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When you want to lose weight, you should follow a safe diet plan. Fad diets or diets that restrict you from eating a wide variety of foods can be dangerous and unhealthy. To be successful with your diet, you need a great diet plan that lets you eat from every food group and gives your body a sufficient amount of calories each day.

Avoid any diet plan that makes miraculous claims about fast results, or that includes diet pills or meal replacements. The safest diets include real, healthy foods and focus on portion control and healthy calorie intake.

Keep Total Calories Low. According to a study done by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, low-calorie heart-healthy diets can help you lose weight and maintain weight loss, regardless of the proportion of calories that come from fat, carbohydrates or protein. This means you don’t have to eliminate carbs or fat to eat a healthy diet, as long as you choose heart-healthy options and keep your total calories low.

You can devise a great diet plan and not deprive yourself of your favorites. For example, if you love to eat pasta, go ahead and include it in your meals but choose a whole grain variety. If you love meat, buy lean cuts. Use olive oil since it is good for your heart. Balance high calorie entrees with low calorie side dishes.

Eat lots of fruit and veggies. You can eat a lot more food for fewer calories when you fill your plate with vegetables and fruits. A safe diet plan includes smaller portions for foods like meat and pasta and larger servings of healthy vegetables.

Fruits and vegetables not only have fewer calories but because of their high fiber content they will keep you feeling full longer. A great diet plan is to fill at least a third of your plate with vegetables or fruit at every meal and to snack on fresh veggies throughout the day rather than high calorie processed snacks.

Practice Portion Control. The key to keeping calories in check is portion control. Until you are familiar with proper portion sizes, use measuring cups or specific dishes to help gauge your portions. The USDA defines one serving of pasta as cup, or about one handful. A serving of meat is three oz., or about the size of a deck of cards.

Most Americans consume three to four servings of meat and pasta without even realizing it, and those calories add up. Stick to one or two servings of protein and carbohydrates per meal, and fill the rest of your plate with steamed, grilled or fresh veggies.

A safe diet plan includes a wide variety of foods. The American Heart Association emphasizes eating foods from each food group and a variety of foods in order to derive the most nutritional value and to keep your diet lively and interesting.

Include proteins like fish, chicken, beef, beans and lentils on a rotating basis, and include carbohydrates like pasta, potatoes, brown rice and quinoa. Eat fresh produce when it is ripe and in season, and try new fruits and vegetables; you may discover new healthy foods you didn’t even know about.

Don’t waste your time and money. If you really want to lose weight, we have reviewed several personal diet plans for quick weight loss. You can also watch my videos about healthy diet plans to lose weight quickly.