By including everything—every stick of gum, every slice of bread, every cup of coffee with cream—you’ll become more conscious of your food choices and have a good sense of how well you’re doing adhering to your weight loss program at any given point. Knowing exactly what you’ve consumed makes it less likely that you’ll go for just a little more this or a little bit of that and exceed your calories for the day.

Know the Difference between Portions and Servings
Don’t confuse a portion with a serving. MyPyramid, which replaced the U.S. Food Guide Pyramid, defines serving sizes for all food groups; food manufacturers also define serving sizes for consumers on product food labels in order to evaluate an item’s nutritional content. A serving of ice cream for example, is ½ cup, but a portion of ice cream is how much you put in your bowl or the ice cream stand scoops into the cone.

Familiarizing yourself with serving sizes helps you portion your meals correctly at home and identify how much of a good thing (or not so a good thing) is placed before you at a restaurant. If you choose to eat out while you’re losing weight, trim your own portion sizes and ask the server to wrap up the remainder to go before you start eating so you’re not tempted to overeat.

Move Your Body
Diet is only one component of a weight loss program. Study after study after study has shown that people lose more weight when they incorporate regular exercise into their life. Additionally, people who continue to exercise after they’ve lost the weight tend to maintain that weight loss longer than people who return to sedentary ways.

Strive to engage in moderate exercise like brisk walking, at least 20 minutes a day three to five days each week. Strength training exercises that build lean muscle also contribute to successful weight loss. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so increasing your muscle mass naturally speeds your metabolism.

Consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program and don’t take on too much soon. If you push yourself too far, you might get discouraged and not stick with your routine. Build endurance gradually.

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