Track Your Progress

Quick, what’s the difference between a dream and a goal?

Any goal-setting guru will tell you that goals are dreams that you write down and track. Why? By writing down your goals, you're creating a "to do" list for your life, which is a powerful way to commit to achieving your dreams. Tracking your progress heightens the commitment, helping you see what’s important, identify pitfalls, find trends, and celebrate successes. You wouldn’t take a class or play a sport without measuring success in some way, whether by grades or keeping score, so why not invest similarly in your own life?

Tracking your goals shouldn’t be hard if you’ve defined them clearly and broken them into manageable tasks. If you haven’t done this, you’ll find out pretty quickly when you start to monitor your progress. Give yourself the freedom to pick the tool—or combination of tools—that works for you. Here are some creative ways to track your progress:

• Habit-Enhancing Charts - Based on the concept that people establish habits after 21 consecutive days, you can design your own chart to help you mark daily progress. Include four brief headings: the habit you want to cultivate, your start date, your goal date, and the date you achieved it. Then include 21 slots, calendar-style, that you can mark off daily as you meet the goal. If you miss one day, start a new trial period. Keep your charts in your date book, on your desk, or as a bookmark.
  
• Buy or Create a Goal Calendar - These can be large enough to hang or small enough to carry with you. Mark the daily progress you make towards your goals, and briefly note problems, challenges, and successes that you experience. You can also chart higher-level goals on a monthly, quarterly, or even yearly basis. Got kids? Get them involved by letting them decorate, post accomplishment stickers, and write encouraging notes. They’ll feel important in your life and love it!
  
• Email Your Own Encouragement - Send yourself a daily email reviewing how you did yesterday and what you plan to do today. You can do this at the end of each day or even at the beginning of your day. Just seeing the current email in your inbox—or even glancing over it once or twice a day—is a powerful reminder that you want to accomplish something worthwhile. Filing or printing your daily email will give you a complete record of how you’ve done, and may point out areas for improvement.
  
• Journal - Keeping a daily journal of your progress is a great way to review your challenges and successes. Include how you do and how you feel in regards to your progress. And remember, if this is your main tracking tool, you must do it every day for it to be effective. If you're short on time, develop your own shorthand system or template to save time, such as rating how you did on a scale of 1 to 5.
  
• Report to a Buddy Daily or Weekly - Find a friend you can talk with briefly—online or by phone—to help track your progress in tackling your goals. Make sure you choose a positive person who’s willing to help and encourage. Better yet, find someone who has goals of their own and can use your input as they track their progress.
  
• Your Current Planner or Agenda - Chances are that if you have a planner or daily agenda, you can use it to keep track of your progress toward goals. You can even set aside the same spot on each daily page to make notes, check off accomplishments, and outline next steps.

These are just a few ideas to help you start tracking your goals and progress. Remember that you can combine several of the tools (a daily calendar, for instance, summarized with a more-detailed, weekly journal entry). Just as you wouldn’t take a long trip without planning your route and watching the road signs, you shouldn’t expect to accomplish long-term goals without planning your journey and monitoring your progress. Create a roadmap to your success by writing down your goals—then track them to determine whether you’re chugging along, need to refuel, or should revise your route.

Fill Up On Happiness

When we eat beyond satisfied and even beyond full, we are eating to fill a void. That void can only be filled by you, your life, and happiness. People who fill up on happiness are more likely to take actions that move them in the direction of their goals. They also tend to burn more calories, and attract happy and successful people into their lives. They are “living on full.”

What do I mean by “fill up on happiness?” I mean choose to find happiness—not negativity, gossip, mind-numbing TV shows, or empty calories—in the world around you. The following tips, techniques, and happiness quotes should get you started.

1. Focus on the journey, not the destination. At the end of the day, happiness is not about the big house, the money, the jewelry or any material goods. The thrill is in the satisfaction of pushing our envelope and living our best life. Happiness lives in the meaning and purpose we find in our lives. This past weekend, my family had a bbq. We sat around our 4-person circle table on the back patio and ate together, laughed together, and enjoyed being together. That was one of the most happiness times I’ve felt this week. Happy times don’t necessarily include going on a cruise but can be experience in your own back patio table. Melt into the process. Enjoy the ride. Happiness guaranteed!

2. Celebrate a memory, your brilliance, your authentic style, your family, your animals, nature and/or your clean closets! Celebrate anything and everything that brightens your heart. If you find one thing to celebrate every day, your mind will soon automatically search for things to celebrate. Imagine that… your mind on automatic pilot, searching for happy things to celebrate.

