Reducing Calories per Day

Although this example is primarily concerned with reducing calories per day, it can be used for reducing fat intake as well. As a matter of fact, taking a good hard look at both calorie and fat consumption would be an excellent beginning for any healthy lifestyle changes. A reduction in both these areas could reap multiple health benefits. The added benefit is that reducing calories and fat in your diet is fairly easy to do with the three-step plan. If you've not reviewed the three-step plan, you can do so now: Go to Step 1 - Awareness

Awareness

Jot down what you eat and approximate quantities consumed each day for a several day period.
Start reading food labels to get an idea of the calories and fat content for those things you eat daily. Just get an idea. There's no need to memorize the numbers. Right now you're only trying to categorize the food you eat into groupings of H (High), M (Medium) and L (Low) calories and fat content.
Be sure to look at serving sizes on the labels. Don't be led astray - sometimes a small package can actually be more than one serving. Calories and fat are listed per serving.
Use this tool to get both sets of numbers when you need to. Calories/Fat Calculator
If you are the fast food type you may have to go to your favorite fast food websites to get the information you need for helping you reduce the number of calories consumed per day.
Calculate your daily calorie and fat intake.

Skills

Analyze the data obtained in the Awareness step above. Note the how, what, when and where of your calorie/fat intake.
Begin to formulate your goal. Make it manageable - not so hard that you can't reach it within a reasonable amount of time. Make it measurable - how often, how much do you do it now and how much and how often will you do it in the future.
Focus on the behavior you want to change. Also focus on any events that precede that same behavior. Here you're playing the part of a detective, gathering together the facts, looking for patterns, drawing conclusions. You want to know as much about your target behavior that you can.
A goal starts with a behavior you want to change. For example, you might say, "reduce calories per day", "reduce sodium per day" or "reduce number of sodas consumed each week." Keep in mind that you must be able to measure your goal behaviors. These three goals can be measured.
A goal describes the start and end behaviors. What is the behavior now and what will it be in the future. It's best to describe the behavior in terms of the number of times it occurs.
A goal has a timeline. State when you'll begin changing the behavior and when you will end.
A goal defines the terms for success. You'll want to decide what result will be considered successful. Again, it's best to define success in terms of number. If it's 'calories per day' that you're working with then you might say, "calories per day will be 2,000."

Motivation

Rewards are highly individualistic and can be anything you're willing to work for; something that has value to you, such as a new article of clothing, a CD, a night out on the town, a special dinner, etc. See more examples and explore your own ideas.
Reward yourself frequently for every success you make.