Admin edit: The poster to whom DaRC is replying was a spammer, identified by assorted spam-detectors as a "Mail Server and Dictionary Attacker." This individual came here purportedly asking advice about something called an HCG Weight Loss Program; not sure what his next step would have been but I decided not to wait and see. Normally I'd have deleted the whole thread along with the OP, but I thought DaRC's reply here was worth preserving, so I'm retaining it and moving this to Health & Healing. — Selene
Perhaps this should be in Health & Healing.
I do worry about all weight loss diets and mine is a contentious view but our body is an engine. A very efficient engine designed for a hunter-gatherer lifestyle,
however, modern living isn't designed for the engine.
Weight loss is about transferring the balance of energy in (i.e. food) and energy out (i.e. exercise).
The trouble with restrictive food diets (i.e. reducing the amount of energy in) is that typically they convince the engine that there's a fuel shortage so it starts to run as lean burn. Which means the diet doesn't work.
If you can focus on increasing the energy out the engine becomes bigger and demands more fuel. If you are over-weight your body has stored this fuel.
So exercising for long periods (i.e. walking, cycling or swimming) at a rate where you can still talk whilst exercising gets your engine into the perfect position to burn fat.
You have to exercise for a long period (i.e. walk for several hours - depending upon your fitness; it may be best to start gradually at 20mins 3 times a week then increase by 5 mins every 2 weeks until you can go for a couple of hours) because first your engine has to burn all the easy energy (stored as carbohydrates in your muscles) before it starts burning fat.
You need to exercise at a level where you can talk because if the engine is working too hard it doesn't have time to burn the fat (it starts to burn muscle instead and then you get cramps / stitches). Then you have to remember to not over-compensate (i.e. eat more) as a reward for the exercise you've done.
So if you can change the balance of what you eat to natural foods - i.e. oats, nuts, seeds, fruit, vegetables etc... and increase the amount of exercise it should become a lifestyle change rather than an attempt at a quick fix. It would be more Druidic, IMHO, to spend a lot more time walking in nature and eating a natural diet.
As a personal bugbear diet is what you eat not an activity, everyone has a diet.
As an example of how efficient the engine can be - the average Tour de France (TDF) pro-cyclist expends 15000 calories of energy per day at the TDF; more than they can physically consume which is why they looks so rough at the end of 3 weeks.

