100+ Helpful Hints
I can't find where I got these tips so I'm going to post them on this page for now.
Hopefully I will be able to add to it as well! :)
001. Drink a glass of water every hour. It will make you feel full.
002. Pick one food for the day, like an apple. Cut it into 8 slices. Eat 2 slices at breakfast, 2 at lunch, 2 at dinner, and you'll have 2 left for a snack. This way your body thinks it's eating 4 times that day, but in reality you've only had 1 apple. The next day pick another food. Make sure it's only 1 serving that you split up into 3 or more throughout the day.
003. Dont try to fast for days and days. First of all, fasting for long periods of time actually slows down the metabolism, second, it increases binge cravings immensely, and third, it affects your mood greatly. Instead of being happy for losing weight, you'll be depressed simply because of lack of food.
004. If you live on your own or have a lot of privacy, tape/tack up pictures of your favorite models and always carry one around with you. When you're hungry pull out the picture. If you live on your own, tape them up on the fridge, freezer, and cupboards (just remember to take them down or cover them when people come over).
005. Always wear perfectly applied sticky lipgloss or chapstick. It keeps you very aware of what goes in your mouth, and makes you think twice about eating anything, because you will have to carefully re-apply.
006. 'Pro Plus' are caffeine tablets which you can just buy from most shops, no need for calorie infested coffee, they are also easy to take if and when you do eat anything.
007. If you're a smoker and you're hungry, light up a cigarette. It curbs your appetite and you no longer feel hungry. If you're not a smoker, however, I wouldn't advise you to start simply to lose weight - the negative side effects greatly out weigh any weight loss you experience.
008. If you are really craving food, brush your teeth with a strong mint toothpaste. This helps to put you off food because of the taste it leaves behind.
009. When you are hungry, do something gross like dig for worms, clean a kitty litter box, or something. It will make you less likely to eat.
010. In between each mouthful of food that you eat, take a sip of water. It fills you up and slows down your eating so that you stay in control and the meal doesn't turn into a flat-out binge.
011. Dexatrim - take 3 a day 1/2 hour before you eat and drink water and you'll be full after just a few bites. Dexatrim, however, is not safe for those of you already on medication. I used to do the whole diet pill thing years ago, and as a result, my heart is permanently damaged.
012. When drinking water, drink ICE COLD water... your body has to burn calories to keep your body temperature up.
013. I would not recommend taking laxatives because they are not an effective way of purging, and you actually gain weight by taking them. There are natural laxatives though, found in foods like prunes and grapes. Also, there are certain sugar-free cough drops and candies that produce a laxative effect because of the sugar substitute used in them.
014. Try to eat in the same place every day. Somewhere solitary. Not in front of the TV or computer. If you have to stop what you're doing to go eat you might not even bother.
015. Eat what you crave. But eat it before you crave it in moderation. For instance, instead of a whole chocolate bar, get one of the small ones and only eat 1/2 of it. Allow yourself to enjoy it. Deprivation leads to binging.
016. Sleep at least 6 hours a night. Less than 6 hours sleep a night stimulates appetite by 15%. A lot of people with eating disorders suffer from insomnia, but it really is important to get as much sleep as possible.. Not just for weight loss, but because it helps the body stay healthy even though it is starving.
017. Lower the temperature in your house 10 degrees to burn more calories, or take an icy cold shower/bath. Like drinking the ice water, it causes your body burns calories as it tries to warm you up.
018. Always eat teaspoon size amounts of food at any one time and chew well. You will become fuller with less food so wont want to finish what's on your plate.
019. If youre really hungry, buy a bag of low fat low calorie hard candies. When you suck on them a lot your stomach will tell you that you are full.
020. Try drinking more hot beverages, especially in fall and in winter. Hot liquids expand the intestinal tract and make you feel more full. A warm drink can help take the edge off your hunger, preventing overindulging later. In fact, soup can do the same. Bullion cubes are only 5 calories a cube, and they taste wonderful.
021. Focus especially on the first three bites. After that, the excitement of eating will begin to slowly subside, and you'll probably be content with a smaller portion.
022. Spicy foods raise your metabolism and burn slightly more calories than mild foods.
023. If you feel like you want to eat, go to a friends house that you cannot just raid the fridge at. Being around other people will make you less likely to eat since most people with eating disorders are embarrassed of being caught eating in public.
