There are probably more products and programs for weight loss than Carter has liver pills. It's no wonder that the weight loss industry profits are in the billions of dollars each year. The stats alone will make you cringe, such as the fact that 55% of the people in the United States alone are overweight according to standards and 23% of them are considered obese. So it's no wonder that many overweight people are in panic mode to lose the weight. Unfortunately, there is healthy weight loss and not so healthy weight loss. Hopefully, this article will give you some healthy guidelines to follow so that your weight loss progress doesn't lead to more serious problems.

So, what exactly is healthy weight loss? Not to sound like a smart aleck, but healthy weight loss is weight loss that doesn't end up making you sick. This relates to not only how much weight you lose but how quickly you lose the weight, as well as what means you use to lose the weight. Let's start with how much weight you want to lose.

Unfortunately, many people who are not really overweight, tend to see themselves as such and as a result end up losing more weight than they really needed to. A good part of the blame falls on our looks conscious society and the paper thin models we see on the TV and in magazines each day. Contrary to popular opinion, many of these models are terribly underweight and not at all healthy. So the first thing you want to do is get out a chart to figure what you should weigh for your height, frame and age, and make a firm commitment to stick to losing ONLY the pounds needed to reach that weight, regardless of what YOU think you should weigh. Unless you are a doctor, I seriously doubt you know what's best for you.

Next you want to concentrate on how quickly you lose the weight. In most cases of weight loss, the initial weight you lose is water weight and this tends to come off quicker than the weight that comes next. So as a result, after most people lose the first few pounds, they find that their weight loss begins to slow and they get discouraged. This is okay. Ideally, you should only lose one pound for each week of dieting. So if you are 30 pounds overweight, it should take you about 30 weeks, or 7 months to lose the weight. Losing weight too quickly is not healthy.

Finally, there are the means by which you lose the weight. This is, unfortunately, the most dangerous part of all. Many diets, especially quick weight loss diets, are very dangerous. Also, many diets that rely on taking diet pills are not healthy because of the side effects of the pills. You want to make sure that you choose a diet that has been thoroughly tested through time and has mostly positive feedback on it.

Being overweight is certainly not healthy, but losing weight can be just as unhealthy if you lose too much weight, lose it too quickly or use methods that are questionable at best.