Creating a Weight-Loss Game Plan

By Dr. Jean Harvey-Berino, Ph.D., R.D., The EatingWell Diet (2007)

How to get a weight-loss game plan.

You’ve set your long-term and starting weight-loss goals, and you’re keeping your eyes on that prize. Good for you! Goals are easier to achieve when they’re broken into smaller (and less intimidating) steps—a game plan.

So your long-term goal is “I want to lose weight.” Think of smaller, more specific goals that will help you shed pounds, such as:

* Eat fewer calories.
* Burn more calories with exercise.

Now, continue to break each step down until you have a list of very specific changes you can make in order to accomplish your goal. How can you eat fewer calories? Here are a few examples:

Specific goal: Stop eating out so much

* Strategy 1: Brown-bag lunch at work this week.
* Strategy 2: Prepare big-batch meals on Sunday to have homemade dinners ready to warm up or finish throughout the week.