In a world full of quick fixes for losing weight, finding the best way to drop those pounds can be confusing. It is important to remember that the "quickest way" is rarely the healthiest way, when it comes to weight loss.

While many may find rapid results from popular diet fads, few find that these diets offer long term results. One of the biggest downfalls of a diet is that it is often synonymous with temporary. So, how can you lose weight, and keep it off permanently?

Avoid diets! If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you need to live a healthy lifestyle. So, what does it mean to live a healthy lifestyle? It means eating well-balanced, regular meals. It means incorporating exercise into your life. It means feeling good about yourself and trusting your ability to make healthy decisions.

Losing weight is something a lot of people don't want to do, but need to do. It takes work and persistence, so it seems easier to turn to a "quick-fix diet" rather than the long-term, sometimes slow process of a healthy lifestyle. Diets that advertise quick losses, like ten pounds in a week, are unhealthy. Plus, that weight comes right back as soon as you stop dieting.

Healthy weight loss means losing between one and two pounds a week. Not only does this give your body time to adjust to the loss (like avoiding flabby skin from sudden, massive weight loss), but it also helps you keep the weight off in the long run.

Rather than convicting yourself to a month of cabbage soup or a year without pasta and chocolate, your body will cooperate and feel more balanced if you maintain a healthy ratio between your intake of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. The first thing you need to do when decide to start living a healthy lifestyle is to educate yourself about what your body needs.

• Learn about portion sizes.
• Track the foods you eat to have a better understanding of just how many calories you consume.
• Drink water--one of the many good reasons is that hydrated bodies have higher metabolisms.
• Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time.
• Pay attention to what your eating--when you eat in front of the television or in the car, you don't pay attention to your food and it is gone before you even know if you are full or not.
• Remember that one indulgence doesn't mean you've "ruined" your commitment to a healthy lifestlye. Everyone needs an indulgence sometimes, so accept it and make a healthier decision at your next meal.

While pills, surgeries, and fad diets might offer quick weight loss solutions, they do not provide long term results or the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.