The top reason women gain weight back? "They lose their momentum," says Lederman. "After you drop the pounds, you're on a major high -- but that feeling can quickly fade, leaving you thinking, 'Getting thin didn’t solve all of my problems -- now what do I do?' ?" Those blues can lead you right back to the kitchen. The fix: Give yourself a new goal to focus on. Whether it's finding your dream job or taking
a cooking class, "you’ll boost your mood and self-esteem, making it easier to keep the healthy habits you established while slimming," Lederman explains.

Nosh Before Dinner

You've already heard that you should never go to a party hungry. Well, Ian Smith, M.D., diet expert for VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club and author of Extreme Fat Smash Diet, thinks you should take that one step further: Even if you're dining at home, don’t go to the table with an empty stomach. Instead, eat a 50- to 100-calorie snack, like a handful of almonds or half an apple, 30 minutes before dinner. Why? "It takes your brain 20 minutes to realize that you've got food in your system. So if you snack, you’ll get that 'full' feeling earlier -- making you less likely to overeat later," he says. "You’ll also take the edge off your hunger, so you’ll make smarter choices when you do sit down to dinner."

Go Halvsies

Forget super-strict diets -- don’t put favorite foods like French fries and chocolate cake on your forbidden list. "No, you can’t eat them every day. But if you really, really want something, go ahead and have it -- just have 50 percent of what you’d normally eat," counsels Dr. Smith. "That way, you won’t feel like you're depriving yourself and end up overeating later."

Forget Make-Up Days

Did you fall off the health wagon today? Don’t plan only to eat salad tomorrow. "You’ll set yourself up to crash and burn,” says New York City-based dietitian Tanya Zuckerbrot, author of The F-Factor Diet: Discover the Secret to Permanent Weight Loss. It’s not just a matter of willpower -- if you cut too far back on calories (less than 1,200 a day), your blood sugar will drop drastically and you’ll be ravenous, which might lead to bingeing. A better strategy: "Go right back to your normal healthy habits the next day," Zuckerbrot advises.

Drink Up

Are you hungry -- or just thirsty? Sometimes, it’s the latter. Hunger and thirst send similar messages to the brain, says Zuckerbrot. "And because of this, many people eat to boost their energy, consuming unneeded calories, when eight ounces of H2O would have done the trick," she explains. Sipping the wet stuff may also speed up weight loss. In a study done at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, women who drank one glass of water before a meal consumed 50 fewer calories than those who didn’t drink it first."