If you're working out to lose weight, you're well on your way to a slimmer body. But what you eat is important too, especially before and after your workout. What you eat before affects performance, and what you eat afterward is necessary to build calorie-burning muscle and replenish stored carbs.

You may want to lose 20 pounds for an upcoming special event, such as a wedding, and fad diets promise fast results. But after you meet your target on a fad diet, it's likely you’ll gain all the weight back, and then some.

When you decide to lose weight, you want results now. Those results keep you motivated and on track. But fast weight loss has diminishing returns. What you gain in satisfaction in the short run is usually paid back with weight regain and an ultimate surrender of your goals when you go off an unsustainable diet.

Learn the best ways to slim down your upper body and reduce belly fat through lifestyle changes, exercise, and a healthy diet. Discover effective tips for losing weight in your upper body and reducing visceral fat.

The healthiest and most efficient way to firm up flabby areas of the body is through nutrition and exercise. To tone up without losing weight, it’s important to eat the right foods and focus on a weight-training program.

Infrared saunas may result in you losing weight for a short period of time. Unfortunately, this weight loss doesn't affect the amount of fat on your body, your muscle strength or tone, or your general physical fitness level. Infrared saunas have a few benefits, but increased fitness isn't one of them.

In her book "Need to know? Detox," published in 2007, health writer Gill Paul attributes weight loss during a seven-day detox to the elimination of most sugars, fats and other calorie-laden foods from your diet.

If you're looking for an easy strategy to help you lose weight, replacing your usual cereal with a high-fiber type such as wheat bran flakes may be it. Adding more dietary fiber can help people lose weight.

Many diet plans ban you from eating past some specific time, such as 7 p.m, but no magical diet "witching hour" exists. These diets are trying to prevent you from binging on unhealthy, high-calorie snack foods after dinner.

Rapid weight loss involves losing more than two pounds of body weight per week, according to Washington University in St. Louis.

If you’re eating right and exercising, you should be losing weight. If it’s not happening, start by cutting down your calorie intake. Since 3,500 calories equal a pound, even a few hundred calories less per day can add up to a couple of pounds a month, according to MayoClinic.com.

Well-defined arms and legs can be your best accessories, but if you have excess fat covering your muscles, it will take some work to achieve your goal. In addition to eating a sensible, reduced-calorie diet, aerobic exercise and strength training can help reduce your total body fat.