Getting started

Reducing your daily calorie intake by just 300 calories and increasing the number of calories you burn by 150 calories per day will help you lose about a pound every week. It shows that a small change to your lifestyle can make a big difference to your weight.

We know change is not easy but here are five simple steps that can help: take charge of your diet today – do not put it off identify a reasonable and realistic weight goal – we will show you how below avoid crash or fad diets - it is much better to lose weight slowly and keep it off get more exercise – it will make you feel good and help you lose weight keep motivated – you can achieve healthy weight loss

Setting sensible, achievable goals is an important part of any weight loss program and it’s important to set SMART objectives. SMART is short for an objective that is:

Specific, Motivational, Action-orientated, Realistic, Trackable.

Here is an example of what is and is not SMART:

SMART	NOT SMART
"I need to lose 24 pounds to reach my ideal weight"	"I want to lose some weight"
"I want to feel proud of my body"	"I feel fat "
"I will make necessary changes to my diet and exercise "	"I'll just eat less "
"Losing 24 pounds sensibly will take time "	"I'll lose a 12 pounds in two weeks"
"I'll keep a diet and exercise diary to keep tabs on my progress "	"If I put on weight one week I'll just lose it some other time "

Now write down your own SMART objectives so you know exactly what it is you are going to achieve.

Putting a plan in place
Once you have a clear SMART objective, make a sensible diet and exercise plan to help you reach your goal and maintain your success. Create a weekly diet and exercise plan using the tips in this section. Your weekly plan will not only keep you focused but will help you stay motivated!