Back in the day, you could eat whatever you wanted, not think about it, and not worry about weight gain or any health effects, or at least that's how it seemed. But today, it's a different story. You're a little older, perhaps less active than you'd like, and now, eating whatever you want means your jeans aren't as comfortable anymore.

Thousands of people trying to lose weight are frustrated by traditional diets that don't work — or work only for a short time before the weight comes back. Health blogs and magazines tell us to cut calories and watch what we eat.

If you've been in the diet world long enough, you might have heard about the concept of a cheat day. This is typically considered a day off from your diet. On the so-called cheat day, you can eat whatever and whenever you want, then you'll return to your regular menu the following day.

If you've been trying to lose weight and struggling because you keep falling off the wagon … you get stuck for ideas on how to eat or exercise in an enjoyable way … your motivation keeps landing in the trash … help is at hand! Your best allies for winning at weight loss might be closer than you think.

You started intermittent fasting a whole week ago. This morning, you stood on the scale, looked at that irritating number that somehow has the staying power of a red wine stain on white carpet, and thought, How long does it take for this intermittent fasting thing to work, anyway? Now you're hovering anxiously over your fasting tracker, wishing you could speed things up but feeling stumped on how to do so.

It can be daunting to start something new. If you're considering trying a fasting schedule to improve your eating habits, lose some weight, and get on a health kick, you might be anxiously thinking, But how do I even start with intermittent fasting? Let's take the worry and wonder out of the equation so you can get to feeling confident, calm, and in control.

For an effective method of losing weight and improving your health, intermittent fasting is refreshingly light on rules (ironic, given the title of this article). And, because we know that change happens more easily when people control their own path, we're not here to start laying down the intermittent fasting law.

Losing weight isn't always easy to do. Food is delicious. Life is challenging. We often use the former to cope with the latter, and it's never as simple as just eat less and move more.

Intermittent fasting is often touted as the magic bullet fix for all sorts of things. Want to lose weight? Try intermittent fasting. Worried about pre-diabetes? Try intermittent fasting.