Diet fads really come and go. Today you have countless people trying to lose weight with any of the following: Paleo, Intermittent Fasting, Carb Backloading, and do I dare say Atkins? Next you have all the “carb dogmas” of low carb, no carb, or all carb – the latter being my rebellion against all this uncommon sense.

While I’m someone that has never been classified as obese (although oddly, am currently overweight on the BMI scale as it doesn’t account for muscle mass), I can share my two tips that have helped me go from a chunky 222 down to a sleek 196…

1) Does this fit my goal? 2) Did man make it?

Does what you’re eating fit your goal? If your goal is fat loss (the key here is fat loss and not losing just weight), you already know what you should be eating: less grains, more protein, few processed foods, as well as plenty of fruits and vegetables (but more vegetables than fruit). On the other hand, if you’re trying to gain weight or muscle, you know the key is complex carbs, plenty of protein, and to eat often and plenty.

If you know your goal, ask yourself if what you’re eating meets that goal every single time you pick something up. If it doesn’t, why are you eating it?

Now that you know your goal, it’s time to steal a quote from good ol’ Jack LaLanne, “if man made it, don’t eat it.” I guarantee that when you look at a piece of food, you can tell if it came from a field or a factory. There are always exceptions, but the fewer foods you consume that that were produced by machines, the better for you it will be.

Using these two rules, let’s examine how you’d look at breakfast. If your goal is fat loss, you know that eating a bagel or other processed food (cereal) fails to pass both rules. If you eat eggs and some type of smoothie or a salad, you already know the answer is going to be two thumbs up!

For dinner, using these rules will tell you that some type of sandwich or frozen meal just won’t cut it, but some type of stir fry with lean, organic chicken and lots of vegetables is an amazing option.

One of my favorite authors of all time, Dan John, has a famous saying, “I said it was simple, not easy.” There are no shortcuts to actual fat loss, and using the two questions I stated above to govern your dietary choices can be simple.

But sticking to it? That may not be easy.