Get into the habit of eating slowly and chewing your food well. Eating slowly will enable you to recognize when you are full and when to stop eating. On average, a meal should last about 30 minutes.

Schedule time for exercise so that you don’t feel rushed by other demands.

Keep track of your progress daily. Monitoring your progress could mean maintaining a logbook to regularly record meals, exercise, and weight, or it could mean designing your own personalized system.

Yes — avoid concentrated sweets and beverages. Foods such as pastries, cakes, and sugar-sweetened beverages get digested rapidly and have a lot of calories.

Reach out for exercise partners or weight-loss partners and connect to advocacy groups such as the American Diabetes Association.

Remind yourself that it’s not necessary to be thin to be healthy. Look for role models who aren’t thin but are healthy, and aim to emulate them rather than, say, slender fashion models.

Build in positive rewards for yourself once you meet targets along the way. Get creative in finding non-food-related rewards that are personally meaningful.

Consider joining a club focused on an activity you enjoy, such as walking, hiking, or biking, or a support group focused on weight loss and health.

Focus on your monthly weight-loss pattern to recognize the progress you’re making.

Schedule time for meal preparation so that you have nutritious foods on hand to eat when you are hungry and won’t be tempted by vending machines or fast-food restaurants.

Give yourself variety in your exercise and meal plans so that feelings of boredom and deprivation don’t pull you off track.

Keep temptations out of your home and workplace to help create an environment that promotes your success.

When you notice weight-loss plateaus, or a slowdown in your rate of weight loss, it is time to set a new small goal, such as increasing the duration or intensity of your exercise or making another change in your meal plan that will contribute to your progress.

Be realistic about the amount of weight you wish to lose. Even a 7% to 10% weight loss has been proven to have significant health benefits, but this often strikes people as too small a goal.

Start with any goal you are ready to tackle. For example, if you see some areas in your meal plan that you are ready to “tune up,” focus on them first.