Perhaps the last time you had a checkup at your doctor's office, he or she recommended that you drop a little weight. A person's ideal weight depends on several factors, including age, gender, your bodyframe size, the amount of exercise you get, and any health conditions or medications that could have an impact on your weight, such as insulin taken by Type One diabetics, or people in recovery from surgery or cancer treatments. There are many scams available that offer quick weight loss results, but in reality there is no quick fix for losing weight and then maintaining your weight at the correct level. It is a matter of balancing diet and exercise in an appropriate way so that you can drop the extra pounds while still maintaining your muscle mass. What constitutes healthy weight loss, and what tools are available to help you achieve your ideal weight?

One aspect of healthy weight loss is that you take the weight off slowly. Although there are some health conditions in which a doctor might recommend rapid weight loss, this is a task to only be completed under a doctor's supervision. If you are not in this category, doctors often recommend losing no more than two pounds at the most per week.

Simple changes in your lifestyle can have an impact over time on your weight. Simply by eating more fruits and vegetables, along with whole grains, and cutting back a bit on portion sizes can help tremendously. Adding physical exercise to your daily schedule also makes a dramatic difference in not only your wellbeing but also your weight. Walking is often recommended because it is easy to do, does not require special equipment, and can be done anywhere.

To promote natural weight loss, the Mayo Clinic recommends controlling the portion sizes of foods. Achieving healthy weight loss is a matter of eating more fruits and vegetables and reducing the portion size on high-calorie foods. This will not only help you feel full but will reduce the number of calories you are eating and help you reach your weight loss goals.

Others find that a small reduction in your daily calories can make for significant weight loss if it is done on a consistent basis over time. Dropping 300 to 500 calories per day alone can result in a weight loss of one to two pounds per week. This is roughly equivalent to three chocolate chip cookies to one average slice of pecan pie.

Many who have been successful at losing weight and keeping it off rely on a calorie calculator and an exercise journal to help them achieve healthy weight loss. An online food diary can help you analyze quickly and easily the food you eat, and help you make healthy choices. An online exercise log can help you plan your workout schedule so that it includes cardio, strength and flexibility training, along with appropriate rest, so that your fitness level will improve, and will also result in healthy weight loss.

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First we obsess over stars’ “baby bumps,” then we shame the new moms into squeezing back into skinny jeans as quickly as possible. Katie Gentile on the double standard that hurts women.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is back in her “skinny jeans” just four weeks after giving birth to her daughter, reports Us Weekly. Ditto Ellen Pompeo, I read in People. Twice, Heidi Klum walked the Victoria Secret runway just six weeks after having a baby. Natalia Vodianova topped them all, taking to the catwalk a mere two weeks after giving birth.

In 2010, God help the celebrity who fails to shed the baby weight immediately, as she may end up on the wrong side of one of those ubiquitous “best and worst post-baby bodies” pictorials. It is chilling to watch the culture become more and more obsessed with babies, while the evidence of how these babies are created is removed from public view. The supermarket tabloids obsessively scope out “baby bumps,” cooing each time a C- or even D-lister conceives. But the second the bumps become bouncing bundles of joy, the pressure is on for the new mom to squeeze back into her skinny jeans. The post-baby body must banish the bump, or risk ridicule.

It’s as if we should actually believe the baby dropped from the stork, from the sky, from anywhere but that toned, buff body.

It used to be that People magazine confined news about pregnancy and babies to its “Milestones” section. Now baby obsession has changed the very structure of the magazine, giving us features such as “Mommy and Me Fashion,” “Celebrity Family Albums,” and the ever-popular rush to publish the first photos of celebrity spawn. Similarly, celebrity gossip magazines and blogs now devote entire sections to bump patrols, moms and babies (only occasionally dads), and a parade of post-baby body photos. In this “new” culture that seems to mix domestic ideals of the 1950s with the expanded opportunities of the 21st century, baby bumps—expanding breasts and bellies—are celebrated, photographed, tracked, and made an endless source of speculation. But we ignore the less attractive, yet all-too-real aspects of pregnancy: There are no swollen ankles, plump thighs, or puffy faces allowed on the red carpet.

