Let's face it; a REALISTIC, Healthy Diet Plan is hard to come by. I don't know about you but I have done the weight roller coaster over my adult life and about a year ago I decided to figure out what was wrong.

It seemed no matter how well I stuck to a diet and no matter how much weight I lost, eventually I would gain the weight back plus a few extra pounds.

I started reading and I have come up with a few basic truths about dieting that have changed the way I look at eating.

1) Your body type definitely influences your ability to lose weight. I am an endomorph (wide hips, bigger waist, slow metabolism, lots of fat cells) Considering my work out schedule, if I were a mesomorph or ectomorph I would not have an issue with weight but alas we must play the hand we are dealt.

2) The older you get the harder it is to lose weight. Unfortunately it appears that everyone who warned me I wouldn't be able to eat a whole pizza and still stay skinny when I get older were right. Who knew!

3) The more you starve yourself the more fat your body will hang onto. This is a basic survival mechanism wired into your DNA. Your body HAS to have fat to burn for energy so the less food you eat the more fat your body tries to hang onto for future needs.

4) Most people will cheat on a diet eventually. It's inevitable sooner or later it will happen. Even the best healthy diet plan will be challenged. So I came to this one simple truth.

Traditional Diet's Only Work
If You Can Stick To Them

After All How Long Can You Eat Cabbage Soup? or grapefruit or any of the other things that may or may not help you lose weight while your dieting? I decided it was time to figure out a healthy diet plan that I could stick to. Just follow the ideas below and I'm certain that you can finally get off the diet roller coaster.

1) Weight Loss Takes Time If it took you 20 years to put the weight on you are NOT going to lose it overnight. I personally can't stand the lose 20 pounds in 3 days claims that are all over the internet. I believe in being honest about it. If you want to keep the weight off, weight loss will not happen instantly.

Build muscle to burn fat. It's a very simple truth. The moremuscle you have in your body the more calories that must be burned to maintain that muscle. While cardio exercise is important to overall health, You Must Include Weight Bearing Exercises to Lose Weight and Keep It Off.

3) Eat lots of small meals. If you eat slow and stick to it for a few days you will be amazed at how little food it takes you to be full. This is hard to do but if you will carry healthy snacks (nuts & raisins, string cheese & summer sausage, tuna & wheat thins), with you and keep them in your car and at work you can do it. Eat OFTEN and don't allow yourself to get to the point of "I'M STARVING!" That's when we get into trouble.

4) Don't completely deprive yourself of your favorite foods. I pick 3 or 4 meals a week that I allow myself to eat whatever I want. Don't go crazy but have fun and enjoy yourself knowing that you will go back to eating right at the next meal. NOTE: Try not to put all these meals back to back. Spread them out throughout the week and you will not even feel like you are dieting. This is the secret to breaking through the weight loss plateaus. Your body can adjust very quickly so if you take away everything at once you will have nothing left to take away when your body adjusts. (I'm still hanging on to my Ice Cream & Beer. Just not at the same time.)

5) Make Better Choices! Realize that you may not make the perfect choice but you can make better choices. I can choose a baked potato over french fries or tea over soda or even water over tea. If you're having a baked potato leave off the sour cream. Choose fruit for dessert instead of the double fudge brownie with ice cream, fudge, nuts and marshmallow topping. (or if you have to have the double fudge brownie with ice cream; leave off the fudge, nuts and topping)

That's it. A healthy eating plan that you can stick to that won't leave you hungry all the time. All you have to do is change the way you look at weight loss. Remember we are trying to establish a healthy lifestyle that will keep you fit and going well into old age.