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1. Be Sensible: Watch Your Sizes 

Eating is meant to be pleasurable. So just be mindful of how much you are eating. Remember portion size is critical to weight management and loss. So enjoy that piece of cake just be sensible about how big your piece is.

2. Actively Take Part: Exercise

Being physically active is a great way to burn off those high calorie treats. Just take a few minutes out of each day move around a bit. This can be as simple as cleaning the kitchen or taking a 20 minute walk after a meal. For more on exercise and how it is a key part of dieting see our exercise page .

3. Watch What You Drink: Drinking calories can go unnoticed 

Calories from drinks are the most unnoticed and at the same time can be the reason that you can feel like you are not eating and still be gaining weight. Research has shown that drinking does not affect your appetite at meal times which means that drinking calories will not make you feel full.

For example a Starbucks Grande Hot chocolate is 300 calories while making a no sugar added hot chocolate with artificial sweetener is only 60 calories.

4. Size VS. Calories: Smaller in size does not always mean less Calories 

Remembering what ingredients the food you eat is very important. Some foods may seem healthy when in fact they are not. Take for example a regular chicken salad sandwich, you can eat half of a sandwich that is made in a croissant with regular dressing or have double the amount in a sandwich that is made with whole wheat bread and reduced calorie dressings. In this case the sandwich made with the croissant is more calorically dense then the whole wheat bread sandwich which is why you can only have half the amount. Realizing that you can double the amount of food you're eating for the same calories is great when dieting because usually people tend to feel very hungry because they feel as though they are eating less food then usual. So this means that a less calorically dense sandwich will leave you fuller for a longer amount of time.

5. Make Small Changes: Small Steps now make big changes

Gradually get into your diet by making small changes to your lifestyle. Usually small changes are the ones that will end up sticking with you the longest. Changing your behaviors about eating will in the long run make your diet successful.

For example start with small changes. Drink water or diet beverages during one meal a day can take away extra calories that you may have been drinking from soda and juice.