3. One needs to expend an awful lot of energy to hold onto anger and resentment. And at the end of the day, who is it hurting? If you take a hot coal and intend to throw it, before you let go, who does it burn? You! Same way with anger and resentment. You get burned. Certainly not the people to whom you are directing your bitterness and hostility. Those negative feelings are swirling through your own psyche and body. So let them go and enjoy a path toward feeling lighter, freer, and happier. In the end, you could consider forgiveness the best kind of selfish act, as it benefits you as much as anyone else.

4. Rather than focusing on what you haven’t achieved (and believe me, you are not alone!), why not focus on what you have accomplished and give yourself credit where credit is due? No holds barred. No thoughts that negate your triumphs or happy moments.

Right now, write down your successes, your favorite memories, your blessings and things you are thankful for. You can even project happy happenings into the future. Feel that happy energy swirling upward? It may be big things but actually the smaller things are usually more meaningful.

5. Exercise and activity stimulates the brain to release endorphins and increases the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin, the body’s natural mood elevator! Schedule 30 minutes a day to get out there and shake it, baby! Walk, dance, run, jump up and down, twirl in circles, just plain play… move any way you can and feel happy.

6. Get rid of those energy drainers. Anything and anyone (yep, people especially can drain your energy) that depletes your energy or you are tolerating in your life. Get those unpleasant, little, pesky tasks done, now! They are sapping your energy and weighing you down. They are hanging over your head. Free yourself of this mental clutter, and clear space for happiness!

7. Eat healthy, fresh foods. Yes, those Ding Dongs and Ho Ho’s may taste good temporarily but they don’t do your body any favors…..they add no, zero nada nutrition and actually with all the sugar, fat and the drain on your body, they actually do harm to your body. When you eat healthfully, your body thanks you and even your mood is elevated as well.

8. Stress, upset, and negative feelings can register in the body as tight shoulders, stomach cramps, stiff neck, or a headache. Some recommended ways to release this physical tension are to laugh, chant or sing, breathe deeply, get a massage, or sit in a sauna or steam room. It’s important to take care of your body in whatever way works for you.

9. Do a random act of kindness. Want to create an upward happiness spiral that not only affects you, but in turn expands and spirals out there (woo hoo!) enhancing the world-wide happiness quotient? Do something nice for someone else! It’s that simple. Plant one seed of happiness – just one – and it has the potential to grow and spread. The other day we were at a restaurant and there was an elderly gentleman that received his checkand took the change out of his pocket counting it out to pay for his bill. It seems as though he was short because he kept searching his pockets, his eyes were watery and he was shaking his head. We paid for his meal at the same time we paid for ours. We were so happy for the rest of the day. My sons talked for the rest of the day about how surprised he would be when he went to the counter to pay his bill.

10. Practice an attitude of gratitude daily. We can be collectors of injustices – we can continually feel slighted, empty, and unhappy because of all the injustices (both real and imagined) that have fallen upon us. Or, we can count our blessings, feel joyful and happy, and cultivate gratitude. Every night before you go to bed, jot down at least 5 things that you are grateful for. You may be grateful for the obvious – food, shelter, clothing, a job, or some more subtle things, like smiles from strangers, a ripe piece of fruit, or the bus arriving just as you get to the stop. As you strengthen your gratitude muscle, you’ll find that your life is filled with more blessings than you realized.

11. Do something daily to create a moment for yourself. It could be something as simple as watching birds outside in the trees, watching children playing, dancing to a catchy tune, playing with your pet(s), reading a favorite book, or whatever moment you can grab in your day that gives you a moment of pause and happiness.

When you fill up your heart with happiness, joy, and living your best life, you are truly full of what matters.

******This is one of those - it's been in my inbox for awhile things. I'm not sure who actually wrote it*******

Let's Loose Some Weight

I'm not a diet expert. I'm simply going to share some of the tips I discovered which helped me knock off pounds. I'd suggest you find a diet you can live with - and stick to it!

I didn't read or find a particular diet that I can tell you about. I asked a few people I felt knew what they were talking about for a few pointers. The only diet I have seen that makes any sense to me, is the one geared around our blood type. I buy into that concept.

