The first thing to do to accomplish these lifestyle changes is to analyze your daily calorie intake. This is done easily by writing down everything you eat each day for at least a week. Look up the calorie count for all the food. This will help you further analyze what changes need to be made, so that you can lose weight effectively.
Most of these lifestyle changes just call for replacing unhealthy foods with healthy alternatives. You can substitute low fat or no fat dairy for high fat dairy. This will allow you all the nutrition of dairy, with less fat and calories.
Cook more of your dishes from scratch and try to stay away from fast food or processed foods. Processed foods are counterproductive to weight loss many times, because they can contain too much salt, sugar, and unhealthy fats. Shop the fresh foods in the store and create your own unique dishes flavored with olive oil and healthy herbs.
Make sure all your sources of protein are lean ones. High fat meats are not only high in calories, but can be hard on your circulatory system and heart. Lean meats and other healthy protein choices will help the weight loss for women to be more successful.
Aim for a daily caloric intake that is at least 500 calories less than what you normally eat, to lose weight. If you still do not lose weight with this decrease, then decrease your food intake a bit more until you start to gradually shed some of those unwanted pounds.
Stay away from sugar, except on very special occasions. Sugar will make you blood glucose levels spike, and this will prevent your body from burning its own glycogen stores. Also, simple carbohydrates such as white bread, regular pasta and white rice should be avoided just as sugar should be for the same reason. Whole grain products and brown rice are okay because they take longer to digest and do not cause the blood sugar to go up as quickly. When your body burns these glycogen stores, instead of just the food it takes in, weight loss will occur.
Also, watch your salt intake to make sure you do not get over the recommended amounts. Too much salt (listed as sodium many times) could lead to water retention for women and for that fact men and slow down efforts at losing weight.
Eat more of the fresh, green, leafy vegetables. These are not only low in calories, but also highly nutritious. Some believe that half of your plate should consist of this type of green vegetables and the rest of you plate can be starches and meat. Add some fresh fruit in place of a high calorie dessert such as cake. Fruit provides vitamin C and other antioxidants that support the immune system.
Above are some simple ideas for being successful with weight loss for women. Eat to live a healthy life and you will lose weight and be able to maintain your ideal weight successfully.