And I'm getting very hungry, but for what? It's astonishing how many different diets are being pushed. And then there are the pill, herb, and extract scams. A number of the fad diets are downright dangerous. Use of zero-cal sugar substitutes may not only be extremely dangerous, but there's some evidence that they may cause weight gains.

I just ran into this site set up by the FTC and the Competition Bureau of Canada to give us all a vivid lesson in how some of these scams work and the kind of claims most fraudulent diet sites use. It's well worth taking a look at: http://wemarket4u.net/fatfoe/ and be sure to click on the order link to see the analysis they provide of the type of claims you need to be careful of.

If you're lazy or disinclined to take a look at it, lets look at some of the usual scam tip-off claims. First, you can not lose weight by eating all the high calorie food you want. It sounds too good to be true and it is.

The only - ONLY - way to lose weight is by reducing your caloric intake and/or increasing how much you exercise to burn off the calories you take in.

Now that's annoying, but true. To lose weight you're probably going to have to both diet and exercise more.

Any plan that claims you can lose 3 pounds or more a week is either outright lying or exceptionally dangerous. Survivable, sustainable and healthy weight takes time - and effort. dayNothing exists which blocks "fat or calorie absorption" and anything that claims to do it is an outright scam.

No weight loss product or system works for everyone. We're all different and we need different approaches.

No product can cause permanent weight loss (unless it kills you of course). Maintaining any weight loss requires a sensible diet and regular exercise.

Patches, gels and creams -- nothing that you apply to your skin has been proven to cause weight loss.

So why do we continue to fall for this kind of thing? It's actually pretty obvious. We all want an easy, fast, no pain solution to all of our problems. Scam artists use this to guarantee that what we lose is our money.

The unfortunate truth is that there is no "magic bullet" for anything. Oh, we want to believe. We want desperately to believe that we can achieve whatever our dream is without any pain or hard work. And that desire is the hook that every con is based on.

Weight loss is no different than getting rich overnight (with no work). No way. Don't be conned, if you want to and need to lose weight there a few simple things you should do. First - see your doctor and develop a reasonable diet that reduces your caloric intake and - with medical approval - start an exercise regimen.

You need to modify your lifestyle and then, to keep the weight off, you need to maintain a healthy diet and a rational exercise plan. We may all wish there were an easier way, but it doesn't exist.