These ten tips will show you quick ways to get started on the road to losing weight. Remember, this is just to get you going.

On your marks, get set and go!

1.    Make sure you include protein in every meal. This includes breakfast.

2.    Forget about bread and pasta for the time being.

3.    Stick to unprocessed foods.

4.    Cut down on starch to one portion per day, and have this preferably during breakfast or lunch. Choose from oats, sweet potatoes, and beans.

5.    An overdose of fruit does not help. Restrain yourself to a maximum of two fruits a day. This must be the low-on-sugar and high-on-fiber sort. Good choices are apples, pears, plums, and berries. At this point in your weight loss mission, avoid bananas. Eat fruit alone or with something light like nuts or a tiny portion of cheese. 

6.    Consume dairy products as little as possible, particularly cow’s milk.  You may have small amounts of cheese and yogurt, but avoid the fat-free kind as it carries too much sugar.

7.    Give up alcohol. There are hardly any health benefits that you are going to miss by not drinking liquor.

8.    Try to use olive oil instead of vegetable oils for cooking. The refined sunflower oil that is widely used tends to oxidize easily on heating. This results in arterial plaque, something you can do without.

9.    It is more essential to watch for what type of fat you are eating than the amount of fat you are eating. Completely avoid fried foods, margarine, and foods with hydrogenated oils. Stick to omega-3 found in fish and flaxseed oil.

10. Drinking lots and lots of water – at least eight to ten glasses per day is crucial to lose those extra pounds.