Have you noticed that when you re on a diet, every second store is a food store? When you want to lose weight, temptation is everywhere: whether you re at home or at work, you re surrounded with opportunities to eat.

All these temptations make it hard to stick to a lengthy diet, so we re naturally inclined to want to lose weight fast, so that we can forget about dieting and go back to living a normal life. Unfortunately, if we re overweight, our normal life is what made us overweight.

It may be time to give up the the idea of fast weight loss, and develop a lifetime eating plan that we can live with.

Here are three steps to the best weight loss plan for you - may be a fast weight loss, or it may be slower, but because it s tailored to your needs, you will get the best results.

1. Before you start your diet, keep a diet journal for two weeks. In your diet journal, just record everything you eat for a week. Record all your meals, snacks, and everything you drink.

A diet journal is valuable, because it shows you what you re eating. Most of us live such busy lives that we eat when and where we can. Don t be judgmental, look on your journal as an experiment. Until you know what you eat, you don t know what changes you can make to your diet.

2. Whether you have any health challenges or not, go to your doctor and get a checkup. You may have a condition which is causing your weight to increase. Most of these conditions are easily treated.

3. When you ve kept your diet journal for a week, and have seen your doctor, make an appointment with a nutritionist. Take your diet journal along for the consultation. The nutritionist will look at your journal, and will ask you about the kinds of foods that you enjoy. She or he will then create an eating plan that works for you, because it includes your favorite foods.

Once you ve got your eating plan, do your best to follow it. Chances are, that because you ve prepared so well - your journal and the doctor have shown you how you put on weight, you will be amazed at how quickly you lose weight.

Whether you lose weight quickly or slowly however, you will find that it s easy to stick to your own personal eating plan.