7 Ways to Lose Weight — Even the Last 5 Pounds

3. Check your medications

Weight gain can be a side effect of prescription drugs, says Lawrence J. Cheskin, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center in Baltimore. For instance, some diabetes meds, such as insulin and sulfonylureas, may increase your appetite, making weight control — key in managing the disease — even more challenging. Antidepressants such as amitriptyline and mirtazapine (brand names Elavil and Remeron) are associated with weight gain, too. In fact, people taking some psychiatric drugs are up to three times more likely than others to be obese.

What you can do: Check to see whether weight gain is a side effect of your medication, and if it is, ask your doctor whether it makes sense to alter your dose or switch drugs. You may be able to substitute an alternate diabetes drug such as metformin, which is linked to weight loss. Similarly, the antidepressants fluvoxamine, desipramine and trazodone (brand names Luvox, Norpramin and Desyrel, respectively) are not associated with weight gain, a 2010 study reported. Word of caution: Always talk with your doctor before you stop taking a medication.

4. Work your cellphone

People who use their cellphones frequently (up to five hours a day) are less likely to be physically fit, a 2013 study found. Why would you want to go to the gym or take a walk when you're lying on the couch using your phone to play games, surf the Web or text friends?

What you can do: Your cellphone can actually raise your activity level, as long as you use it to connect with friends to go for a walk in your local park or meet for a tennis game. Try apps such as Fitocracy (fitocracy.com) or Daily Mile (dailymile.com), which tap into your social networks to get you moving.

5. Rethink the kitchen

Organizing your kitchen is about more than just deciding where the pans go. Kitchens have become destinations, says Brian Wansink, author of Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life. "No one hangs out in their kitchen and doesn't eat," he says. We're also three times more likely to eat what we see first, so unpack your groceries strategically. "People who keep sugary cereals or soda — diet or regular — visible weigh 12 and 22 pounds more, respectively, than the neighbor who doesn't," says Wansink.

What you can do: Make the kitchen less of a gathering place by removing comfortable chairs and the television, Wansink advises. Plus, he suggests stashing soda in the back of the refrigerator (behind the almond milk) and storing cereals, cookies and other unhealthy treats in a dark cabinet that's inconvenient to reach. Using 9.5-inch salad plates, as opposed to larger dinner plates, can help you eat 22 percent less, Wansink adds. And opt for red plates. They signal "stop" to your brain and, according to a recent study in the journal Appetite, decreased people's consumption of chocolate chips and popcorn, compared with the amount eaten on blue or white plates. Finally, break out the Miles Davis tunes. Another study in Appetite showed that listening to jazz makes food taste better. Truly enjoying your food means you'll be satisfied sooner and, yes, possibly even eat less.

6. Follow a budget

Women who have trouble paying their bills are more likely to be obese, a new study in Economics & Human Biology concludes. (Men, interestingly, aren't affected this way.) "If you're suffering financial hardship, you might rely more on low-cost — but high-fat — fast foods," says study coauthor Susan Averett, a professor of economics at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.

What you can do: It's never too late to develop a budget and stick to it. "This may help women both manage their finances better and lower their BMI," says Averett. She suggests the program StickK (stickK.com), which helps you set and commit to a goal.

7. Zap nighttime light

Do you sleep with your iPad next to your bed and check emails in the middle of the night? That constant exposure to light may be a contributing factor to disease and obesity, a recent study in the journal BioEssays finds. "Our body clock tells our organs and hormones what to do and when — and this is primarily controlled by the light," says José Ordovás, director of Tufts University's Nutrition and Genomics Laboratory in Boston. "Nighttime light disrupts the normal regulation of sleep, appetite and stress."

What you can do: People who get enough sleep and who maintain a consistent sleep-wake schedule are thinner. Because blue light (the kind emitted by electronics) decreases your body's production of sleep-promoting melatonin, switch off your devices at least a half-hour before bedtime, and move blinking light sources out of your room.