The most basic rule of dieting is simplest: you have to take in less calories than you expend, in order to lose weight. The only way this happens is with regular exercise. If you try dieting without exercise, your results will be minimal - unless you starve yourself - which is very unhealthy.

Tip # 1: Portions are crucial. I doubt any one thing helped me more, than cutting back on the "actual" portions I consumed. I always had trouble when dining out - because I was raised to "finish my plate". However, the key to weight loss is to stop eating - just short - of getting full.

Tip # 2: Chewing your food. A big part of getting all the nutrients as well as maintaining a good digestive system, is completely chewing your food. This was "big" for me - because I'm always in a hurry. I used to drive everyone crazy with how "fast I ate". Initially, I just couldn't get the hang of this - old habits die hard.

The "trick" that finally got me over the hump was making a rule of "setting my fork down" - between bites.

Tip # 3: No (or minimal) carbohydrates after 2:00PM. Carbs play a key role in burning off fat. However...after 2:00PM - they rarely have enough time to "break down" before you hit the sack. Thus, they have a habit of becoming "love handles" - if I don't manage them correctly. Try to stick to "protein" in the afternoon and evening: egg whites, chicken, - (my favorite - canned tuna in spring water), etc.

Tip # 4: Salads. I happen to love blue cheese salad dressing. I had a friend in Weight Watchers who gave me a tip that really helped me with "this". Order your dressing "on the side" - and dip your fork into the dressing before filling your fork with lettuce. You'll get the flavor you are after, but only consume about a fifth of what you'd normally put on your salad. It will feel a little "light" at first - but you'll get used to it. Just think about that hot little bathing suit you'd love to put on. *Smile*

Tip # 5: The thing that helped me the most was fruit drinks. I can usually stick to a basic diet, but it's those "in between" times I have a hard time getting through. I mix orange juice and cranberry (sometimes add apple juice) and add crushed ice - to a large glass. I focus on "chewing" the ice - not drinking the liquid. It's almost like eating sherbet ice cream.

Tip # 6: Water. Nothing will get you losing weight faster than drinking water. I have a close doctor friend that is an Internist who once told me: "If people drank the eight glasses of water they were supposed to every day, I'd be out of business." I could never get into this habit, until I started buying gallon jugs of water. You can "chug" them so easily. Keep them all over the house - at your work area, in the kitchen, next to your bed - and take a "swig" - every chance you get.

An important note: Most everyone actually gains weight when they first start a decent diet combined with exercise. Anticipate this. Don't get discouraged. If you'll stick to your exercise and diet - the weight will start rolling off in no time.

You go Girlfriend!! ::))

Sabotage Tactics

You're on a diet - again - and judging by your moodiness, everyone knows it. Even though you've made your weight-loss intentions clear, your best friend sits down and inhales an entire bag of cookies in front of you. Your husband surprises you with a fancy dinner as a reward for your hard work. At the family barbecue, your mom turns to you and whispers, "You've lost so much weight - you can have one little piece of cake."

So now ask yourself, why do our loved ones make losing weight so difficult?

Research shows the company you keep can have a tremendous impact on your weight. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that obesity spreads within social networks. For example, your chances of becoming obese increase by 57 percent if you have a close friend who becomes obese. If that friend is of the same gender, your odds increase to 71 percent. If a sibling becomes obese, your chance of becoming obese increases by 40 percent. A spouse becoming obese increases the likelihood of the other spouse becoming obese by 37 percent. These negative influences exist even if friends and relatives live a long distance from one another.

We know weight gain can spread to family and friends. But does it spread unintentionally, simply because we grow accustomed to the lifestyle of those around us, or are friends and family deliberately sabotaging each other's efforts to lose weight?

Whether intentional or unintentional, family and friends have the ability to derail even our most whole-hearted attempts to lose weight. Common sabotage tactics include complaining about the amount of time you dedicate to the gym, tempting you with fattening foods, making comments or observations that you don't look like you've lost weight, and predicting that you'll gain all of the weight back. Friends may feign "fear" for your health by commenting that you're losing too much weight too fast. Mom may complain that you don't like her famous homemade chicken pot pie anymore, which must mean you don't love her anymore, either. Co-workers may exclude you from group festivities if you don't "party" with food and drink the way they do.

Why are your closest companions trying to sabotage you? Here are a few common reasons:

• They don't realize they are being negative or making comments that spoil your efforts.
  
