I did the Cambridge diet when I was 17. I lost about a stone (thats all I needed to back then!) and got down to about 7 stone 12 which is about what I should be for my pathetic 5ft height However, I am convinced it completely screwed up my body in terms of metabolism. Now that isn't coming from a bitter fatty just somebody who knows their body and their attitude to food changed after that experience.

Lose weight slowly and healthily with a varied balanced diet combined with exercise and I still believe this is the best way.

I did exactly the same in the 80s with yoyo dieting. If I wanted to lose half a stone in a week (because at 5'7" I was grossly overweight at 8 and a half stone ) I would live on Slimfast, and now my metabolism is shafted. These type of diets are often very low fat (and your body does need GOOD fats) and high in sugar and other chemical-laden sweeteners. (Sugar is far more evil than fat.)

I also think that's where my osteoporosis started; hindsight's a wonderful thing.

If you want to lose weight healthily, and long-term, a "diet" is for life. It's not a quick fix; it's how you eat. We may have known no better in the 80s but we do now.

Atkins went too far, but some of his principles were good. When you analyse them, a lot of the fashionable diets have the same basics - look up Patrick Holford, maybe buy his "Optimum Nutrition Bible" and eat healthily, with good carbs, not no carbs.

Oh and exercise.

thanks everyonexx

Did you watch "size 0"? with Louise rednapp.

Her doctor said that when someone looses alot of weight, they lose muscle mass too.
So if they did put weight back on, they would just put fat on, without gaining back the muscle, leaving body flabbier and heavier.
So that's why most diets don't work after a while, cause we normally end up back the way we were or even heavier...and this is why!

Agree and thats because people confuse weight when they should be considering body fat percentages instead, with the aim of reducing % of fat and changing body composition. Very low calorie diets simply do not work in the long run because they don't allow the body to burn the fat, instead it resorts to muscle mass first.

Its a strange concept but a person should make sure they eat often, well, and a balanced diet to ensure metabolism does its thing. Otherwise you will loose weight off the scales but still have your nice love handles.

I see clients regularly not eating enough to support weight loss and as for those stupid shake diets and very low calorie diets its really just obscene that people can charge for advice in the form of a diet and dodgy supplements with usually poor quality bioavailability of nutrients.

Ultimately there is no substitute to a planned diet and excerise. People don't want to here that nowadays and would rather believe the shit that the adverts pump out and just go from fat to weighing less and fat and back up again.

God I just read my previous post - sorry, I do bang on about it but please learn from my mistakes.

I saw the programme, Nu-Shooz. She looked terrible when she finished.