Eating smaller portions is an important part of any weight loss plan, but sometimes it's challenging to do so. You're hungry, you want to eat enough to feel satisfied, but those little servings of food on your plate seem too skimpy.

Here are some painless ideas for eating smaller portions while still feeling satisfied:

Dieting and losing weight can sometimes make you miserable, and not just because you are trying to change your eating habits. Many people fail to realize that there are often hidden purposes that their weight serves, and when they start losing weight, they suddenly realize that they feel very uncomfortable.

This discomfort is often enough to make them start sabotaging their weight loss so they can go back to their former state of feeling comfortable, even if they truly believe that they want to lose weight.

What kind of hidden purposes can your weight serve?

Making time for exercise isn't always easy, especially if your life is already crammed full of other obligations and activities. However, there are simple lifestyle changes you can make to easily fit in enough exercise. Try these for starters:

Fatigue and weight loss is a common complaint; many people are surprised when they start a diet and suddenly find themselves yawning all day - isn't eating healthier supposed to give you more energy? Yes, but sometimes you may be doing things that drag your energy down without knowing it. Take a look at the common causes of fatigue with weight loss and see if any of them may be causing your fatigue.

When you start a diet, you've got all the best intentions for sticking with it and reaching your weight loss goal. Unfortunately, many (even most) people who start a diet give up after a few short weeks, or even less. Why does this happen?

There are several possible reasons why a diet might fail. Take a look at some of the more common reasons below:

Do you consider yourself to be an optimist, or a pessimist? Would you believe that your state of mind day to day has a big impact on how much you weight you lose? Let's face it; losing weight can be hard. You've got to constantly work on improving your eating habits, avoiding fattening foods you used to love, making time for exercise each day, and generally devoting a fair amount of time to taking good care of yourself.

When you try to do all these things under a cloud of negative thinking, it just feels that much harder. Your negative self-talk works against you so you feel unmotivated, bitter, and disgusted by all the things you "have" to do to lose weight.

On the other hand, when you develop some healthy positive thinking habits, you'll find that losing weight becomes much easier. You'll enjoy exercise. You'll love preparing healthy meals and snacks. Taking good care of yourself becomes a joy, not a chore.

Here are five good ways to develop a positive, optimistic state of mind to make your weight loss easier:

There are countless excuses that can stop you from losing weight and getting fit. We rationalize our excuses so that they seem to make sense. But you need to take them apart to realize how flimsy they really are.

Here's a look at the five most common excuses. How many do you use?

Despite what all the fad diets say, there are two basic rules when it comes to losing fat. The first rule is "calories in vs. calories out" -- meaning that you need to burn more calories than you eat if you want to lose weight. Taken by itself, what matters is not what you eat but how many calories you eat. The second rule is "quality over quantity" -- meaning the quality of the food you eat is much more important than the amount of calories you eat.

So, which rule is right? Or are they both right?

If you think you have to make huge sacrifices to lose weight, think again. Sure, you want to eat unhealthy food less often, but you can still eat foods you love. One strategy is to make smaller, more subtle changes to your food habits --- changes so small, you don't really notice the difference.

Here are seven easy ways to cut calories and not even notice:

One bad habit that contributes to weight gain is eating while you're doing other activities. Hands up if you've ever eaten while driving, surfing the 'net or watching television. And that's just the start!

There a number of problems when it comes to this sort of multi-tasking. The sooner you break this habit, the sooner the weight will come off.