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How do we know which weight loss program is the one magic bullet for us? I am sure you have heard about such diets as Slimfast, Jenny Craig, Nutri-system, the Green Tea diet and Weight Watchers just to name a few.

We have a crisis here in America. It is called obesity! This is the fastest-growing cause of death and disease in America. The sad thing is that it is completely preventable.

Did you know that nearly 2/3 of Americans are overweight or obese In America, 1/8 of all of the deaths is caused by an illness that is directly related to being overweight or obese.

Here is another bit of bad news. An unprecedented number of children here in the U.S. carry excess body weight. This weight greatly increases our children's risk factors for a variety of health problems including heart disease, mental health problems, diabetes and asthma.

So, what does it take to lose some of this weight? The first thing you must do is cut down on the number of calories that you take in each day and start burning more calories every day. Calories, by definition, are the amount of energy in each piece of food that you eat. Some foods are higher in calories than others. If you consume foods that are high in sugar and fat, then you are typically eating a lot of calories. If you eat many more calories than your body can use, the extra calories are stored away as what? You're right excess body fat.

Let's get down to the nitty gritty! A pound of fat is equal to about 3,500 calories. To lose a pound a week, all you have to do is eat 3,500 less calories a week. That comes to about 500 less calories a day. If you don't want to do it that way, then you will have to burn off the extra calories. You can burn these calories off by just being more active or by exercising.

The best weight loss program is for you to consume fewer calories and then burn off those calories. Just think all you have to do is to eat 250 calories less each day and exercise enough to burn off an additional 250 calories a day. That will be equal to you losing a pound a week.

Many experts say that you should lose no more than 2 pounds a week. Losing more than that will mean that you are probably losing water weight as well as lean muscle mass and that you are not losing excess fat. If you do this, you will find that you will have a decrease in energy and more than likely you will gain the weight back!

Diet pills are not a magic cure all. It is true that diet pills may help you lose the weight initially, but they will usually not help you to keep the weight off, and they may also have side effects which could be damaging.

Most of these diet pills have not been tested by the FDA which means you are unsure if the drugs are safe. Taking diet pills does not help you to learn how you must change your eating and exercise habits if you want to lose weight. The only way to lose the weight and keep it off is by changing your lifestyle.