The first thing is drink water and more water, people don’t consume enough water every day. Sometimes what you might think is a hunger pang is actually your body telling you that you’re dehydrated. So next time you have a pang, go and get a couple of glasses of water. If the pang goes away, your body was telling you that you have a hydration problem. Eating tends to get rid of this problem temporarily also because the food you eat has water in it. This may fool you into thinking you were actually hungry when you weren’t. If you research your body size and water consumption, get an idea of how much water you should be consuming a day, but you also need to take into consideration the climate you live in. A person living in the desert will need to take in more water than a coastal living person of the same size and body make up.

See your weight in black and white. Digital scales are good at being in your face about what you weigh. There is no little needle that might be between one weight and another, allowing you to lie to yourself about where the needle really is. A digital scale will tell you your weight in absolute numbers. This might seem a little harsh, but it’s a great reality check, and speaking of checking. Visit this scale daily. Yes your weight will fluctuate, but you will be conscious of your weight and this will help you resist things that might otherwise tempt you.

Eat a realistic diet, don’t deny yourself everything and subsist on rice cakes and water. Develop a good plan for your diet, one that you won’t grow to resent. Follow it to the best of your ability and if you fudge on it here and there, don’t beat yourself down for that, we all have momentary lapses.

Hang a picture of what you would like to look like (again, make it realistic), don’t run out and get a picture of Barbie and think you will be able to accomplish that. You’ll only frustrate yourself. If you are a good deal overweight, hang a picture of someone somewhat less in weight than yourself and when you reach that goal, hang a picture of your next goal size. This will keep you from frustrating yourself.

Give yourself a break once in a while, let yourself splurge, if you keep yourself constantly on a completely strict diet, you will eventually get tired of it and drop it and go completely back to your old habits. Go out with friends, enjoy yourself, have a drink, etc. Then go back onto your dietary plan.

Set multiple goal weights as you go along, with those goal weights, also set a red flag weight, that means that if you go up and go above the red flag weight, then you need to take a few days of very serious diet watching so you go back down, then go back to your normal diet to reach your lower weight goals. This also applies for when you have reached your final goal weight. Always have red flag weight, this will ensure your ability to keep your weight down where you want it to stay.