The more simple your diet plan is, the easier it will be to stay with it over time. When you make little changes, one at a time, they are more likely to become a part of your regular routine permanently. Take a look at the following simple steps, and try to begin incorporating them into your life, one by one.

When trying to lose weight be sure to get enough sleep. This will not only motivate you to exercise, but you also release hormones during sleep that assist with keeping a healthy weight level. When your overall mood is improved with a full night of sleep, you will make positive choices for eating and exercising

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Once you have decided that you want to lose weight remember that you can exercise anytime and anywhere. When you head out to the mall park farther away from the entrance so that you can walk there. If you come to a place that has elevators and stairs, choose the stairs. All these little things will start to add up for you.

Avoid eating when you are bored when trying to lose weight. When you eat to relieve boredom, you are more likely to eat high fat or sugary snack foods like chips or candy instead of healthy foods. You are also more likely to eat more food than if you plan your snacks.

Use a pedometer to lose weight. When you wear a pedometer, it will measure every step you take in a day. The recommended amount of steps is 10,000 or more. If you aren't doing at least 10,000 a day, you are not moving enough. Use it as a step game, if you meet your goal, increase it.

One way to help yourself lose weight is to eat sugar. Actually, what I really mean is to avoid sugar substitutes. Fake sugar can cause real cravings for sweet things and too many of those can cause weight gain or just curb your weight loss. Some sugar substitutes can also have nasty side effects. So go ahead, eat your sugar, just do it in moderation.     

Before giving into your cravings, have a drink of water. The body can't tell whether you are hungry or whether you are just in need of a drink; so before assuming that you are starving, try a glass of water and wait about 15 minutes. This can save your waistline and your pocketbook as well.

Do small bursts of exercise throughout the day as part of your weight loss strategy. Most people do not have time to spend an hour at the gym. It is much easier to take a walk at lunch, park far away from the doors at the store or take the stairs. These mini workouts all count in your goal towards fitness and help you to lose the pounds.

Try to buy healthy ready meals and snacks specially made for one person. This is the best way to control portions sizes as the amount of food available for you to eat will already have been moderated. Buying these products is a great way to lose weight faster as you will never overeat.

You must give your permission to break the rules once a day so that your weight-loss plans don't feel like a jail sentence. One way to do this is to allow yourself one small, indulgent treat per day. Depending on what you crave, this may be a small piece of rich cheese, nuts, chocolate or some other small treat that will make you feel you've "earned" it by being virtuous the rest of the day. The key, of course, is to do it only once a day.

You can see that these simple tips are easy to implement and will bring you multiple health benefits. Make a commitment to add one or two new steps a week to your daily routine. You are sure to feel better and weigh less in a few months, and you will be able to continue these newly learned behaviors on into the future.

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