If you're signing up for the Shape Up Challenge, here are some helpful tips from 'veterans' to get you off to a flying start

Positive thinking
My top tip is to get excited about your goal and stay that way. By concentrating on the results and not on the task at hand, you are looking at the positive outcome rather than feeling as though you are depriving yourself.

You must also talk to yourself in a positive way. No 'I hope' or 'maybe I can' - just 'I can do this. I AM doing this.' Remember, only you make the choice to put that food in your mouth. You have to ask yourself what you want: to be slimmer and happier or eat cake, crisps and sweets and then hate yourself for it.

You also have to stop seeing the Challenge as a 'diet'. If you want to lose weight and maintain weight loss after your diet, then you have to combine sensible eating and exercise for life. There is no point starting a diet/healthy eating plan if you think it is just for a number of weeks or until you reach your target weight.
-iVillager Kirstin

One step at a time
Take each day as it comes. If you have a bad day, put it behind you and start again tomorrow. Sometimes you may even need to take each meal as it comes. If you overdo it at lunch, you can compensate by eating healthier in the evening.

I find it helps to remember that eating one unhealthy thing doesn't mean your healthy eating plan is completely blown. If you bear this in mind, it stops the 'on a diet/off a diet' mentality that can send your eating spiralling out of control.

Understanding this has quite simply changed my life. I will be eating a healthy diet until I die, and I know I'll get to my ideal weight along the way. I also try not to use the words good, bad, naughty or diet.
-iVillager Kaz

Don't get despondent if one week you don't lose any weight, since a) sometimes it takes your body time to react to the changes you've made in your diet and exercise, and b) even if the scales don't change, you may well have lost inches. Instead, focus on how well you have done and don't let the scales control you.
-iVillager Rea

Get support
Having lost only five pounds in nine weeks, I would be lying if I said it doesn't get you down. But my advice is firstly to come to the board every day, even if it's only to read the posts.

Secondly, tell the board that you're feeling down and, I promise, you won't be down for long. Someone is sure to come up with something to make you think about how much you have gained from the programme.

Thirdly, don't forget the tape measure. I have been pleasantly surprised on the weeks when I haven't lost the pounds to find that I have lost inches. It may be as small as ¼ inch, but it's a loss all the same.

Lastly, remember to do exercise that you enjoy and you will find yourself looking forward to your workout. I know I do, and I never thought I'd be saying that.
-iVillager Terry

Ten weeks ago, I went through the rollercoaster emotions of being fat. I had gotten to the point of really hating myself - my body, my weight, just about everything. It doesn't help that we live in Blackpool, the haven for every skinny woman in the UK. So, I stopped feeling sorry for myself and I found the Shape Up Challenge. More importantly, I found the Shape Up message board. I find myself thinking of the people on the boards constantly. You really do end up 'carrying the board with you'. I had a crisis in the supermarket, and planned to buy wonderfully fattening foods to binge on. But when I came to it, I suddenly thought of the board and how I'd confess my 'sins'. I thought of all the love and support I would receive from my fellow dieters. I decided I couldn't do it. I wanted to, but I couldn't let them down. So, I binged on healthy food instead, had around 600 calories for tea and hated every minute of it. Until I'd calmed down and thought about it, that is. And that's the power of the board, if of course you are prepared to make the true commitment to yourself to get healthier. You can make some really good friends on the board too. All I can say after 10 weeks and losing two stone, is that I'm so glad for the Web, for iVillage, and for all the members of the Shape Up Challenge.
-iVillager Jules

Be forgiving
Don't beat yourself up when your halo slips. We all have days when we know we shouldn't have had a chocolate bar or bag of crisps but we did anyway. Brush it to the back of your mind and carry on. If not, you will only carry on eating badly and that is when the halo falls off and so does everything you were hoping for.
-iVillager Shaz

Products
My top tip has to be the body brushing. If you're prone to water retention and/or have cellulite, body brushing is great. Buy a plain carrier oil (almond oil, coconut oil - anything like that) from a health food shop and also sweet Fennel Oil (this is a natural detoxifier). It has to be sweet as the plain fennel oil smells horrible. Add a few drops to the plain carrier oil and massage into your flabby bits, then get a body massage brush (Body Shop and Boots do them) and with a sweeping motion towards your lymph glands (groin, if you're doing your legs), massage each area for around two minutes. This will help to shift stubborn fat and water - it really works. Great to do around that 'time of the month' as it helps to get rid of water retention.

I lost three pounds overnight the first time I did this and every month now if I do this for a couple of nights just before my period and I don't put on weight, whereas before I would always put on two pounds.
-iVillager Sarah