Of course, intense scrutiny of women’s bodies is not new, and celebrity antics have long made for profitable media fodder, but the obsession with postpartum weight control is something new. These days, we rarely see a picture of a pregnant celebrity without the requisite estimation of weight gain, called “baby weight,” as if it is somehow separate from the mother’s body. The best way to get rid of it is breast-feeding, the tabloids tell us, claiming that lactation magically and effortlessly melts away pounds.

Yet as The New York Times recently noted, research is conflicting as to whether breast-feeding actually promotes weight loss. Breast-feeding may burn calories, but it also stimulates appetite, leading many women to eat more. The Mayo Clinic advises normal-weight, healthy women to exercise moderately and eat about 300 more calories per day while pregnant, gaining between 25 and 35 pounds over the course of the nine months. And Mayo advises women to lose only 1 postpartum pound per week in order to maintain solid nutrition. La Leche League advises that women not diet for the first 2 months after delivery to help their bodies recover and establish good milk flow.

Contrast this information with Us Weekly celebrating Ashlee Simpson-Wentz for sticking to her 1,500-calorie-a-day post-pregnancy diet, People discussing Liv Tyler’s postpartum fasting and colonics, or Ok magazine’s “Baby Weight Secrets,” which advise women to stick to fat- and carb-free diets and spend hours exercising daily.

It would be easy to see this obsession with post-baby weight control as just part and parcel of the usual misogynistic obsession with women’s weight. Female celebrities are under constant pressure to stay thin. But look at it another way: When women shed the baby weight, they are not merely getting back their pre-baby body, they are obliterating all the evidence of ever having had a baby in the first place. This means the one thing that only women’s bodies can do is expected to be immediately erased. The post-baby body is wrung of its recent life-giving feat. Sagging milk-filled breasts must appear perky; the once-swollen abdomen is made concave. It’s as if we should actually believe the baby dropped from the stork, from the sky, from anywhere but that toned, buff body.

Long term success with a weight program sometimes follows a bumpy, uneven path. Many obstacles can keep you from achieving a more healthy weight.

Learning to identify potential roadblocks and confront personal temptations is an important part of being successful in losing weight. To make it past the rough spots, it's important to have strategies ready to guide your response as problems arise.

This easy-to-use action guide identifies common weight-loss barriers and practical strategies for overcoming them. If you find a strategy that helps you, include it with your weight-loss program.

The barriers are grouped into three categories: nutrition, physical activity and behaviors. To lose weight — and to maintain that weight loss — it's important that you address all of these components.

Behaviors obstacle

I've tried to lose weight before, but it didn't work. Now, I don't have confidence that it'll work this time.

For many people, losing weight will be one of life's most difficult challenges. Don't be discouraged if you've tried losing weight in the past and you weren't able to — or you lost weight but gained it all back. Many people experiment with several different weight-loss plans before they find an approach that works.

Strategies

Following these tips may help you succeed this time around:

• Think of losing weight as a positive experience, not a negative one. Approaching weight loss with a positive attitude will help you succeed.

• Set realistic expectations for yourself. Focus on behavioral changes and don't focus too much on weight changes.

• Use problem-solving techniques. Write down the obstacles that you experienced in previous attempts to lose weight, and come up with strategies for dealing with those obstacles.

• Make small, not drastic, changes to your lifestyle. Adjustments that are too intense or vigorous can make you uncomfortable and cause you to give up.

Accept the fact that you'll have setbacks. Believe in yourself. Instead of giving up entirely, simply start fresh the next day.

Behaviors obstacle

I eat when I'm stressed, depressed or bored.

Sometimes your most intense longings for food happen right when you're at your weakest emotional points. Many people turn to food for comfort — be it consciously or unconsciously — when they're dealing with difficult problems or looking for something to distract their minds.

Strategies

To help keep food out of your mood, try these suggestions:

• Try to distract yourself from eating by calling a friend, running an errand or going for a walk. When you can focus your mind on something else, the food cravings quickly go away.

• Don't keep comfort foods in the house. If you turn to high-fat, high-calorie foods whenever you're upset or depressed, make an effort to get rid of them.

• Identify your mood. Often the urge to eat can be attributed to a specific mood and not to physical hunger.

When you feel down, make an attempt to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. For example, write down all of the positive qualities about yourself and what you plan to achieve by losing weight.

