Keeping Your New Year's Resolution to Lose Weight

Approximately 38 percent of Americans will make a New Year's resolution

to lose weight this year.

Have plans to shed pounds in 2020?

If you're one of them, you may be wondering how you can achieve your goals. Try these ten tips to lose weight in 2020.

Don't fall for fad diets. Very restrictive diets don't work in the long run because they don't supply the nutrients your body needs. Instead, pledge to live a healthier lifestyle.

Make specific weight-loss goals. For example, instead of vaguely resolving to get thin, make a realistic and quantifiable goal to lose ten pounds in the next three months. Quantify exercise goals too. Instead of a nonspecific goal like "exercise more," make a goal to walk for 30 minutes, three times per week.

Eat a healthy breakfast every day. Eating breakfast can improve your metabolism and make you less hungry for unhealthy foods.

Eat foods high in fiber. Fiber helps you feel full. Healthy, high-fiber foods include apples, bananas, carrots, broccoli, nuts, whole-grain bread, and beans.

Drink enough water. According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, drinking two cups of water before a meal can help you lose weight.

Combine healthy eating with exercise. Exercise is important for boosting metabolism and keeping the weight off.

Make yourself accountable for your resolution. Enlist a friend to be your weight-loss buddy, or post your goal on social media. People who make their goals public feel accountable to others as well as themselves.

Don't just celebrate when you reach your goal--celebrate along the way too. For example, treat yourself to a luxurious bubble bath when you have reached half or one-third of your goal. Celebrate that you are on your way to getting healthier, and you'll stay motivated to keep your resolution.

Understand that it takes time for healthy choices to become a habit. You will have to keep at it for at least two months before a healthy lifestyle becomes routine.

Don't tether yourself to the scale. There's no need to weigh yourself daily. Weekly weigh-ins will help encourage you.

By making the resolution to lose weight, you are ten times more likely to reach your goal than those who do not make a resolution. Stick to your plan for a healthy lifestyle, and you could weigh a lot less by this time next year.