10 Weight Loss Tips From the Duke Diet

10 Weight Loss Tips From the Duke Diet Follow the Duke Diet's medically tested slimming strategies and watch the pounds melt away. Tips to Deal with Obesity By Rachel Grumman Bender Losing weight is easier when you've got an experienced support team. That's the concept behind the Duke Diet, which focuses on smart, healthy, straight-forward strategies for losing weight and keeping the pounds off. Celebrity fashion stylist Kithe Brewster came to the center to work toward his goal of losing 60 pounds in 6 months by following the Duke Diet. The diet, which was developed over 40 years by the experts at the Duke Diet & Fitness Center in Durham, N.C., sets itself apart from other weight-loss plans with its team approach, offering clients the opportunity to stay at the center for several days or weeks so they have immediate access to nutritionists, exercise physiologists, medical doctors, and psychologists to help them change their eating and exercise habits. Watch Stylist Kithe Brewster Lose 60 Lbs in 6 Months But you don't need to travel to the Duke Diet center to take advantage of the program. We asked the center's experts to share their top 10 tips for achieving weight loss success — from scheduling meals to getting a grip on emotional eating. Here's what they told us: 1. Eat More — But Choose Wisely You already know that fruits and vegetables are good for you. That's because they're not only packed with disease-fighting nutrients, but they're also great for losing weight and maintaining weight loss. Fruits and vegetables contain fiber and water, which fill you up so you eat less at each meal. Duke Diet nutritionists recommend loading half of your plate with fruits and vegetables at lunch and dinner to leave less room for unhealthy foods. "Seeing a full plate also helps you feel more satisfied on a low-calorie diet," says Christine B. Tenekjian, a Duke Diet & Fitness Center dietitian. "When people come to our program, they're afraid of being hungry, but more often they say, 'This is more food than I usually eat.'" Tenekjian recommends having at minimum of two to four servings of fruits and vegetables each day and making sure your plate contains 50 percent produce. Ideally, the rest of your plate's real estate should be filled with 25 percent healthy protein — fish, lean beef or white meat chicken, or a plant-based protein such as tofu — and 25 percent should come from carefully-chosen, fiber-rich starches, such as beans and other legumes. 2. Schedule Your Meals Many people who come to the Duke Center have stopped listening to their hunger cues long ago and instead eat because they're upset, bored, or just saw a commercial for a tempting food, says Tenekjian. "As a society, we've really lost the ability to recognize our hunger signals," she notes. "Until the people who come here become cognizant of that, we ask them to eat on a schedule — small meals every three to four hours — when they go home." Those who are most successful at losing weight and keeping it off tend to eat five to six small meals a day or about every three to four hours, according to Tenekjian. 3. Keep a Food Journal Jotting down what you eat — in a journal, on your iPhone, or in an Excel spreadsheet on your computer — helps you stay aware of whether your meals are balanced, how frequently you're eating, and how many calories you're consuming. "If people come back to the center because they're regained the weight," says Tenekjian, "it's often because they stopped monitoring what they've been eating." Dieting Without Dropping Pounds? 4. Get a Grip on Emotional Eating To help halt emotional eating, says Sofia Rydin-Gray, Ph.D., assistant director of behavioral health and lifestyle coaching at Duke, first suss out why you're reaching for that pint of ice cream in the first place. She suggests asking yourself the following questions before eating. Am I hungry? How am I feeling? What do I really need? What can I do instead? "Some clients add questions, such as, 'How long will have to exercise if I eat this?' Or, 'How many calories will I have burn?'" says Rydin-Gray. "One client put a note on the fridge that says: 'What you're looking for isn't in here.'" Last Updated: 02/11/2011 This section created in partnership with Duke Diet and produced by the editorial staff of EverydayHealth.com. © 2011 EverydayHealth.com; all rights reserved.