The American Dietetic Association (ADA)

Before you start dieting, it helps to determine how much you do eat. Unfortunately, a magic formula for figuring out how many calories you eat is unavailable as yet — you simply have to track it. If you’re keeping a food journal, dig it out now. If you didn’t, or can’t find it, you can catch up: Keep track of what you eat.

A diet can be successful or disastrous, depending on your dieting approach. Start by finding your healthy weight range to establish a goal for your diet. Study some facts about calories and fat, and follow a few simple tips to make your eating habits healthier and your diet will become a lifestyle — which will lead to weight loss.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is the standard used to measure a child’s weight-related health risk. However, you must use charts specifically designed for children. Children’s BMI charts, unlike those for adults, are based on age and gender. Ask the staff at the pediatrician’s office to show you your child’s charts. Or you can use the formulas and charts that follow to do the calculations yourself.

You can’t use your waist size to get an absolute percentage of body fat, but measuring your waistline does provide information about the location of your body fat. And knowing where your fat is located, along with your BMI, enables you to determine whether you’re overweight and at risk for health problems. Fat that accumulates around your stomach area makes you more susceptible to a variety of health problems.

The human body needs nutrition every 3 to 4 hours to prevent energy dips, metabolism slowdowns, crankiness, and cravings from interfering with life. Eating based on time rather than hunger is one of the problems with the three-meals-a-day tradition. Sure, it’s practical, but consider that on the three-squares plan, a body is expected to run for 5 hours between breakfast and lunch, 6 to 7 hours between lunch and dinner, and then 11 to 12 hours until breakfast.

About 95 percent of females and 30 percent of males have issues about the way their bodies look. You may never look like a supermodel, but that’s okay — virtually no one will. However, everybody can be healthy. When you start taking care of your body, you’ll feel better about your body and about yourself. Check out some techniques to try if your body image needs improving: Remember that your perception of your body is a thought (“I hate my jelly belly”), but you feel it like an emotion (“I’m unlovable”).

Japanese food is a nutritious, low-calorie choice for dieters. Japanese can be one of the most nutritional and healthy cuisines, with only a few fattening dishes, such as tempura, teriyaki, katso, and sukiyaki. If eaten in the balance that the Japanese apply — heavy on the vegetables and light on the fats and meats — Japanese food can be a dieter’s dream.

Dieting may mean changing your cooking habits. Standard cooking methods need some reworking to make them lowfat and low calorie, and some foods can be used as substitutes, making them great, nutritious and healthy stand-ins for others. Sauté onion and garlic in water: When a recipe calls onion and garlic cooked in oil, use a nonstick pan and 2 tablespoons of water.

Fruits and vegetables provide vitamins, minerals, and fiber necessary for proper nutrition. They’re also naturally low in fat with few exceptions. Breakfast is a good place to begin adding fruit servings to your diet. You may already start your day with a glass of juice. Add a midmorning snack of fruit and have some for dessert at lunch or dinner, and you’ve made your goal of three to four servings a day.