The desire to lose weight must come from the individual. If you are really ambivalent about making changes in your lifestyle, or if you do it to please someone else, you are likely to fail. When you make changes, decide what is right for your lifestyle. Your best friend's diet and exercise plan may be completely incorrect for your health habits and interests. The key is to find a system that works for you.
Do not blame yourself if you are not perfect. If you fail once to try to reduce the excess food, it does not mean that you do not control the weight and that you simply have to give up. Accept that you made a bad decision, but do not let this bad choice influence the rest of your meal plan. The same is true with exercise. Skipping some workouts does not mean that you can not get back on track. Weight control does not mean making perfect decisions all the time; it is about trying to make good health decisions more often than the poor.
Do not be hungry. Be sure not to skip meals and always have healthy low-fat snacks. When you are starving, you are more likely to overeat and make poor dietary choices. Try to eat healthy and regular foods.
Avoid environments where you know you are tempted to make poor dietary choices. Everyone has time to eat too much, either by the morning coffee break or by the meeting after work with friends. Try to plan other activities or distractions for these times, or plan ahead how you will handle them and accomplish them.
Surround yourself with people who support your efforts. Even our good friends can intentionally or unconsciously sabotage attempts at weight loss. Spend time with these people who will not push you to make poor dietary choices.
Decide on some rewards that are not food for you when you reach intermediate goals. For example, at the end of the first week of healthy eating or after the first 5 pounds lost, buy a new DVD, application or book.
If you have an error, this is not a reason to give up. Giving up the temptation and overeating does not mean the end of your healthy eating plan. After the overeating episode, just resume the healthy eating plan and forgive yourself.
Store your pantry and refrigerator with healthy food. Get rid of high-calorie snacks and nutrients like potato chips and sweets. But do not forget to have many healthier options available, such as popcorn (try the butter, try Parmesan cheese), low-fat cheese and yogurt, fruit, instant unsweetened cocoa, lollipops or sugar-free desserts, or Whatever you want when you're hungry for a sandwich.
Study the Internet or your cookbooks collection and identify some low-fat recipes that you would like to try.
Set small goals and focus on them instead of focusing on the "big picture". Decide where you want to be in a week or a month instead of focusing on the total amount of weight you want to lose.
Do not compare your weight loss with others. We are all different and we have different metabolic rates. People also vary in the amount of calories they burn daily or how much exercise they do. Try a healthy weight loss rate and do not measure what others are doing or their results.
Look for restaurants and places where you can stay on track. Many restaurants offer nutritional information and calorie content on their menus, and it is often possible to change their choices. Get the vinaigrette on the side or keep the butter. Substitute vegetables for fried foods. Even starting the meal with a green salad can make you consume less of the high calorie main course while adding some vitamins and fiber to the meal.
