A friend posted in Facebook today complaining “The whole weight loss industry are a bunch of dishonest sharks” – a sentiment provoked by watching a TV advertisement for a weight loss company.

Of course, the sentiment was all encompassing and based on only one company’s approach, but in the eyes of many people all weight loss programs are the same. They promise a lot and deliver temporary results at best and no (or even detrimental) results at worst.

The idea that you can take a magic pill (in the case of my friend’s objection, the ‘pill’ was meal replacement shakes) to cure your weight woes is obviously tempting. It sounds easy. It sounds like magic. It sounds too good to be true. And for most people, it is too good to be true.

Losing weight is the easy part for most. Almost any strategy works, and in the comments of my friend’s Facebook post, one person said “Nothing loses weight quicker than an eating disorder or drug habit.” In the same vein, you could lose weight pretty quickly by having a leg amputated.

Let’s not get too ridiculous, but the reality is that every weight loss strategy works. Unfortunately, not every strategy works for every person and not every strategy works long term.

If you want to lose weight for a special event or if you don’t care if it’s just temporary loss, give anything a try. The magic pill will be perfect.

For those who want to lose weight AND keep it off, while at the same time improving health and vitality, finding a long-term program based on fresh foods is essential. It’s actually about discovering what works best for your body, which very likely won’t be the same as what works best for your neighbour or husband or even sister.

So if you want to lose weight you may fall into one of two camps: the first is that you already know what works for you and you’re doing it, and that’s great. You’re working toward your goal and experiencing success.

Or perhaps you fall into the second camp: you’re trying hard, feeling like you know what to do, but you’re just not getting the results you feel you should. It seems clear that whatever you’re doing is not working optimally for your body. You may not be doing anything wrong, it’s just that your body needs something different – perhaps just a tweak here or there, or maybe a major dietary overhaul.

If you fall into the second camp, make a time to talk to a Healthy Inspirations Health Coach today. They have the training and experience to assist you in finding the eating plan that works best for your body, and they’ll help you in making the permanent changes to habits that will allow you to not only lose weight, but to keep it off.

If more people did this, my friend may have to amend his Facebook post!