There are many frustrations that come from being overweight, including extra cellulite, low self-esteem and low energy, But worst of all is the difficulty of losing that weight and keeping it off. It can leave you with a sense of futility about ever being able to permanently lose even a few pounds. Unfortunately, unlike what all the crash diet advertisements promise, there is no quick, easy magic pill for losing weight. But that doesn’t mean that the only way to lose weight is the daunting prospect of forever changing your diet, exercise habits and lifestyle. Fortunately you have some easier options to help you lose and keep off a few pounds. That might not sound like much, but if you want to lose a lot of weight and just can’t get started, that first successful step can motivate you to take the larger leaps needed to get the results you want.

We Eat Too Much Sugar

We are simply in love with sugar. Our bodies crave it and it tastes great. But the result is that we consume far more sugar each day than we really need. And sugar is the simplest of carbohydrates, which means all the extra calories from all the extra sugar is quickly converted by our bodies into - you guessed it – fat. To give you an idea of how much extra sugar we eat each day, check out the following stats:

• 5% - the percentage our daily calories that the World Health Organization recommends we get from sugar • 6 – the number of teaspoons of sugar that would give us 5% of our daily calories • 10 – the number of teaspoons of sugar in a can of Coca-Cola • 66% - how much more sugar we get from a single can of Coke versus what’s recommended by WHO • 16 – calories in a teaspoon of sugar • 23,360 – the number of extra calories we get in a year from the extra sugar in a single Coke per day. That’s almost seven pounds. And that doesn’t include all the other sugar you get every day.

Easy Ways to Reduce Your Sugar Intake

You can make some relatively easy gains for weight loss by simply reducing the amount of sugar you eat every day. Here’s some tips to help you get started:

1. Learn as Much as You Can About Sugar

It’s not so easy to know how much sugar you eat. First, you’ll notice that, strangely, there are no “Percent Daily Values” for sugar on nutrition labels. Second, sugar can be listed as any of 56 different items on the list of ingredients in packaged food. These include molasses, sucrose and corn syrup.

2. Beware of Fruit Juice

Many people dump the Coke in favour of a “healthy” fruit juice. But there is more sugar in some juices than in the Coke. Try real iced tea or vegetable juice instead.

3. Check Nutrition Labels

Even without the percent daily values listed for sugar, and the fact that sugar has so many different names, nutrition labels do list how many grams of sugar are in the serving size listed on the label. One teaspoon is equal to four grams of sugar.

4. Have Fruit Juice Spritzers

Want to enjoy your fruit juice but cut the sugar intake in half? Mix the juice 50/50 – or whatever ratio suits your taste – with sparkling water or, if you’re on a budget, water from the tap.

5. Satisfy that Craving With Fruit

If you’ve reached this far and are still saying to yourself “no way can I stop grabbing a chocolate bar when the urge strikes”, then try this just once to see if it works. The next time you have an undeniable urge to eat candy, have an apple instead – or whatever is your favourite fruit. It has all the sweetness and it’s good for you too.

There are far more ways for you to reduce the sugar in your diet than we can list here. All you need to do is to start making the effort.