It does not matter if summer is fast approaching 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 losing weight. And losing weight fast. There are some things you can do to drop a couple pounds in a short period of time and do it properly.



None of those ridiculous soup or celery or lemon juice diets. Those do work, but what a cost you need to pay for releasing a couple of pounds. And the worst part is that when you go back to regular eating after lemon juice for ten days, the extra weight seems to unbelievely reappear all by itself.



But if you want to do some small modifications to how you eat; changes that you can deal with and keep going with after your initial weight loss, then pay attention because here a few smart tips for you.



Tip #1 - Pay Attention



There's a reason why many famed dieting programs have you keep a food record of everything you eat. When you pay attention and write down everything you eat, whether it's a goody or a breakfast bar or even a stalk of celery, you tend to consume less food.



Could be because the thought of needing 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 definitely hungry enough to eat this and then write in my food diary"? Often, the answer to that is a "No" and you end up eating a lot less food.



This journaling idea works in a lot of self-improvement areas, not only dieting, but when it comes to food, it really helps you pay attention to what you are doing. And being mindful about how you are taking care of your body and your well being is a very good step in the direction of feeling far better and losing weight.



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



Cut it down.



One of the largest amounts of calorie consumption comes from the consumption of fats. Certainly, this is not the case 100 percent of the time for 100 % of the people. But if you live in a place that has a diet similar to the Standard American Diet, which is very high in animal fats and saturated and hydrogenated fats, you're 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 twice 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 so popular. Problem is along with two times as many calories, they don't metabolize as cleanly as many carbs 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. The food will still cook nicely and will slide out of the pan, but the amount of oil you'll have added in is almost non-existent.



Bake your potatoes as opposed to frying them. Boil your eggs instead of scambling them with a tablespoon of butter. Do just a couple things like this and you will surprisingly find that you are ingesting nowhere near the quantity of calories that you did before.



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