Here’s a question from a regular reader, Can I safely lose weight fast?

A:  No, you cannot lose weight quickly and maintain your health. 2-3 pounds per week is the most anyone should lose, according to most doctors and researchers. More realistically, 1/2 to 2 pounds a week is best over the course of several months or even years. Slow and steady is sane and humane!

A lot of deprivation diets and weight loss schemes promise speedy change and instant results – don’t believe them. Most of the time when you suddenly deprive yourself of proper nutrition you shed a lot of water weight in the first week or two. This is not only fooling you into thinking you’ve lost fat, it’s depriving your body and internal organs of the moisture you desperately need (after all, humans are mainly water!)

The only safe and effective way to solve your fat problems is to slowly alter your lifestyle habits into positive, balanced food and activity plans on a daily basis. Take your time; you have the rest of your life to improve yourself! Now that’s the Joy of Weight Loss (the title of my book, click here to get a copy.  It’s available on the new Kindle, too.)