Magazines are littered with articles about weight loss programs with immediate results. These programs remind me of scam business programs that profess you will make millions of dollars but in reality never follow through. Most people are educated enough to by pass the pathetic money making program but practically everyone has been fooled by diets. Looking at the model on the front of the magazine generates desperation and before we know it we are following a dangerous diet in order get skinny.

First, it's important to realize that we are comparing ourselves to unrealistic people. Our goal is to look like a certain celebrity, who has a personal trainer, spends hours working out each day, has a personal stylist, has no children and no family commitments; their priority and job is to seem perfect. Their lifestyle is not reality so don't judge yourself against them.

Summer is a time when everyone gets giddy about loosing weight FAST! The bikini is calling but first you need to shed those flabby pounds. So, you trust a quick dieting scheme that inevitably fails. Fast weight loss diets fail because they are fighting against your bodies natural functions. By dramatically cutting calories you body goes into starvation mode, it holds on to as much as it can and eventually it will begin loosing muscle, fat and water.

These diets don't teach self discipline or a healthy life style, they focus on emotions and once you have starved yourself enough to get the desired weight loss you will quickly return to your previous habits. The crash diet made you loose muscle, fat and water but you will only put back on fat. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue (Renee Cole) and when it is lost you metabolism slows done making weight loss even more difficult.

Other side effects of quick weight loss are the inevitable onset of fatigue. With less muscle and water you will feel sluggish and heavy. Also, losing weight quickly makes skin saggy and can leave ugly stretch marks. Loosing weigh fast can make you more susceptible to developing gallstones.

The more dramatic dieting you engage in the more your body will fight letting go of weight. Be smart and live a healthy and active lifestyle. If you loose one pound a week for an entire year that equates to 52 pounds! That is a huge significance and while doing it you would have taught yourself how to live healthy and remain that way.