You don't have to be a celebrity to drop weight like the contestants on Celebrity Fit Club, because the show's nutrition and diet expert is sharing all of his top tips right here! The first thing Dr. Ian Smith tells people who want to lose weight is to change their attitude about food and exercise. "Your mind has to be in the right place. If it's not in the right place your body's not going to follow and you're not going to make the right changes," he says encouragingly. "There is no magic!"

His enthusiasm inspired contestant and Project Runway champ Jay McCarroll to become one of this season's biggest success stories. You'll have to wait for the Vh1 show's finale to learn how much weight he lost, but you can get some of Dr. Ian's tips that helped Jay shed the pounds:

Use the plate as a guide to decrease your portions. "Keep an inch between your food and the edge of the plate and make sure the food is not more than an inch high," he suggests. "Or use a salad plate as your entree plate."

Drink a glass of water before and after each meal to fill your stomach. "The water stretches your stomach. It sends a signal to your brain saying, 'I'm full, no more!'" he explains. "Now you're stretching the stomach to its maximum but on fewer calories!"

Use the color of the food as a guide to make the healthiest choices. "The best colors are the rainbow - so orange, blue, reds and greens are the best colors with all the vital nutrients that you need and the vitamins and minerals. The next best would be the browns, the whole grains and multi-grains," Dr. Ian says. "The worst of course are the whites, the enriched flours."

Eat different foods and vary your menus. "If you change your diet every four days you prevent food boredom, and you burn off more calories because your body never gets adjusted to eating the same foods."

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