• Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water every day. This is on top of the juice or milk that you are going to drink. There is no better substitute for water than water itself. The body needs to be constantly hydrated to effectively metabolize fat. Drinking a glass of water before eating can help your digestive system function properly and can even make you feel full even before eating. In this way, you can reduce the portion of your food by a considerable amount.

• Eat your breakfast. The most important meal of the day is breakfast, so never skip it. If you eat a full breakfast, you will have the necessary energy for the rest of the day and you will not have to grab anything in sight before your next meal. You will have less cravings if you eat on time and sensibly. You don’t need to stick to 3 large meals and feel hungry in between if you can eat 5 small servings. Eating without feeling overly hungry can fill you up on even a small portion of food. This way you can avoid overeating.

– Use smaller plates to eat. The way you look at things can affect the way you think. Eating a full meal on a small plate is like eating a large portion. The idea that you consumed all the food on your plate can give you the idea that you ate too much. So the next time you eat, choose a smaller plate, with a small portion of food it may seem like you are already full. Also, food served on colorful plates can whet your appetite, so you’d better start using neutral colors as they can subconsciously dampen your appetite.

– Read carefully. Food can be found everywhere, ready for you to pick up. But don’t be disappointed by the flashy “sugar free,” “fat free,” “low calorie,” “salt free,” and “low fat” labels you may see. Be sure to read the labels carefully. They can be low in fat but high in calories or vice versa. You should be smart enough not to be easily fooled by soda products that claim to be sugar free but high in calories. The key to losing weight is to reduce your calorie intake, always remember that.

– Be easy on yourself. You can’t change your eating habit overnight, so go slowly with the process until you get used to it. Don’t beat yourself up if you miss something, instead test your willpower to see how determined you really are to lose weight.