When it comes to losing weight quickly, easily and safely most people have no idea where to begin. Most start by committing to some sort of gimmicky weight loss diet. While eating healthy foods in moderation is certainly a great place to begin your weight loss efforts, the truth of the matter is that most fad diets simply don't promote healthy weight loss habits.

As with many of the fad diets on the market today, you will initially begin to see some exciting results as you begin any new weight loss plan. This initial weight loss can be attributed to a few factors such as excitement over starting a new diet, beginning to monitor your calorie or food intake, and increasing water consumption to name a few.

The majority of these diets implement principles that are proven to aid in weight loss, but lead you to believe that you will only lose weight due to their "revolutionary weight loss secrets".

If you truly want to lose some quick weight and keep it off for good, follow the tips outlined below!

Weight Loss Diet Tip #1 - Drink More Water

This is more of an overall health tip that will help your body feel better, recover quicker from exercise and stress, flush out toxins produced in your body and keep you from becoming dehydrated. Try to shoot for 1 gallon of water a day. Not only will you feel better, but this will also help you to feel fuller while restricting your calorie intake.

Weight Loss Diet Tip #2 - Monitor What You Currently Eat

In order to get where you want to go, you must first have a clear idea of where you are. Log everything that you eat throughout a 2 day period. Get a calorie counter at your local bookstore, or go online and visit : http://www.nutritiondata.com/.

Look up the calorie content, protein content, fat content, and carbohydrate content of each food that you eat on a daily basis. Total up the fat, carbohydrate, protein and calories that you are currently consuming each day and average the values.

Weight Loss Diet Tip #3 - Eliminate Unnecessary Junk Food and Other Empty Calories From Your Diet

For some people, this simple step is all that it will take to lose some quick weight. Look for anything that has minimal nutritional value and make the choice not to eat it on a daily basis anymore. In order to keep weight off long-term, adopt the motto: "eat to live, don't live to eat".

Make the commitment to yourself to eat only for nutritional value and energy, not to feel better emotionally.

Weight Loss Diet Tip #4 - Lower Your Daily Calorie Intake By 500 Calories

This should be enough of a reduction to allow for some immediate results in weight loss, but not so much that you throw your body into a state of shock. In order to lose weight and keep it off, the key is consistently and gradually lowering you calorie intake, while increasing your calorie expenditure.

Do not try to completely eliminate food from your life. If you take this approach, you will not lose weight! For some people, step #3 will eliminate enough calories that they will consume 500 calories less just by eliminating junk food from their diets.

"People who take a long term approach and focus on steady consistent progress, are the ones who will be able to permanently change their eating habits and consequently keep the lost weight off for good!"

Weight Loss Diet Tip # 5 - Eat Smaller More Frequent Meals Spread Out Every 2 - 3 Hours Throughout The Day

This will help to boost your metabolism while keeping you full of energy throughout the day. By eating smaller more frequent meals, you are forcing your body to process the foods that you eat when you eat them. This supplies a steady stream of energy throughout the day. As your body begins to process these more frequent meals, it also burns more calories adding to your calorie deficit.

Weight Loss Diet Tip # 6 - Perform Moderate Intensity Cardiovascular Exercise 4 Days Per Week For 20 -30 Minutes Per Session

This will cause your body to burn more calories, while increasing your cardiovascular (heart) and cardio pulmonary (heart and lung) health. By adding regular cardiovascular exercise to your regular routine, you will also improve your mood and sense of well being and take a huge step towards feeling better about yourself.

For More Great Fat Loss Tips Read The Body Fat Guide!

As you can see, permanent weight loss is not easy to achieve. It requires a consistent commitment to regular exercise, intelligent eating habits and determination to see your plan through to the end!

Put these weight loss diet tips to use and combine them with a fat loss workout program, you'll be amazed by how quickly the pounds begin to melt off!

Are you confused about what really works when it comes to permanent weight  loss? Maybe you have tried one of the numerous fad diets flooding the  infomercials and magazines only to realize that the weight loss was not  permanent.  Many fad diets list certain foods that help you lose weight, but  they don't explain that no matter how healthy the food is...if you eat too much  of it, it will turn to body fat!

In order to help you on your journey to permanent fat loss, I have compiled a list of 10 foods that help you lose weight when they are added in moderation to a healthy balanced diet.

Foods That Help You Lose Weight

1. Plain nonfat or low fat yogurt is a great replacement for sour cream. Use it to make salad dressings. It’s also good as an add-on to breakfast cereals and desserts. Any way you stack it, yogurt is a very healthy lean protein choice. Just be sure to avoid pre packaged yogurt that contains fruit. ( these yogurts contain a lot of added sugar!) If you like fruit in your yogurt, get in the habit of adding fresh fruit to plain yogurt sweetened with honey.

