Decades ago, a completely wrong-headed idea started being passed around dinner tables: Eating fat makes you fat.

Wrong. Eating fat won’t make you fat, any more than eating money will make you rich. Calories make you fat, and most “low-fat” or “fat-free” foods actually have just as many calories as their full-fat versions, because of added sugar and chemicals.

But it’s just one of many “get fat” habits that can be turned into a “slim-down” habit, starting today. All you need is a pinch of resolve and a few new routines. Here are the 20 habits you can replace right NOW!!

It's a familiar story: You pledge to honor a daily elliptical routine and count every last calorie. But soon, you're eating cupcakes at the office and grabbing happy hour mojitos, thinking, Oops, diet over.

There is a better way: Swap the all-or-nothing approach for one or two healthy switch-ups in your daily routine. "Doing this can lead to more weight loss than you ever imagined."

In fact, we talked to readers who knocked off 10, 25, even 60 pounds with some easy tweaks. Borrow their slim-down secrets to transform your body the real-world way.

Swap your go-to order

If you love the white stuff -- we're talking sugar, folks -- your sweet tooth could be making your skin sag, crinkle, and wrinkle before its time. Blame glycation. That's what happens when sugar hits your bloodstream, gloms on to proteins, and forms the aptly named AGEs, or advanced glycation end products. AGEs are bad news for your skin. They damage the collagen and elastin fibers that keep it strong and supple.

You know how vitamin C protects against colds? Actually, it doesn't. Warm milk contains no magic sleep aid. And hydrogen peroxide will do your skinned knee more harm than good. A Researcher use hard science to disprove wives' tales that have been passed down through generations. The findings may surprise you—and save you money on cold cures (none of them work). Read on for six remedies that aren't, and the doctors' tips on what you should try instead.

"Sitting Too Close to the Screen Will Ruin Your Eyes"

If you find it hard to stick to a strict diet, here’s some good news: Breaking the rules could actually help you slim down—and keep the pounds off over the long term. A study found that dieters with a flexible strategy that allowed for sweets and other indulgences were significantly more successful at maintaining weight loss during the three-year study than those who strived for rigid control of their eating habits.

You probably already know the math: You have to cut 3,500 calories to drop one pound. To lose a healthy pound a week, that’s 500 calories a day! But you don’t have to deprive yourself or add an hour to your exercise routine to reach your weight loss goals. Here are 24 no-sweat tips for torching calories anytime, any place.

At Breakfast

You're eating healthier than ever, but your muscles feel flabby, your energy is sapped and your jeans feel increasingly snug, particularly in the belly, hips and rear.

The sad truth: Metabolic rate (the number of calories we burn in a day) plummets as we age, decreasing about 1 percent each year after we hit 30. But research shows there are things you can do to help combat metabolic slowdown.

"When our metabolisms slow down isn't just age-related, Body composition, which is determined by genetics, diet and activity, also plays a major role."

If you’re a woman between the ages of 18 and 35, you’re a slave to your cravings. Food psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania singled out that particular female demographic as having the biggest problem reining in their edible whims. They also found that 90 percent of the time, those whims are for chocolate.

In fact, the most popularly craved foods are 30 percent higher in fat than healthy grub and 50 percent lower in protein. But they feel so good going down. That’s because commonly craved foods, like chocolate, release dopamine, activating your brain’s pleasure center.

You can't go anywhere without being confronted by calories. Restaurants now print calorie counts on menus. You go to the supermarket and there they are, stamped on every box and bottle. You hop on the treadmill and watch your "calories burned" click upward.

But just what are calories? The more calories we take in, the more flab we add—and if we cut back on them, then flab starts to recede too, right? After all, at face value, calories seem to be the factor by which all foods should be judged. But if that were true, 500 calories of parsnips would equal 500 calories of Double Stuf Oreos.

Tired of plugging away at the gym without seeing the pounds disappear? We found simple tricks that will transform your usual regimen into the ultimate fat-blasting routine. Whether you use just two of these strategies or all seven, our insider tips will help you get the calorie-burn you deserve.

1. Know this: “You’ll be able to comfortably work out longer and harder if you’re cool, being too hot stresses your body out, so you don’t perform as well.” Translation: You burn less fat.