Think of your body simply as a machine. Calories going in have to be equal to the calories going out, in order to maintain your weight. The majority of people do not follow this theme, and, instead, take in much more than they burn, the eventual result being weight gain. However, all it takes is a few changes to turn things around.
You can lose ten pounds in a year by cutting out one hundred calories every day for a year. One pound equals 3,500 calories; so, to lose ten pounds you will have to burn the excess 3,500 calories in simple fashion. Remember that big results can happen from simple changes.

Teaching people to make small changes is often the only way to bring about results. Therefore, giving up every thing you love in your current diet will not work forever. Many people want weight loss to be their New Year's resolution, and this is a constant struggle for most Americans. You can try different diets for losing weight, but the weight will only be regained if you return to your old eating habits.
Let me tell you a golden rule: "The key is to make small changes that are reasonable, achievable and realistic to maintain."
I ask my clients to write down everything they eat and drink; they soon begin looking at small changes they could make in that pattern.
You do not have to give up everything. I believe people are stuck because all of these factors. If you have a favorite food, you do not always have to give it up.
Here are 25 ways you can lose ten pounds in the coming year:
 

1. Use skim milk products, instead of whole milk ones, for three servings a day two hundred calories can be saved daily, and you will lose twenty pounds by the following year.

2. Eat only half your meal in a restaurant, and take the other half as a treat for your dog. You can lose ten pounds by the next year.

3. Try to minimize the use of butter and margarine; try applesauce in recipes, instead of oil, decreasing your butter intake on your morning toast will allow you to lose ten pounds.

4. Freezing, then boiling soups, gravies and stews will give you the chance to take off fats from them and you can save one hundred calories.

5. For best health, eat extra-lean ground beef, ground chicken and ground turkey. When you buy beef, choose the one labeled select, instead of choice or prime. Also, cut off fat from the meat pieces. Use Canadian bacon or prosciutto, a lean Italian ham, instead of bacon.

6. By switching to fresh juice, instead of the twenty-ounce juice, you will get more dietary fiber and save more than one hundred calories.

7. Try to eat meatless forms of hot dogs, bacon, burgers and sausage. You will take in half the calories of their counterpart meats.

8. Drink regular coffee with artificial sweetener, instead of the sixteen-ounce cappuccino, and lose over ten pounds in a year.

9. Eat baked potatoes in place of fried ones and save ninety calories. By doing this daily you can simply lose ten pounds with ease.

10. Exercise for thirty minutes daily. If you just walk thirty minutes, that would be wonderful. Start by walking for ten minutes. Soon you’ll be walking in three ten-minute sessions daily and losing thirteen pounds through the year.

11. Because the egg yolk contains all the fat and cholesterol, use egg substitutes or, for most recipes, two egg whites, instead a whole egg.

12. Switch to a light kind of microwave popcorn. If you eat this daily you can lose ten pounds by the following year.

13. Switch to sugar substitutes in all your baking recipes. You will lose ten pounds by trading the couple of the teaspoons in your ice tea and those on your morning cereal for sugar substitutes.

14. By drinking you afternoon soda for a diet version, you will save one hundred fifty calories with each twelve-ounce can.

15. If switching to diet soda is too difficult, minimize your soda by switching from a forty-four-ounce soda into the twenty-four-ounce size. You will save about two hundred calories daily, or about twenty pounds though the year.

16. Eat light whole wheat bread that is lower by one hundred calories than ordinary sandwich bread.

17. You can lose eleven pounds before next year when you replace the 1 1/2 ounces of cheddar or American cheese on your sandwich with one ounce of non-fat mozzarella.

18. Change your regular mayonnaise in favor of a low-fat mayonnaise; use two tablespoons on your sandwich.
19. Try eating small portions of meat, three ounces, for example, which is nearly a size of a deck of cards.

20. Drink light beer, instead of your regular beer. By doing this you will cut out about fifty calories per bottle.

21. Switch from regular bottled salad dressing to fat-free dressing; you will save one hundred calories.

22. Every day at work walk up and down stairs; this will burn about one hundred calories per five flights three or four times every day.

23. Avoid “super size meals”. For instance, a two-ounce size of fries at McDonald’s as a replacement for a six-ounce one will help you to save about three hundred calories, thus helping you to lose weight.

24. You can save one hundred calories when you remove the skin from the chicken breast after cooking.

25. Add two tablespoons of fruits or berries on top of the ice-cream, instead of crumbled cookies, crushed chocolate candy or hot fudge. You will lose one hundred calories.

Dr. Cassie Lee.
Nutritionist.