When you want to slim down, the plan probably looks a bit like this: Step one, toss out the junk food; step two, pull out the running shoes; and step three, renew that gym membership (and actually use it). But a growing body of evidence suggests that getting a good night’s sleep should be on—or at least near—the top of the list. Few experts would disagree with the idea that we’ve become a nation in need of a pick-me-up. We stay up too late, we wake up too early and, increasingly, we’re overweight. While there’s plenty of data showing that poor sleep can lead to weight gain and possibly even obesity, some new research also shows that the opposite may also be true: that getting the right amount of good quality sleep may actually help you shed a few pounds. “Getting a full night of sleep is one of the most under-appreciated factors contributing to healthy weight maintenance,” says Matthew Walker, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies the effect of sleep on weight. Like all weight-loss strategies, sleep is not a quick fix, but consistently clocking a quality night’s sleep could be the secret sauce for your weight-loss plan. So keep the following lessons in mind when optimizing your sleep schedule for a more favorable number on the scale. Here’s why.

1. IT CAN REDUCE YOUR CRAVINGS FOR UNHEALTHY FOOD.

It takes a lot of willpower to order a salad over a pizza, and research shows that how much sleep you’ve clocked can make or break your resolve. In a small but intriguing study published in the journal Nature Communications, Walker and his research team put 23 healthy, non-obese men and women through two sleep-related tests. In the first experiment, the men and women got a full eight hours of sleep, and in the second they were sleep-deprived for one night. The following day, they were placed in a brain scanner and asked to rate how desirable certain foods were to them, from a piece of fruit to things like ice cream. After a full night of rest, the people in the study tended to prefer healthier foods. But when they were sleep-deprived, the same men and women not only craved more junk food, but the area of their brains in charge of making rational decisions—like healthy food choices—was inhibited. Overall, the sleep-deprived people wanted foods that contained on average 600 calories more than what they craved when they were well rested. “We are finding that getting a full night of sufficient sleep actually helps you reboot and refresh the circuits of the human brain, allowing it to make optimal food choices,” says Walker. “These food choices may put you on a path toward weight control, rather than weight gain.” And it’s not just pulling an all-nighter that can throw off your weight regulation. A 2013 study by University of Colorado researchers showed that losing a few hours of sleep a night for a few nights in a row can result in weight gain.

2. IT CAN HELP YOU FEEL FULLER, LONGER.

Getting a good night’s rest not only helps you fight the urge to reach for a bag of chips, but it also keeps your hunger pangs in check. Take a study of 1,024 volunteers that showed that when people didn’t get enough sleep, their hormone levels became unbalanced. Their levels of the hormone leptin, which is responsible for feeling full, dropped, and the levels of the appetite- inducing hormone ghrelin went up. Researchers think sleep helps our bodies keep those hunger hormones in line, making sure we feel hungry only when we should.

3. IT MAKES YOU MORE LIKELY TO STICK TO YOUR DIET.

In 2012, Charles Elder, a researcher at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, recruited 472 obese adults into a weight-loss program that included weekly group meetings and counseling on diet and exercise. Elder and his colleagues measured a variety of factors, including levels of sleep, stress and depression. “At the beginning of the study, the people who told us they were sleeping six to eight hours a night ended up doing better in the weight-loss program than those who were sleeping less than six or more than eight hours,” says Elder. Stress mattered too. People who had low stress and were sleeping more than six but no more than eight hours a night were about twice as likely to have success in the program as people who had higher baseline stress and who were sleeping too much or too little. Elder’s study is not the only one to make the connection. A 2014 study of women ages 25 through 65 who were classified as overweight or obese and participated in a seven-month weight-loss intervention showed that women who had fragmented sleep and woke up five or more times a night lost less weight than the women who had higher-quality sleep. “The data makes us think that we should be paying attention to sleep patterns when we are offering sleep-management programs,” says Elder.

4. YOU’RE MORE LIKELY TO EXERCISE.

“Losing weight takes a lot of energy, and if you are sleeping too much it’s going to impact your energy level, and sleeping too little can have effects on your ability to focus and concentrate on all the tasks at hand,” Elder says. And though he can’t say for sure, Elder believes that one of the main reasons getting enough sleep is linked to successful weight loss is that it provides you with the drive you need to stick to your goals. Other research has shown that people who are sleepy often say they exercise less, opting instead for sedentary activities like watching TV.  

