If you had the ability to change your eating and lifestyle habits overnight, you probably wouldn't be reading this article.
You would be busy eating a small piece of lean grilled chicken with a salad filled with a variety of fresh vegetables, in preparation for a long, rigorous workout.
But change is hard.
Very hard.
And almost impossible if attempted quickly.
The general principle is that anything you jump into too quickly, you can jump out of equally as quickly.
I wouldn't even suggest you empty out your fridge of anything unhealthy and fill it up with apples and skim milk.
It's simply not realistic, and since the goal is actual weight loss that sticks, I advocate for slow and steady changes until a lifestyle is altered for the best forever without you even knowing it happened.
The first step is seeking ways to slightly decrease your caloric intake with minimal if any noticeable change in your routine.
If you add up the numbers at the end of the day, you may not be impressed.
Fifty calories one day, two hundred the next.
But continue these practices every day, and the few calories here and there eventually equal the need to purchase a smaller belt.
How do you do this? Think about your average week of food.
Say you start off your day each morning with a bowl of cereal and a cup of coffee, continue with a lunch of meatballs and spaghetti with a side salad, and top off the day with a two slices of pizza, coke, and an ice cream cone.
Ultimately this isn't the most amazing meal plan in the world, but with minor tweaking you can be off in the right direction.
First off, what cereal are you eating? Check sugar levels and fiber levels.
Opt for low on the former and high on the latter, and search around for something that tastes great regardless of being healthy.
When in doubt: Cheerios are the classic.
Switch the cream and sugar of your coffee with an artificial sweetener and skim milk, and you saved a solid chunk of calories on breakfast.
For lunch, think about sauces intelligently.
Some spaghetti sauces are loaded with sugar and other nasties, and others are basically tomatoes and tons of fantastic spices.
Opt for the latter.
Better yet, make your own.
Salads are so often messed up by their dressings.
Dressings are usually just sugar and oil.
Find a fat free, sugar free version, or make your own super-healthy, ridiculously delicious version.
Either way you will save a whole slew of calories.
In the evening, enjoy your pizza...
but go for a diet soda and a fat free, sugar free ice cream, and skip the cone while you're at it.
By the end of the day you've thoroughly enjoyed all the food you wanted and probably didn't realize you just saved yourselves a slew of calories.
Keep this up for a long time and you'll be saying goodbye to several unwanted pounds.