8 Quick Weight Loss Tips: Lose 10 punds in 8 weeks or less and keep the weight off

Weight loss does not need to be hard - and you don't need to go as far as Joe Cross in the Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead who lived on green juice alone for several months (although, that will surely make the weight loss quicker). Whether you need to lose 10 pounds, 15 pounds or 50 pounds, just follow the 8 weight loss tips outlined below for at least 6-8 weeks, or as long as you like - and you'll be on your way to a slimmer and healthier body.

1. The KISS principle, or keep it simple. There is no need to cook fancy meals, write a food journal and count your calories, or follow a complicated daily meal plan. You need to make it easy for yourself, and this means basing your nutrition on fresh, raw plant foods - greens, fruits and vegetables - whole or in liquid form (juiced or blended into smoothies) - while limiting or eliminating everything else.

2. Consider the salad your main dish: eat it first at lunch and dinner, and even breakfast (make it a fruit salad if you like). We tend to eat more of whatever we eat first because that's when we are most hungry, and the good news you can eat as much salad as you like, as raw greens and vegetables can be eaten in unlimited quantities. Your goal should be to eat at least one pound of raw greens and veggies, which is less than 100 calories of food. Just remember that a salad should include lots of greens and raw vegetables and fruits, if you like, with some lemon juice sprinkled on top. Potato salad or Caesar salad, with lots of mayo, fatty dressing, croûtons, and other stuff, don't count. Successful, long-term weight control and health is linked to high consumption of raw greens, vegetables and fruits.

3. To save time, consider drinking your salad. If you find chopping and chewing all these greens and veggies exhausting or boring, just throw them into your blender with some juicy tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, (add a little bit of water, if your blender cannot handle the job, and consider getting a Vitamix), and drink your salad instead. I recommend that you add some herbs - basil, cilantro, parsley, dill, and some sweetener - a little bit of honey, or some sweet fruit - to make your drinkable salad even more delicious.

4. Eat as much fruit as you want, at least four fresh fruit servings every day. You may have come across warnings not to eat fruits when trying to lose weight because of their sugar and calorie content. Don't believe in that. Eating lots of fresh fruit is satisfying and filling, so eat as many fruits as you like with throughout the day. Fruits are high in calories, compared to greens and vegetables, but it's okay to splurge, especially if you have a sweet tooth. The best dessert is blended fruit, or blended frozen fruit. I also recommend that your try making green smoothies. Just blend some sweet fruits with greens, add some water, and drink it. It will satisfy your cravings for sweets and other unhealthy snacks.

5. Make sure you eat a variety of greens and veggies. There are a variety of foods that you can use to make vegetable salads, including lettuce (romaine, bib, Boston, red leaf, green ice, arugula, radicchio, endive, iceberg), celery, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, onions, radishes, snow peas, carrots, beets, cabbage, and all kinds of sprouts. Even more vegetables can be eaten cooked - you can steam them or make into a delicious vegetable soup.

6. Limit the amounts of starchy vegetables and grains in your diet. For quickest results, limit cooked, limit high-starch grains and vegetables to one cup per day. Consider any vegetable that is not green to be a high-starch vegetable (except eggplant, peppers, onions, and mushrooms). Fill up on the raw vegetables and cooked green vegetables first. However, make the most of your starch consumption from starchy vegetables - such as butternut squash, acorn squash, corn, turnips, parsnips, cooked carrots, sweet and white potatoes, etc - rather than starchy grains, refined starchy grains - such as bread, pasta, or white rice - should be even more restricted. If you decide to have some bread, a thin whole-wheat pita is a good choice for sandwiches. This step may not be necessary for everyone to lose weight, just for people metabolism makes it difficult to lose weight. Most people can still achieve an ideal body weight by cutting our refined starches only, such as white bread and pasta.

7. If you are feeling hungry, include beans or legumes in your meals to fill you up. Beans are considered a dieter's best friend. Beans have a high nutrient-per-calorie profile and help prevent food cravings. They are digested slowly, which has a stabilizing effect on your blood sugar and a high satiety index. Eggplant and beans, mushrooms and beans, greens and beans and all high-nutrient, high fiber, low calorie main dishes. Add some beans to your salad, or have some bean soup. Eating soup helps you lose weight reducing your appetite by filling your stomach.

8. Limit animal and diary products. To lose weight quickly, eliminate animal products entirely, or limit it to just a little lean fish, such as filet of flounder or sole, once or twice a week, and an egg white omelette once a week.