Sometimes losing weight is less about programs and expensive gym memberships and more about being consistent with practical daily habits. By faithfully making healthy decisions every day, it’s much easier to ensure healthy habits and achieve your goals. If you’re struggling to incorporate easy and effective habits into your weight loss journey, check out these seven tips.

Cut Back on Alcohol

If drinking alcohol is one of your common pastimes or evening-out activities, you may be drinking more calories than you realize. If you consider, one 12 oz. bottle of Coors Light beer, you’ll see it contains 102 calories. Eating a couple of hard boiled eggs or a powerbar instead, is much more filling and nutritious. Even worse than beers are mixed drinks which have a ton of added sugar in addition to empty calories.

Eat Soup with Your Meals

Soup curbs your appetite while providing fewer calories than other common side dishes. Eating a cup of soup before your main meal will help you eat smaller portions at mealtime, and if the soup itself is low-calorie, this habit is even better. Choosing soup over french fries, for example, can potentially save you 3,150 calories!

Thanks to the vast variety of soup flavors, you don’t have to get bored with eating the same kind all the time. To cut down on prep time for this soup-eating habit, make 2 different soups at the end of the week that you can freeze and eat bowl by bowl throughout the following week.

Plan Your Portions

Rather than eliminate all your favorite foods, practice strict portion control. By eating less at each meal, you can still eat foods you actually enjoy. You can use hand symbol comparisons to determine how much to serve yourself for certain foods.

Another easy solution to portion control is using smaller plates and avoiding seconds. At restaurants, split a meal in half and take the rest home for leftovers the next day. Now you still get to enjoy the full meal, but at a reasonable, healthier pace.

Reduce Sugary Drinks

The amount of sugar in common drinks may astonish you. An eight-ounce bottle of soda holds six and a half teaspoons of sugar, while certain fruit juices can contain over seven teaspoons of sugar. The American Heart Association recommends no more six teaspoons of added sugars per day for the average woman and nine teaspoons for men, so make your own juice from scratch or stick to water.

Don’t Starve Yourself

Losing weight doesn’t mean you have to be constantly hungry. Instead, eat more low-calorie, high-protein foods that are actually filling such as beans, eggs, soups, fish, fruits, and vegetables. Make your meals interesting by adding eggs, beans, and nuts to your salad or vegetables and to your pasta and pizza. Experiment with different types of dried fruits and find healthy fruit smoothie recipes.

Exercise in Places Other Than the Gym

If the idea of consistently working out intimidates you, don’t automatically give up on your weight loss goals. Instead, find a way to incorporate simple exercise into your everyday activities, no matter how short. Rather than sit in the office for a meeting, have a walking meeting outdoors. Walk on the treadmill or lift weights for ten minutes as you watch TV. Choose the stairs over the elevator and walk around during phone calls.

Drink More Water

One of the simplest weight loss strategies is drinking more water. Water fills you up, hydrates your body, and helps you burn calories, all at the expense of zero calories per glass. While water does not directly cause weight loss, it can reduce your body’s average calorie intake, allowing you to eat less, yet feel just as full. Drinking enough water also helps you exercise better and has the added benefits of ensuring you have healthier skin and hair!

Weight Loss to the Limit

As you try different weight loss treatments, pace yourself. Start with small, realistic goals and then aim for bigger ones. Form these habits gradually, rather than trying to master them all at once and then giving up because you can’t keep up. Aim to lose your weight bit by bit until you finally reach your ultimate goal.