Tips From Real People About Weight Loss

Here are 5 useful and practical, "It Works for Me" weight-loss tips from folks who have battled with unwanted belly fat, and have seen various levels of success.

1. Satisfy your taste buds and you'll eat less. By adding flavor to your foods (hot sauce, cracked black pepper, sea salt, and spices), you’ll find it easier to skimp on calories.

2. Do pushups on a pair of 30-pound hexagonal dumbbells. After every rep, from the up position, pull one dumbbell up to your chest. Slowly return it to the floor, then pull the other dumbbell to your chest. Place it back on the floor, then hit another pushup, and repeat.

3. Try to eat dinner before 7 p.m. so your body has a few hours to burn the calories off before you go to bed.

4. Crunchy vegetables trick me into thinking I'm eating more than I really am. I bring a baggie full of cut-up vegetables to work for snacks: celery sticks, red pepper slices, cucumbers, carrot sticks, anything I have in my refrigerator crisper. I get the same crunch satisfaction that I'd get from eating those sour dough pretzels I used to gorge on for a fraction of the calories and a whole lot more nutrients.

5. Instead of adding breadcrumbs to ground beef or turkey when you make meatballs, add a handful of flaxseeds and sesame seeds, then grate a few carrots and a touch of hard cheese into the mixture. All that will add bulk, fiber, and more nutrients without affecting the flavor of the meatballs in your spaghetti sauce.