• They feel insecure about their own weight (remember, two-thirds of Americans are overweight) and your weight loss makes them feel badly about themselves or puts pressure on them to get in shape. If they can convince you to eat more, they're assured your weight is "normal," and they can feel good about meeting the status quo.
  
• They're afraid your change in lifestyle may affect your relationship with them or change who you are. This is especially true in romantic relationships where spouses fear you'll become more and more attractive to the opposite sex as you slim down.
  
• They don't understand the health risks and seriousness of your efforts to lose weight. They assume small treats and indulgences won't do much harm.
  
• They want you to accept yourself as you are, or they hate to see you depriving yourself of something that at least appeared to bring you joy in the past.
  
• They feel competitive with you and don't like that you're "winning."
  
• They have grown accustomed to enabling your negative behaviors or controlling you, and old habits die hard.
  
• They don't want to lose their food buddy. Food defines your relationship, and without it you have no common ground.
  
• They use food to show their love and affection and are offended that you won't accept.
  
• They don't understand why you're so worried about your weight. They've never had a weight problem and can't fathom that maintaining a healthy weight is hard work for you.

Putting a Stop to Negative Behaviors


These types of negative behaviors from those closest to you can be disheartening, especially when you're already teetering on diet failure. You may not be able to control the actions of others, but you can control your own. Here are several strategies you can use to counteract their attempts at foul play:



Talk it out. Explain to family and friends the guidelines for your diet and how much it means to you to lose weight, so they can help you meet your goals. Let them know that when they ask you out to dinner or encourage you to eat certain foods, it makes it painfully difficult for you to stay on your diet. Try to assuage their fears and insecurities that your diet will lead to spending less time together or that you won't understand each other anymore.



Make a proposal. See if your loved ones are interested in joining your weight-loss crusade. Research shows that when dieters recruit a buddy into their weight-loss program, they're more likely to stick with it. Of course, you don't want to lecture or talk down to the people you care about, but you can offer cooking and shopping tips, share personal training lessons, or plan active outings together.



Take the high road. If friends and family judge or criticize you, remember that these statements usually stem from their own feelings of inadequacy. Give them the benefit of the doubt and realize they don't know what it's like to walk in your shoes. Don't take the comments personally and don't let them defeat you. Stay strong knowing you're doing something good for yourself.



Show some enthusiasm. Let your loved ones see your enthusiasm and excitement as you shed the pounds. Celebrate as you reach milestones in your diet and show everyone you're proud of your success. Your joy will be contagious and your friends and family will be inspired to offer their support. In the midst of your rejoicing, try to be sensitive to how others may interpret your success, and don't be condescending or judgmental of their lifestyle choices.



Explore new activities. Food often is the focus of social gatherings. Instead of hitting the buffet or gorging on gallons of ice cream and renting a movie, find new ways to connect with friends and family. Take walks, shop, work in the garden, or go to the gym together instead.

Plan in advance. If a food pusher tries to tempt you with something unhealthy, have a few canned responses in mind. Try a delay tactic like, "It looks delicious. I'll try some later" or "Thanks, but I just ate." If the judgment keeps coming, say firmly, "I'm trying to do something good for myself. Please support me in this." Worst case scenario, take the food and just let it sit until you can throw it away without incident.

Take responsibility. You are accountable for your food choices. While your friends and family may not make it easy on you, ultimately you're responsible for your own health. Ask yourself whether your loved ones are truly sabotaging your diet, or whether you are using their comments as an excuse to fail. Take advantage of negative attitudes as an opportunity to develop a sense of personal power. After all, you're adopting a healthier lifestyle for you, not someone else.



Find support elsewhere. People don't always respond in the ways you'd hoped, and you can't control their behavior. If your friends and family just can't be as supportive as you'd like, make some new friends at the gym, take walks with the neighbor, find a diet buddy at work, enroll in a healthy cooking class, or join an online support group. There's not one single person that can meet all of your needs - one person may serve as a great role model, another may be a great cheerleader to help you celebrate your successes, another may be the firm hand that keeps you on track, another may be an expert motivator after you've faced a setback. With a team of supporters behind you, you can achieve even greater success than you'd imagined.



People who truly love and care about you will want what's best for you and will support you in achieving your goals. If your path to a healthier, happier you is paved with bad company, success may be more difficult than you expected.