024. When you go out, take only a few bucks with you so when you walk past the pastry shops you can't afford anything.
025. Before you dig into that carton of ice cream, bag of chips, etc., take a deep breath and count to 100. Usually, by the time you stop counting you will have convinced yourself that you don't really need it.
026. Write a note to yourself listing all the reasons you are finally ready to lose weight. Keep this letter with you at all times, for inspiration.
027. Check your head. Never eat anything bigger than your head, even lettuce. You'll only stretch your stomach out. Train your tummy to settle for less.
028. You'll eat less on a black or navy blue plate.
029. Eat your sweets at breakfast
030. If you love a certain food, save the wrappers even after you've eaten it. Smell it when you're hungry.
031. Don't Swallow! Take a bite, chew, and spit it out.
032. Track your triggers. Log them in a notebook, post them in your journal, whatever. This way youll know when a trigger is going to hit, and you'll know in advance to keep yourself occupied during that time.
033. Sit up straight. You'll burn at least ten percent more calories sitting upright than reclining.
034. Kelp pills help to boost he metabolism.
035. Never eat anything bigger than your fist.
036. Get your tongue/lip/labret pierced, therefore you can't eat. Not only will your mouth be sore, but you'll have something to strive for, a new motivation. For me, when I get a new piercing I starve myself because I want to look good with the new jewelry.
037. Drink 2tbsp of vinegar before the meal, so it well help suck out the fat out of it.
038. If you're being watched, try the opaque cup trick. This ones a classic: Pretend you're eating, and spit the food in the cup while you pretend to be drinking - don't forget to get rid of what's in the cup though!
039. Go to the kitchen often, and pretend you're snacking. Take a bite out of something and take a long time, look in the fridge, etc. They will think you're always in the kitchen eating, and won't suspect anything.. If you never go in the kitchen, your family will notice.
040. Go Vegan or vegetarian, or just cut out red meat altogether... Meat and meat products have a lot of fat in them.
041. Have a peppermint. Peppermints actually decrease hunger.
042. When you get hunger pains, curl up in a ball. It really helps them go a way.
043. Drink tea whenever you get hungry and drink as much as you want its low in calories, and it fills you up.
044. Hit your stomach when it grumbles because that will make the sound go away and your stomach will hurt too much to eat.
045. Diet soda, contrary to what it says on the bottle, is not calorie-free. It is, however, still low in calories (one calorie a can), and though its not as good as drinking water, it will fill you up.
046.Metabolife really curbs your hunger and cravings, as well as gives you energy when you're restricting. Though, as with the Dexatrim, using Metabolife will interact with other medications, causing possibly permanent heart damage.
047. Try varying your daily intake. If you eat, say, 200 calories a day, you will hit a plateau in your weight loss and your metabolism will slow down greatly. Instead, try consuming 400 one day, 600 the next, 200 the day after, and so on. The numbers are up to you, but whatever you do, make sure the calorie content doesn't stay the same.
048. Green tea is not only an anti-oxidant, you can burn up to 110 extra calories a day by drinking several cups.
049. Persuade yourself that you don't like a food, take your favorite food and when you look at it and think yum, think yuck instead. Even if you don't believe it at first, even just thinking it goes a very long way, and eventually you will convince yourself that you really dont like the food.
049. Low calorie hot chocolate is great for suppressing those chocolate cravings and it makes you feel full, too.
050. Always leave at least 3 hours between eating anything and going to sleep. If you eat before sleeping it can help you to put on weight, the 3 hours gives your body enough time to burn calories, which you wouldn't burn if you went to sleep.
051. Hide a plate or zip lock bag near your computer. Right before supper, go to your computer room and when supper is ready say you're doing your homework and want them to bring your meal to you. When you get it, just put it in the other plate or zip lock bag and bring the dish back up in 15 min.'s. Just make sure you dispose of the food later.
052. Take a picture of yourself scantily clad, and every time you want to grab for the cake and cookies and ice-cream, just look at the picture (it could be nude but keep it hidden).
053. When you have a craving for sweets, have 'crystal light' sugar free candies. They're delicious, and are HALF the calories of normal hard candies.
054. Taking more than the recommended dose of kelp makes you feel sick and you don't have to try and restrict.
055. Buy lunches/dinners of canned/contained foods, like lunch buckets, then without cooking them hide them in your room or locker as if you were eating them, and instead walk/drive them once a week to your local homeless shelter. This also helps those of you, like me, who feel guilty for wasting food.
