Want to lose weight, but find it hard to stick to a diet? Or is it that there are so many different diets with conflicting advice that you just don't know what to, or not to, eat anymore? For someone who can't afford the sometimes pricey Mediterranean Diet, or cringes at the thought of a carb starvation diet, here are ten quick tips using general knowledge to help you shed weight, even if you can not hold to a regimented diet.

1) If you drink a lot of soda, stop! For many people who drink soda, switching to water alone may be enough to lose up to twenty or more pounds in a year. The average can of soda contains 150 calories. Even if you stop drinking one a day, that's 54,750 calories in a year. That's 15 ½ pounds of calories, not to mention sugar, or the fact that the carbonated water makes your body keep on water weight. Dump the soda.

2) Drink lots of water. Aside from reducing liquid calories (which for some people make up 1/3, or even ½ of their calories in a day), drinking five glasses of cold water in a day burns about 50 calories. It's not much, but it is about 5 lbs in a year. If you switch from one or two pops a day to five glasses of water, you are actually making over a twenty pound shift in one year! It's just that easy.

3) Walk. Walking is one of the best ways of burning calories and moving up your metabolism. Walking is low impact, and fifteen to forty-five minutes a day not only burns some extra calories, but it simply makes you feel better!

4) Replace "bad fats" with "good fats." Bad fats are especially found in junk food, processed foods, and red meat. Good fats are found in nuts, fish, and olive oil. While you do not want to go to a high fat diet, the fats found in nuts, fish, and oil tend to fight the bad fat and bad cholesterol, and generally contain less calories than beef, for example. Lighter meats are generally better than dark.

5) Use the stairs. Everyone likes an elevator, but a few flights of stairs can be muscle exercise and aerobic exercise all at the same time. Since more muscle equals a higher metabolism, walking stairs can have benefits well after you finish.

6) Fruits and Veggies. Fruits and vegetables are the best because they contain vitamins, have very low amounts of calories, but also fill you up. A steak fills you up, so does a large dish of broccoli, cauliflower, or musk melon. Care to guess which one puts on less weight? They also are pretty much non-existent fat wise, another added bonus.

7) Don't eat before bed time. This food is less likely to fully digest, meaning it goes straight into fat storage.

8) If possible, take a long leisurely walk right before, or right after, a meal. This is a good practice, and is most effective in burning the calories as you eat them, or right after. This will give your leisurely exercise maximum effect.

9) Drink Green Tea. Other than ice water, there is no better drink. Green tea is full of anti oxidants, it helps your organs run more efficiently, and your body requires calories to burn it. For those people getting off the soda, this can also ease caffeine headaches and other withdrawals.

10) Eat slowly. Many people grab seconds after wolfing down a first plate. If you are used to taking two or more plates and you eat slowly, you may be surprised after half an hour to realize that you aren't quite done, but you're already full!

Stay away from fried things. Fried things are an absolute no-no. The more fried things that you avoid, the lesser weight you will gain. Fried things are called so because they are fried in oil or fat. And even if the external oil is
drained away, there is still a lot of hidden oil in it so stay away from it.

Do not skip meals. The worst thing you can do while watching you diet is skip a meal. It has just the opposite effect of what you want. You need to have at least four regular meals every day.

Fresh vegetables are better than cooked or canned vegetables. Try to eat our vegetables raw. When you cook them, you are in fact taking away nearly half the vitamins in them. And canned vegetables too are processed and are not nearly half as good as fresh vegetables. When you buy your vegetables it would be a good thing to see if the label says that it is pesticide free.

Do not eat more than an egg a day. Eggs are not such a bright idea. It would be best to reduce your intake of eggs to maybe three in a week. But for those of you die hard egg fans, you may have up to one egg a day but nothing more than that.

Make chocolates a luxury and not a routine. Chocolates are not or at least they should not be a part of your diet. So do not indulge too much in them. Even the bitter chocolates are not good for you because though the sugar is less there is still the cream in them.

Choose a variety of foods from all food groups every day. This is a fine way of keeping deficiency diseases at bay. Change the items included in your diet every day. This is an excellent way of keeping deficiency diseases at bay and it helps you to experiment with a variety of dishes and there by you do not get bored of your diet.

If you can say no to alcoholic beverages please do. Alcoholic beverages too are not good for you. Beer can be fattening and the rest of the alcoholic drinks may not be fattening by themselves but after a couple of swigs you will be in no position to watch your diet and your appetite too will be something to battle with.

Try to have breakfast within one hour of waking. It's always best to have breakfast within an hour of waking so that your body can charge itself with the energy it needs for the day. The idea is not to wait for your self to get really hungry. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day but that does not mean that it should be the most filling meal of the day.

Following these tips will go a long way to helping you achieve good results on your diet.