When you think of weight loss you probably envision having to overhaul your entire diet, but that's not always necessary. Instead, take a look at 10 small, easy changes you can make to help you lose weight.

#1 - Drink More Water

Just 64 ounces of water a day can help you lose more weight -- and you'll feel better too; mentally and physically.

See: Water: The Drink of Choice with Any Diet

Do you love food? Do you struggle to lose weight because you can't bear the thought of starving all day long? Believe it or not, you don't have to go hungry to lose weight. Deprivation diets are out; healthful, delicious meal plans are in!

To lose weight and keep it off, you simply need to adjust what and how much you are eating. Okay, you love food. Don't we all? But loving something and overdosing on it are two different things. Below are a few easy ideas for creating a healthy eating plan that you will love - and it will love you right back in the form of better health and a lighter weight:

Losing weight the healthy way requires burning a fair amount of calories each week, in addition to reducing caloric intake. This poses a problem for many people because they feel they are too busy for long workouts. What they (and you) may not realize is that you don't have to exercise for long periods of time all at once; you can split it up into several sessions a day and still burn the same amount of calories.

Take a look at the activities below for great examples. (These figures are based on an existing body weight of 150 lbs., you will need to adjust the calories burned to account for your current weight.)

It's often challenging to stick to a healthy eating plan and stay within your target calorie goal for the day, as the danger exists to eat too many calories, or not enough, and unnecessarily slow down your weight loss. A healthy eating schedule is a daily plan that helps you take in the optimal number of calories so you can easily lose weight and achieve your goal weight.

If you eat too many calories in the early part of the day, you'll be hungry and dissatisfied for the rest of the day. If you don't eat much during the day and try to cram in all of your calories in during the evening, you may sabotage your weight loss. A healthy eating schedule puts you in control because it helps you avoid surprises. You plan out your meals and snacks ahead of time, and you eat them at scheduled times throughout the day.

Here are three things to consider when creating an eating schedule:

Slow and steady weight loss is best. It really is. But I realize sometimes there are situations where you want to speed it up a bit for a few weeks.

When you need to lose weight fast, there are some common sense things you should do, and there are some dangerous things you should never do. Below is a good overview of some "dos" and "don'ts" for losing weight fast - and safely.

If you hate exercise but you still want to lose weight, you may be searching for diets that will allow you to lose weight without having to spend hours in the gym. It's definitely possible to lose weight without working out. You simply need to reduce your calorie intake so you are eating fewer calories than you burn during your normal activities.

When most of us think about losing weight, we immediately start thinking about counting, weighing, measuring and otherwise following a strict "program" that will result in weight loss. Now, I'm a big fan of calorie counting -- and it works great for me -- but I realize it's not for everybody. Losing weight doesn't have to be that regimented - it's very possible to lose weight just by making a few small changes to your overall lifestyle.

Here are four different ways to lose weight without following a diet plan:

Have you ever noticed the endless array of experts in the health and weight loss field? While most of them seem to know what they are talking about - why is it that so many of them differ in their beliefs and assertions? This one tells you to do this, that one tells you to do that. This one says you should never do this, and that one says you should never do that, or always do that, or ...

The truth is, no one is better qualified to take care of your body than you. And that includes your desire to lose weight. Deep down inside you already know why you struggle with weight. Most people do but they keep searching for "the answer" - an expert to tell them exactly what to do to drop the pounds for good.

To overcome this need to be guided and start trusting your own inner guidance more, follow these steps:

If you have a hard time breaking a bad habit, try this: Find one small habit you can change and make a commitment to yourself to change it for 5 days.

That's it! One little habit, for only 5 days.

Tell yourself it's just an experiment and you can go back to the original habit if it doesn't work out. An example might be replacing an unhealthy breakfast with a healthier one, or buying a regular coffee instead of calorie-rich fancy coffee, or choosing stairs instead of elevators/escalators.

Is it really true that some people can eat as much as they want and never gain weight? Is it true that they have faster metabolisms than heavier people? Perhaps you know someone like this; a person who loves to eat and doesn't measure, weigh, or calculate anything they put into their mouth. They don't even have to think about it and they maintain a perfect, healthy body weight. Perhaps they trigger a wave of jealousy within you as they say, over and over again, "I can eat anything I want."

You may be interested to know that these people don't have anything that you don't have. They aren't using magical means to stay thin - but rather they are usually DOING things differently than a person who struggles with weight.

They have deeply ingrained habits that prevent them from gaining weight - just like you and others may have deeply ingrained habits that make you more likely to gain weight.

What kind of habits would make a person be "naturally thin"?