Diet Plan: Fasting
Aragon’s clients choose a “window” of eating, say from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., to stuff in all of their calories. The remaining hours are spent fasting. It’s successful because “you shave one to two meals off your day without consciously restricting calories. You can basically eat with abandon during this time,” says Aragon. The catch? Social obligations can be awkward (try explaining to business associates why you’re not eating lunch).
Diet Plan: Three squares a day
Eating three square 600-calorie meals a day “actually works best for most dieters who aren’t vigorously exercising,” says Aragon. (Competitive athletes need a pre- or post-workout snack to sustain them.) One common flub: The lag between lunch and dinner is six or seven hours, prime time to get too hungry and binge at dinner.
Try this: If you’re hungry in the afternoon, have a small snack - like an apple, stick of string cheese or a small handful of almonds - two hours before dinner to curb hunger. Just make sure to scale your dinner down accordingly.
This article originally appeared on MensHealth.com