You can help yourself to lose weight, just by making a few changes in the way you eat, how much and when?

The scales may, if you let them, become your master. Checking your weight everyday for example can be negative.

You may find the scales show the same weight day after day. So you think your dieting is not working and you give up.

What you have to realise, is that you may be losing fat but gaining muscle. And as muscle is heavy, your weight wont go down.

Your tape-measure used once a week, should give you a more accurate assessment of your weight loss than the lying scales.

Food you pile on to your plate is important. Even if it is a plate of good, healthy, nourishing food, too much is too much.

Also, eat slowly, chewing every mouthful. It is better for your digestion and definitely for your waistline. Eating slowly kids your body to believe it is full much sooner.

Avoid fried foods. Steamed vegetables will keep all the vitamins and minerals in them. The idea is to use as little water as possible. This way, you wont throw the vitamins away when you drain the water off your vegetables.

Movement as in exercise will help to burn the calories. So, if you are a couch potato, start doing gentle exercises every day. A little is always better than nothing. Your war cry should be move it and lose it.

When you go shopping, remember you can only eat that cream cake if you firstly buy it. Dont tempt yourself.

Socially, if this means going out and eating meals at restaurants you are not doing yourself any favours. If your friends talk you into bingeing, maybe its time to find some new friends.

However, if you still want to keep your friends and eat out, go for grilled meat and salads. Your body will thank you.

If you are inclined to eat when you are unhappy or lonely, sometimes called comfort eating, you will eat more than you should.

Remember food is for fuel. To keep your body working as it should. Dont treat food as a friend. Its just an evil necessity.

Being bored can also cause you to binge eat. If you are bored because you have nothing to do, maybe doing some voluntary work, will take your mind off your tummy.

Daydream your way to weight loss. Keep telling yourself you are slim and attractive. Imagine it. See yourself wearing clothes you may not have worn for some time. Your subconscious mind has no mind of its own. It just believes everything the conscious mind tells it.

Dont fill your plate with food. Use a smaller plate. Even if you fill the smaller plate, you will soon be losing weight because you are having smaller portions.

Just putting one or two of the above tactics into use, you will notice a difference in your weight loss programme.

Copyright 2006 Eva Moffat