Many diet pills claim to produce weight loss with no effort required on your part. One of the most egregious claims made by weight loss drug marketers is that they will enable you to lose weight without exercise.

In 2003, a 12-week Brazilian study divided dieting women into three groups, each one supplementing their daily diet with either three apples, three pears or three low-fat oat cookies.

The Atkins Diet is a low-carbohydrate approach to losing weight. It puts an emphasis on eating meat, fish, eggs, cheese and vegetables while strictly limiting consumption of carbohydrates. P.J. Doolin at Atkins.

Being overweight can be risky for your overall health, but a particular type of fat, called visceral fat, can be especially dangerous. Visceral fat is the fat that accumulates around your waistline, and it's more deeply set into your abdomen than subcutaneous fat that settles in other areas of your body.

Phentermine is a sympathetic amine, which means it is a stimulant very similar to an amphetamine. Phentermine has one purpose -- as a short-term pharmacologic, or drug, therapy for weight loss in obese patients. Although approved for only one indication, the effects of phentermine are felt across multiple body systems.

You can lose a considerable amount of weight by walking and cutting calories. But to have permanent results, you don't want to lose more than 1 to 2 pounds per week.

Most everyone likes the satisfying feeling of satiety, or feeling “full,” following a meal. For some individuals this feeling is fleeting, leading to the feeling of being hungry all the time as well as a feeling of marked nausea when not eating. While certainly unpleasant, there are ways to address the situation.

An upcoming vacation often results in the desire for quick body improvements, especially if you’ll be wearing a swimsuit.

Let's face it: losing weight isn't fun because it's associated with hard work and commitment. Still, if you want to lose weight for an upcoming special occasion, a gradual approach is best. Ideally, you're able to create a healthy lifestyle that doesn't feel like you're overexerting or depriving yourself.

You may have heard about the extreme diet of Chris Voigt, executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, who pledged to eat nothing but potatoes for a 60-day period. To meet his caloric needs, Voigt planned to eat 20 potatoes a day.

Being overweight not only takes its toll on self-esteem, it also impacts your well-being.

The Indian herb ashwagandha may provide many weight loss benefits to support your diet and exercise program. According to "Life Extension Magazine," scientists theorize that many of ashwagandha's health-boosting properties comes from the antioxidant steroidal alkaloids and lactones, principally the withanolides.