y'll confess to anything”

I couldn't agree more. Here's an example to explain what I'm talking about: Put 2 people on a diet. If 1 loses 50 pounds, but the other gains 10 there are lots of ways to analyze the results:

Optimist: The diet is great, 1 person lost 50 pounds
Pessimist: The diet is a failure, 1 person gained 10 pounds
Realist: The diet works, aver

So you've started a new diet. Good for you and congratulations on wanting to improve your health! Have you set a weight loss goal yet? Is it realistic? And by realistic I mean try and ignore all the hype you see out on the internet. You know what I'm talking about. The hype that promises you can:

Lose 18 pounds in 8 days

Lose 20 pounds in 3 weeks

Lose 42 pounds in 3 months

Sure it sounds great, but how realistic is it? In an effort to uncover the truth, I decided to do some REAL research and see how much weight someone can realistically expect to lose. I found an interesting study that compared 4 major diets over a 1 year period. That sounded perfect. After all, if you could lose 18 pounds in 8 days, just think of how much you can lose in a year. In case you're wondering, that would be over 821 pounds. What were the results of the study? The average person lost almost 7 pounds. That's a little over ? pound per month. The winner was the Atkins (Low-Carb) diet at almost 10 pounds.

After 6 months all of the groups in the study started to regain some of the weight they had lost. But 7 pounds? That's it? When I looked at the data a little deeper I found that by the end of the year all the participants had reduced their calorie intake by over 300 calories a day. It might not sound like much, but if a pound equals 3,500 calories that means they should have lost over 31 pounds. Right? So what gives? Were the numbers wrong? Greg Easterbrook once said:

“Torture numbers and they'll confess to anything”

I couldn't agree more. Here's an example to explain what I'm talking about: Put 2 people on a diet. If 1 loses 50 pounds, but the other gains 10 there are lots of ways to analyze the results:

Optimist: The diet is great, 1 person lost 50 pounds
Pessimist: The diet is a failure, 1 person gained 10 pounds
Realist: The diet works, aver

in 3 months

Sure it sounds great, but how realistic is it? In an effort to uncover the truth, I decided to do some REAL research and see how much weight someone can realistically expect to lose. I found an interesting study that compared 4 major diets over a 1 year period. That sounded perfect. After all, if you could lose 18 pounds in 8 days, just think of how much you can lose in a year. In case you're wondering, that would be over 821 pounds. What were the results of the study? The average person lost almost 7 pounds. That's a little over ? pound per month. The winner was the Atkins (Low-Carb) diet at almost 10 pounds.

After 6 months all of the groups in the study started to regain some of the weight they had lost. But 7 pounds? That's it? When I looked at the data a little deeper I found that by the end of the year all the participants had reduced their calorie intake by over 300 calories a day. It might not sound like much, but if a pound equals 3,500 calories that means they should have lost over 31 pounds. Right? So what gives? Were the numbers wrong? Greg Easterbrook once said:

“Torture numbers and they'll confess to anything”

I couldn't agree more. Here's an example to explain what I'm talking about: Put 2 people on a diet. If 1 loses 50 pounds, but the other gains 10 there are lots of ways to analyze the results:

Optimist: The diet is great, 1 person lost 50 pounds
Pessimist: The diet is a failure, 1 person gained 10 pounds
Realist: The diet works, aver

lose in a year. In case you're wondering, that would be over 821 pounds. What were the results of the study? The average person lost almost 7 pounds. That's a little over ? pound per month. The winner was the Atkins (Low-Carb) diet at almost 10 pounds.

After 6 months all of the groups in the study started to regain some of the weight they had lost. But 7 pounds? That's it? When I looked at the data a little deeper I found that by the end of the year all the participants had reduced their calorie intake by over 300 calories a day. It might not sound like much, but if a pound equals 3,500 calories that means they should have lost over 31 pounds. Right? So what gives? Were the numbers wrong? Greg Easterbrook once said:

“Torture numbers and they'll confess to anything”

I couldn't agree more. Here's an example to explain what I'm talking about: Put 2 people on a diet. If 1 loses 50 pounds, but the other gains 10 there are lots of ways to analyze the results:

Optimist: The diet is great, 1 person lost 50 pounds
Pessimist: The diet is a failure, 1 person gained 10 pounds
Realist: The diet works, aver

? When I looked at the data a little deeper I found that by the end of the year all the participants had reduced their calorie intake by over 300 calories a day. It might not sound like much, but if a pound equals 3,500 calories that means they should have lost over 31 pounds. Right? So what gives? Were the numbers wrong? Greg Easterbrook once said:

“Torture numbers and they'll confess to anything”

I couldn't agree more. Here's an example to explain what I'm talking about: Put 2 people on a diet. If 1 loses 50 pounds, but the other gains 10 there are lots of ways to analyze the results:

Optimist: The diet is great, 1 person lost 50 pounds
Pessimist: The diet is a failure, 1 person gained 10 pounds
Realist: The diet works, aver

y'll confess to anything”

I couldn't agree more. Here's an example to explain what I'm talking about: Put 2 people on a diet. If 1 loses 50 pounds, but the other gains 10 there are lots of ways to analyze the results:

Optimist: The diet is great, 1 person lost 50 pounds
Pessimist: The diet is a failure, 1 person gained 10 pounds
Realist: The diet works, average weight loss was 20 pounds per person

Are any of the above statements false? No. And that's the point. The problem I have with the whole number thing is based on the above 2 person sample, which ad do you think they'll use when the try and sell their product? That's right. Lose over 50 pounds!

Misleading? Of course it is, but I think it is also dangerous. Even if you don't buy the product, you're being told about results that may not be achievable for you. So when you go on a diet and lose only 4 pounds in a month, what do you think?

Would you consider yourself successful? Or would you give up and try something else? That's the problem with numbers. When used improperly they cause us to build up these great expectations that are almost impossible to live up to.

If you are on a diet, how much weight do you want to lose in a month in order for you to feel good?

Sometimes you need to ask better questions BEFORE you ask yourself the 'weight question'. Seeing a diet counselor, or a weight loss coach, can help you understand why you're at your current weight. They can help you eliminate some bad habits and even worse thought patterns. Good weight loss coaches can help you identify the emotional ties you have to food and show you how you can release those ties for good.

Once you have released those emotional ties almost any healthy diet will work in getting you to a health weight..