Easy weight loss tips you can slip into your everyday life.

weight loss? If you're desperately trying to squeeze in workouts and avoid your favorite high-calorie treats, it can seem like there's nothing pain-free about it.
Yet while eating healthier and slipping in exercise does take some work, it really doesn't have to require heroic effort. Making just a few simple lifestyle changes can pack a big weight loss punch over time.

1.Add, Don't Subtract

Forget diet denial: Try adding foods to your diet instead of subtracting them.
Add in healthy goodies you really love, like deep-red cherries, juicy grapes, or crunchy snow peas. Slip those favorite fruits into your bag lunch and breakfast cereal; add the veggies into soups, stews, and sauces.
"Adding in really works, taking away never does," says registered dietitian David Grotto, RD, LDN, author of 101 Optimal Life Foods, but do remember to keep an eye on overall calories. And don't forget to add in something physical, too, whether it's doing a few dance moves before dinner, shooting hoops, or taking a quick stroll.

2. Forget About Working Out

If the word "exercise" inspires you to creative avoidance, then avoid it. Maybe the trick to enjoying a workout may be to never call it working out.
"There's some truth to that," Grotto tells WebMD, and once you start your not-calling-it-exercise plan, Grotto says you'll discover "the way good health feels knocks down the roadblocks that were preventing you from exercising in the first place."
So burn calories and invigorate muscles by beachcombing, riding bikes, grass skiing, making snow angels, hiking, washing the car, playing Frisbee, chasing the dog around the yard, or even enjoying great sex. After all, a rose by any other name ...

3. Go Walking

Walking when the weather's nice is a super-easy way to keep fit, says Diane Virginias, a certified nursing assistant from New York. "I enjoy the seasons," she says, adding that even when she's short on time she'll go out for a few minutes. "Even a five minute walk is a five minute walk."
No sidewalks in your neighborhood? Try these tips for slipping in more steps:

• Trade your power mower for a push version.
• Park your car at the back of the lot.
• Get out of the office building and enjoy walking meetings.
• Sweep the drive or rake the leaves instead of using a leaf-blower.
• Get off the bus a few stops earlier.
• Hike the mall, being sure to hit all the levels.
• Take the stairs every chance you get.
• Sign up for charity walks.
• Crank the music and get your heart rate up the next time you mop or vacuum.

It all adds up. If you walk twice a day for 10 minutes and try a few of these tips, you may find yourself with a low-impact, 30-minute workout easily tucked under your belt.

5 Foods For Fast Weight Loss

Research backs up the weight loss benefits of these specific foods (collage: Melanie Haiken; photos public domain)

While there’s no such thing as the perfect diet, there are key foods that research has shown can help you lose weight. These foods work in different ways and for different reasons, but all have in common that people who eat them as part of a weight loss plan lose more weight faster than those who don’t. Here are 5 foods shown in recent studies to help the pounds come off more quickly. More foods to come as the studies come out.
1. Pistachios
These nuts are the perfect snack for the weight-conscious because they’re high in protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Don’t be fooled by the “fat” label, either; the fat in pistachios is unsaturated fat, the brain- and heart-healthy type.
Calorie counts are misleading too; not all calories are created equal. Researchers from the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition followed two groups of people on identical low-calorie diets for 12 weeks. One group ate 240 calories worth of pistachios as their afternoon snack,  the other ate 220 calories worth of pretzels. The BMI (body mass indexes) of the pistachio group showed more improvement, and their cholesterol and triglyceride levels dropped as well. While shelled pistachios are more convenient, the longer amount of time required to shell them yourself makes the snack more satisfying.
2. Mushrooms
The rich, meaty taste and texture makes them an ideal meat substitute, and cutting out at least some of the meat in your diet can be a powerful weight loss strategy. Last week a research team from the Weight Management Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health demonstrated this effect in a study showing that substituting mushrooms for meat in one meal a day  resulted in a significant weight loss.
Researchers followed 73 participants, primarily 40-something women, for a full year in a randomized  trial and found that the mushroom group was consuming 173 fewer calories and 4.5 grams less fat a day, leading them to lose an average of 7 pounds each. Let’s note that this study was funded by the mushroom council; many weight loss food studies are, in fact, funded by groups representing producers and marketers of that food.
3. Yogurt
This one’s not news, but the research continues to come in. One of the most impressive studies on nutrition and weight loss, conducted by Darius Mozzafarian of Harvard and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found yogurt to be a surprisingly important factor distinguishing people who maintain their weight as they age and those who gain relentlessly over time.
Using data from the enormous Nurses Health Study, Mozzafarian and his team analyzed the eating habits of more than 120,000 people to find commonalities between those who gained weight as they aged, and those who maintained their youthful silhouettes. Of all the foods linked with weight loss, yogurt ranked the highest. (Potato chips and potatoes themselves came in the highest for weight gain.) Scientists don’t know yet why yogurt seems so consistently linked with thinness, but are looking into the possibility that the healthy gut flora promoted by yogurt’s beneficial probiotics may play a role. (It’s also possible, though, that yogurt simply tends to be a staple of the diets of health-conscious people.)
4. Oat Bran
Oat bran is a key element in the Dukan diet popularized by Kate Middleton, Jennifer Lopez and others over the past year. In the UK and Europe, where this diet is a high-profile fad, people carry oat bran around with them to comply with the diet’s very specific requirement of 3 tablespoons a day. The Dukan Diet has even branded its own oat bran and oat bran bars. Oat bran has been easy for continental dieters to adopt because oat bran bars have been in the purses of dieting French women for decades. (I remember trying the dry zweiback-like bran bars for sale in the diet sections of French pharmacies in the early 1990s and wondering how people could stand them.)
So what’s all the fuss, and does oat bran work as promised? In general, yes, but mainly due to benefits that you can replicate with other foods. Oat bran is very high in fiber, so it makes you feel full and aids in speedy elimination. Oat bran, like oats themselves, also absorbs fats, which is why it’s recommended by doctors to lower cholesterol. While you’re welcome to try oat bran bars and see if you like them, you can get much the same benefit by following my previous advice and eating a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast every day.
5. Olive Oil
How can a fat help you eat less fat? Because olive oil is monounsaturated, making it a healthy part of the endlessly recommended Mediterranean diet. But more specifically because according to research at the University of Irvine,  the oleic acid in olive oil is transformed in the small intestine into a compound called OEA (full name oleoylethanolamide) that relieves hunger and suppresses appetite by sending signals to your brain telling it you’re full.
Dress all those healthy salads you’re eating as part of your weight-loss plan with olive oil, and you’ll be doubling the benefit of all those antioxidant-rich veggies. A full analysis of all of the health-boosting benefits of olive oil is available from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition here.
Do you have more weight loss-friendly foods to add to this list? Please add them in a comment!
For more weight loss strategies that work, follow me on Twitter, @MelanieHaiken and subscribe to my posts on Facebook.

