One of the worst insults we can do to our bodies is to go on a self imposed low calorie diet. Recent research supports the new expert opinions that such diets can be damaging to heath as well as being ineffective.

Lowering calories too much is harmful to the metabolism (the body's engine) and its survival response is to lower the metabolic rate in order to conserve energy and fuel.

Researchers have found that overweight people on low calorie diets actually burned 350 fewer calories per day than normal when their calories were restricted.

The worst part is about this is that this slowed metabolic rate stays low even after a person begins to eat normally again. This is the body's way of regaining any lost weight back quickly to retain the set point which is the body's level of fat stores. This mechanism is helpful in times of starvation allowing rapid weight gain after periods of famine or low food supply.

These are ancient mechanisms hardwired into our genes that go back tens of thousands of years to help our ancestors survive. Our body does not know we just want to fit into our skinny jeans and recognizes the lowered food supply as a serious threat.

When you understand what happens when you go on a diet you can see it is absolutely futile. But don't worry we now have enough understanding to be able to trick the body into giving up its fat stores without triggering this 'survival mode'.

And the way we do that is just the opposite of a diet. We do everything we can to speed up the metabolism and burn off the fat rather than try and starve it off. The way to do this is two fold. We need to increase our fat burning mechanism which is our muscle tissue. This needs to be toned and firmed up and any lost muscle tissue replaced so we can burn more calories every single minute of the day.

The only way to do this is to get started on a strength training program. This will kick your metabolic rate up and get your engines burning more fuel. Forget long, slow, steady state activities like walking, jogging, cycling that we used to think worked back in the 1980's. Like dieting we now know these types of activities are not intense enough to increase the metabolism round the clock.

Make sure you have your program set up properly by a fitness professional so you can learn correct exercise technique along with the correct level of intensity (degree of difficulty) so the program will give you the very best results in the shortest time. If you fail to get it right you will be disappointed when you don't see the results you desire. But it will not be the fault of the program more likely the way it is performed.

The other part of the fat loss puzzle is your eating and firstly you need to get your head around the fact that you have to eat lots for fat loss. Missed meals and not enough food will send your body back to the slowed metabolic rate and you will be constantly working against your body rather than with it.

You need to eat 5-7 small meals each day. Each one should have 20 odd grams of protein as the main event then you can add raw and cooked vegetables to this. Each meal should be around 300-500 calories and be eaten every 2-3 hours.

This simply concept of strength training and small meals is unbeatable so you can win the fat loss puzzle. It will also end up becoming part of your lifestyle so you will never have to worry about those extra pounds again. Try it and see for yourself.