Create Realistic Goals

The first few steps should be baby steps

Don’t plan on losing more than two pounds a week (one pound consistently is better), or you’ll quickly get discouraged when you don’t reach your goals.

While it’s true that the first two weeks of dieting sometimes generate greater weight loss than this, it’s mostly through losing stored water weight, a process that soon ends. 

Be happy with one pound lost each week- one pound of fat contains 3,500 calories. That means to lose one pound of fat per week, you’ll need to burn about 500 calories per day more than you consume.

The best combo for most people? Burning 250 calories through exercise and eliminating 250 calories from your food intake every day.

You didn’t gain 10 pounds overnight (unless you were on a suicide mission at Outback Steakhouse and ordered the ribs and 3 orders of “Bloomin’ Onions.” So acknowledge the fact that if you’ve got more than 10 pounds to lose (which most of us do), it’s going to a period of months to lose it healthily.

To avoid burnout or discouragement, many weight-loss programs advocate taking a break after the first 10 pounds and maintaining your new lighter weight for a period of weeks, or even months before attempting to lose more.  Of course, much of this depends the individual dieters situation, and how much weight needs to be dropped.