Most people will tell you that the best is to lose weight slowly. In the long term this is true, but in the beginning it is important to see good results fast. This is one reason why most diets begin with a very restricted program for the first few weeks.

They also do this to capitalize on your high motivation which has propelled you toward dieting. Whatever it is that made you take the first steps toward losing weight will probably carry you through at least the first few days without temptation overcoming you. So you can use your strong motivation at this moment to completely change your diet and be very restrictive.

Consult with your doctor before starting any diet plan, but assuming you are healthy and fit, you can consider radical changes in the first 2-4 weeks.

Instead of only thinking about restricting your diet, one of the best ways to lose weight is to add more foods into your diet. In fact if you follow the plan below, which is based around Dr Joel Fuhrman’s Eat To Live Diet, you may find that your plate is fuller than ever before and so is your stomach. So here is our suggested diet for the first 2-4 weeks:

- At least one pound of fresh raw vegetables a day (half of them green). Have more if you want. Try raw broccoli chopped in a food processor, eat lettuce with your fruit, add a couple of celery sticks to every meal. Raw carrots are allowed.

- At least one pound of cooked vegetables every day (half of them green). Have more if you want. Make lots of soup! But do not include any starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn, cooked carrots or rutabaga.

- At least one pound of whole fresh raw fruit a day. Have more if you want, but do not eat fruit at the same meal with any of the foods that follow. Do not drink fruit juice – eat the whole fruit.

- At least 8 oz of peas, beans or lentils a day (cooked weight).

- Not more than 8 oz of potatoes, corn, rice or other grains, cooked carrots etc in a day.

- Not more than 4 oz of meat or fish (that’s 4 oz total – not 4 oz of each!).

- Not more than 1 oz unsalted nuts or seeds.

- Not more than a quarter teaspoon of salt.

- No sugar or artificial sweeteners.

- No oils, butter, mayonnaise etc.

- No dairy products or eggs.

- No alcoholic drinks.

- No dried fruits.

Reminder: this is only for 2-4 weeks. Later you will need to adjust and add more flexibility into the diet so that it will fit with your lifestyle. You will need to be able to handle events like weddings, restaurant meals or family reunions.

Many people find that the best way to deal with this is to allow yourself to eat almost whatever you want at one meal a week. Then wait until the next day before eating again. You may also want to add back small quantities of dairy products into your regular diet, or occasional alcoholic drinks.

However, you will find it is best never to add back sugar or sweeteners even in very small quantities. If you never have them, you will automatically re-educate your taste buds so that you do not need these things. This will make it much easier to stick your diet because you will no longer crave sugar and the fats that so often go with them.

You will also enjoy your vegetables a whole lot more, even if you never liked them before. You will find that cabbage begins to taste sweet and delicious when you do not spoil your taste buds with sugar.

This means you will need to avoid most packaged foods, mayonnaise, sauces etc that almost always include sugar. Always read the labels.

This is one of the best ways to lose weight that can both bring you quick results and take you right down to your target weight in the longer term.