Hi, I'm Brenda Thompson, registered dietitian and owner of Life Skills Nutrition. In this segment I'm going to talk about ten strategies for weight loss. In other segments I will go into the strategies in a little bit more detail. The first one is to be sure you are ready for weight loss. It is always important that you want to set yourself up for success, and so if you are not ready, you should not start a diet regimen or an exercise regimen to try to lose weight. You want to seek advice from a registered dietitian and set healthy goals. We will go through a series of how you would set a healthy goal. Stay away from fad diets, and we will cover ten strategies on how to spot a fad diet. The reason you don't want to follow fad diets is because sometimes you lose weight too quickly, and you're losing water and muscle instead of fat, which the ultimate goal is really to lose fat. You could also cause some other harmful side effects. If you want to understand your body, it is really important to look at your family and your genetics. Also, understanding a little bit about your set point is important. Keeping a food diary is essential in weight loss. Research shows that people who keep a food diary keep the weight off much longer and are much more successful at losing weight. You want to select nutrient dense foods from all food groups. Stay hydrated. Hydration is very important and sometimes easily forgotten, and you want to incorporate exercise.