Behaviors obstacle

I have a hard time not eating when I'm watching television, a movie or a live sporting event.

There's nothing inherently wrong with eating while watching a show, film or live event, but when you're distracted, you tend to eat mindlessly — which typically translates into eating more than you intended to eat. If you're unable to break this habit, at least make sure you're munching on something low in calories.

Strategies

Here are suggestions you might consider:

• If you're at a theater or stadium, order a small bag of popcorn with no butter and work on it slowly.

• Eat something healthy before you leave home so that you're not extremely hungry when you arrive.

• Drink water or a calorie-free beverage instead of having a snack.

• Try to reduce the amount of time that you spend watching television each day. Studies show that TV watching contributes to increased weight.

Behavior obstacle

When I go to parties, I can't resist all of the snacks and hors d'oeuvres.

In most social situations where food is involved, the key is to treat yourself to a few of your favorite hors d'oeuvres, in moderation. If you try to resist the food, your craving will only get stronger and harder to control. By following a few simple strategies, you can enjoy yourself without overeating.

Strategies

Next time you step up to the hors d'oeuvre table, try these strategies:

• Make only one trip and be selective. Decide ahead of time how much you'll eat and choose foods you really want.

• Treat yourself to one or two samples of high-calorie or fatty foods. Fill up on vegetables and fruits, if you can.

• Take only small portions. A taste may be all that you need to satisfy your craving.

• Nibble. If you eat slowly, you'll likely eat less — but don't nibble all night long.

• Don't stand next to or sit near the hors d'oeuvre table. As the old saying goes, “Out of sight, out of mind.”

Eat something healthy before you arrive. If you arrive hungry, you'll be more inclined to overeat.

Behavior obstacle

I'm a late-night snacker.

Avoid eating late at night because loading up on calories right before bed only intensifies the challenge of not overeating. There's less chance for you to be active and burn off those calories until next morning. It's better to eat during the day so that your body has plenty of time to digest the food before you go to bed.

Strategies

Here are suggestions if you often find yourself battling the late-night munchies.
Make sure you eat three good meals during the day, including a good breakfast. This will help reduce the urge to snack late at night, simply because you won't be so hungry.

Don't keep snack foods around the house that may tempt you. If you get late-night munchies, eat fruits, vegetables or other healthy snacks.

Find something else to keep you busy in the hours before bedtime, such as listening to music or exercising. Your snacking may be more of a mindless habit than actual hunger.
Behavior obstacle
When I lapse from my eating plan, it's hard for me to get back on track.

Lapses happen. Many times a minor slip — a busy day when you couldn't find the time to eat right or get exercise — leads to more slips. That doesn't mean, though, that you've failed and all is lost. Instead of beating yourself up over a lapse, accept that you're going to experience bumps along the way and put the incident behind you. Everyone has lapses. Think back to the initial steps you took when you first began your weight program and put them to use again to help you get back on track.

Strategies

Here are suggestions to prevent a lapse from turning into a full-blown collapse:

• Convince yourself that lapses happen and that every day is a fresh opportunity to start over again.

• Guilt from the initial lapse often leads to more lapses. Being prepared for them and having a plan to deal with them is important to your success.

• Keep your response simple. Focus on the things that you know you can do and stick with them. Gradually add more healthy changes until you're back on track.

• Open up an old food record and follow it. Use those meals like a menu to help get you back to a healthy eating routine.

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About Donald Hensrud, M.D.
Donald Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H., is chair of the Division of Preventive, Occupational, and Aerospace Medicine and a consultant in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. He is also an associate professor of preventive medicine and nutrition at the College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic. A specialist in nutrition and weight management, Dr. Hensrud advises individuals on how to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. He conducts research in weight management, and he writes and lectures widely on nutrition-related topics. He helped publish two award-winning Mayo Clinic cookbooks.

About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is the first and largest integrated, not-for-profit group practice in the world. Doctors from every medical specialty work together to care for patients, joined by common systems and a philosophy that the needs of the patient come first. Over 3,600 physicians and scientists and 50,000 allied staff work at Mayo, which has sites in Rochester, Minn.; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Scottsdale/Phoenix, Ariz. Collectively, Mayo Clinic treats more than 500,000 patients a year.

For more information, please check out Mayo Clinic Diet