition to building muscle, resistance workouts have staggering effects on burning fat that a lot of people still haven’t heard about, such as a raised metabolism not just during the workout, but for up to 2 days following your workout as your muscles recover.

So, if you’re not going to gain, at least maintain.

Nobody controls what I eat, except for me

It’s amazing how many social influences we have over our diet. I noticed this when I became super stubborn about my diet and started seeing all the subtle looks that came from some people in attempt to get me to partake in junk food.

In my experience, most people are just trying to be polite and don’t want you to feel left out on cake and cookies, but some people get offended when you refuse food and even jealous about your dedication. Sure, some people will outright try to talk you into breaking your diet plans, but usually it happens more subtly with just a single look from someone that can make you give in.

An absolute rule of mine is that when I say no, I mean no. “No, thank you, I’m on a really strict diet and it’s going great.” Be polite but assertive.

It’s hard enough for us to control our own diet, don’t let others do it too.

Want to know how to lose 100 pounds or more, from what to eat, how to exercise, and how to stay motivated as well? Check out “The Ultimate Guide to Losing 100 Pounds”

If you want today to be the day you start losing weight, join the 8-Week Weight Loss Challenge! The course will show you exactly how to start eating healthy (consistently) step by step, so that you can lose weight easily, and without having to starve or count calories. Sign up below for your free PDF copy or read more about the course here.