2. Dairy products such as yogurt, milk and cheese can help you lose weight while protecting muscle. A recent study of overweight people who ate three servings of yogurt daily for 12 weeks lost 22% more weight, 61% more body fat and 81% more abdominal fat than people who ate a similar number of calories but no dairy products.

3. Pass up peanuts for snacking. Two ounces of salted peanuts has 328 calories. Nibble on pretzels instead. 20 small pretzels have as little as 80 calories and most are fat free.

4. When planning your meals for the week, look for baked, roasted or grilled meats like fish, chicken, turkey or lean roast beef.

5. Avoid the breaded fish or fried chicken. These foods are high in unnecessary fat…avoid them at all costs!

6. Spicy foods curb appetite as noted in a recent study. People who ate a sauce containing capsaicin (the compound that makes hot pepper spicy), consumed an average of 200 fewer calories over the next three hours than those who didn’t eat the sauce. Consider eating more spicy foods.

7. All salads are not created equal. A taco salad is served in a fried taco shell filled with ground beef, cheese, sour cream and guacamole (just to name a few of the artery clogging ingredients). Generally, they contain about 1,100 calories and more than a full day’s quota of saturated fats! Yuck!

8. Not only is a single order of Fettuccine Alfredo an artery clogger, it also weighs in at a whopping 1,500 calories! When eating Italian food, opt for pasta topped with marinara or meat sauce (skip the meatballs), red or white clam sauce or chicken Marsala.

9. Eat fish at least twice a week. The omega 3 fatty acids in fish have been shown to reduce heart attack and stroke risk in addition to helping you maintain a healthy diet. If you are eating a well balanced calorie restricted diet, the natural fats in cold water fish will help provide sustained energy throughout the day. This should help to eliminate the all too common "energy crash" associated with most diets.

If you are just beginning your fat loss program, try to add a few of the foods listed above to your fat loss nutrition plan. When combined with a smart balanced nutritional approach, these foods that help you lose weight can lead to some impressive, permanent fat loss in a short amount of time!

While it's long been considered a solid nutritional habit to eat a well balanced breakfast, many people have a hard time understanding why?

As study after study begins to uncover the reasons why breakfast is an important meal (especially for those of us trying to lose or at least maintain our weight), most of the reasons that I can think of seem to be filed under the plain old "common sense" file.

While the reasons may be "common sense" the evidence clearly suggests that…

If you're serious about achieving your fitness goals, staying in a decent mood and having stable energy levels throughout the day, then breakfast is without a doubt the most important meal of the day!

Breakfast is an important meal for everybody seeking optimal health and fitness for a number of reasons…

1.) When eaten shortly after waking, breakfast as it's name suggests helps you "break the fast" after a night of eating nothing.

This is important because it provides your body with nutrients that it needs to produce energy for you throughout the day.

Dr. Mark A. Pereira of the University of Minnesota believes that eating a healthy breakfast might "promote healthy eating throughout the day and might help to prevent situations where you're grabbing fast food or vending machine food."

I whole heartedly agree!

One of the main benefits of eating a solid breakfast is the satisfaction that comes with feeling full to start off the day. After all, if you're not wandering around hungry in the morning, you're far less likely to break down and eat that greasy breakfast burrito or sugar laden muffin .

A well balanced breakfast also increases your metabolism and causes your body to begin digesting the food that you eat. As a result, your body begins to burn calories. If your goals are to lose weight and stay slim, eating breakfast is an easy way to jump start the process.

2.) For those of you who desire a lean, muscular body, you will not have much success if you don't eat the right nutrients at the right times. One of the most important times throughout the day to supply your growing muscles with nutrients is first thing in the morning.

Think about it, you have just completed a fasting period, (usually 8-10 hours), without food.

While you were sleeping, your body was busy repairing the muscle damage caused by the days weight lifting workout. In order to repair and grow, your muscles need adequate amounts of carbohydrate, fat and protein.

By the time you wake, your muscles are in serious need of nutrition! By simply eating breakfast, you can take your muscle building efforts a long way.

3.) The nutrients that we eat directly impact our mood, ability to focus and energy levels throughout the day. If you skip breakfast, your body may never recover and everybody around you is certain to suffer from your irritable mood and lack of energy.

I can relate to this from my own personal experience, Just ask my wife and kids…

If I don't take the time to eat a well balanced breakfast, I know that I won't be able to recover for the rest of the day, maybe even longer!

The lesson to grasp from this story…

If you're serious about staying healthy, feeling great and staying in tip-top shape, then make it a habit to eat a well rounded breakfast (immediately upon waking) that consists of high quality proteins, healthy fats and a mixture of complex and simple carbohydrates.