10 Strategies for permanent weight loss

1 - Exercise is essential for weight loss
It's nothing new, but exercise is probably the most important predictor of whether you will succeed at long term weight loss and weight loss maintenance. In order for exercise to be helpful in weight loss, you should strive for a minimum of five 30 minute sessions per week. The good news is that recent research has shown that three 10 minute sessions in a day are as good as one 30 minute session. This helps many in combating the old "no time for exercise" excuse. Be certain to find something you enjoy. You'll be more apt to stick with it. Try walking with a friend, joining an intramural sports league, participating in outings with a group like The Sierra Club, or trying some classes at your local gym. Once you give exercise a chance, you will begin to enjoy its positive benefits on your psyche as well; you will literally become "hooked."

2 - Weight loss and weight training
This is listed separately from the "exercise" category because of the significant weight loss benefits attached to weight training in and of itself. The basic equation is this: the more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you will burn. This is why world class weight lifters must eat thousands of calories a day to maintain their weight. Muscle is active tissue, fat is not. Thus, muscle "burns" a significant number of calories each day for its own maintenance. In her book Strong Women Stay Slim, Miriam Nelson, a Tufts University researcher, showed that a group of women who followed a weight loss diet and did weight training exercises lost 44% more fat than those who only followed the diet. While aerobic activity can help burn calories, muscle's where it's at when it comes to giving your metabolism a significant daily boost even at rest.

3 - Keep a diary for triggers that hinder weight loss
Keeping a food diary can be a huge asset in successful weight loss. Devote some time each day to record what you have eaten and how much, your hunger level prior to eating, and any feelings or emotions present at the time. A food diary can provide a large amount of self-awareness. It can identify emotions and behaviors that trigger overeating, foster greater awareness of portion sizes, and help you discover your personal food triggers. Study any patterns that emerge from your food diary and identify where you may be able to make more healthful changes. A food diary provides an added benefit of keeping you focused on and committed to your goals.

4 - Stay focused on being healthy, not on becoming thin
Many people become more successful at long term weight loss when their motivation changes from wanting to be thinner to wanting to be healthier. Change your mindset to think about selecting foods that will help your body's health rather than worrying about foods that will affect your body's weight. The Food Pyramid offers a basic outline of the types and amounts of food you should eat each day to give your body the nutrients it needs for optimal health.

5 - Find out why you overeat
All too often overeating is triggered by stress, boredom, loneliness, anger, depression and other emotions. Learning to deal with emotions without food is a significant skill that will greatly serve long term weight control. The Solution, a book and national program developed by Laurel Mellin, RD, helps participants to identify their eating triggers and respond to them without food. A research study showed that the participants in this program demonstrated a better rate of long term weight loss maintenance than those who simply diet and/or exercise and don't address behavioral and emotional issues. Chronic over-eaters and "emotional eaters" can be significantly helped by learning new behavioral skills such as those Mellin presents. You can also seek help with behavioral and emotional eating issues from a licensed counselor or psychologist in your area.

6 - Weight loss support: join a weight management group
A big key in long term weight control comes from receiving encouragement and support from others. You can check to see if groups such as Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers offer programs and resources in your areas. You may also wish to check with your local hospital to see if their registered dietitian conducts group weight loss programs.

7 - Weight loss and portion control
With the advent of "super-size" meals and increasingly huge portions at restaurants, our concept of normal serving sizes is a distant memory. Be mindful of the amounts of food you consume at a sitting. When necessary, divide your food in half and ask for a take home bag. It is all too easy to be a "plate cleaner" even when served enormous portions. Learn to pay attention to your hunger level and stop eating when you feel comfortably full, not stuffed.

8 - Lose weight slowly with small changes
Try to remember that "losing 15 pounds in two weeks" is nothing to celebrate. It is important to realize that the more quickly weight is lost, the more likely the loss is coming from water and muscle, not fat. Since muscle tissue is critical in keeping our metabolism elevated, losing it actually leads to a decrease in the amount of calories we can each day without gaining weight. Fat loss is best achieved when weight is lost slowly. Strive for a weight loss of no more than 1-2 pounds per week. One pound of weight is equivalent to 3500 calories. By making small changes like eliminating 250 calories a day from food and expending 250 calories a day from exercise, you can lose one pound (of mostly fat) per week.

9 - Eating slowly can lead to weight loss
Did you ever notice that thin people take an awfully long time to eat their food? Eating slowly is one method that can help take off pounds. That's because from the time you begin eating it takes the brain 20 minutes to start signaling feelings of fullness. Fast eaters often eat beyond their true level of fullness before the 20 minute signal has had a chance to set in. The amount of calories consumed before you begin to feel full can vary significantly depending on how quickly you eat. So slow down, take smaller bites and enjoy and savor every tasty morsel.

