Holidays are finished and spring has finally sprung. It’s time to shed all those layers of clothes and shed those extra pounds.

We should have started our food journals by now, so even if we only have a few days written down, we can still try to figure out our eating habits. If you haven’t started one, the time is now.

For those of us who have started, we need to begin to analyzing what makes us tick when it comes to food. Aside from our three basic meals a day, when else are we eating and why? This is usually where we get into trouble. Once we have a little better understanding of our patterns of eating, we can start to change the bad habits and reinforce the good habits.

We should be eating three sensible, nutritious, calorie-conscious meals a day and maybe one to two small, healthy snacks. You should not be skipping meals as this leads to overloading on the next meal or eating junk food in-between to hold us over to the next meal.

If we are eating out of boredom, we need to step away from our food source for 15 minutes and get busy with something else and then see if we are really hungry after the 15 minutes. If so, eat simple – fruit, veggies or even some unsalted pretzels.

Next, we need to figure what body style we are – slightly overweight, obese, or just have some problem areas. We also need to find out if we have slow, regular or fast metabolisms. All of these factors, along with our busy lifestyles, need to be added into the weight loss equation. Some of us might need to see a nutritionist, who can help us with structuring new eating habits.

The second step in our journey is to write down our weight loss goals. Do we want to lose a certain amount of weight, drop a size or two, or just eat better to become healthier? Either way we need to be reasonable with our goals considering all we have learned about ourselves from our journals. How much weight do we want to lose and when do we expect to lose it? If we have a lot of weight to lose we might have to make major changes, if just a few pounds, then moderate changes, but overall, it is going to be a lifestyle change. There are no quick fixes in life and that also applies to our fitness goals.

I suggest if you have a lot of weight to lose, you set your goals at 10- to 15-pound increments. This way, when you reach your first goal, you’ll want to continue with a second goal and so on until you reach your final goal. Achieving smaller, reasonable goals along the way will give you a feeling of accomplishment and once we begin to feel better about ourselves, it will be easier to continue our journey. Maybe we can get our families or friends to take this journey with us. Everyone benefits from a healthier lifestyle.

All of this is simple common sense – no crazy gimmicks. We can have our cheat days, but still learn to be healthier, happier people.

Let’s write down our starting weight and do not go back on the scale for at least one week. Weighing ourselves every day will only lead to frustration as we are not giving our bodies time to adjust to our new eating habits.

Next time, we will add exercise into our weight loss journey. We’ll figure what works best for us. Any questions or suggestions are welcomed.

Tip of the week: At snack time, if you choose an unhealthy snack, you need to pay a price for it – 100 jumping jacks and 25 push-ups. If you choose the healthy snack, you do not have to pay for it or you can reward yourself with an extra healthy snack later.

Are you struggling to lose the last 10 pounds? Have you hit a plateau? Email Emily.Cappiello@patch.com to get some personal advice from Handy.