With the New Year coming up fast, many women may be considering making 2013 the year they finally lose that extra bit of weight. Diets are a common New Year’s resolution.

But if you are really serious about losing weight then there are some diet do’s and don’ts you need to be aware of.

Do: Eat

When most people start a diet they often tend to cut a lot of food groups out of their diet, or cut back on food altogether. Celebrity endorsed juice diets are tried and tested by thousands of Brits every year, but the truth of the matter is they simply don’t work.

Of course, if you limit your calories you will lose weight. But by not eating your body will go into starvation mode, making it ultimately harder to lose weight.

And that’s not all! Medical professionals have found that when extreme dieters start eating again they put even more weight back on. By eating healthier, rather than eating less you can shed the pounds the healthy way.

Rather than seeing it as a diet, see it as a lifestyle change, eating a healthy meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner, your weight loss may be slower, but it will be more permanent. Combining a fat binder with your normal diet may be the boost you need to kick off your weight loss routine.

Do: Exercise

Many dieters forget that a healthy diet includes increasing your activity level. Exercising regularly is good for your hair, nails and skin, and will keep your body firm and slim.

The best form of exercise for women is high-impact cardio, whether you’re doing a spinning class, Zumba, or sweating it out at home with an exercise DVD, get your heart racing and watch the weight fall off.

Eating well and exercise go hand in hand when it comes to weight loss, which is why people who successfully lose weight use a combination of calories restriction and increased exercise.

Even by walking up the stairs instead of using the lift you can increase your daily activity level and feel better about yourself.

Exercise releases endorphins, so the more you exercise the better you’ll feel.

Do: be realistic

One of the most common reasons people fall off the diet wagon is unrealistic goals. Healthy weight loss means losing 1 to 2lbs a week, so expecting to lose 10lbs in 2 weeks is an unrealistic goal. Consider how long it will take you to lose weight healthily and make checkpoints.

Whether it’s every 5lbs or every 10lbs, by creating smaller goals you can watch your progress every step of the way – and maybe even treat yourself with the money saved from cutting out the junk food.

Don’t: try to fight your genes

Thinking you can change the fundamental way your body works is a bad way to start a diet. Whether you’re naturally curvaceous or naturally muscly, you can’t change your genetic build by cutting calories.

That being said, if you find that your genes are preventing you from losing weight, no matter how hard you try, research companies such as XLS Medical offer specialist medical devices to give you a little extra help with your weight loss.