We are bombarded everyday with messages about the need to lose weight. The guilt starts to add up along with the pounds. You have tried to lose the weight, tried every diet under the sun and still nothing works. There is no doubt that being overweight has serious health consequences and carrying even 10 extra pounds will have a negative effect on your health.

So there is a need to lose weight but how? There are hundreds of diet plans and weight loss programs. Which one to choose, which one is the right one for you? The truth is only you and your doctor can decide that. Before starting any weight loss program you should consult your doctor for a complete checkup. When you start to look at all your options your will be overwhelmed with plans such as low carbs, South Beach Diet, Atkins Diet, high protein diets and fad diets that come and go. You need to take each with a grain of salt and don't believe everything you read. There are no magic diets; no magic pills that will make you thin overnight. Pick the wrong diet and you could damage your health more than you will help it.

You need to do what is right for you, not your friends, not your family but what is right for you and your body. The weight didn't go on overnight and it will not come off overnight. So what if your friend lost 25lbs on some "miracle" diet, that may have been right for them but chances are there is something they are probably not telling you and are they keeping it off?

Long-term weight loss doesn't start on your plate; it starts in your head. You need to decide why you eat the way you do, why you feel the need to eat that extra bag of chips. Your eating patterns have been established from a very early age. Patterns that are not easily broken. Are you under a lot of stress? Do you eat to relieve the stress? Have a need for "comfort" foods. Do you eat all day long, a snack here, a snack there? Do you eat out of boredom? Start keeping a journal of when you eat. Once you have established your patterns then you can start to change them.

From there it is a matter of changing your eating habits, again habits that you did not form overnight. Start making the choice to eat less, eat healthier and cut out the snacks, fast food and other junk that prevents you from losing weight.

A good exercise program will improve your health and help with your long-term weight loss. As with diet plans, exercise plans have no magic pills or easy gadgets (despite what you may see on late night TV). It takes work and sweat. The easiest thing you can do is simply walk. If you can't walk down to the end of the block without stopping, then that is how you start. One step at a time. Next month you walk around the block, and then two blocks and pretty soon you look forward to your daily brisk walks.

There are millions of people who have gone before you who have lost the weight and kept it off and so can you.

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More information on choosing the best diet plans and weight loss programs for you can be found at Best Diet Advice http://www.bestdietadvice.com and Best Weight Loss Advice http://www.bestweightlossadvice.com