10 - Weight loss through eating less fat - but do it wisely
It's been known for some time that limiting high fat foods in the diet can be helpful with weight loss. That's because fats pack in 9 calories per gram compared to only 4 calories per gram from proteins or carbohydrates. To many, the message to limit fats implied an endorsement to eat unlimited amounts of fat-free products. Just to clarify, fat-free foods have calories too. In some cases fat-free foods have as many calories as their fat laden counterparts. If you eat more calories than your body uses, you will gain weight. Eating less fat will help you to lose weight. Eating less fat and replacing it with excessive amounts of fat-free products will not.

Small Change

Try to remember that "losing 15 pounds in two weeks" is nothing to celebrate. It is important to realize that the more quickly weight is lost, the more likely the loss is coming from water and muscle, not fat. Since muscle tissue is critical in keeping our metabolism elevated, losing it actually leads to a decrease in the amount of calories we can each day without gaining weight. Fat loss is best achieved when weight is lost slowly. Strive for a weight loss of no more than 1-2 pounds per week. One pound of weight is equivalent to 3500 calories. By making small changes like eliminating 250 calories a day from food and expending 250 calories a day from exercise, you can lose one pound (of mostly fat) per week. You can calculate how much time you need to exercise to burn 250 calories by clicking here. You can calculate your caloric needs by clicking here, and then subtract 250 from that number.

Buddy Up

What would you call people who can: help keep your weight off; boost your confidence; finally make fitness fun? You might call them “miracle workers.” We call them Goal Buddies.

Most people make the mistake of doing it alone. Sometimes, it’s just too tough to stay consistent by yourself. But a goal buddy won’t let you quit. Goal buddies are two or more people who commit to helping each other reach consistent goals with friendly encouragement and regular contact. A good goal buddy relationship gets results for three reasons: accountability, motivation and consistency. By mixing these three ingredients, you can create a rewarding, effective relationship that’s lively and a little lighter.

A study of young mothers suggests that support can make a huge difference in exercise consistency. Of women who were part of a weekly discussion group, 60% reached their workout target of 2.5 hours per week for 8 weeks – long enough to make exercise a habit. Or another statistic for you, married couples are seven times more likely to stick with an exercise program if they do it together instead of alone.

With that being said, here are some ideas for how you and a goal buddy can coach each other through those hazardous temptations.

Finding a diet goal buddy is not hard; finding the right one may be a little tougher. Knowing what kind of diet partner is a good fit for you will prevent you from falling off the wagon before you even start.

Partner with someone who has diet goals similar to yours. Just because you get along well with a woman in your book club doesn't mean she'll help you stay away from the dessert table.

It helps if his/her schedule already works with yours, so you don't start off with a built-in excuse to break your consistency.

Make sure the person you're considering is just as committed and eager as you are. A twisted arm is not going to stick around long.

Look for someone who will be upbeat - even if you get discouraged - and can hold you accountable without passing judgment. You want a stress reliever, not a stress producer. Nothing kills consistency like negative energy.

Community centers and gyms are gold mines for dieting, hiking, biking, running, walking and sports clubs. Sporting goods stores often host programs as well. Check the calendar and announcements section of the local paper. Online, look for community forums.

Most of all, just ask around. Your buddy could be hiding in a most unexpected place. It could be your dentist, your cousin, your mechanic's hairdresser. Who knows? Think of it as fitness networking and don't be afraid to ask someone to “buddy up.”

Adopting Healthier Habits

Calorie restriction and exercise help many people lose weight, but only for as long as they keep up the effort. And the same environmental and psychological factors that accounted for the weight gain in the first place can play a role in causing someone to stop exercising or start consuming too many calories. The difficulty in sustaining a diet and exercise routine is one of the main reasons that people who lose weight fail to keep it off. But the difference between long-term success and failure is the ability to make the changes in your diet and activity level permanent.

Certain strategies are useful for everyone who wants to lose weight, regardless of the main causes or severity of their obesity. Many of the following strategies seem like common sense, but they are easily overlooked. You're most likely to follow them if you plan for them in advance.

Eat slowly. Chewing and swallowing your food at a leisurely pace can help you keep from overeating. Here's why: It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to "tell" you when you feel full. Until then, you continue to feel hungry and want to eat. If you eat quickly, you'll end up consuming more than you need to feel full. But eating slowly gives your brain the time it needs to signal that you've had enough.

