You’ve probably seen the ads — "Lose Weight with Great New Diet Discovery" — "Ancient Secrets of the Far-East Revealed" — and it turns out to be a "magical weight-loss tea".

What’s the big secret? Is it even a secret? Well, not exactly. What you get, if you succumb to the hype, is pretty much the same as most diet plans: A generic, reduced-calorie diet, a recommendation to exercise regularly, and the secret ingredient — in this case, a "special" tea.

Don’t get me wrong — I am very fond of tea — green, white, black, or herbal. I drink lots of tea, both hot and cold, with meals and for snacks. But tea is hardly a secret. And its benefits are well-known.

"Get enough sleep, or you won't be able to lose weight." The first time I heard this, it sounded ridiculous. Don’t you burn more calories when you’re awake than when you’re asleep? [Not necessarily] Wouldn’t you lose more weight by sleeping LESS? [No]

Those ideas seemed sensible to me at the time, but they were wrong. All the latest findings show that getting a full night's sleep is absolutely essential to losing weight.

The stress resulting from sleep deprivation leads to imbalances in levels of several chemicals in the brain that regulate appetite and fat storage. So for best results, don't skimp — get at least seven or eight hours of peaceful rest every single day. Think of this as vitamin Z.

Do you like to exercise? Do you look forward to your workouts? If you are like many of us, the honest answer is no.

There was a time before automatic everything when people didn’t need separate workouts to get exercise. They walked everywhere. Most of their day involved hard labor. The last thing on their minds was what to do to work off excess calories. Nowadays everything we do involves labor-saving devices. We hardly ever break a sweat. Food overindulgence is the problem now — especially the empty calories that do nothing to nourish, and everything to make you fat. Diets and exercise regimens come and go, but the formula is still the same: to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you take in. So yes, exercise in some form is necessary.

Time to take a major step toward a brand-new you! Let’s clean up the kitchen. I don’t mean sweep the floors or wipe the counters, although those are certainly good things to do. I mean get rid of the junk food that tempts you to eat the wrong things.

You’ve heard the refrain: "Don’t shop for groceries when you’re hungry!" Very true. Anyone who shops while hungry will probably come home with bags full of snack items and other stuff they'd be better off without. Along the same lines: "If it’s not in the house, you’re less likely to eat it!" Few people, no matter how snack-obsessed, will make a run to the store for a particular munchie if there are other options available right there at home.

So here's the plan…