Often times when you're seeking weight loss information online, you come across a bunch of dietary fads. These are the diets which tell you how much bodyweight you can lose by eating only cabbage soup, or maple syrup and lemonade or some other noxious kind of food that nobody who really likes themselves would ever try to eat.



As a matter of fact these diets are probably the most highly searched for topics on the entire web. They are extremely popular for one particular reason - they bring you almost instant results in dropping a few pounds. They actually do work to get a couple pounds off immediately, within a week for many of them. 



But then, guess what happens? The weight all returns with a vengeance and sometimes those pounds you lost bring their buddies back to stay with you and you wind up weighing even more than you did when you started the crash diet.



This kind of fat burning plan does not keep you healthy and does not result in keeping the weight off forever. You end up bouncing up and down in weight and your whole metabolism suffers. And when your metabolism suffers it always does so in the same way - it slows down and puts a stop to burning calories.



That is why you will get the weight back.



Listed here are a few things you can do to help obtain a more long lasting weight reduction.



Stop eating so much - but do not stop all at once



People like to penalize themselves for dietary transgressions. But punishing does not help much. If you simply stop feeding your body, it will not know what to do and simply slows down your metabolism to a crawl. Much better if you reduce your calorie consumption gradually. Start eating less a little bit at a time, so that your body gets used to running on the calories it already has stashed away.



Steady weight loss with a diet change that is not a crash type of diet is much more successful for many more people than any of those fad diets. Do you really want to be eating cabbage soup three times a day for the remainder of your life?



Another essential tip is very simple, and works very effectively.



Give yourself a reward for losing weight.



This doesn't mean that when you lose a pound that you hop in the car and run right over to Cheesecake Factory and gorge yourself. A reward should really be a nice thing you do for yourself, not something that is virtually certain to make you feel bad all over again. That's not what you need.



Instead you can give yourself a pleasant treat like a spa day, or a visit to the shopping mall with no kids or anything else you enjoy. And if you prefer, you can give yourself a food treat. In a normal sized portion. A square of chocolate - not a 5 pound box. Split a piece of cheesecake with your friend - don't order two for yourself.



Rewards are fantastic things to do for yourself. Just don't overdo the reward system or you will end up penalizing yourself all over again.



Slimming down does not have to be hard or painful. But you do have to make a couple of adjustments in how you think and act. No more punishing yourself, that didn't work before and it won't work now. Instead reduce your calories slowly and give yourself a little reward when you succeed and you will be on the right path to lasting weight loss.