Everyone seems to have a special diet or tip when it comes to weight loss for women. Unfortunately, most of the ones we hear about on TV, in the store, or from various 'experts', are nothing more than gimmicks. Sure, you might lose some weight, at first. But, before you know it, you will gain all those pounds right back.

What You Need to Know About Weight Loss for Women

Some of these diet trends do get one thing right: you need to input fewer calories than you output. Unfortunately, many of those diets also include mistruths and poorly researched advice that will only add to your misery.

One of the first ways women try to lower their calorie intake is to eat less. This is one of the worst things you can do. Instead of eating less, focus on eating the right foods, at the right time, so that you can feel satisfied, while keeping healthy and fit. Low calorie diets with long waits between meals tell the body it's starving. This triggers the body's storage mode, the largest of which is fat storage. Research suggests you're better off eating every two to four hours, instead.

So, what should you be eating?

Protein

Made of amino acids, protein is vital for many bodily processes, including weight loss for women. One of these roles is to increase hormone glucagon. This frees fatty acids and creates a way for the body to use its fat to get more fuel for your cells.

How much protein should you have in your diet? Women doing high intensity training should consume 1.4 - 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body mass.

Fat

Women have finally started to understand the importance of including fat in their diets. The key is to make sure you get good fats, rather than bad fats. But to do that, you first need to know about bad fats.

Bad fats, which include trans fats, don't exist naturally. Instead, they're created during industrial food processing to make foods more pleasing to the tongue and increase a product's shelf life.

Healthy fats are saturated fats (animal fat, tropical oils), monounsaturated fats (olive oil, avocados, and nuts) and polyunsaturated fats (Omega 3 and 6, flax, fish). Together, they help protect your cardiovascular system, improve body composition, and alleviate depression.

Dietary fat is used by our bodies as energy or stored in fat tissue, organs, or other body tissues, which isn't as scary as it sounds. A number of body tissues and cell membranes are fat based. Therefore, balancing your fat intake is important for keeping your entire body healthy and functioning at its best.

Carbohydrates

How you consume and use carbs will greatly influence the results of your weight loss plans. Because your body isn't made of carbohydrates, it has no place to store them. So, when you intake more than your body needs (or can use effectively), the excess is stored as fat.So, rather than using carbs for an extra boost when your energy is low, use them as an energy source and to repair your muscles after a workout. Just do it wisely.

First, eliminate wheat from your diet. It's a poor fiber source that has high glycemic content. This causes the insulin levels in your body to rise, preventing your body from converting fat into energy. Excess sugar or food is then stored as fat. And when your insulin levels are consistently high, you can develop insulin resistance, which leads to diabetes.

Maximizing Weight Loss for Women with Exercise

When people want to increase their calorie output, many of them will avoid exercise -- the opposite of what they should do. Exercise can maximize your weight loss, but it can also help you keep your weight under control, improve your mood, and increase your energy, while promoting bone and ligament health, heart health, and increase muscle mass to help battle the natural aging process.

Weight loss is about far more than just not eating or reducing your calorie counts. These trends are useless for anything more than just the temporary loss of a pound or two. If you want to lose those extra pounds and keep them off, you need to understand and use the right methods. Effective weight loss for women must include a nutritious diet, as well as a smart workout regime.

Flavia Del Monte is a Registered Nurse, Certified Physical Trainer, Certified Nutritionist and the creator of Full-Body-Licious. You can read more about her training programs, nutrition advice and workouts for women on her exercises for women blog.