When you're overweight it weighs on you. It wears you down. Physically and mentally, it's a problem that you just want to be rid of. But it is a unique kind of problem.

If you had a drinking problem, as bad as that can be, you could quit. Put down the bottle, and that's it. Solved.

If you smoke cigarettes, same thing. Toss the pack and go cold turkey. It is tough but you can do it. You can solve that problem in one day.

But if you are overweight, you can't just give up eating and be over it. You can skip a meal. You can even fast for a week. But eventually you have to eat again. There is no way to stop eating forever and there is no way to lose weight immediately.

Fine, you understand that. But still you want to take it off as fast as possible. Naturally, who wouldn't? But there's the trap. So you see the ads. You read the headlines. And you get sucked in .

They suck you in and you suck yourself into a trap. The trap is believing that you really can lose 10 pounds in one week. Or lose 37 pounds in four weeks. Or whatever else they are trying to sell you. And it is a trap.

The human body, your human body, can only take off fat at a certain rate. There is a limit. The limit for most people is about 1-2 pounds per week. Not 10 pounds per week. But 1-2 pounds per week.

You can lose more weight than that. But you can't lose more fat than that. The limit of fat loss is 1-2 pounds per week. If you lose more than that you are losing lean muscle. And when you do that, when you lose that lean tissue, your metabolic rate slows down. The metabolic rate is how fast your body burns up calories, and if you are overweight this is extremely important.

This has been proven many times in scientific studies. At the University of Rochester researchers found that a rapid weight loss diet caused the resting metabolic rate to decrease 18%. (The safety and efficacy of a controlled low-energy ('very-low-calorie') diet in the treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetes and obesity. Arch Intern Med. 1988 Apr;148(4):873-7.)

See, it is this simple. If you go on a rapid weight loss diet, you lose fat, but you also lose muscle. Your metabolic rate drops. So you burn up fewer calories. So when you go off the diet (you can't starve yourself forever) you gain the weight back faster than ever.

Have you done that before? Have you dieted, lost weight, but gained it all back?

Rapid weight loss is not the way to permanent weight loss. Yes, I know it is hard. Yes, I know you want to lose weight right now. Yes, I know the ads and headlines are appealing. But they are leading you into a trap. If you don't learn this one thing you will be trapped in being overweight for the rest of your life.

You cannot lose weight and keep it off, and have the body you want with rapid weight loss programs. It does not work. It is a trap.

So how do you spell success in weight loss? You spell it P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E. If you can only learn patience, and then learn what really does work to keep the weight off for good, you can lose the weight and have the body you want.