by Jenna Pope

Created on: December 03, 2009

By the time that you get to your goal weight, you've probably established some very healthy weight-management habits. The only way to establish habits is by repetition. If you lose your weight slowly, healthy habits will begin to come naturally.

Here is a link that will show you what your healthy weight should be:

http://www.caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-ki t/weight-maintenance-calculator-women

I went on a diet six months ago and have lost 27 pounds so far. During this time I totally changed the way I ate and looked at food. Here are some of the weight-management habits that I have picked up along the way:

1. Eat three small meals and three snacks a day;

2. I only have 1200 calories and 30 fat grams or less each day because I am still dieting;

3. Use smaller plates. It will fool your brain into thinking you are eating more;

4. Give up soft drinks with sugar in them;

5. Only drink one diet soda a day. (They contain a lot of sodium.);

6. Exercise to speed up your metabolism and accelerate your weight loss;

7. Vigorous housecleaning counts as exercise;

8. Tabulate your calories and fat grams on paper so that you know exactly where you are throughout the day.

9. Take the stairs instead of the elevator;

10. A Starbucks Venti Mocha Frappaccino Light is only 210 calories and 2 fat grams. Sometimes I substitute a Frap Light for lunch.

11. Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches are 150 calories and 2 fat grams; Weight Watchers makes a chocolate ice cream bar, covered in chocolate cookie crumbs, that is only 150 calories and 5 fat grams. (It tastes positively sinful!);

12. Carry a calorie/fat gram counter with you always;

13. Tell other people that you're dieting. It's a deterrent to overeating;

14. Before you go out to dinner, Google the nutritional information of the restaurant. Many restaurants offer a "guiltless" menu and a listing of nutritional information on all their menu items;

15. Split a dinner with your spouse, instead of eating the whole thing;

16. Always order salad dressing, potato toppings, etc. "on the side." Then you can control how much you use;

17. Don't think that just because you order a salad, it's going to be low in calories and fat. (Some salads are as much as 1,500 calories!);

18. Avoid all-you-can-eat buffets and salad bars;

19. When you lose enough weight to go down a size, buy an item of clothing in that lower size;

20. After you have lost more weight, box up your "big" clothes and place the boxes in the far reaches of your attic. Don't look at them as an option.

21. If you blow your diet, don't use that as an excuse to binge for the rest of the day. It takes 3,500 calories to lose one pound, and you could do that at one sitting. Losing that pound takes a lot longer!

22. Don't let your calories dip below 1,200 per day. You don't want to go into "starvation" mode;

23. When you are craving sweets, eat them. Just don't eat a lot and budget your sweets into your daily calories and fat grams.

Once you have followed your diet for a week or so, it becomes much easier. In dieting, you are not just losing weight. You are developing healthy habits for life.

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