When describing how you really feel about the latest miracle fix in the diet and fitness world, you'd probably often find yourself saying "What... the... heck?!" After all, how many times have you trusted logical sounding ideas, put all your faith in a diet strategy, only to find out that the time you invested was a waste—and you still haven’t given up? You see, when you really dig into the research, most of what you assume is correct about dieting is actually wrong. One of the diet rules for weight loss that we've heard more than any other:

A healthy diet begins with a great breakfast. There's just one problem: A good breakfast doesn’t guarantee an overall healthy diet. In fact, according to a survey conducted by the NPD group, nearly 90 percent of Americans now eat breakfast, and yet nearly 50 percent of Americans are either overweight or obese. There are two things you should know about breakfast actually:

1. Timing isn't as important as you think. You don’t need to eat immediately (or even within one hour) after you wake up. Your metabolism won’t be harmed. 2. Eating an early breakfast means you’re creating a bigger eating window (you eat for more total hours during the day), which might lead to more fat storage and more health problems, according to scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. If you eat your first meal at 7 a.m. and eat a late-night snack at 10 p.m., that’s 15 hours of eating—which might be more than your body wants.

THE TRUTH

No one meal is more important than any other. What matters most is total calorie intake, food selection (think salad versus Big Mac), and then how much time you spend eating each day. So if you don’t love breakfast, skip it. If you do, enjoy your morning meal but keep an eye on your feeding window to make sure you’re not eating more calories than you need.

IT'S OKAY TO EAT A BIG DINNER

We all know that dinner is the most popular meal to eat with friends and family, but most people think eating after dark is the cardinal sin of weight loss. Nothing could be more incorrect. Italian researchers compared eating earlier in the day (10 a.m.) to eating later in the day (6 p.m.) In that study, there was no difference in weight (pounds) lost, but the late eaters lost more fat. Several follow-up studies concluded the same thing—timing doesn’t matter. This statement from University of Oregon researchers sums it up well: “Eating too many calories causes weight gain regardless of when you eat them.” Living in a world where you can’t eat at night and can’t enjoy food with your friends and family is restrictive and doesn’t adhere to any science-backed rules of weight loss. You won’t become fat by eating at night—that will only happen if you overeat at night. If you’re aware of how much you should be eating within any given day, you can place those calories in whatever meal works best for your body.

EAT CARBS TO GET LEAN

From Atkins to the Paleo movement, carbohydrates have been criticized more than all of the ladies on the Real Housewives shows—combined. Here’s the real reason why carbs get such a bad reputation: Up to 50 percent of the carbohydrate intake in the typical American diet is in the form of highly processed carbs and sugar. So when people say carbs are bad, they’re usually just talking about eating lots of sugar. But that’s not really fair to every other food that also is labeled a carbohydrate. When compared to a typical American diet, a low-carb diet looks like the undisputed champ. However, when compared to a good carb-based diet that is low in sugar, refined foods, and gluten (like the “Japanese Diet”), the results are very different. Before 1991, when Japan was considered a carb-dominate society, diabetes and obesity rates were never greater than three percent of the population. If carbs in general were the enemy, with their high starch intake via rice and sweet potatoes, the Japanese would be the fattest, most diabetic and unhealthy population on the planet. However this was not the case, and their levels of obesity are a “problem” people in the United States wish they had.

Ignore the outdated "carbs are evil" diet rules. Your body needs carbohydrates. If you completely remove this essential nutrient from your diet, you could experience a down-regulation of the hormones that control fat loss, making it harder to have the lean, sexy body you want. A good general rule: Eat more carbs on the days you’re active and fewer carbs on the days you’re sedentary. And make sure most of your carbs come from whole foods such as fruits and vegetables.

THERE IS A WEIGHT-LOSS PILL WORTH BUYING

Most miracle “fat-burning supplements” are about as effective as an hour of Prancercizing. But if you want to take a pill to help promote fat loss, your best bet is a vitamin that you associate with the sun. Researchers from Canada found that people with higher levels of vitamin D also have lower levels of body fat. The connection isn't a coincidence. Vitamin D helps you feel fuller because, according to Australian researchers, it releases more leptin, a hormone essential to weight loss. It also helps you store less fat by decreasing parathyroid hormone, which makes you hold on to your love handles. Best of all, vitamin D literally burns more fat by reducing production of the stress hormone cortisol.

