Take a look at the top 10 Easy Weight Loss Tips contained in our special feature on healthy dieting planning and you will know the secret behind planning nutritionally balanced, tasty meals without depriving your taste-buds of your favorite foods - its all about controlled measures and applying the principle of moderation to your daily diet plan.

You don't need oodles of patience, a personal trainer or a nagging spouse to follow these diet planning tips mentioned here: in fact, the best part of these easy weight loss tips is that they can be followed at any place and at any time.

The main point to remember is to cut down on excess calories and keep to the minimum amount of essential bodily nourishment foods while also keeping a check on proper and timely meals that are wholesome in nature and also tasty.

- Never skip meals: this is the first and most avoidable mistake most first-time (or even regular) dieters make in their enthusiasm to shed those extra kilos fast, as it results in 'binge' eating or 'yo-yo' dieting patterns setting in, which cause the kilos to pile on back as fast as you got rid of them.

- Opt for low-fat, low-calorie food options when you can instead of the richer food choices. E.g. Dijon's mustard mixed with tsp of satay sauce in low fat yoghurt makes for a yummy low-fat mayo dressing without any of the guilt!

- Limit fats and conserve your calories for an occasional treat as far as meeting your body's daily needs are concerned; regular, balanced and timely fuelling is needed to lose and maintain weight loss.

- Take up activities that increase the body's weight-reduction capabilities, such as exercise and regular physical chores while you also cut back on excess calories, fats and simple sugars.

- Switch to healthier options such as organic and vegetarian food or else include boiled, baked and fresh foods low in fat content, such as capsicum, zucchini, minced chicken, fish and pita bread with salad filling.

- Try and include at least half an hour of daily exercise before the last meal of the day to increase the metabolism, which typically slows down during the course of the day (8 hrs. after waking up, to be precise) and needs to be raised in order to increase the fat-burning taking place in the body.

- Take natural iron (alfalfa sprouts etc.) in your daily salad to fortify yourself.

- Switch to low-fat, healthy cooking options such as stir-frying, boiling, braising and baking wherever possible when cooking up favorite family recipes instead of completely doing away with these and then having a weak moment and over-indulging in banned foods. For example, use non-fat yoghurt when the recipe calls for full cream, pan-fry when it asks for deep-oil frying and use herbs and lime to flavor the foods instead of processed spices.

- Cut down on the amount of food you eat in a day and spread out your meal plan over 5 or 6 small meals through the day to balance out your calories and to spread out the consumption: chew slowly to decrease the appetite.

- Buy fresh fruit and veggies that can be eaten raw and keep these handy for sudden hunger pangs instead of that bag of chips or toasted muesli, which are fatty options you can do without when dieting towards a long-term goal. An outlook change is very important to encouraging and maintaining a balanced weight loss program, such as required by strict but practical dieting.