056. When you are in school or at work, grab something on your way out the door to eat (because you're in a hurry)-and throw it out. Then when lunchtime comes, go to the library instead of with your friends. Also, get involved in an after-school activity. This way you come home after everyone else has eaten and you can take a plate of food to your room to eat while you are doing your homework (put the food in a bag and throw it out with tomorrows breakfast).
057. Wearing "fashionable" gloves and scarves really helps when you get cold and makes people less suspicious than if you're always bitching that you're cold when its over 80 degrees out.
058. Celery actually burns calories. Every hour, eat a stalk of it. Not only will it fill you up, but it'll also get your metabolism kicking.
059. When you feel you need to eat, list the reasons why its not such a good idea. By then you'll most likely lose the craving, and you'll have convincing reasons not to eat.
060. Try Green Orange or Bitter Orange (found at health food stores). They contain synephrine, which increases your metabolism more effectively and it's not as dangerous to use as ephedra.
061. Coffee! On an empty stomach it will make you feel sick and will curb your appetite while burning calories because of the caffeine.
062. Always wear a rubber band on your wrist.. When you're tempted, snap it. Operand Conditioning is a wonderful thing (You know, Pavlov, the infamous salivating dog and Baby Albert?).
063. If you get hunger strikes, go on a walk or sleep...keeping your mind off food will make them go away. And if you exercise to avoid eating, you will automatically get into the Cant eat, need to get thin! mood.
064. If you're in college, plan your schedule so that it spreads throughout the day. That way you won't have long gaps of time where you can pig out in your dorm.. Wont your friends be jealous when they gain the Freshman 15 and you haven't?
065. Whenever you get hungry, think of all the people who made fun of you in middle/high school.
066. If you are eating a meal, only eat every 4th bite. Take a bite, spit it out, repeat. But when you get to your 4th, swallow.
068. Put your fork down in between bites at meal time.
069. If you feel empty, try this: you can buy bagels that are 98% fat free, split it in half, chew on it for a while. They fill you up, as they appear stodgy. Once you've eaten a mouthful, spit the rest out. They're dry so they encourage you to drink water, which fills you up.
070. Always keep a trash can near you when you eat so if you feel like you are going to over eat, you can just make it a reflex action to throw the food away. You can't think about it though, because you'll just decide to eat. Even if you've only eaten 2 bites, if you feel that you might be full, just reflexively throw the food away. If you're at a restaurant, just choose a seat next to the trash. I don't recommend this tip if you're eating with other people, though.
071. If you're annoyed at your family for always trying to make you eat breakfast with them, tell them (while holding your stomach with your arms and looking like you're about to puke) that you always feel sick after you eat in the morning so early. Or that you have to go swimming in a few hours, and that you don't like eating before that.
072.If you do cook food, make sure it's something that takes a long time to cook (like cookies or a pasta or something) and also has a strong aroma, so that way when it's done and you're ready to eat it, you will have gotten filled up just by the smell and waiting and you won't be able to finish it all. It also helps to drink a lot of water while you're waiting, as that fills you up, too.
073. When you are really hungry, take some anti-heartburn pills. Stomach acid is always being made to help digest food and when you don't eat it builds up and you feel hunger. Pills help neutralize the acid and you won't get hunger pangs.
074. If you throw food in the trash can in your bedroom, make sure you get rid of the bag before going to bed, otherwise it will reek in the morning.
075. Drink plenty of water, at least 8 glasses a day. This is an obvious one, but there are other reasons to due this, other than weight loss. Drinking water ensures that the kidneys are functioning properly. If you are not fully hydrated this means that the kidneys are not working to their full capacity and results are that the waste products are then dumped onto your liver, which is where the fat process actually occurs. Water actually speeds up your metabolism.
076. Exercise and sweat. When you sweat you burn calories, obviously. Don't overdo it, however, because then you will have a heat stroke. Also if you take a hot bath, you lose water from sweating, but when you drink all the water it comes back again. A good way to do this is if you are going out and you really want fit into that tube top for summer, then just don't drink anything and take a really hot shower and sweat a lot. You will be thirsty but you will have lost a lot of weight for the time being. Remember: body is 98% water.
077. Eat a tiny piece of onion (like 1/2 in square). That way you have onion breath and people believe you really ate.
078. If you have a craving for sugar, try fat-free, sugar free Jell-O... its only 10 cals per serving... if you want you can eat the whole bowl and its only 40 cals.
