Over the past five years, I’ve lost 100 lbs (45 kg) and gotten into the best mental and physical shape of my life.

I did so without giving up my favorite foods or doing any exercises that I hated. Here are the three key steps that I followed:

1.) Start Making Slightly Better Choices Every Time You Eat: Instead of giving up your favorite foods, focus on eating smaller portions of them. This allows you to enjoy the flavors you love without overindulging.

2.) Drink Water Before Every Meal: Drink two large glasses of water before your morning coffee and a large glass of water about 20 minutes before eating. Often we think we’re hungry when we’re just thirsty. Doing this helped me dramatically reduce the number of calories I took in each day.

3.) Move Your Body In A Way You Enjoy Every Day: You won’t stick with an exercise routine you hate, so find something you look forward to doing each day. For example, I started by taking walks and eventually discovered that I enjoy group classes at the gym.

By using these strategies to slightly reduce the number of calories I took in while also slightly increasing the number of calories I burned each day, I started to lose about 1 pound per week.

Over 100 weeks, I lost 100 pounds.

Because these strategies didn’t deprive me or make me miserable, it was easy to stick with them, and I still do to this day.