Build 'Body Confidence' With Mark Macdonald's Diet Tips

STUDIO CITY (CBS) — Diets fail. They leave us hungry, lethargic, and miserable—and after a cycle of yo-yoing, we often we end up heavier than we ever were. Nutritionist, personal trainer, and fitness model Mark Macdonald has tips to help people understand how to get into the best shape of their lives.

Macdonald stopped by KCAL9 Tuesday to spill his fitness secrets.

He founded Venice Nutrition, a fitness program with over 350 centers across America that has helped hundreds of thousands of people—including his friend and client Chelsea Handler—achieve their weight and fitness goals.

Now, with Macdonald's first book, "Body Confidence," readers can understand how to get back in shape without superhuman willpower or obsessive exercising.

The key, Macdonald reveals, lies in stabilizing blood sugar levels within an optimal range, because doing so prevents your body from storing fat or burning muscle. This state of balance is essential for losing fat and gaining the lean body mass that turns the body into a calorie-burning machine. Balanced blood sugar will also cure the body of the hunger pains and cravings that can easily derail dieters.

Three key nutrition factors:

1. Meal intervals—Our bodies need to be fueled constantly and consistently. The best way to achieve this is to eat small and balanced meals every three to four hours, including a small meal within one hour of waking and within one hour of going to sleep.

2. Nutrition ratios—Protein, fat, and carbohydrates are the three nutrients essential for our survival. In the correct ratios, they keep our bodies in a state of balance or homeostasis.

3. Calories per meal—Your body can only process a certain amount of food at once. You should never be starving before a meal, and you should never be completely full after.

For more information, visit Venice Nutrition.