A neighbor of mine told me he's trying to lose weight by eating only Special K cereal for breakfast and lunch. I assume he's eating a normal dinner. But virtually skipping those first two meals of the days just isn't going to work.

When you skip meals, your body thinks you're in famine mode, and it reacts by reducing your metabolism. A lower metabolism means slower weight loss. Instead of skipping meals, you should eat at least four times per day -- breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. Try not to leave more than three or four hours in between meals and snacks, and you'll find losing weight is not as hard as you'd imagined.

I know, it seems eating less would help you weigh less. But it doesn't. Consider this news a gift. You get to eat -- the healthy stuff, anyway -- and lose weight too. Is there anything better?