079. Get tape or those roll up bandages and wind them tightly around your stomach. It stops you from eating because you can't get the food down properly and you also look thinner.
080. If you eat at night before you go to bed, make sure you lay on your left side. It makes the food go through your system faster and wont have as much time to suck fat out of the food. But remember that you shouldn't eat before you go to bed. It slows down your metabolism.
081. Keep yourself extremely busy, almost to the point of being completely stressed out, and you can go for 8hrs without being hungry or wanting to eat.
082. Use two of the Ginseng packets you find in convenience stores if you don't have diet pills (mini-thins work well also). Be sure you don't take more than two every six hours or so because if you haven't eaten in a while, 3 can give you the shakes.
083. If you don't feel comfortable not eating too much, eat only a hard boiled egg, an apple, and a glass of water. It will fill you up all day.
084. Remember, out of sight is out of mind. If there are goodies lying around on the counters or table, put them away and/or hide them. That way whenever you walk through the kitchen you won't be tempted.
085. Make vegetable soup with low cal veggies cut up in chunks. You can have a full bowl and feel full, but actually you haven't eaten very many calories.
086. If you can, get a job around food. It will curb your my appetite drastically, especially if you work in a fast food place such as McDonalds.
087. Get comfy in bed. Being comfortable means you don't want to move, which means no getting up to get food.
088. Take zinc and potassium supplements. These work well with kelp in raising metabolism and mobilizing fat.
089. If you have a terrible craving, turn on the TV. Most likely, some sort of show will be on with skinny, gorgeous actresses/models. It's a definite way to curb an appetite.
090. If sitting at school or work, constantly tap your feet/fingers. Fidgeting throughout day is proven to burn up to 800 calories per day.
091. If you're talking about celebrities, make sure to mention how you think Calista Flockhart is too thin and that you think Kate Winslet is gorgeous. Praise fat and people will never guess that you're starving yourself into thinness.
092. If you're in outpatient treatment and have to have your blood tested - a comprehensive metabolic panel - there are a few ways you can fool the test. One, drink water - LOTS. You need to flush the ketones that have built up in your system out of your body or else they'll know you're starving/burning fat. Two, eat some nutritional stuff - yogurt, fruit, cereal - the day beforehand as well as a few hours beforehand, Technically, you're supposed to fast for 12 hours before the test for it to be accurate in measuring your vitamin levels. NOT fasting will up the vitamin levels. Three, make sure you always take vitamins. Finally, you'll want to make sure you get your electrolytes in. Smartwater has 0 calories and lots of electrolytes - perfect for this tip and the first one! So drink up.
093. Wear nail polish to cover up the bluish tinge that starvation gives your fingernails so others don't suspect it as much.
094. Have to go to a restaurant with someone? Some ways you can avoid eating much - 1. veganism (makes it hard to find suitable food); 2. severe food allergies (always a good answer when they offer chocolate!), or 3. order something that you've never tried before. When you taste it, say you don't like it.
095.Three product recommendations: smart water (0 calories, but has electrolytes - even if you don't purge you lose them!), caffeinated peppermints (sugar free - 3 for 5 calories, at www.peppermints.com), and antacid gum (for those times you do have to purge). These are the triumvirate of the anorexic's medicine cabinet.
096. Use your mind - think about what the food would look like in your body after you have eaten it... hopefully that will put you off.
097. When you're cooking, make sure you chew gum at the same time so you won't be tempted to take little bites of the stuff you're cooking.
098. Wearing braces could take away your appetite. Depending on what kind of a person you are, either lazy or not. In some cases other people don't bother cleaning their braces because they are sick and tired of doing it. It is also bad to leave chunks of meat and cheetos in-between braces and teeth. Their mentality says " Why bother eating again, I don't want to clean my braces three times a day". This tip is good for people who are "neat freaks" or hygienic. It is also a good advantage cause braces will give good teeth result. Braces may hurt the teeth but its another reason not to bother putting food in your mouth
099. If you're with your family and you're at a buffet, spend most of the time acting like you're picky, and walk around the buffet tables. Then just get a little something and spit it in your cup or napkin. Sneak in some exercise too while you're walking.
100. Get a piece of ribbon and cut it to the measurement that you want your waist to become after you lose weight. Then you tie this around your wrist like a bracelet. The idea is that each time you see the ribbon you remember your goal, and hopefully it stops you from breaking your targets! And whenever you need a motivation boost, take the ribbon off and see if it fits around your waist.
