Why do people automatically think of starvation when talking about dieting? Not all diets require painful physical effort on your part. Actually, the diets that work are the ones you don't even think about. They become part of your everyday lifestyle. The only thing you need to worry about is eating fewer calories than you normally do to go along with exercising enough to burn off those calories.
With that said, there is more than one formula to lose weight but it is important that the one you choice be safe to your health. There are countless weight loss programs and diets only looking to make a buck instead of reducing your caloric intake. The problem is people find it difficult telling them apart. It's up to you to know which diets keep the weight off for good and which ones are a fad. Here is some help with that:

* Always be skeptical of any diet that tells you to eliminate a whole food group from your daily life. An example of this would be one of those popular non-dairy diets. By not consuming any dairy, you are in turn doing more harm than good by not getting enough essential nutrients such as calcium or vitamin D.

* I know that low carbohydrate diets are popular in a lot of circle but I am very skeptical of them. While you can and will lose weight by not eating carbs, that is done through lowering your lean body mass. you are adversely affecting the muscles in your body. With a lower amount of carbs in your system, your body is forced to burn muscle tissue to manufacture the glucose essential to the function of the brain and red blood cells. It is also important for make sure you are also properly hydrated on a non-carb diet since you risk damaging your kidneys.

* A smart decision to make is not start any diet that claims to cleanse your system through fasting. What they don't tell you is that fasting does nothing to cleanse your body of toxins. The only thing you lose is fluid loss which leads to dehydration and possibly dangerous, low blood pressure.

* Ask a doctor or health professional about whether or not one of those very low calorie diets can work for you. These diets allow you to only eat 800 or less calories a day and can be quite unhealthy for people suffering from certain medical conditions such as kidney or liver disease. Most dietitians recommend these types of diets to individuals considered to be at least 30 percent overweight.

* If you plan on going with the diet pill route to lose weight, I strongly recommend asking your doctor first. Most shouldn't even be used with the approval first of a prescribing physician. You should never allow anyone else but yourself use a diet pill prescribed to you only. You may put them at risk for possible adverse effects.