I sometimes take it for granted that everyone knows all the little healthy tips and tricks that can help weight loss, weight maintenance and a healthy lifestyle. So they are worth a quick review here, I think:

*Switch From Regular Soda To Diet Soda

*Drink More Water!

The idea here is to set little goals, one at a time, at a pace you are comfortable with! You only get one body in this life my friend! Be good to it!

*Find "substitute foods" you enjoy. I used to love to sit down to a bowl of Doritos and Nacho cheese. Now, I really do find I enjoy a large sliced up cucumber and a bowl of salsa. It's not the food so much as it is the "dipping", the crunch and the salty flavor. Perhaps similar substitutions will work for you!

Cut back on the sugar Not just regular table sugar, but white breads, rice pasta. That stuff goes right to all the areas you are prone to store fat. Look, a little pasta now and then isn't going to hurt, in my opinion, but people have a hard time judging a serving size of pasta. It's about the size of a baseball. Way less than what most people eat.

Choose whole grains Try very hard to choose cereals and breads and pastas that are as unprocessed as possible. Stone ground whole grain bread (watch out for added sugar!), Original Kashi, etc. are good choices. You get to have a few carbs and get some fiber in your diet.

Try and Take the Focus Off Food This is one of my big goals for this year. I know New Years Eve for instance,I have been trying very hard to get my mind off the food that will be available. I am trying to focus on the "atmosphere" the company, partying, etc.

Get Some Exercise Even a little at a time will do. Make a commitment to take a quick walk for 15 every day or every other day. Doing ANYTHING is better than doing nothing.

Brush your teeth after every meal and snack If you have a tendency to keep nibbling after your meals and snacks , this trick really does work well. It brings closure to your eating time.

Think of yourself as how you want to be mental imagery is very important in my opinion.

Find a role model Search online. Find a real person who has your similar situation. Some people have hundreds of pounds to lose. Some only have a few. Bet you can find someone your height, your age, and with the same amount of kids you have! Or find a celebrity who inspires you. Karl Lagerfeld dropped a lot of weight just by learning to eat right. Oprah got control of her emotional eating and now maintains a very healthy weight. Missy Elliot and Queen Latifah both recently slimmed down.

SET GOALS! This is very important. There are many many places on the internet where you can set up a free log of your goals and your progress. Maybe you'd like to even do it here at JoeUser.com. Or maybe you don't want to make it public. Well buy a 99 cent notebook and put it in writing. Take it a few pounds at a time. "I will lose 10 pounds by the beginning of February". Then set your game plan in motion. Need to throw away those chips? DO IT! Start exercising.

Change your mindset about dieting "Diet" should not be used like a verb. It is not something you do "for now" to slim down. It should be a permanent change. It is the way you eat comfortably for life, making positive choices about what you eat in order to be at the weight you want to be for the REST OF YOUR LIFE.

(Frog Attack is a health nut who has long been devoted to fitness but recently had his own setback when he gained almost 20 pounds. He is now working to take it off and he knows he will achieve his goal. You can achieve yours, too.)

(Frog Attack promises that no matter how defined his abs become, he will not make a habit of referring to himself in the third person as above.)

---Frog