While it is true that it takes time and patience to lose weight, and that you have to work hard for it, that 'hard work' doesn't mean starving yourself for days on end in the hope of losing a few pounds quick. You may or may not believe it, but it is possible to get rid of fat using healthy and natural means. In this article I will tell you about two such means.

Contrary to what you may be thinking, you won't have to workout at the gym for hours like crazy; it has nothing to do with your workouts and everything with your food habits. Do you know that your food habits can make or break your health? By following a few simple food management tips, you would ensure that you get rid of annoying pounds easily and quickly.

1. Choose healthy meals: This one is quite obvious; you cannot expect to lose weight by eating junk foods, can you? No matter how hard you diet in order to lose weight, your junk food buddies would ensure the return of the 'lost' weight after sometime.

If you want to see permanent weight loss results, there is no way other than replacing your unhealthy foods with their healthier counterparts. Instead of consuming processed foods and fruit juices, burgers and pastries, fried and oily foods, you should consume natural fruits and vegetables, natural fruit juice (you should extract the fruit juice at home as it ensures that no sugary preservatives are added to it), plain water, etc.

You should also stay away from soda, alcohol and soft drinks. These simple but effective modifications in your food habits would help you lose fat much more easily than otherwise.

2. Choose the right portion and time for foods: Eating the right foods is as important as making sure that you don't overeat or don't end up eating at wrong times. Just because apple is a natural fruit doesn't mean that you would eat it in dozens at midnight.

Remember that one apple consists of 100 calories; if you eat too many of them at once, your body would be bombarded with excess calories which it may not need at that moment; consequently, it would store the extra calories as fat.

Likewise, if you eat food at midnight, again your body won't be able to burn all the calories gained from food since it would be inactive during that time. Do you know that you could gain pounds in sleep? If you want to avoid that scenario then don't eat anything after 7PM.

For most people the simple act of only drinking water and not eating any food will have a profound effect on your ability to lose weight and sleep better.