Diet Tips 31 - 40

31) Eat protein for breakfast. (If I could talk myself into even making myself breakfast.)

A study in the Journal of American Clinical Nutrition found that a high-protein breakfast made people feel more satisfied and fuller for a longer time than a high-carbohydrate breakfast did.

32) Don't forget protein at lunch or dinner.

Try spreading your protein intake throughout the day—it's better for your metabolism and will help you feel full for a longer period of time, according to a study in the Journal of Nutrition. Put chicken or turkey in your salad at lunch, and have a palm-size piece of meat at dinner.

33) Eat strategically.

"The order you eat your food matters much more than you'd suspect," says Aronne. His advice: Eat produce and protein before you eat carbs. He and his research team recently published a paper in Diabetes Care that found blood glucose levels were 36% lower an hour after eating when people followed this pattern. Plan your meals accordingly.

34) Choose al dente carbs.

When you prepare high-carbohydrate foods like pasta or rice, cook them slightly underdone. "This will slow down absorption into the body," says Aronne. "You won't have the blood-sugar spikes, which means you'll feel full longer."

35) Understand food labels.

"You need to look at serving size versus container size," says Cheskin. For example, a 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola contains 2.5 servings. "Stick to the serving size when you snack rather than eating the whole package, and you'll be a lot better off."

36) The kitchen closes after dinner. (One of my biggest problems)

After a long day of making decisions, your brain is whipped by nighttime. That's when you're likely to sabotage your weight loss efforts with poor food choices. "Snacking after dinner is a problem," says Aronne. "In general, we should try not to eat after dinner and just aim for a good night's sleep." A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that late-night eating often leads to weight gain. In fact, the nighttime eaters gained nearly 14 pounds in the study.

37) Brown bag it. (Another problem. In the mornings I am just not thinking food; I am thinking: get dressed, get dogs outside, put on make-up, make coffee, get to work. Once in a great while I might remember to bring leftovers (which, come to think of it, I could have today. Dang it!) )

Bringing lunch (like one of these quick lunch recipes) means you're in control, says Platkin. In a year-long study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietics, overweight women who went out to lunch weekly gained, on average, 5 pounds more than those who ate out less frequently.

38) Stop skipping meals. (Another problem because usually in the mornings I'm not hungry. And I do skip lunch a lot.)

While it seems that not eating would equal fewer calories, the opposite is true. The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics study found that dieting women who skipped meals lost, on average, 8 fewer pounds than women who ate consistently. "When you skip meals, the body goes into starvation mode," says Aronne. "It not only holds on to fat, it primes the brain to seek out high-calorie foods to protect itself."

39) Purchase snack-size baggies.

If impulse control is a problem when you open a bag of snacks, try portioning out single-serving containers, suggests Bainbridge. That way when you reach for a snack, you won't overdo it or suffer a setback.

40) Take a long hard look at yourself. (This is something I really do need to do. Really.)

When Lawrence Cheskin sees patients in his clinic, he asks them to look at their lifestyle, their habits, and their history of weight loss. He encourages them to consider their happiness, relationship to food, stress, and patterns of eating. (Here are 8 helpful tips from nutritionists that you should know.) "It's important to understand what works for you," he says. "Weight loss is a very individual thing, and only you know exactly what's happened that caused success and failure in the past."