text: if i really wanted to lose weight, should i just eat less and exercise more, or look for the magic pill here?   research shows that metabolic rate is 4 - 5% lower in those people who do not have this meal, and therefore even with a low calorie intake you will relatively have less chance of losing weight than someone who eats the same calories but has some of those at breakfast time. that's because the breakfast meal acts as a kick start to the metabolism for the rest of the day. you should ensure ensure that you use the mind and your brain sensibly. one classical thing to do is to remove temptation. for instance if you eat as a family you may be used to having serving dishes and having 'just one more spoonful' whilst eating from the serving dish. rather than having to stop temptation simply remove temptation by serving on individual plates. in addition try to gradually reduce portion size a little, if done over time you and your body will adjust and losing weight in a sustainable way will be easier to achieve.to approach a diet in the best possible way, you need to be realistic up front about what you will achieve. nothing demotivates more than setting really hard targets and not meeting them. some will set a sweeping target such as losing a stone in a few weeks or something else that is just impossible to obtain at least in a healthy way and then give up on the diet disillusioned. therefore you should be sure to set ultra realistic targets at least at the start. when you meet them you will be encouraged. set small, realistic targets often for the best chance of diet success and continued motivation during the course of your diet.these days, dieting is all the rage. the companies that make the products and books make billions of pounds and dollars a year - it's a massive industry. which means only one thing - they want it to sound really hard to lose weight, so as you buy their products. but that's where you can go wrong. there is one simple truth to losing weight that you don't need a book to tell you, but it's the only one that matters. if you take in less than you use, there is no way that can gain weight - in fact you will lose weight. all this talk of atkins diets and eating no carbohydrate (which is not at all healthy) is not relevant. the two golden rules of losing weight are so breathtakingly simple, yet people spend thousands on expensive dieting videos, expensive diet foods and all sorts. (1) you must do decent amounts of exercise. if you can introduce 30 minutes exercise into your daily routine, whether this be a brisk walk, perhaps a swim at lunchtime or a jog at the weekend, and eat the same amount as you always have, after 6 weeks the results will be breathtaking. not only will you lose weight, you will also feel fantastic. (2) cut out the snacks. if you look at most people's meals, who are not happy with their weight, it's just not true that they are eating meals full of calories. in fact if you just add up their main meals it often adds up to less than the daily calorie limits. so where does it go wrong? snacks!!! it's been shown time and again that all the snacking through the day vastly increases the amount of calories that people take in - a bag of crisps here, a chocolate bar there - and before you know it you've added another 1,000 calories to your day's intake. so the second rule is simple - continue to eat your main meals and drinks, breakfast, lunch and dinner. but stop the snacking. you could save as much as 1,000 calories a day like this. it's only when you stop snacking that you probably will realise how often you do snack without realising it. so stay disciplined - you get three lovely meals a day, just cut out the snacking ok? if you follow these two recommendations above for six weeks, you will feel great and have lost weight. and because it is not at all a punishing program, with points or starving or deprivation of certain food types (how could that be healthy?) you will be able to maintain this program long term without too much difficult