I have seen it over and over and over again; women constantly on the lookout for the latest and greatest fad diet plan. They almost always result in the dreaded yo-yo weight gain cycle that actually causes women to gain more weight back than they originally lost!

I have the following advice for women who want to know how to lose weight fast in a safe and healthy manner.

1) One of the best ways to lose weight fast is to eat 4-6 small, nutritious meals throughout the day. Women are advised to ignore any fad diet plan which teaches anything different. The reason for eating 4-6 small, nutritious meals a day is to boost your metabolism. By eating small frequent meals daily your body has to burn more calories to digest these meals resulting in faster metabolism. This is an easy way to provide a little boost to your metabolism and burn more calories throughout the day. The more healthy food it consumes in small portions over the course of the day, the more fat is burned. Fad diet plans typically teach women to starve themselves which causes a great deal of damage to their metabolism.

2) You need to incorporate some lean protein into these 4-6 small, nutritious meals. The importance of adding protein is twofold. First, protein is a great nutrient that helps provide fullness and satiety. It will prevent you from getting hungry between meals and splurging or overeating. Second, protein is considered a high thermic effect food. Your body then requires more calories to be able to digest protein than it does for other nutrients such as carbohydrates and fat. This is another way to speed up your metabolism and burn more calories throughout the day.

3) Fad diet plans tend to focus on one particular food that women enjoy eating. A fad diet plan should not be followed if it advises to consume any one food such as grapefruit only as this will lead to eventual failure.

A quick short term solution is the answer with fad diet plans and many times this doesn't even happen. To get permanent fat loss you have to make behavioral changes that you will follow all the time. Fad diet plans won't teach you how to keep your fat off and this is why it results in eventual failure and the return of the weight you just lost.