[greymule]

The less calories you take in and the more you burn equals weight loss.

True in theory, but it can be frustrating, because when you start cutting calories, your metabolism slows down, too. Many people eat less but lose no weight. For people who need to lose 10% to 15% of body weight, eating less and maintaining a better diet usually works, but people extremely overweight should consult a specialist. Surgery is often part of the solution.

Steven, you are 100% correct that it's a matter not of dieting but of making permanent changes that will result in gradual loss down to your normal weight. At least two Hollywood actors died of extreme and rapid weight loss: (1) Laird Cregar (famous for his 1944 portrayal of Jack the Ripper) died at 28 after going from 300 to 200 lb. in a short time, and (2) Oliver Hardy, who dropped from over 300 to 150 lb. in a few weeks. Anna Nicole Smith and Angela Aames also undoubtedly damaged their hearts with weight loss drugs.

The guy who used to sponsor my softball team would go from about 450 lb. to as much as 650 lb., and when he reached that point (BMI = 85!), he would check himself into a clinic for six weeks and take a couple of hundred pounds off. That was in the late 1970s, when he was in his thirties. (He was 6'2" and had once been a fine offensive lineman at a heavy weight but not an extreme one.) God rest his soul.

It always gets me when overweight guys I know insist on fake cream and artificial sweetener in their coffee (to save maybe 50 calories) and then spend the evening eating potato chips and drinking beer.