If you’ve lost all the weight you want to lose, congratulations—you did it! When you get that beautiful belly you desire, you’re going to feel lots of emotions. You’re going to feel proud, relieved, sexy, and happy. But you know what else you may feel? A little scared.

Why? Because you’ve succeeded temporarily at diets before, but then you’ve put the weight right back on. Over and over and over again. But, I’m not going to let that happen to you. My goal is for you to eat fearlessly for the rest of your life. I want you to enjoy all the foods you love, while keeping your belly slim for life. When you stick to my Slim Belly Forever/80-20 plan no food is taboo for 20% of time time. You’ll be able to eat anything you want for 20% of your meals.

You can have pancakes for breakfast on Sunday or pizza for dinner on Wednesday. And you’ll do it without gaining weight. For the remaining 80% of your meals you will stick to the Yes and No foods outlined in both the Bone Broth Diet and The 10-Day Belly Slimdown. This should help you keep the weight off for good. But, if you start to gain a pound here or there you need to spring into action quickly and find out why so you can correct course, and make sure you’re following these dos and don’ts.

Don’t Go Low-Fat

The biggest mistake you can make is to go low-fat. Your body actually needs healthy fats to burn fat—and it needs them to build smooth, beautiful skin cell walls as well. (That’s why so many of your friends look old, dried-up, and wrinkled after low-fat diets.) Instead, make sure your diet includes a daily tablespoon or two of healthy fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, or pastured butter. These will help you keep the weight off and help you fight cravings.

Don’t Starve, but Do Satisfy

Do you think you need to starve? Think again. A good plan ensures that you never get uncontrollably hungry, panic, and go off the rails. Make sure you allow for a filling, satisfying hunger-stopper whenever you need it—not just a celery stick. My best suggestions are:

• Bone broth
• A few slices of avocado
• A few olives
• A handful of almonds or coconut chips

Don’t Graze All Day

Remarkable research shows that it’s not just what you eat but when you eat that counts. Amazingly, simply restricting your “eating window” to fewer hours each day will rev up your metabolism and melt pounds off faster. Twenty-four-hour fasts are also a powerful fat-burner and I recommend intermittent fasting for 24-hours, drinking nothing but bone broth for 24 to 36 hours, occasionally or as a way to “erase” the damage a major cheat day did.

Keep Your Gut Healthy

Weight gain starts with a sick gut microbiome. This causes inflammation, leading to a “leaky gut” that allows toxins and undigested food particles to escape through the intestinal wall. These molecules, in turn, trigger a body-wide immune system attack, resulting in chronic inflammation that packs pounds on you. What’s the answer?

A diet rich in anti-inflammatory, gut-healing foods like collagen and bone broth—foods that coat, soothe, and heal a sick gut, like putting aloe vera on a sunburn. By the way, this is another reason to steer clear of low-fat diets. They’re typically loaded with low-fat dairy and tons of grains, both of which are inflammatory.

Get Enough Fiber

Fiber fills you up, making it easier to feel full and satisfied. If you fall short on fiber, you’re likely to feel hungry and made choices you don’t really want to.

Cut Out Blood Sugar-Spiking Foods

When you eat a diet high in carbs—and that includes “healthy” carbs like whole wheat toast and rice cakes—you constantly spike your insulin levels. And insulin is the hormone that lays down fat, so high levels of this “fat fertilizer” are the last thing you want!

Loading Up on Nutrients

Packaged diet foods typically are high in bad ingredients (like artificial sweeteners) and deficient in specific nutrients you need to ramp up fat-burning. Instead, find a diet that’s centered around fresh, natural foods that give you a wide range of fat-burning nutrients—from choline to butyrate to conjugated linoleic acid.

Limiting Fruits

If your diet includes more than one or two small servings of fruit per day, you’re getting too much sugar. That sugar raises your blood sugar, which raises your insulin levels—and again, insulin is a “fat fertilizer.” Also, be careful about which fruits you choose. For instance, skip high-glycemic pears and reach for lower-glycemic blueberries.

Get Enough Protein

Many people fall short on protein, which is a big mistake because protein is filling and rich in fat-blasting nutrients. Don’t go below 45 grams of protein a day (with the exception of the days when you intermittent fast). And did you know that it takes more calories to digest protein than it does to digest carbohydrates or fat? This means that right off the bat, you’re getting a weight-loss bonus.

Finally, Be Honest with Yourself

This is a big deal, because once you’ve worked hard to take off those extra pounds, you don’t want to turn right around and put them back on. So get honest about your good and bad habits.

Are you really just having one four-ounce glass of wine or is your “one” glass closer to eight ounces? Did you really just sneak one bite of your kid’s mac and cheese? Are aware of how many starchy carbohydrates you eat in a day or are you just guessing that you aren’t eating that many?

The more real you can get about what you actually put in your mouth the easier it will be to stay on track and keep the weight off long-term.

I know you can do this!