The 7 Weight-Loss Tips Proven to Work

weight loss tipsThere are way too many weight loss tips around. But what’s actually been proven?

The truth about losing weight and keeping it off is clear and simple. And it all boils down to seven basics proven effective by research.

So what have the researchers who’ve studied how your body actually loses, maintains and gains weight discovered over the past decades?

Here are the seven weight loss tips that have been scientifically proven:

1. Cutting calories is more effective than exercise.

Studies show that people lose more weight by just dieting alone than by only exercising. Researchers believe there are two reasons for this:

  1.  Exercise increases appetite hormones, making you feel hungrier.
  2. After exercising, people often feel tired and are more sedentary during the day, losing the calorie-deficit gained during exercise.

2. Exercise can help speed up a slow metabolism.

Despite the first weight loss tip, daily exercise offers three major benefits:

  1.  Research shows that being active helps to fix a “broken” metabolism.
  2. Weight bearing exercise builds muscle, improving metabolism.
  3. Daily physical activity helps to keep you healthy and fit.

So, what works best is to combine cutting calories with both aerobic and muscle-building exercise – especially during the maintenance phase.

3. To lose and maintain takes consistent vigilance.

Once you lose weight, maintaining that loss usually means you’ll have to work more rigorously at it than those who have never been overweight.

4. There’s no magic weight loss food combination.

Studies show that there is no “right” food combination which magically interacts with your metabolism or causes you to lose weight. This includes low-carb, low-fat, vegetarian, the Paleo diet or any other diet plan.

5. A calorie is a calorie; it’s the count that matters.

The calorie numbers are what cause weight gain and weight loss. But even though it’s been shown that you can lose weight on a low-calorie junk food diet, there are three main reasons to choose healthy foods instead:

  1. It’s easier to overeat junk food than to fill up on healthy food.
  2. Overtime, an unhealthy diet damages your metabolism.
  3. A healthy diet helps you to stay well and feel good.

So focus on a low-calorie, highly nutritious food plan that’s low on the glycemic index and high in good quality protein and fiber rich foods.

6. Unhealthy diets cause your brain to go haywire.

Years of overeating and making poor food choices has been shown to damage the part of your brain that regulates your metabolism.

Over time, a diet high in saturated fats and refined simple carbohydrates damages your body’s ability to regulate your weight and metabolism.

This damage interferes with brain signals about how much fat is being stored in your body; so you can no longer trust your “feelings” of hunger and fullness. It’s as if your gas gauge always points to empty.

You therefore keep eating more and more unhealthy foods and storing more and more fat. But healthy eating can repair damaged brain wiring.

7. Your brain rules the game to lose and maintain.

Although studies show that making poor eating choices causes you to gain weight and distorts how your brain responds to various foods, eating, feelings of hunger and fullness, and storing fat, there’s still hope.

Studies also show that by making healthy new decisions your brain can start to rewire itself and repair much of the damage that’s been done.

However, like any other behavior change, this process takes time.

Developing healthy new brain patterns and habits is not something that happens in just a few days or weeks. It could take months or even years. But with patient persistence, it can gradually happen and get easier.

Weight Loss Tips – The Seven Solutions Summary

To wrap it up, it all boils down to: cut down on calories, eat super healthy, exercise sensibly, be patiently persistent and stick with it forever!

If you’ve ever been successful with weight loss, have you found any of these 7 tips to be true for you? What else has worked for you?

More Commonsense Health for You:
Best Foods to Eat for Great Health
Low GI Diet of Low Glycemic Index Foods
Best Weight Loss Exercises to Lose Weight Faster
How Many Calories Should I Eat a Day to Lose Weight?


Casazza K, Fontaine KR, Astrup A, Birch LL, Brown AW, et al. New England Journal of Medicine. Myths, presumptions, and facts about obesity. N Engl J Med. 2013;368(5):446-54. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa1208051

Chen L, Appel LJ, Loria C, Lin PH, Champagne CM, Elmer PJ, Ard JD, Mitchell D, Batch BC, Svetkey LP, Caballero al. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Reduction in consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with weight loss: the PREMIER trial. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:1-8.

Gorin AA, Phelan S, Hill JA, Wing RR. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders. Promoting long-term weight control: does dieting consistency matter?.Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2004;28(2):278-81.

Catenacci VA, Ogden LG, Stuht J, et al. National Weight Control Registry. Physical activity patterns in the National Weight Control Registry. Obesity

Champagne CM, Broyles ST, Moran LD, Cash KC, Levy EJ, et al. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Dietary Intakes Associated with Successful Weight Loss and Maintenance during the Weight Loss Maintenance Trial. J Am Diet Assoc. 2011;111(12):1826-35.

Wing RR, Phelan S. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Long-term weight loss maintenance. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005;82(1):222S-225S.

Mozaffarian D, Hao T, Rimm EB, Willett WC, Hu FB. New England Journal of Medicine. Specific dietary and other lifestyle behaviors for preventing long-term weight gain in women and men. N Engl J Med 2011;364:2392-404.


  1. John says

    I was 245 lbs and needed to lose 45 lbs in :6 weeks due to the need for an operation and the surgeon wants my weight down. I went to a place that changed my eating habits and I lost 40 lbs prior to the operation. As a result the type 2 diabetic medication I was on was cut once I got down to 180 lbs.

  2. alethea robertson says

    The information I’ve received is so useful and important to me, thanks for helping me to know the different groups of food I should eat and stay in shape and keep healthy.

Leave a Reply
