Top 5 tips to lose weight

1. Water intake is key. Avoid soft drinks, energy drinks and even some juices as these have high sugar contents. Water will also help suppress your appetite. Drink a large glass of water before a meal and notice how fast you become full.

2. A trick to losing weight is to develop healthy eating habits that you can adapt for the rest of your life. Do it step by step. I found that starting at the grocery store was a great beginning. I stopped buying anything that was not healthy. Instead of chips and crackers, my snack foods became carrots and celery. Eat more vegetables and fruits and cut down on carbohydrates.

Here is a great example that worked for me. When I was in college years back, I had the displeasure of experiencing what living with a slob without a dishwasher was like. The kid didn't know that you could wash a dish by hand. It became a cycle of me washing the dishes, which were completely over the sink and was piled up on the stove. Then he makes the mess all over again.

After running ideas through my head about what to do, my only solution was to eliminate the "weight" of the dishes by throwing most of them away. I gave us three of everything. Three plates, three bowls, three glasses...you get the idea. Everything else I dropped off at the goodwill.

Basically I just went to the grocery store with it. We went from 100 dish items to roughly 20, chips to carrots, meat to vegetables. If your goal is to lose weight, you don't need all of those extra items.

3. Develop an active life style over time. You don't need to join a gym or buy an expensive weight set. Start out with walking, swimming, jumping rope, riding a bike. If you have a dog, perfect! Take your dog for a walk three times a week. Just always remain active.

4. Goals are important with viewing your progress. Whether you blow your goal away or have trouble reaching it, setting goals help with giving you the drive to achieve and the feeling of success when you have reached your goal. Step by step goals can help with seeing if you are not pushing yourself hard enough, or if you need to change something up in your new weight loss routine.

5. The most important tip is to STAY POSITIVE! You are only going to fail if you quit. Never stop trying. Find something that works for you.