An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report shows if every overweight person lost just three kilos, the obesity burden would be significantly reduced.

SYDNEY, AAP - EXPERT TIPS FOR LOSING WEIGHT:

* Lisa Renn, accredited practising dietitian and spokeswoman, Dietitians Association of Australia

1. Be realistic

Losing five to 10 per cent of your body weight will make a significant dent on your personal health as well as the burden of disease.

2. Eat breakfast

Breakfast should be your first of three meals per day. A couple of snacks in-between is OK if your're feeling hungry.

"Three meals per day at the very least and possibly two small snacks just keeps your metabolism kicking over and helps with weight loss; it also helps with hunger management."

3. Choose Food Wisely

Low-calorie foods are often very unsatisfying and can lead to overeating. A handful of nuts or a low-fat milk coffee are good snacks.

"If you're hungry at morning tea time and you're having a couple of rice crackers because they are low calorie, you're going to be starving by lunch and tending to overeat."

* Professor Manny Noakes, research director for the food and nutrition flagship at the CSIRO

1. Mindset

Put maximum effort in to ensure maximum results in the first few weeks. Doing it half-heartedly is a recipe for disaster and failure.

"If you are going to start a weight loss program, make sure your motivation is right at its peak."

2. Improve Eating Habits

The CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet or meal replacements can help to achieve this.

"The meal replacement approach can be very good for people who want to make some radical changes to their diet at the very beginning."

3. Have Support

Having contact with a health professional to track your progress will aid weight loss.

* Associate Professor Amanda Salis, University of Sydney's Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition, Exercise & Eating Disorders

1. Exercise Is Important

Research shows combining dietary energy restriction combined with exercise will speed up weight loss and fat loss in particular.

"It's almost impossible to keep weight off without exercise."

2. Enjoy Exercise

The exercise you enjoy and want to keep doing will keep the weight off.

"A lot of people talk about high-intensity training as being good for fat loss, but if you don't like that kind of exercise, it will just be a chore and you won't do it."

3. Amount of Exercise

10,000 steps a day is a good guideline in terms of weight management. This is equivalent to about an hour of continuous walking.