For most people going on a diet ? any diet ? is a time of deprivation, suffering and a minute to minute battle between will power and food cravings. Not really a winning plan for a happy life.

We know now through science research that dieting is totally the wrong approach as when calories are dropped below a certain level an ancient 'survival mode' is triggered slowing the metabolism (the body's engine) in an effort to preserve every scrap of body fat in preparation for a famine. This is the opposite of what we want and is working against our body rather than with it.

You see, the idea to lose excess body fat is to trick the body into believing it is not really starving and if we flip the diet approach on its head we can achieve this. We start by eating more rather than less. Think of it like a fire, if we throw lots of wood on the fire it is going to burn hotter and burning more fuel (our very own body fat).

To do this we need to eat 4-6 small meals each day every 2-3 hours apart. Each meal should have 20-30 grams of protein as its centerpiece. Add lots of raw or cooked vegetables to complete the meal. A small amount of complex carbohydrate may also be added such as rice, pasta or sweet potato.

The spotlight is now turned around to focus on what we should be eating not on what we shouldn't be eating. Repeat that sentence as many times as is necessary to make it sink in.

You can now stop focusing on deprivation and less food and enjoy the freedom to eat more and still weigh less.

By eating more often and by adding some protein to each meal has many benefits. The protein keeps you satisfied for longer so you have more control over what you eat at each meal. Also eating this way will keep up your energy, concentration and alertness levels. You will ward off a late-afternoon energy drain so you won't get home from work and eat 1200 calories. You are also more likely to eat with better nutrition in mind because you won't be bingeing and loading up on empty calories.

The second part of the puzzle and a much sounder, sensible and complete solution for weight loss is to focus on burning more calories each day with exercise that what you eat. It is so simple, rather than trying to eat less than you burn each day, focus on burning more calories than you eat.

This way is so much better than dieting which leaves you with a damaged metabolism and suffering punishment to your soul. Trying to eat less and less does your head in and we now know it doesn't work. Banish this concept from your mind and your life; it is not a success strategy for achieving a strong, lean, energized, healthy body.

To get your metabolism burning as hot as possible it is important to use strength training exercise. No other type of activity can do this as efficiently. Forget long, slow, steady state, cardio type activity such as walking, jogging or cycling. These activities are not intense enough to give you a permanent boost to your fat burning machinery. Only by toning and building muscle tissue will you achieve this.

So, rather than worrying about eating less expand your exercise program and move your body more ? a lot more. It is a great healthy way to live and you will transform your body more quickly than you will believe. It feels good to have a real need to eat food to replenish your body. Make the simply choice to eat more, exercise more, have more energy and have a better stronger life.