Embarking on a healthy weight loss diet is a big challenge and may seem overwhelming at first.  To help you get started on your journey to losing weight and feeling better, we have provided the following 10 tips:

1. Drink 8 to 10 glasses a water each and every day. Drinking plenty of water can aid a healthy weight loss diet in many important ways.  First, drinking water will make you feel full and help you resist the urge to overeat.  Studies show that people who drink water 30 minutes before meals consume 75 fewer calories at that meal.  Even more importantly, staying hydrated will help you feel more full throughout the day and result in less unhealthy snacking.  This is because the body has a difficult time distinguishing between thirst and hunger, oftentimes leading you to eat when you are really just thirsty.  Second, drinking lots of water will naturally lead to you drinking less high calorie and high caffeine drinks like soda and coffee.  And finally, drinking 8 to 10 glasses of water daily will prevent you from becoming dehydrated.  Studies show that even being 1% dehydrated causes your metabolism to drop resulting in fewer calories being burned.  Drinking water is an easy way to keep your metabolism working to its fullest potential.
2. Eat 5 to 6 smaller meals instead of 3 larger ones. Eating several smaller meals a day in place of a standard breakfast, lunch, and dinner will help boost your metabolism and also keep you from getting hungry throughout the day.
3. Exercise at least 30 minutes every day. Exercise is important in your effort to lose weight because it increases your metabolism and helps you burn more calories.  Exercise doesn’t have to be hard or boring.  Anything that increases your heartrate will do.  Take a walk.  Play a physical game with the kids.  Play a few sport games on the Wii.  Just find something you enjoy and do it!
4. Increase your fruit and vegetable intake. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of any healthy weight loss diet.  They are packed with nutrients that the body needs and will keep your metabolism working at its best.  Plus, most fruits and vegetables are very low calorie, yet very bulky, which means they help you feel full without consuming too many calories.
5. Decrease your fat intake to less than 30% of total calories. A gram of fat has more than twice as many calories as a gram of protein or carbohydrate.  This means you could eat twice as much food high in protein or carbohydrate than those high in fat for the same number of calories.  High fat foods also tend to be lower in important vitamins and minerals.  Plus, lowering your fat intake will also help lower your blood cholesterol levels.  High blood cholesterol levels is the leading cause of heart disease.
6. Increase your fiber intake to at least 30 grams daily. According to the American Dietetic Association, most Americans take in less than half of the recommended daily allowance of fiber.  Yet fiber plays an important role in maintaining a healthy body and is especially important for those on a healthy weight loss diet.  Fiber helps to lower blood cholesterol levels (important for heart health), prevent constipation, and slow digestion.  Fiber also helps you to feel full which results in eating less.  Fiber in prevalent in foods such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and beans, which means eating more fiber also results in eating more of the other necessary nutrients found in these foods.
7. Listen to your body. Your body sends out signals when it is hungry, or thirsty, or stressed, or just plain tired.  An important part of a healthy weight loss diet is learning to listen to these signals and give your body what it needs.  Many people fall into the habit of using food as a substitute for other things the body may need.  For example, they may eat a sugary snack for a quick pick-me up when tired instead of finding time to get more sleep.
8. Find support in others. Any hard task is easier when you have the support of family and friends.  Tell your friends and family about your weight loss plan.  They will be less likely to accidentally sabotage your efforts by offering you unhealthy foods choices.  Try to recruit some friends to exercise or lose weight with you.  This will make it more fun and encourage you all to stick with it.  Consider joining a local weight loss support group or an online weight loss forum where members offer each other support and encouragement.
9. Take it one day at a time. One of the biggest mistakes that dieters make is expecting overnight results or feeling like a failure if they stray from the plan a bit.  A healthy weight loss diet is not a quick fix, but rather a change in lifestyle meant to last a lifetime.  Take it one day at a time and enjoy the small successes along the way.  If you have a bad “eating” day or miss exercising a few days, don’t beat yourself up over it.  Even if the scale goes up a few bounds, just remember, that each day is a new day and a new chance to re-commit to your goals.  Change is hard and you are bound to have a few setbacks here and there.
10. Plan ahead for temptation. Sticking to a healthy diet can be hard when faced with temptations – holiday parties or birthday celebrations, a night out with friends, a day at the fair.  All these things present extra challenges to trying to lose weight or sticking to a healthy diet.  Plan ahead for these events and you will find the temptation much more manageable.  If you know you will be attending a party or eating out in the evening, eat less during the day to account for the extra calories you will consume.  Be careful not to starve yourself, though, or you will likely eat more.

A healthy weight loss diet should not be seen as a fad diet or a quick fix to your weight problems.  Ideally, it should be viewed as a change in eating and exercise habits that will last a lifetime and provide life-long health benefits.  Just remember to start slow, follow the 10 tips above, and take it one day at a time, and soon you will reach your weight loss goals and start reaping the benefits of a more healthy lifestyle.