The Get-Slim 14-Day Diet

Bikini top, $72, bottoms, $64, Vitamin A by Amahlia Stevens; cuff, $890, Hermès.

Photo Credit: Philip Gay

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Okay, there is some work involved, but if you really follow this 14-day food and fitness plan from L.A. trainer Ashley Borden, you will see results.

The Workout
Monday through Saturday of both weeks, do some form of aerobic exercise (i.e., fast walking, jogging, or bicycling) for 30 minutes, morning and evening, at about 70 to 80 percent of your maximum capacity. In addition, add the following moves:

MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, FRIDAY
Do two sets of the following:

15 push-ups. Try the military kind.

20 biceps curls with five-pound weights. Stand straight. Keeping your elbows at your sides, bend your arms and lift the weights to your shoulders, then lower.

20 triceps kick-backs with five-pound weights. Bend forward at a 90-degree angle and place the weights by your hips. Extend your arms behind you, then back to your hips.

20 front and side shoulder raises with three-pound weights. Keeping your arms straight, lift the weights in front of you to shoulder height, then lower. Repeat, lifting weights to sides.

20 rear-deltoid lifts with three-pound weights. Stand with your feet together and bend forward at a 90-degree angle. Lift the weights straight out to your sides to shoulder height, then lower.

TUESDAY, THURSDAY, SATURDAY
Do two sets of the following:

20 squat-backs. Stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart. Stick out your butt and bend your knees until your thighs are almost parallel to the floor. Straighten.

20 step-ups on each leg. Stand in front of a staircase or stepping bench and step up onto one entire foot (not just the ball) while lifting the other knee up to your belly button, then step down.

15 calf raises. Keeping your torso straight, rise up on your toes, then lower.

40 bicycles. Lie on your back, with your knees bent and fingers laced behind your head. Lift your shoulder blades and feet an inch off the floor and "pedal" by bringing one elbow to the opposite knee, then switching sides.

20 lifting crunches. Begin as above. Lift your shoulder blades an inch, then one inch higher, then another, and lower.

The Meal Plan
Do morning exercises on an empty stomach. Eat your first meal of the day an hour later, then have a meal every three hours after that. Each meal should consist of one serving of protein (about the size of your palm), a starchy carbohydrate, and a fibrous carbohydrate (each the size of your fist). See food choices below. Down 10 eight-ounce glasses of water a day and take a daily multivitamin.

FOOD CHOICES
Protein: Turkey (white meat) or ground turkey, chicken (white meat), any fish, egg whites, tofu, beans, low-fat cottage cheese or any low-fat hard cheese (a portion of which equals three pairs of dice), yogurt.

Starchy carbohydrates: Yams, potatoes, oatmeal, couscous, brown rice, barley, bulgur, high-fiber cereal, corn, peas.

Fibrous carbohydrates: Broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, spinach, romaine lettuce, apples, strawberries, oranges, peaches, pears.

ON SUNDAY
Rest! And eat reasonable portions of whatever you want.

Read more: 14-Day Diet - Quick Weight Loss Diet - Marie Claire
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Weight-Loss Diet Meal Plan

See how to eat 1,200 calories a day.

4-Week Plan to Slim Down

EatingWell's 28-Day Weight-Loss Diet Meal Plan is designed to provide an overall healthy-eating program that meets U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans at three daily caloric levels: 1,200, 1,500 and 1,800. The menus are packed with nutrient-rich foods, including whole grains, lean meats, low-fat dairy and plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Find out which calorie level is best for your with this simple calculation. Using that daily calorie goal, cut 500 calories per day to lose one pound per week. To lose two pounds, cut 1,000 calories.
See all 28-Day Meal Plans »
Browse Our 7-Day Weight-Loss Diet Meal Plan »
Each of the 28 days on the plan includes 5 to 8 EatingWell recipes that use common, everyday ingredients and are simple to prepare. The recipes include entrees, side dishes, salads and desserts and are accompanied by other healthy foods to create nutritionally balanced meals that are both delicious and satisfying. In addition to breakfast, lunch and dinner, each day in the plans includes a morning and an afternoon snack. The Weight-Loss Diet Meal Plans model healthy eating patterns that can be followed for lifelong weight control.