I'm dieting and to keep from eating between meals, I've been drinking lots of juice and milk.

I'm not losing weight. Am I doing something wrong?

When you're trying to control your calorie intake, it's important to be mindful of what and how much you're drinking. Although milk and juice have important nutrients and can be part of a healthy diet, they still have calories — and calories in liquids can add up even faster than can calories in food.

So when you're counting calories, your best beverage choice is water. Keep higher calorie beverages in check. As a general rule, drink no more than 4 ounces (118 milliliters) of juice a day and 16 to 24 ounces (473 to 710 milliliters) of skim milk a day. Also be careful about energy drinks. Although they're touted as healthy, energy drinks can have as much added sugar as sodas — the top source of added sugar in the American diet.

If you get hungry between meals, snack on fresh fruits and vegetables. Whole fruits and vegetables are much more filling than juice — and it's likely you'll consume fewer calories with these choices.

If I switch to a vegetarian diet, will I lose weight?

Not necessarily. A vegetarian diet is not inherently a weight-loss diet but rather a lifestyle choice.

It is true, however, that adults and children who follow a vegetarian diet are generally leaner than nonvegetarians. This may be because a vegetarian diet typically includes less saturated fat and emphasizes more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and plant-based proteins — foods that are more filling and less calorie dense.

But a vegetarian diet isn't automatically low calorie. You can gain weight on a vegetarian diet if your portion sizes are too big or if you eat too many high-calorie

foods, such as sweetened beverages, fried items, snack foods and desserts. Even some foods marketed as vegetarian can be high in calories and fat, such as soy hot dogs, soy cheese, refried beans and snack bars.

The basics of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight are the same for vegetarians and nonvegetarians: Eat a healthy diet and balance calories eaten with calories burned.

What's the Flat Belly Diet, and can it help you lose weight?

The Flat Belly Diet is a weight-loss diet from the editors of Prevention magazine. They say that the Flat Belly Diet will help you shed belly fat and lose up to 15 pounds in just 32 days. The creators also say that you don't have to exercise to achieve these goals but that exercise can boost your results.

The Flat Belly Diet has two phases, a four-day "anti-bloat" phase with specific foods and drinks, and a four-week eating plan during which you eat 1,600 calories a day. The Flat Belly Diet emphasizes eating foods that are rich in monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). According to the diet's creators, eating food with MUFAs specifically helps you lose belly fat, without exercise. Such foods include olive oil, nuts, seeds, soybeans and avocados. MUFAs are an essential part of every meal on the Flat Belly Diet. The diet also encourages you to eat plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

The Flat Belly Diet hasn't been shown in large clinical trials to work for weight loss better than any well-balanced, calorie-restricted diet does. You might lose weight on the Flat Belly Diet because it limits total calories and encourages a generally healthy way of eating.

Although a quick fix to your weight problem may sound appealing, the reality is that successful, long-term weight loss requires a lifelong commitment to healthy eating and exercise. Put your energies into eating a balanced, healthy diet instead of focusing on a single component such as MUFAs.