I have heard that there are are some diets that let you do this. I am not really worried about my weight right now (have not worked out in the past month, still average goal weight), but how do you just lose inches instead? Is there a secret diet that I don't know about?

Gosh, I really don't think so. Back when I lost a lot of weight a few years ago, the doctor told me that inches come with pounds of weight loss. It's true from what I saw. I think you could do spot exercises, but as far as diets that claim to make you lose inches ONLY at your belly for example, are a bit of hooey.

This is an excellent question. I've always been told that targeting exercises can help with toning areas, but I didn't know inches only came with weight loss. Good to know. I guess combining the two is probably the most effective method.

I think it's more about exercise than diet, I've only dropped a couple of lbs in the last year, but my shape's totally changed.

The inches/weightloss isn't quite right I don't think, because inch loss tends to come from change in muscle tone. Muscle's denser than fat, so you can cram a load more muscle into the space where fat would be. So you could stay the same weight, but lose inches cos you're replacing fat with denser muscle. If that makes sense?!

PP, you're so right in that sense. I think it makes a big difference in where you are in your weight loss journey. I know that when I lost weight, (I had a LOT to lose) of course my size (inches) went down. I was only doing cardio, no weight training so my "inch change" came from the fact that I was just getting smaller.