Make changes gradually. Don't expect to change your diet and activity level overnight. Instead of switching all at once to a low-calorie eating plan, try gradually decreasing the calories of your meals and snacks. For example, start by cutting out snacking or limiting yourself to certain snacks at certain times of day (such as a mid-morning banana or a late-afternoon apple). Also, gradually reduce the calorie content of particular foods. For example, if you're used to drinking whole milk, first switch to milk with 2% fat; then, as you get used to the taste of less fat, go on to milk with 1% fat and finally to skim milk. Another strategy is to lower the calorie content of one meal at a time. In the first week, you might want to eat a low-calorie breakfast, but keep lunch and dinner the same as before. During the second week, you might reduce the calorie content of your lunch. Finally, you can begin eating low-calorie dinners.

Keep a record. Keeping a daily log of what you eat and what physical activities you engage in can help keep you motivated to stay with your diet and exercise plan. Looking over a week's worth of entries can tell you how successful you've been and can help you identify areas where you need to improve.

Seek social support. You'll find it easier to maintain behavioral changes if you have the support and encouragement of others. Social support can come in many forms and from various people. For starters, ask your family members to keep high-calorie foods out of the house, or at least to refrain from eating them in front of you. You might even try to enlist your family to eat the same meals you do. Exercise with someone else, or join a support group. The camaraderie can help keep your spirits up during the inevitable periods when you become discouraged with your progress.

Use a list when buying food. Stick to your grocery list, and steer clear of those aisles or areas with the kinds of calorie-dense foods that you need to avoid.

Out of sight, out of mind. At home, put the most tempting foods high up in the cupboard, at the very back of the fridge, or in other inconvenient spots. Replace the cookie jar and candy bowl with a fruit bowl. Never eat directly out of a large package; many small containers are better than a few large ones, because they provide convenient stopping points. And don't put out too many different varieties of the same kind of food — you'll be tempted to sample from each one and eat a lot more than if you were faced with fewer choices.

Don't go all out when eating out. Eat a low-calorie snack before going out; you're less likely to go off your diet if you're feeling full when you get to the party or restaurant. Go elsewhere for after-dinner coffee so you are less tempted to segue right into dessert.

Make a plan for special occasions. Decide how much you're going to eat before an event, and do your best to stick with that plan. Set some limits before you go to the movies or watch the Sunday afternoon football games. It's so easy to mindlessly munch when you're in front of a screen of any kind.

Be a copycat. When eating with a group of people, look around. Who's eating the least? Who has the healthiest food on their plate? Model your eating habits on those people's.

Find physical activities that you enjoy. For example, if you don't like exercising outdoors on cold days, join a fitness club, or get an exercise bicycle and hand weights to use at home. If the problem is a time crunch, exercise in increments of 10 minutes whenever you have the time — before work, after work, or during your lunch hour.

Reduce stress. If you overeat when you are under stress, find a stress-reduction method that works for you: meditation, relaxation techniques, listening to music, exercising, or talking to a friend.

Diet Affirmation

I made the choice to think of this whole eating healthy thing to be a positive journey this time. Instead of using the denial approach - I'm trying to retrain my brain. Hence the new affirmation.

I, ___________ ,love and respect myself. I choose a diet that nourishes me and reflects this love.

Get started and stay motivated

Motivation is the final essential component of Mayo Clinic's weight-control program. It's natural to encounter mental roadblocks and resistance when you undertake a major lifestyle change. Once you're ready to get started, here are some strategies to help bolster and sustain your motivation:

*Emphasize the positives. Focus on the good things about losing weight — such as more energy and improved health — and not what you consider the negatives. If you have a setback, don't dwell on it. Put it behind you and move forward toward your goal.

*Prioritize. Don't set yourself up for failure by trying to lose weight while distracted by other concerns.

*Steer clear of dietary gimmicks. Over-the-counter pills and special food combinations aren't the answer to long-term weight control. You want to incorporate healthy behaviors into your lifestyle, not rely on gimmicks.

*Seek out support. Don't feel you have to go it alone. Exercising with a friend or family member, for example, can help keep you motivated.

*Remind yourself you're not looking for a quick fix. Healthy weight loss is slow and steady weight loss that occurs over time. Remind yourself that quick weight loss is usually followed by weight regain a short time later