Buying supplements to help you lose weight is not the best use of your hard-earned money. The most important things for weight loss are a healthy diet and exercise, but some supplements can help fill nutritional gaps that will help your body function more efficiently. Supplementing with 2,000 to 3,000 IU of Vitamin D3 is a smart investment for your overall health and fat-loss goals.

EXERCISE ON AN EMPTY STOMACH

If you exercise with a high intensity, there’s nothing worse than feeling sick to your stomach because you felt forced to eat before you hit the gym or pavement. There’s a lot of science that shows eating before a workout is important, but “before a workout” is a much wider time range than you might think. In the simplest sense, your digestive process is very complicated. When you eat, the food does not go directly to your muscles or your gut. It takes time—a lot of time, in fact. So if you eat many hours before you train, there’s still plenty of fuel to help you perform and feel great.

Research published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism found that the protein you eat digests anywhere between one gram per hour and 10 grams per hour. So if you have a meal consisting of 25 grams of protein, that meal could last in your system for up to 25 hours. Hydration level and sleep patterns also play a significant role in performance, so make sure you’re well rested and have plenty to drink, and then eat when it feels best for your body, even if it means a small meal or no meal at all.

EAT SATURATED FAT FOR A HEALTHY DIET

Books like The China Study and movies like Forks Over Knives have pointed the finger at saturated fats—and all animal fats—as the reason for countless health problems. Yet all the research used to support this hypothesis took a very slanted bias and completely ignored populations that were incredibly healthy despite diets based on saturated fats. For example, people who live in Tokelau (a territory off of New Zealand) eat a diet that is 50 percent saturated fats, and they have cardiovascular health that is superior to any other group of people. Even Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard, has publicly stated (after a 20-year review of research) that fats—and more specifically saturated fats—are not the cause of the obesity crisis and are not the cause of heart disease.

Cholesterol actually acts as an antioxidant against dangerous free radicals within the blood. When there are high levels of undesirable substances in the blood (caused by inflammation in your arteries from eating highly processed foods and large quantities of sugars), cholesterol levels rise in order to combat these substances. Cholesterol is also necessary for the production of a number of hormones, some of which help fight against heart disease. Plus, research shows diets higher in saturated fats are often lower in total calories consumed.

CONSIDER FASTING FOR WEIGHT LOSS

Any diet that has you not eat at all is not a diet—it’s starvation. But there’s a difference between withholding what your body needs and reprogramming your body so that you can control your hunger and let your body recharge. The idea of fasting is nothing crazy. You do it every night when you sleep, which is a time that that is essential for optimal health. Yet the idea of going several hours without eating during daytime is frowned upon. When done correctly, fasting can actually help your body burn fat, recharge, and stay healthy. You’ve probably heard of cleanse diets that supposedly rid your body of toxins, improve the functioning of your internal organs, and help you age better. Most of these don’t work as advertised. The only real cleanse occurs at the cellular level. It’s called autophagy, and it’s your body’s ability to regenerate and become better. Autophagy makes your brain function a little better, helps with fat loss, and even assists in your ability to walk and breathe. But the more time you spend eating—as in actual hours during the day eating—the less time you spend in the autophagic process, which is why fasting isn’t a bad thing.

Researchers at the University of Utah found that people who fasted just one day per month were 40 percent less likely to suffer from clogged arteries. While there are many ways to fast, the important point is that you shouldn’t feel forced to eat if you’re not hungry. Short daily fasts (for 12 to 16 hours) or a once-per-week daily fast can have health benefits, and it will teach you to separate boredom or thirst from genuine hunger.

