Taking control means developing habits and discipline.

The most important thing you can do is educate yourself. Learn about your health problems and how you can take care of your body. What do the latest studies say? The Internet is an excellent place to research health issues. Sometimes just finding different ways of doing things can help.

Now, take the time to decide what your health goals for the next year will be. Write the goal(s) down. Some examples of goals might be:

- to stop yo-yo dieting and focus on get healthier.

- to start exercising regularly.

- to move toward my perfect weight.

- to find alternative ways to control diabetes.

Then list specific ways you can accomplish these goals. For instance, try a new healthy dinner recipe once a week, go to the gym five days a week, or research nutrition on the Internet 10 minutes a day.

Work on your mind and thought patterns. You have to believe that you can become healthy and reach your ideal weight before you will be able to do so. Learning to accept what you can’t change, but striving to change what you can, is key. A large part of succeeding in health improvement is being comfortable with yourself to begin with.

Find time to do something good to reward yourself for making this commitment to improve your health. Reward yourself each week as you find yourself accomplishing your goals.

If you have another person to work with, you will be more successful in meeting your health goals. This partner should be someone you can trust to share your feelings with.

It helps to have a partner for accountability. We work harder when we know someone is watching us and holding us accountable. A good partner also helps us stay realistic in our goals and challenges us to grow.

Try to find someone who will encourage you in the down times and celebrate your successes with you as you accomplish your goals. And of course you need to be that kind of a partner to your friend in return.

You might consider forming an informal support group with some of your friends or acquaintances. People who belong to a group with mutual interests and a shared purpose accomplish more. A group might get together weekly or monthly and discuss progress or concerns and help encourage each other. Sometimes all a person might need is another opinion or just a little encouragement to help them get past a place where they are having problems. Even if you are doing great, perhaps you could be of help to someone else who is struggling.

Communication is important when putting together a group. Set up a regular time and method to report progress to each other and stick to it. Set realistic benchmarks to monitor your progress. Reward yourselves for your effort. Do something fun as a group once in a while.

There can be great rewards in working with others toward common goals. It makes the journey more enjoyable as well as more productive.

1. Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Most fruits are low in calories and make you full sooner. Not to mention the other vitamins and fibers they also contain.

2. Read those nutrition fact labels: It is a good idea to know how many calories you are consuming. Some foods combo’s can be deceptive, for example if you are having a plate of salad topped with lot of high calorie dressing and a soda, they you have just had more calories then you might get from a combination of grilled chicken sandwich (with no cheese and dressing) plus diet soda. So be smart with what you eat. Prefer home cooked food as much as possible.

3. Eating smaller frequent meals will also help you cut down the total intake of calories compared to 3 big meals a day.

4. Give yourself a break: Being too restrictive can anyway demotivate you, so to give yourself regular breaks. But do not over-eat at the same time, be conservative and try to make up for it in other meals.

5. Drinks: Soda, juice, cream are all loaded with sugars which we usually do not account into out diet plan. Drink water instead.

6. Exercise: Do not always depend on your car for everything, walk wherever you can. Go hiking and those backpacks help to burn extra calories. Make friends who have a active lifestyle, join gym or get a treadmill in your home. Remember to increase your exercise in a progressive manner day by day instead of doing strenuous exercise from day one. Be practical on what your body can take and avoid overexertion.

7. Get motivation: Talk to people who have had success in weight loss and they will give you a lot of inspiration.

8. Get enough sleep, reduce stress and live happy.

9. Reward yourself when you reach your monthly weight loss milestones.

10. Never give up, even if you have failed a few times previously.

11. Eating slowly can lead to weight loss: Did you ever notice that thin people take an awfully long time to eat their food? Eating slowly is one method that can help take off pounds. That’s because from the time you begin eating it takes the brain 20 minutes to start signaling feelings of fullness. Fast eaters often eat beyond their true level of fullness before the 20 minute signal has had a chance to set in. The amount of calories consumed before you begin to feel full can vary significantly depending on how quickly you eat. So slow down, take smaller bites and enjoy and savor every tasty morsel.

I am not an expert so it is advisable to consult your doctor before starting any weight loss effort and they will also tell you if you have any medical condition that may prevent you to follow these tips.