The first consideration

When you first decide that it is time to revise your diet, you have got to look at some of the obvious items to kick out. Do you drink sodas? I don't mean diet sodas, but I do mean full-fledged sugar sodas... Do you eat sugary snacks like donuts, candy, snack cakes, or do you put sugar in your coffee, or your cereal? Some of these obvious things are good to toss. What about when you eat out at restaurants, do you order appetizers, the entree and a dessert? What do you drink with your meal? Are you eating the bottomless chips without giving it much thought? Are you ordering an entree with fried food, or do you notice that you go heavy on your salad dressing? When you order a dessert, do you order one just for yourself or do you split it with friends?
Take a look at your regular eating habits. These could be causing you to gain unwanted weight or it could keep you from losing weight.
What I have noticed with my clients is that sometimes when they sit down with me for an initial assessment, it is their knowledge of food that needs improvement. A lot of the time, they are confused on what to eat and what not to eat! This is completely understandable for someone who generally doesn't take an interest on the subject of nutrition and health. I personally do not enjoy talking about savings plans or investments... they bore the ever-living snot out of me. Thank God my husband has that all figured out, because he is there to make sure everything is in order when my attention span goes bye-bye on the subject. Don't get me wrong, I do try to learn about it by going to personal investment classes here on base and reading books on the subject, but it is hard for me to grasp something that I don't naturally have an inclination to study.
I want to teach you about nutrition in a way that you can easily grasp so that you can carry the information with you for a long time. When you genuinely grasp it, it is more likely to stay with you for longer instead of slipping out the window after a couple of days.
First consider the obvious hang-ups in your diet, then work on eliminating a hang-up one at a time. For example, if you drink sodas, then switch to drinking iced tea with a non-calorie sweetener. Then after you're comfortable with that, then cut out a couple of sugary snacks throughout your day. After that, consider splitting a dessert with your friends, husband, boyfriend, girlfriend, or whoever so that you don't eat the whole thing.
Consider, identify and eliminate one by one until you're comfortable for more change. Stay tuned until tomorrow.