From Zumba to yoga to ditching junk food, these simple lifestyle changes will help you lose 10, 30, even 50 pounds! Jessica Girdwain's fantastic list of 10 ways to lose weight fast is composed of useful tips coming from readers who knocked off 10, 25, even 60 pounds with some easy tweaks. Borrow their slim-down secrets to transform your body the real-world way:

LOSE THE NIGHT TIME SNACKING

"Each time I needed to lose the baby weight, I stopped eating after 6:30 p.m. five nights a week. The other two evenings were reserved for nights out. Most of what I'd eat at night was junk food anyway, so it took only two months to get my pre-baby body back." —Deborah Gilboa, Pittsburgh, PA

ASSOCIATE WITH A CLASS

"Two months ago, I started going to Zumba twice a week. The crazy dance routines really tone your muscles—especially legs and abs—and give you a heart-pounding cardio workout. Eleven pounds later, I've almost reached my goal weight." —Morgan Howe, Rochester, NY

SAVE ROOM FOR YOUR DESSERT

"I budget for the treats I love. By eating healthy snacks like carrots and hummus, I have calories to splurge on a piece of chocolate and glass of wine each night. And I've still managed to lose 20 pounds in three months." —Elaine Higginbotham, Fort Worth, TX

RUNNING

"When I wanted to fit into my skinny jeans again, I started running 20 minutes a day during my lunch hour. In two months, I've lost 20 pounds, have tons of energy, and just finished my first 5K. Those jeans? They're too big now!" —Lauren Castor, Anniston, AL

ADDING MORE VEGGIES TO YOUR DIET

"By adding vegetables to the foods I love—like eating pizza topped with arugula and green peppers instead of pepperoni—I became so full so quickly that I no longer had room to eat things like chips or super-rich desserts. I said good-bye to four dress sizes!" —Janessa Mondestin, New York City, NY

READY YOURSELF UP

"I loaded my iPod with jams that make me look forward to going to the gym. They energize me, allowing me to pick up speed on the elliptical—and because I want to hear my entire playlist, my workouts are longer now. Two months later, I'm down 13 pounds and have killer legs." —Kara Marshall, York, ME

MAKE YOUR NIGHTS HEALTHIER

"After work, my colleagues and I always grabbed dinner—and it was usually deep-fried. Then we changed things up. Instead of nights out, we started walking and running around a local track. A year later, I’m down 40 pounds." —Ellen Setzer, Cleveland, OH

PURGE YOUR FOOD EATING HABITS

"I totally cleaned out my pantry. Once I replaced the foods I used to overindulge in, like ice cream, with lower-cal snacks, such as roasted sunflower seeds or Special K Chocolatey Delight cereal, I began making better choices automatically. Now, I'm slimmer than I was before I had my two kids!" —Lori Feldman, Coconut Creek, FL

DIMINISH THE UNHEALTHY PARTS

"I quit smoking, and right away joined a gym and started working out with a personal trainer. There was no way I could exercise and feel healthy if I kept lighting up. I've already dropped 37 pounds in three months!" —Leila Fathi, Memphis, TN

MAKE BETTER USE OF THE COMMERCIALS

"I try to fit in small bouts of exercise whenever possible, like doing jumping jacks or crunches during television commercials or dancing while washing dishes. This burns extra calories and keeps me from mindlessly munching in front of the TV. Now my clothes fit way better, and I’m more toned than ever." —Megan Tiscareno, Hammond, IN

Simple substitutions can add up big time in the long term.

SWITCH UP YOUR SOUP

Instead of dishing up a cup of cream of broccoli soup, which has 180 calories and 7 grams of fat, choose a bowl of chicken vegetable soup instead. You get just 75 calories and under 3 grams of fat for the same-size serving. Save 105 calories and 4 g of fat. Make this change once a week and cut out 5,460 calories a year, or roughly 1 1/2 pounds.

SUBSTITUTE YOUR SUB

A 6-inch meatball sub is 580 calories and 24 grams of fat; a turkey breast sub is only 280 calories and 3 grams of fat. Or take it a step further and opt for a veggie sub at just 230 calories and 3 grams of fat. Save up to 350 calories and 21 grams of fat. Make this change once a week and you’ll cut up to 18,200 calories a year, which equals more than 5 pounds.

INTERCHANGE YOUR DRESSING

Two tablespoons of ranch dressing racks up 140 calories and 16 grams of fat. Using a store-bought balsamic vinaigrette spritzer, on the other hand, packs a lot of flavor but only 1 calorie a squirt (10 calories for an individual-size salad), and only 1 gram of fat. Save 130 calories and 15 g of fat. Make this change three times a week and you’ll cut out more than 20,000 calories a year, which is almost 6 pounds.

