One of the best plans I’ve seen & used is Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. It’s a balanced diet that focuses on burning off calories rather than starving them off. It keeps your metabolism higher with less chance of gaining the weight back in the long run. It really becomes a lifestyle instead of a "diet."

Some tips to lose weight.

1) Create a caloric deficit in your diet. Nothing too drastic, ~500 calories under your maintenance intake. Split these among 5-6 meals per day, eating every 3 hours or so.

2) Keep your diet around 40% carbs (veggies & whole grains, esp), 40% lean protein (chicken, fish, lean steak), & 20% fat (nuts, natural peanut butter, etc). I’ve used 50/30/20 as well. I like 40/40/20 because of the increased protein to keep feeding the muscle.

3) If you’re really out of shape, start by walking 30-60 minutes per day. Work to increase both your pace and your distance.

4) Work your way into interval cardio. It does more to boost your metabolism than steady-state cardio like jogging. Something like sprinting for 20-30 seconds, then walking for 40-60 seconds, repeat for 15-30 minutes (although it may take time to build up to those times). Skip the elliptical.

5) Weight Training is a MUST to keep lean muscle on, plus it does far more to crank up your metabolism than cardio! Muscle burns more fat, so the more you have, the more you burn 24×7. Also, your body continues to burn fat for several hours after you finish working out… something steady cardio doesn’t do. Make sure your program contains the big compound lifts like squats, deadlift, bench press, shoulder press, & rows. These bring far more muscles into play (esp squats & deads) than more isolated lifts. Free weight, NOT machines! And you can start with dumbbells just as well.

6) Drink WATER! 8-10 glasses per day.

Squats, deadlifts, & lunges will help with firm up the legs & butt. Crunches are obvious for the stomach. Those will all work on the muscle… to strip the fat, you need to burn fat overall.
References :
http://www.dontstayfat.info

If you don’t suffer from a vitamin deficiency, your metabolism will still be incredibly messed up. It will go into starvation mode, and after you switch back to a normal eating schedule, you’ll balloon back up again. The whole process isn’t worth it. Remember how big the Atkins diet was? Where did it go? It disappeared for this very reason- no carbohydrates made their bodies starve, and they gained all the weight back later.

I don’t know enough about the South Beach to comment, but always be wary of these solutions- remember, companies are trying to make profits.

Other points:

You’re right, exercise is very important. You should try something like twenty minutes of cardiovascular activity three times a week. I mean things like running, jogging, or rowing- not free weights, unless you’re looking to gain some muscle.

No, there are no negative calorie foods. Celery is debatable because of how little is actually in it besides fiber- that is, your chewing may make up for the calories in it- but you might as well just use that time to exercise and eat something you actually like later.

Basically, don’t fall for the idea that there are magic tricks to losing weight. It’s a process- if you want to lose weight, you have to eat healthier overall- follow the food pyramid, and avoid eating too much of things that are obviously bad. Exercise regularly, get enough nutrients- you probably already know all this. Just apply it to your life.
References :

Or Fibre 35

These focus on Health rather than just weight loss

Yes there are negative calories mostly raw veggies that take more calories to digest then you contain in them.

P.S. Be care full of detox diets. They do cleanse your body to some degree but you should start off with Hydrotherapy as it is the best way to clear the floodgates so to speak for the toxins to leave your body. Otherwise you could badly poison your body with your own toxins. It will say on the box you may experience flu like symptoms and aches and pains after a few days- this is not necessary.

I like walking and biking myself, my sister like to take her belly dancing class. The key is to find what makes you happy

Good Luck!
References :

http://www.youfreeweb.com/diet/

They give you useful advice and a diet…

Good luck!

References :