Our diet expert clues you in on everyday things you can do to maintain your feel great weight.

In the past, I lost weight by being super strict during my "diet" phase, but when I reached my goal, I fell back into my old ways and gained the pounds back. When I finally decided to lose weight once and for all, I knew I didn't want to torture myself with restrictive dieting, obsessive calorie counting, and constant hunger. I wanted to shed pounds (for good) by adopting healthy eating and exercise habits that were balanced and livable, so I started to make small changes to my current lifestyle. Those little things added up and helped me lose the weight and maintain it for nearly eight years. A key to my success was finding everyday ways to keep my weight in check.

Eating frequently might sound counterintuitive if you're trying to lose weight, but aiming for three healthy meals and two small snacks a day means you're eating something every three hours or so, so you'll never let yourself get too hungry. This prevents overeating later and keeps your metabolism humming along.

I love roasted vegetables, and I often keep them in the refrigerator as an easy snack or quick addition to a meal, so anytime I turn on the oven in my kitchen, I almost always add a baking sheet full of vegetable to roast along with whatever I am cooking. That way, I always have a nutritional option on hand.