EAT POPCORN

Tame your munchies with popcorn instead of potato chips. A one-ounce snack-size bag of chips has 150 calories and 10 grams of fat. Swap that for a cup of air-popped popcorn at 31 calories and 0 grams of fat. For a flavor boost, spritz popcorn with butter-flavored spray (0 calories) and toss in a tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese (27 calories). Save up to 119 calories and 10 grams of fat. Make this change once a week and you’ll cut out 6,188 calories a year — that’s almost 2 pounds.

DROP THE SODA

One 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola has 140 calories, all of it from refined sugars that are pure trouble for people with diabetes. Replace it with a glass of ice water (0 calories) — add a squeeze of lemon, cucumber slices, or mint leaves for a nice refreshing flavor. Save 140 calories. Make this change once a day and you’ll slash 51,100 calories a year, which adds up to more than 14 pounds.

LIGHTEN YOUR LIQUOR

Instead of regular beer, which has 150 calories per bottle, opt for its lighter version at less than 100 calories. And instead of a 5-ounce glass of Pinot Grigio at 120 calories, cut the calories in half by making a wine spritzer instead. To make: Combine equal parts wine and seltzer. Save 50 to 60 calories per drink. Make this change once a week and you will cut out 2,600 to 3,120 calories a year, which could equal almost a pound.

TRY NATURAL SWEETS

Craving dessert? Rather than reaching for 1 cup of premium strawberry ice cream at 500 calories and 16 grams of fat, opt for 1 cup of strawberries at 56 calories. Still want something creamy? Even 1/4 cup of light whipped cream (the kind in a can) adds only an extra 30 calories and 2 grams of fat. Save up to 444 calories and 16 grams of fat. Make this change twice a week and you will cut out more than 46,000 calories a year, which adds up to more than 13 pounds.

SKIP A YOLK

Nix just 1 yolk from meals that require 2 eggs (think omelets). A whole egg has 75 calories, but there are only 16 calories in the white, and no fat. Never removed a yolk from the white? Buy an egg separator—they cost next to nothing; find them at any store that carries cooking supplies. Crack the raw egg and pour it into the separator; it holds the yolk while the white drips through. Save 59 calories and 5 grams of fat. Make this change twice a week and cut out 6,136 calories a year, which is approaching 2 pounds.

MAKE TOAST

Replace a bagel (354 calories) or bran muffin (410 calories) with 2 slices of whole-wheat toast (164 calories). Skip the butter (100 calories per tablespoon), and spread on 1/2 cup of fat-free cottage cheese (90 calories)—your calorie count is still lowered, and yet you still get lots of creamy flavor without all that fat. Save up to 246 calories. Make this change once a week and you’ll cut almost 12,800 calories a year—that’s more than 3 pounds.

You can get many health benefits from losing pounds. But you don't have to lose a ridiculous amount of pounds to see some amazing changes happen to your body---from your energy levels to your love life, or to your daily habits. According to the NHS you have a higher risk of these bullet points if you are obese or overweight:

• High Blood Pressure
• Heart Disease
• Stroke
• Type 2 Diabetes
• Some Types of Cancer
• Osteoarthritis
• Back Pain

So lets all just lose weight instead of gaining weight, shall we? Nonetheless here are some amazing changes that can happen to your body when you lose weight:

YOUR RISK OF CANCER DECREASES

Your weight impacts your immune system, hormones, and factors that regulate cell growth—all of which are tied to cancer risk. That’s why being overweight or obese may increase your chances of getting the disease. “The relationship between cancer and weight is complex, and several different mechanisms are involved,” Dr. Webster says. “According to research from the American Cancer Society, excess body weight is thought to be responsible for about 8 percent of all cancers in the United States, as well as about 7 percent of all cancer deaths.”

YOU RELIEVE PRESSURE ON YOUR JOINTS

Experts agree that being overweight or obese increases your risk for osteoarthritis, or wear and tear on your joints. “The more weight that’s on a joint, the more likely it is to wear down and be damaged,” Dr. Webster says. “For example, for every pound of excess weight, four additional pounds of pressure is exerted on our knees—so if someone is carrying around 20 pounds of excess weight, that’s an additional 80 pounds of stress on the knees.” Losing extra weight reduces the amount of pressure on your joints and lowers the risk of arthritis development.

