Do you need the best shape up diet? Have you received an unexpected invitation to a 21st birthday or beachside BBQ? Worse, you may be facing a last fitting for an expensive bridesmaid's dress.

If so and if you have gained some weight recently, you are probably very worried. In fact, you may be feeling mild panic churning in your belly or grabbing at your throat. Why? Because you're wondering what you can possibly wear or how to ask the bride to pay for expensive and tricky alterations at the last minute.

In my experience, it's when I'm reaching for the slinky black number that's been hanging at the back of the wardrobe or the lovely one piece swimsuit I bought last summer that it finally hits me: those few extra pounds I disguised under a baggy pair of jeans have come back to haunt me.

So how can we look good and possibly great on the big day? Assuming you have no medical issues lurking in the background, the math is quite simple. To lose weight, your calorie consumption must be less than your calorie expenditure. The extra calories have a habit of ending up on your hips, belly, thighs, arms, chin and anywhere else they can find a home.

There are two ways to achieve this calorie deficit:

• The first method is to reduce your calorie consumption by changing your eating habits.
• The second way is to increase your calorie expenditure by exercising more.

The best approach is to do both at once: reduce your calorie intake and increase your calorie expenditure.

Calorie consumption

There isn't the space in this hub to deal with food groups and portion sizes in detail, so feel free to check this hub for more on these points.

For now, you may like to remember some simple things you can do to put your diet plan 'on steroids':

• Eat slowly. Slowing down your eating gives your brain a chance to register that you are full and let you know, so you can stop eating. You need around 20 minutes for this process to occur, so wolfing down a meal in less than that will leave you thinking you are hungry when you're not.
• Drink water. Drinking 8 glasses of water a day fills you up and rehydrates your tissues. It's also great for brain function and essential if you are exercising in addition to dieting.
• Salt. The average person needs a maximum of a teaspoon or 2400 milligrams per day to maintain healthy fluid levels, muscles, nerves and heart. Too much salt can add a pound or two to your weight via fluid retention. So it's best to leave the potato chips, beer nuts and salt cellar alone.
• Sleep. You need to sleep at least 7 hours a night to lose weight. Sleep affects the hormones that regulate your appetite and chances of weight gain or loss. In addition, poor sleep affects your ability to metabolise food well.
• Exercise. Half an hour's exercise 3 or 4 times a week will help you to feel good and relax for sleep. Just be sure to exercise more than 3 hours before you go to bed. Exercise any later and you may find you are too alert to doze off.

When you're assessing any fat loss plans, it's helpful to remember that the best shape up diets are not 'diets' at all. Instead they are healthy eating plans that lead us towards a better way of living. So a really good shape up diet is one which:

• acknowledges that we have lives to lead and things to do other than obsessing about what we eat
• teaches us how to make smart food choices on the run using fresh food that's inexpensive and easily available in supermarkets
• helps us to integrate our healthy eating patterns into our lifestyles so eating healthy meals simply becomes something that we do automatically and regularly.

Bear these tips in mind and your new healthy lifestyle will be off to a flying start. All the best!

If you would like to learn more about the best shape up diet, feel free to check these three programs:

• Strip That Fat - Lose up to 10 lbs in just 2 weeks!
• Fitness Model Program - How to look like a fitness model without being one!
• Truth About Abs - How to lose stubborn belly fat, get flat sexy six pack abs the right way!