Perform a search for the word diet on Google and you'll find 175,000,000 results. Run the same diet search on Yahoo and you'll be presented with 118,000,000 suggested sites. The popular auction site eBay has more than 26,321 diet items for sale. Finally, searching for diet on myspace.com will reel in page after page of people interested in, confused about, and seeking answers for dieting.



With the staggering array of diet pills and diet plans on the market today, it's should come as no surprise that most people are perplexed about which diet product is right for them. Approximately two-thirds of our population is overweight, and statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that 80 percent of overweight individuals and almost 87 percent of obese individuals are trying to lose or maintain their weight. In other words, there are literally millions of Americans seeking diet tips and advice they can trust.

That's why we've created this list of top 10 diet tips. As personal trainers and health club owners, our goal is to offer you sound advice on how to achieve permanent weight loss with a healthy diet program. We're not pushing any particular diet food, diet supplement or weight loss program. Instead, our goal is to provide you with some of the best weight loss information available.

1. Our first diet tip is also our most important. We strongly encourage you to seek medical advice before beginning any diet and nutrition program. This is good advice for anyone beginning a new exercise program, as well. Nobody but your own personal physician is qualified to give you the expert advice you need to make intelligent decisions about healthy weight loss, so first and foremost get some medical advice before starting any diet.

2. Our second diet tip is to look for all the free advice on dieting you can find. Be aware that the best, most reliable health advice will come from people actually working in the industry - NOT from marketers and salespeople. With this in mind, seek tips on losing weight from doctors, nutritionists and gym owners. Be wary of health tips from marketers who are solely interested in selling you a product or plan. The ulterior motive to sell may make their weight loss tips questionable.

3. Realize that if a diet has gained national exposure, it has probably worked for someone. However, just because a diet has worked for someone else doesn't mean it will work for you. Just as legal advice and dating tips must vary from person to person, diets are not a one-size-fits-all commodity either. So when your relative or co-worker gushes about the great new online diet they're on, check it out before you jump on the bandwagon. What works for them may not work for you.

4. Try many different diet recipes to decide which you like best. People enjoy different foods, and finding a diet recipe that pleases everyone is like trying to give the same relationship advice to every couple on the planet. It just won't work. Attempting to force yourself to eat foods you don't like, just because they're low in calories, will only lead to frustration and failure. A much better approach is to experiment with diet recipes until you find the perfect match for you.

5. Our fifth diet tip is to avoid weight loss pills and prescription diet pills that may be unsafe or even deadly. Although some diet drugs are completely safe and effective, others (like Meridia and Phen-Fen) have surprised users with serious side effects. The promise of fast weight loss isn't worth the risk to your health, so be cautious with weight loss drugs and other weight loss supplements.

6. Good financial advice always mandates that you journal your expenses in order to find out where your money is going. In the same way, you should start keeping a journal of everything you eat. Everything! This is one tip on losing weight that is guaranteed to work for virtually everybody. It turns out that just a bite here and a taste there really adds up, and keeping a diet journal will open your eyes to how many calories you're actually getting. Armed with this information, you'll know where to cut and trim to lose weight.

7. Join a support group. Some of the best weight loss tips and diet advice isn't found in a book, but comes from other people just like you. Joining a diet support group like PRISM or TOPS can make all the difference when your willpower starts to fade and you're tempted to throw in the towel. Whether you're swapping Weight Watcher recipes or discussing the new diet patch on the market, a support group can be a tremendous help as you write your own weight loss success story.

8. Set realistic expectations. All the doctor advice on dieting suggests that, if you're experiencing healthy weight loss, then you should be losing no more than 1 to 2 pounds per week. Lose weight any faster than that and you're likely losing muscle tissue and water weight instead of just fat. This is one of the worst things you can do when you're trying to achieve permanent fat loss. So forget the infomercials that promise you quick weight loss without any effort, because that's just not true. Focus instead on achieving your ideal weight with a healthy diet and nutrition weight loss plan.

9. A diet tip that you may not expect requires you to eat more often. That's right! Consume small high-protein and low fat snacks every 3 to 4 hours and you'll keep hunger pangs away all day. This will go a long way towards eliminating the binges that are so tempting during a diet. Following this advice will also keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day, giving you more energy and preventing the 'crash' many experience when dieting.

10. Finally, remember that any weight loss diet must include regular exercise to be effective. It's a proven fact that when you diet without exercising, up to fifty percent of the weight you lose may actually be muscle loss. Losing muscle is the absolute worst thing you can do when you're trying to lose weight fast because for every pound of muscle you forfeit you actually lower your metabolic rate by about fifty calories. In other words, losing muscle makes it harder for you to lose body fat. With this in mind, coupling regular exercise with your diet plan makes success much more likely.

Take these diet tips to heart and you'll soon be well on your way to weight loss success. Good luck, and we'll see you at the gym.