YOU REDUCE YOUR SLEEP APNEA RISK

Sleep apnea, in which you actually stop breathing during sleep, is linked with being overweight or obese. “Sleep apnea is caused, in part, when extra tissue accumulates around the upper airway, which can change its shape and make the throat more likely to collapse during sleep,” says sleep expert Richard Shane, PhD, creator of the Sleep Easily method. In one study, 88 percent of people who lost 33 or more pounds were effectively cured. According to Harvard Medical School, losing just 10 percent of your body weight can drastically reduce sleep apnea symptoms—and in some cases, weight loss can even cure the condition.

YOU LOWER DIABETES RISK

Losing weight can seem like an overwhelming undertaking, but even dropping just a few pounds can have a big impact on your overall health. “You get a large ‘bang for your buck’ with only a 5 percent weight loss,” says Samuel Klein, MD, professor of medicine and nutritional science, and director of the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine. For a 200-pound person, that’s just 10 pounds—but losing it takes a big strain off your body. Dr. Klein’s study shows one of the many boons is reduced diabetes risk, a condition marked by high blood sugar. “The beneficial effects include decreased total body fat, intra-abdominal fat, and liver fat and increased insulin sensitivity in liver, muscle, and fat tissues,” he says. Because the body requires insulin to absorb and use blood sugar, better insulin sensitivity means better blood sugar control.

YOU SLEEP BETTER IN GENERAL

In a vicious cycle, lack of sleep could be making you fatter. On the other hand, you’ll get better shut-eye with weight loss. “ In a study conducted at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, participants who had lost an average of 15 pounds show improvement in sleep quality,” Dr. Shane says. “In fact, a reduction in belly fat was the best predictor of improved sleep.” In addition, you’ll stop snoring as much—and snoring isn’t just an annoyance to your partner, but a mark of unhealthy sleep. “Snoring is in part caused by the amount of tissue around the neck,” Dr. Shane says. “When you lose weight, that reduces the amount of tissue in your neck, which can diminish snoring.”

YOU GET A MOOD BOOST

Because the physical is also tied to the psychological, your mental health will also enjoy lighter feelings once you lose weight. “Research shows that people who lost just 5 percent of body weight experienced an improvement in mood,” says nutritionist Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, author of Slim Down Now: Shed Pounds and Inches With Real Food, Real Fast. “And the positive changes in sleep caused by losing 5 percent are also tied to mood.” Think about it: You’re grumpy when you don’t get enough sleep, right? Plus, if your weight-loss is tied to exercise, the endorphins can give you feel-good feelings. There’s also a connection between weight gain and depression. Although it’s not clear which causes the other, some research suggests that weight loss can help alleviate depressive symptoms.

YOU HAVE MORE ENERGY

Even if you start slow, each bit of weight you lose will give you more energy to keep going. “Just a 5 percent drop in weight can help lower blood sugar levels and blood pressure and improve sleep quality, all of which increase energy,” Sass says. Because your body isn’t working as hard, you’ll have more resources to perform more healthy activities. And in a positive cycle, that first bit of extra energy will make changes you’re making stop seeming like such a chore. “When you have more energy, you’re more likely to feel motivated to be active and make healthier choices,” Sass says. Exercise itself has also been shown to boost energy levels.

YOUR FERTILITY IMPROVES

Losing a little bit of weight can help you conceive if you’re looking to have a baby. “Women with BMIs [body mass index, or ratio of height to weight] greater than 27 are at increased risk of abnormal periods and infertility,” says Jane van Dis, MD, chair of the Bakersfield Memorial obstetrics and gynecology department and medical director of business development for Ob Hospitalist Group. “Studies show women with elevated BMIs are at increased risk for insulin resistance, which can then lead to increased testosterone circulating in the body.” This can cause polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), in which ovulation doesn’t occur regularly. But losing just 10 to 15 pounds can help bring your periods back to normal.

YOU’LL GET A SELF-ESTEEM BOOST

How many times have you looked in the mirror and thought you’d be happier with what you saw if you were a little trimmer? Although body positivity is important no matter what your weight, achieving a health goal can up your confidence. “A better mood [that comes with weight loss] often leads to a boost in self-esteem and feelings of empowerment,” Sass says. “Positivity breeds positivity.” Mayo Clinic suggests setting weight-loss goals that are achievable—such as dropping 5 percent of your current weight—to set yourself up for success.

