It doesn't matter if summer is coming soon or it's getting towards the end of the year, if you're like a number of other people, you are beginning to think about reducing weight. And losing weight fast. There are some things you can do to drop some weight in a short period of time and do it properly.



None of those crazy soup or celery or lemon juice diet programs. Those do give you results, but what a cost you have to pay for releasing a couple of lbs. And the worst part is that when you go back to regular eating after lemon juice for 10 days, the excess weight seems to amazingly reappear all by itself.



But if you want to do some small adjustments to how you eat; changes that you can live with and carry on with after your initial weight loss results, then listen up because here a few smart tips for you.



Tip #1 - Pay Attention



There is a reason why many famous dieting programs have you keep a food log of everything you eat. When you pay attention and note down every single thing you eat, whether it's a snack or a breakfast bar or even a stalk of celery, you tend to eat less.



Could be because the thought of having to keep track of each mouthful makes folks want to eat less because it's a pain to write it all down. But much more likely it's because your mind begins to think to itself "Hmm, am I actually hungry enough to eat this and then write in my food diary"? Many times, the answer to that is a "No" and you wind up eating a lot less food.



This journaling idea works in a lot of self-improvement areas, not just dieting, but when it comes to food, it really helps you focus on what you are doing. And being mindful about how you are treating your body and your well being is a very good step in the direction of feeling much better and reducing your weight.



Another great tip has to do with the notion that less is more.



Cut it down.



One of the largest amounts of calorie intake comes from the consumption of fats. Certainly, this is not the case 100 percent of the time for 100 percent of the people. But if you live in a place that has a diet like the Standard American Diet, which is quite high in animal fats and saturated and hydrogenated fats, you are eating a lot of calories from fats.



The fats on their own contain a high amount of calories per unit measurement. Basically if you took a teaspoon of a carbohydrate and a teaspoon of fat, the fat would have more than two times as many calories in it.



Fats contribute to the taste and the mouth feel of food and this is a big reason why they are very popular. Problem is along with twice as many calories, they don't metabolize as cleanly as many carbohydrates and you are left with the results hanging around your waist.



If you like butter on your toast in the morning, put only half the amount on that you normally do. Use only half the amount of oil when you are cooking on the stove. Try something such as one of those cooking sprays. Your food will still cook nicely and will slide out of the pan, but the amount of oil you'll have added is almost non-existent.



Bake your potatoes as opposed to frying them. Boil your eggs instead of scambling them with a tablespoon of butter. Just do a couple things like this and you will incredibly find that you are ingesting nowhere near the amount of calories that you did previously.



The simple truth is, it doesn't take a lot of doing to alter some dietary habits. And when you make those changes in your lifestyle you will be on the right track to losing some weight quickly in a safe, simple to sustain way.