The first step in starting on your new healthy lifestyle is identifying your motivation. Why do you want to lose (or gain) weight?

Are you losing weight to prevent a serious health problem, such as diabetes or heart disease? Are you determined to look and feel great by next summer? Whatever your reason, you need to believe in it strongly and use it to fuel your motivation. 

Once you're clear on why you want to change your weight, you need to think about exactly what you want to achieve. Having an idea, not only of the bigger picture, but of just how you're going to get to your destination, is the best way to keep on track. This means setting goals. To set yourself up for success, make your goals realistic and specific. And be sure to write them down!

When you first decided to take control of your weight, it's likely you focused on the total amount of weight at issue. However, in order to get to where you want to be, it's best to break your long-term goal into a series of more readily-achievable, short-term goals.

For example, if you state your long-term goal as "I want to lose 60 pounds", you may feel defeated after a few weeks, thinking that you have not made as much progress as you would have liked. Reaching your goal of losing 60 pounds may seem a long way off and that prospect can sap you of motivation. But if you also set a smaller goal, such as "I want to lose 10 pounds in 6 weeks", you are likely to feel more motivated, as the smaller goal seems more achievable. Yet, it will only take six mini-goals to reach your final goal of losing 60 pounds.

If you break your long-term goal into smaller steps, focus on each step of the way and reward yourself every time you reach a mini-goal, your motivation will soon snowball.

Plan non-food rewards for reaching your mini goals - it can certainly spark your motivation to know that when you lose that next pound or complete your planned exercise program you'll be treating yourself to a new CD, or tickets to a game or concert.