If you want to lose weight try slimming the easy way without giving up food.

One of the reasons that diets fail is that they leave us feeling hungry and deprived and craving our favourite food. For a diet to be successful it has to be one that we can stick to for a period of time without feeling guilty whenever we have a spoon full of ice-cream.

Low calorie diets and fast weight diets may produce weight loss in the short term but any weight lost is soon regained when a normal diet is resumed. Try making some of these changes to your life to achieve permanent weight loss.

Use smaller dinner plates to eat your meals from. A small plate heaped with food is better than a large plate that looks half empty and will convince the brain and body that you are eating more than you actually are.

Find an online weight loss friend. Researchers at Vermont University found dieters with an online buddy lost more weight and were also more likely to keep it off.

Bulk up your meals with fruit and vegetables as a way of filling you up fast without consuming lots of extra calories.

Try and eat most of your meals at home as portions in restaurants are much larger than at home and you are also more likely to be tempted by high fat and high calorie foods as well as drinking more alcohol.

Try and only eat when your stomach is rumbling. If you are eating out of boredom, habit or as a reward for a hard days work you will struggle to lose weight.

Spice up your food by using flavourings such as hot sauce, salsa, garlic and horseradish. Hot spices give the metabolism a quick boost and help to burn more calories.