The secret to successful diet maintenance

Anyone can shed a few pounds--the hard part is keeping the weight off for good.

A new study lights the way to post-diet success, and all you need to do is avoid the sugars and other bad carbs that probably led to your weight gain in the first place.

Easier said than done, I know--but maybe this study will help give you the motivation you need to finally win the battle of the bulging bellies. Researchers have found that the greatest post-diet success comes to those who stick to foods low on the glycemic index.

Those are generally the low-carb foods that won't cause spikes in blood sugar levels.

The researchers followed 773 overweight and obese adults from eight European countries who lost an average of 24 pounds during two months of low-fat dieting.

Then, they placed the dieters on one of five different "maintenance" plans: low protein, high glycemic; low protein, low glycemic; high protein, low glycemic; high protein, high glycemic; and a control group that didn't follow any single plan.

After six months, most of them regained a little weight. But the ones who followed the high-protein, low-glycemic diet regained 2 pounds less than those who ate more carbs and less protein, according to the study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study suffered from a high dropout rate--just 548 of the dieters were able to stick with it until the end. But again, the low-carb eaters did best: Just 26 percent of them dropped out, versus 37 percent of the high-carb, low- protein dieters.

The one flaw here is that the glycemic index isn't always the best way to look at carbs. For example, ice cream and peanut M&Ms rank relatively low, but that doesn't make them healthy.

If you want an easier time choosing your foods, ditch the charts and get back to basics. Pass on all the bad carbs--especially sugars, starches and refined grains.

Even healthier whole grains can sabotage a diet, so limit them--and even then, only eat them after you've reached your weight-loss goal.

And whatever you do, don't let those sugars sneak back into your life--that's how dieters fall off the wagon.

In addition to successful weight loss, low-carb diets can also help you to lower your blood pressure, keep your cholesterol levels within a healthy range and even lower your risk for diabetes and heart disease.

And we're not the only ones facing an obesity epidemic. Keep reading for more on why pets are fatter than ever-- and what you can do to save your own companion.