If you’re like most people, you feel that you could benefit from losing a little weight, but just aren’t sure where to begin or you don’t have the time. If this describes you, read on to find out how you can make a simple plan to lose weight, without disrupting your busy life.

When starting a weight loss plan, you need to determine how many calories you should be having a day. Online calculators abound that will let you input your height, weight, age, activity level and the amount you want to lose and will provide you the total calories you should eat each day. If you know the calories you should consume each day, it’s much easier to stay within the guidelines.

If you’re having trouble losing weight, try eating small portions throughout the day. Fruit is nature’s gift and make the perfect low-calorie snack between meals. Snacking on unprocessed food will allow your body to take advantage of easily metabolized natural sugars. It will give you energy between meals and prevent you from overeating at meal times.

Why does restaurant food taste so good!? Well, mainly because restaurants add things to their foods to make them that way, such as butter and salt. More than you would likely ever put in those same foods if you cooked them yourself. Think about it, restaurants want to stay in business and to do that they need to make you keep coming back for more, which means they’re absolutely going to load up on the bad stuff that tastes so good. If you want to lose weight, try eating more of your meals cooked in your own kitchen.

Avoid skipping any meals. Not only will this not help you lose weight, but you could be depriving yourself of important nutrients that you need everyday. This can cause your body to also think it’s starving and so it will mess up your metabolism, By the time you do eat again, you will most likely overeat.

To lose weight and eat healthier, learn how to replace unhealthy snacks by better alternatives. Forget about candy or even worse, eating a real meal when you should be snacking instead. Healthy snacks include fruits, yogurt or nuts. You should eat if you really need it and avoid spoiling your appetite for the next meal.

Try giving yourself an incentive to lose weight. If there’s a DVD or video game or other object you want, make it a present to yourself. If you meet your weekly/monthly goal, you can get the item you desire. If you don’t meet your goal, you don’t get it. That’ll give you an extra boost to work hard.

To lose weight without a lot of exercise or physical effort, focus on your diet. All that really needs to happen is taking in less calories then your body burns. This isn’t to say that you should starve yourself, because that causes rebound pounds, but if you eat small consistent meals to maintain your blood sugar levels, you won’t be as hungry from just three meals a day and then overcompensate.

Take a short walk around the neighborhood before you sit down to lunch or dinner. Walking is great exercise. If you do this before you sit down to a meal, you will find that you are more likely to eat less. If you are unable to go for a walk, any other simple exercise will do.

If you want to stick with your weight loss goals, try to get a friend or family member to be your active weight loss “partner”. It helps if they are losing weight themselves, but it is unnecessary. What is important is that they are supportive and willing to pay attention and ask you questions about your daily weight loss activity. A caring person who doesn’t mind being a little tough on you can go a long way.

Some of the most basic advice about weight loss is some of the oldest: watch your portions. For example, restaurants would have you believe that a steak should be the size of your head. However, a reasonable portion of meat would actually be the size of a deck of cards, or about as big as the palm of your hand.

If you’re having trouble getting rid of those last few pounds that just won’t seem to come off, try boosting your workout intensity. Get your heart rate up to at least 85 percent of your maximum heart rate to get the most out of your workout and drop those stubborn pounds.

As you can see, weight loss is just as simple as knowing what to do and following through. With these tips, you know everything you need to know about how to make a weight loss plan and stick to it, no matter what. Soon, you’ll be looking great and buying a smaller size of clothes.