Eat This and Drop Pounds

Trying to lose a few? Aren't we all. You’ll lose even more if you set out a plate of this before each meal: apple wedges.

Eating a bit of high-fiber fruit -- like a small apple or pear -- before each meal is a proven weight-loss booster.

Fruit Booster
You've seen those ads for weight-loss pills that promise to help you lose even more weight when you diet. It's possible that apple wedges could give those pills a run for the money. In a recent study where women were divided up into fruit-before-meals and no-fruit-before-meals groups, the fruit group lost more weight -- even though they all followed the same reduced-calorie diet. The key? Choosing fruit that's high in fiber but low in calories.

More Waist-Shrinking Diet Tips
Let's face it: We need all the help we can get when it comes to whittling our waists. Here are some other easy changes that help support that effort:

Have a boiled egg instead of a bagel for breakfast.
Change what, not how much, you eat.
Hit the snooze button

Have you fallen off the wagon with your New Year's resolution to lose weight? Get back on it

Benefit: Eating 25 grams (38 grams if you are a man under 50) of fiber per day makes your age 2.5 years younger than eating 12 grams of fiber per day.