Some $30 billion dollars is spent on weight loss each year as people desperately search and mistakenly believe 'the answer' to looking and feeling good is losing weight.

This may be a popular belief but it is totally false as the majority of the big weight loss spenders are losing their money, not their weight.

The majority of people who try to lose weight use very unhealthy methods that have devastating effects on the metabolism (the body's engine). In fact, 98% of those people who do manage to lose some weight soon gain it back and end up with a damaged metabolism which makes future weight loss efforts near impossible.

There is a simple concept to lose weight and look good. It happens when you do the right thing and take responsibility for your health and improve it first and foremost. You cannot lose weight to improve your health - you must improve your health and have a healthy metabolism in order to lose weight.

Don't keep doing what you are doing if it is not working. Here are 17 hot tips that will work better than anything you can purchase:

1. Have a strength training exercise program firmly in place.

2. Perform 1-2 interval training sessions each week.

3. Hire a fitness professional to teach you how to exercise intensely enough to really make a difference to your metabolism.

4. Do not do any long, slow, steady state activity (walking, jogging, cycling etc). These are recreational activities that are fine as part of an active lifestyle but can never replace a proper exercise program.

5. Separate interval training and strength training days.

6. Eat 5-7 times each day.

7. Have at least 20 grams of protein at each meal.

8. Make up the balance of your meals with lots of cooked and raw vegetables.

9. Eat whole natural unprocessed foods.

10. Space your small meals out every 2-3 hours throughout the day.

11. Eat within an hour of waking.

12. Plan your meals, shop and prepare them in advance and take them with you wherever you go so you are not tempted to eat something that will not help you reach your goals.

13. Plan your workouts in advance and schedule them on your planner or calendar.

14. Treat these workout times as important appointments and keep your promises to yourself.

15. List 10-20 benefits that you will gain from becoming stronger, fitter and slimmer and make them your health/fitness/weight loss goals. These goals will then become much more personal and meaningful.

16. Go over these benefits as often as you need to. This may be daily, weekly or monthly.

17. You can't manage your health until you can manage your self which involves managing your time, your energy, your workouts, and your eating plan.

Follow these 17 hot tips and consider yourself successful as this approach to fitness and fat loss will give you an advantage over 95% of the diets and weight loss programs available. Yes you will lose fat but you will also improve your overall health which in turn will improve the quality of your life.