As a small business owner, you may work long hours, eat out frequently and push proper diet and exercise out of your mind. If weight gain has become an issue, consider several diet programs before diving in. While extremely restrictive diets may work in the short term, the best diet lets you lose weight with food that tastes good, provides satiety and properly fuels your body.

To maintain a healthy weight, regardless of your diet, think about changing your perception. Instead of viewing diet food as a deprivation of everything you ever loved, think of food as fuel for your body. Twinkies and french fries may taste great, but they're wasted calories that don't provide you with beneficial nutrients your body requires. Consider other factors in your search for a new diet:

1. Strive for a life-long change of eating habits since yo-yo diets eventually promote weight gain.

2. Review the diet plan and check foods allowed — make sure you can actually follow it.

3. Consider diets with preplanned menus or prepared meals to save time.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Consider a jump-start diet plan

Many diets start with an initial more restrictive phase for fast weight loss, then level out and promote more gradual weight loss and maintenance. This approach provides dieters with motivation because they see quick results and want to continue.

I recommend: Add the Atkins Diet to your list of diets for comparison. The low-carb diet strives for lifetime maintenance, but it begins with an induction phase that includes a limited carbohydrate intake designed to speed up metabolism and encourage quick weight loss. The Flat Belly Diet from the editors of Prevention magazine starts with a four-day Anti-Bloat Jumpstart that includes fairly bland but satiating food portions. During the rest of the 28-day program, dieters eat four times daily, consume 1600 calories and eat foods like chocolate, cheese, vegetables, poultry and seafood, fruits and nuts.

Consider a diet plan that offers prepared meals

If you hate diets because you dread spending even more time in the kitchen, consider a diet that supplies you with meals.

I recommend: The Jenny Craig diet offers planned and personalized menus, and you can supplement with various fruits, vegetables or dairy products chosen separately. Between registration and food costs, this diet runs on the expensive side. Consider Nutrisystem as another option for quick, no-fuss meals. It offers plans for men, women and diabetics. Free membership includes counseling and support services, online classes, online bulletin boards and chat rooms.

Try diet programs with recipes and/or prepared meals

Many dieters enjoy programs that offer flexibility in choosing to cook and/or eat prepared meals.

I recommend: Start your diabetic diet meal planning at MedicineNet. You don't have to suffer with diabetes to benefit from a diabetic diet, since it simply offers a way to eat smart and healthy. With this diet, you'll eat frequently, count carbs, include healthy choices like whole grains and fruits, and limit fat and sweets. The South Beach Diet offers recipes and advice for eating out, but it also provides dieters with frozen entrees and pizzas, sandwiches, cereals and snacks so you don't spend more time in the kitchen than you want. The first phase cuts out sugar and refined starches; dieters who don't eat a lot of sugar can start at Phase 2 for steady weight loss, and the diet concludes with lifetime maintenance. Weight Watchers has helped people lose weight since the early 1960s. It offers customers flexible food plans and relies on a four-pronged approach of behavior, food, support and exercise. Dieters with hectic schedules or who don't like to cook will find a large assortment of frozen and otherwise packaged foods for meals and snacks.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Let your doctor review your diet plan to ensure it's healthy for you and doesn't interfere with your medications or any medical condition you may have.

The problems associated with unhealthy diets are well known, and include heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes and high blood pressure. Fortunately, the risk of such conditions can be drastically reduced through healthy dining choices, and a employee diet program can be a vital part of such an initiative.

When designing an employee weight loss plan, keep the following in mind:

1. Crash diets do not work in the long term. A employee diet contest is fine (as long as participation is voluntary and privacy is respected), but ongoing promotion of healthy habits is better.

2. The best employee weight loss plan is based on healthy eating and exercise, avoiding diet pills or other aids. A supportive employee diet program seeks to gently foster a healthy lifestyle change.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Provide access to healthy employee diet options

More and more companies bring lunch in for their employees in the hopes of maximizing productivity and fostering team spirit. While many workers love pizza and hamburgers, providing such fare on a regular basis is tantamount to kissing employee weight loss plans goodbye.

I recommend: EDiets is one of the best dieting websites because they offer several different eating styles to choose from, including a diabetic diet. There are so many choices that there is surely something to suit everyone's needs. Sparkpeople is a good choice for people who want to track their food and learn about eating healthy, but don't want to spend a lot of money on a diet food plan.

A good company wellness diet can help reverse certain medical conditions

There's no doubt that what you eat is related to any illnesses you may have. Many people have had success in reversing illnesses by following specific diet plans.

I recommend: The McDougall Program is a strict meat-free, low fat diet plan that helps with many different medical conditions. In some cases, the Atkins Diet, a complete diet plan including low carb diet foods, has helped women who have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  In even a small company, employee diets can vary wildly. Providing access to healthy employee diet information can be a great first steps towards changing bad habits.