There is really just one hard and fast rule for weight loss; burn more energy than you take in. But how you go about creating that calorie deficit will determine how quickly (or slowly) you get to your weight loss goals. It is up to you to figure out how to keep yourself motivated and what to do when your motivation begins to slip.

[Don't be afraid to pile your shopping cart high with fruits & veggies!]

To help, we’ve come up with 7 weight loss tips for women that will help you reach your weight loss goals. When weight loss gets tough, these tips will help you stay on the right track! Keep reading to learn more.

Pile On The Produce

One of the most filling weight loss tips for women is to pile on the produce. When you make a plate you should have a small portion of protein and whole grains and a relatively large serving of vegetables or fruits. By piling on the produce you can make sure that your appetite is satisfied by one helping of food without piling on the calories.

Because fruits and vegetables are packed with fiber and water, not to mention nutrients, you feel like you’ve eaten a lot of food but without the added misery of a lot of calories. This is one reason that adding more produce is one of the best weight loss tips for women you’ll ever get. More produce means you’ll burn a few more calories during digestion, which will put you ever closer to your weight loss goals.

Some nights, skip the whole grains at dinner and give yourself a double serving of steamed or roasted vegetables! A recent study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals that serving more vegetables can not only help you eat more vegetables, but it can also be an effective weight management tool.

Go See A Doctor

Before you begin any weight loss regimen you should consult a physician to see if you have any health issues that you need to be aware of before you start. A trip to your physician will also give you access to your current and accurate weight so you can plan your weight loss goals as accurately as possible.

This is a good weight loss tip for women because your doctor may be able to refer you to a nutritionist so you can get weight loss tips from a professional that will help make sure you reach your weight loss goals without sacrificing your health.

Write Down What You Eat

Keep track of what you eat, at least for a few weeks so you have idea how much food you eat and how much you need to cut back for weight loss. It is best to look up the calorie counts for these foods so you know how many calories to cut down to, but also to help you figure out an exercise plan for weight loss.

One of the best weight loss tips for women you’ll ever get is to keep track of your food intake. How can you make the necessary changes to lose weight if you’re flying blind? Often we think we’ve cut back on our food, only to discover that we compensate for that food later in the day and sometimes into the night. When you keep track of your food, you can hold yourself accountable and make adjustments throughout the day and week to burn a sufficient amount of calories for weight loss.

Keep Cocktails Simple

When it comes to drinking alcohol there is just one weight loss tip for women; keep it simple. This means a glass of wine, a mug of beer or hard liquor on the rocks or with diet tonic water. By keeping your cocktails simple, that is without all the sugary high calorie mixers, you can make sure that you don’t drink a day’s worth of calories in just a few hours.

Learn how to make a quick & simple vodka martini! Just 127 calories per cocktail!

Alcohol on its own doesn’t have very many calories, but the things we add to them to make it easier to knock back 4 or 5 cocktails a night, can really send your calorie count soaring to proportions that aren’t friendly to weight loss. Instead of a Screwdriver, consider vodka & diet tonic with an orange wedge. Simple substitutions like this will allow you to occasionally enjoy a cocktail without requiring you to spend 2 hours on the treadmill.

Intense Exercise

One of the smartest weight loss tips for women is to never be satisfied with your workout plan. Start slow if you haven’t worked out in quite awhile or if you have a lot of weight to lose. Low impact aerobics like walking is a great way to start, but after you’ve dropped a few pounds you shouldn’t still consider a leisurely walk strenuous exercise.

As you become fitter you will need to increase the intensity of your exercise regimen in order to keep up with your weight loss. That dreaded plateau comes to all of us, but it is what you do about it that makes the difference between reaching your goals and not reaching them. Go from walking to running or swimming.

[More intense workouts mean more energy used and more fat BURNED!]

Another helpful weight loss tip for women is to alternate the intensity of your exercise regimen. For example you can sprint for 10 minutes and then walk briskly for 10 minutes. The theory behind this is that you can use different muscle fibers so that your body never gets used to working one way. The more you change it up and increase the intensity, the harder your body has to work to burn off the weight.

Reassess Goals Regularly

The thing about weight loss is that as you begin eating healthy and working out regularly, your weight goals should begin to shift slightly. What you needed when you were 20 pounds heavier will change now that the first 20 pounds have been shed and so on. After you’ve reached certain predetermined weight loss benchmarks you will need to reassess what you need to do to reach the next one.

This weight loss tip for women can be very useful especially if you keep a diet journal, because you see what you can change and what areas you have been successful so you aren’t making unnecessary changes. You might need to cut down on your cheat days or become more active beyond your exercise plan; whatever it is you should do this occasionally to make sure you’re on the right track for achieving your goal weight.

Intermittent Fasting

When you reassess your weight loss goals, one of the weight loss tips for women you should consider is intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting can help reinvigorate a stalled weight loss effort, by giving you a 36 hour break from eating and therefore, from constantly obsessing over food.

During your intermittent fast, take this time to increase the intensity of your workout regimen so you can get a fat burning edge before you start eating again. What’s great about intermittent fasting is that it isn’t a long fast so you’ll have energy to be active and you can start a fast once or twice each month to help you reset after an indulgent weekend or just to give your body a break.

Learn more about the ins and outs of intermittent fasting by reading our Eat Stop Eat review!