You know the drill when it comes to losing weight: take in fewer calories, burn more calories. But thats just the general idea or the "lazy" answer. There are many factors that affect your progress to losing weight including ways that involve the mind such as mindful eating. By practicing different variations to produce rapid weight loss efforts you will yield better results in your journey. The weight loss tips in this article are easy, sustainable ways to boost your metabolism, giving you a greater edge to getting a flatter stomach and achieving the thinner you. You'll find no incredibly insane sweaty workout routines on this list, no lemon juice-cayenne concoctions, just simple strategies that you can adopt and stick to for maximum results:

DRINK MORE WAdd NewATER

our body has a hard time distinguishing between hunger and thirst. Being dehydrated can fool you into reaching for a snack you don't really need. And besides, many studies and research have made this clear enough: Staying hydrated is one of the healthiest habits you can adopt. Drinking water throughout the day, especially before a meal fills up your stomach, keeps you energized and slows down the urge to snack. An antioxidant in the peel, d-limonene, gives sluggish bowels a kick and stimulates liver enzymes to help flush toxins from the body. Switch things up with unsweetened green tea, which contains EGCC, an antioxidant that helps the body burn fat faster.

DECIDE ON MEALS WITH MINT

Reach for natural mint gum (avoid sorbitol, which makes you bloat), or even brush your teeth with mint-flavored toothpaste. The mint flavors send signals to your brain that it's time to stop eating, which is great for how to lose weight. They also tweak your taste buds so second helpings and dessert aren't quite so tasty.

DO PUSHUPS EVERY MORNING

"It'll help you start the day with a feeling of success, and it gets in some additional upper-body training," says McGee. Another added benefit is that push ups can be done literally anywhere. If you were looking for ideas about how to lose weight at home, this is the quickest way to start. If you aren't exercising regularly I highly recommend you to start. It provides several health benefits including preventing osteoporosis, lowering blood pressure, reducing chronic pain, battling chromic fatigue syndrome, the list goes on. Try to increase the number you do each and every day so that you can still lose weight fast, even if you need to start with a modified push up on your knees. When you hit a plateau, switch to a harder style of pushup.

REDISCOVER HOT SAUCE

Hot sauce provides the warming benefits of eating slower and lesser than usual. Some studies say you might even speed up your metabolism thanks to the compounds in the chilies. One common misconception is that spicer ones provide more benefits than the less spicier ones. Mild peppers (including bell peppers, pimentos and sweet banana peppers) have the same compounds as their spicier relatives. Hot sauce also contain capsaicin, which help to introduce endorphins, which are crucial to maintaining a healthy mood (1).

PICK UP YOGA

Yoga is the top choice to reduce your stress, but in actuality, any exercise that is able to help reduce stress will do the trick. "The lower your stress, the lower your cortisol levels," says Fred DeVito of Exhale Spa. That means your body will store fewer calories as fat.

You think you're making great progress when you're following your weight loss goal. But overtime you realize that you aren't losing weight like you expected. Then you realize what you are doing wrong. You see tons of stories from friends and people on the internet sharing their successful weight loss stories and you're going crazy. Read on, because you might be making these crucial mistakes. If you are, fix them now after reading so you can get back on track. Here are the 6 Invisible Reasons Your Diet Is Not Working:

YOU AREN’T GETTING ENOUGH CALORIES

This sounds quite contradictive to what we normally hear about consuming calories. But listen closely: According to registered dietitian Erin Palinski-Wade, RD, CDE, calories are not the entire solution to weight loss. “A calorie is not just a calorie,” she says. “Depending on what you consume, calories from nutrients such as protein and unsaturated fat keep you full for an extended period, whereas calories from simple sugars digest rapidly.” Your plans for weight loss will not work if you're not getting the proper vitamins, fiber and protein that you need, even if you're cutting calories. Calorie restriction leads to slower metabolism---without enough calories your body will transition into survival mode, slowing down your metabolism to start conserving energy and preventing you from losing weight (1). Palinski-Wade recommends to focus on improving the nutritional quality of your diet rather than your calorie intake for improved body weight and health.

