Who should you believe

Years ago, when I posted on a popular website that losing weight was possible without exercise and that losing weight fast was good, it was treated as heresy. I was advised to read other posts before posting.

Another person posted that I did not know what I was talking about. A person with over 3000 posts in her profile suggested that my post should be ignored because I was trying to create a buzz. Even though I posted what I believed in, and more important, what worked for me, my message was not well received.

I understand that advocating losing weight without high-priced diet products, personal trainers and expensive gym memberships was not welcomed at that site. Many weight loss gurus like to emphasize long, steady weight loss. While they were coaching you through this weight loss, they are also likely draining your bank account in a long, slow fashion, too.

Widely popular assumption that in order to lose weight you must exercise has been the foundation of many weight-loss programs. The advice to exercise more to lose weight is simply not realistic. Some find it hard to accept but exercise isn't necessarily helping us lose weight. Even if you exercised every day, in order to achieve any noticeable weight reduction, you would have to do it for hours each day. Exercise is great for our physical health and state of mind, but it has a disappointingly small effect on weight loss.

While most weight loss "experts" still claim that losing weight quickly is not sustainable, study after study show that shedding weight fast leads to a greater weight loss and longer-term success of keeping it off.