YOU’RE NOT PLANNING AHEAD

It's easy to tell yourself that you're going to eat healthier from now on, but obstacles in life gets in your way and you end up putting a raincheck on that health goal of yours. “Families have busy schedules and it may be easier to pick up fast food or snack on the run, but these habits add excess calories due to the portion size that may lead to weight gain,” Moore says. The trick is if you can expect and plan for these situations, you can help avoiding yourself from failing your weight loss dieting process. It helps to cook large batches of meals when you do have the time and freeze them for later so you don’t have to start from scratch every night. Fruits and vegetables can also be frozen and pulled out for a quick side dish or snack. Keep quick healthy snacks like nuts, apple slices with peanut butter, popcorn or healthy granola bars on hand. And don’t toss those leftovers—use them for your next meals. “Make chicken salad with Greek yogurt, nuts, and fruit from leftover roasted chicken,” Moore suggests. Mix in last night’s veggies with scrambled eggs, which can be cooked in seconds, for breakfast. Always have a supply of beans, avocado, or hard-boiled eggs for quick, satisfying lunches. “Beans or legumes make great plant protein additions to salads, and hard-boiled eggs mixed with avocado make great egg salad sandwiches,” Moore says.

YOU’RE NOT DRINKING ENOUGH WATER

There are multiple benefits of drinking water. The cells throughout your body need water to function, so it is important to know how much water you need to drink for your diet. “Water is a basic need for cellular health,” says Ronald Navarro, MD, orthopedic and sport medicine surgeon at Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center in Harbor City, California. “The body is composed of 50 to 60 percent water, so it’s a necessary nutrient to maintain body fluids,” Moore says. What some people normally do to suppress their hunger signals is to drink water to fill them up so they actually eat less. In addition, water instead of soda or other unhealthy choices can benefit a healthy diet a lot more. “Water isn’t the key to weight loss, but it can substitute for sugar-sweetened beverages, which decreases calories,” Moore says. A recent study from the University of Illinois found that people who increased their water consumption by one to three cups reduced their caloric intake by 68 to 205 calories daily. They also lowered their consumption of saturated fat, sugar, sodium and cholesterol.

YOU’RE NOT HAVING REGULAR EXERCISE

Eating right is only one aspect to achieving a healthy weight—you can’t skip out on exercise either. “If you have been adjusting your food intake without seeing the scale move, it may be because diet is just one part of the weight loss puzzle,” Palinski-Wade says. “If you are taking in fewer calories but also moving less, you will be burning fewer calories as well. That cancels out your overall calorie deficit, which leads to limited weight loss.” This is another reason to not cut calories too drastically: You need to have enough energy to exercise. Although studies have shown that increased exercise is not enough to achieve weight loss on its own, it’s still important for overall health, as well as for speeding up your metabolism.

YOU’RE PAYING TOO MUCH ATTENTION TO THE SCALE

If you are exercising more, you may not see a change in actual weight—but that doesn’t mean you’re not getting leaner. “If you have recently taken up an exercise routine, especially one that involves weight training, you may be losing inches without seeing a change on the scale,” Palinski-Wade says. “This is due to muscle taking up less space than fat mass. If you lose a pound of fat and gain a pound of muscle, your weight will stay the same on the scale, yet you will have lost inches.” Plus, muscles burn more calories than fat, so an increase in muscle mass will help you lose even more.

YOU’RE SKIPPING MEALS

As with cutting calories, cutting meals isn’t effective for healthy weight loss. Being overly hungry throws off the balance in your body, as Laura Moore, RD, director of the dietetic internship program at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, explains. “Energy intake, or what’s consumed, and expenditure, or what’s burned, is coordinated by signals from several systems, including the endocrine, adipose tissue, neurologic, and gastrointestinal systems,” she says. Chemical signals that increase and decrease appetite are sent to the brain. “This weight regulation system helps maintain a healthy weight for most people by modifying hunger, activity, and metabolism to keep the body weight within a target,” Moore says. “Moving below this target, or set point, by skipping meals can be challenging because the brain’s energy-balance system goes into action, pushing the weight back to its set point or even above.” That means you’re basically fighting with your body over where your weight should be. Instead, Moore recommends listening to your body’s signals, eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are full.