When losing weight, weigh up the facts.

Millions of people in the UK try and lose weight every year though only a small percentage of them will achieve lasting weight loss.

When you are embarking on a program of weight control or weight reduction it is important to separate dieting facts from dieting myths.

There are a number of myths associated with diet and dieting. The first of these is that skipping meals is a good way of losing weight. This is not true as it has been found that people who skip meals are more likely to eat more at other meals or snack in between meals. Breakfast is not called the most important meal of the day for nothing.

Severely restricting fat or carbohydrates is the best way of losing weight. Most experts now agree that it is better to focus on the amount of calories consumed rather than focussing on individual food groups.

Eating after 8 o’clock causes weight to be gained. This is a myth as it does not matter what time you eat only what you eat.

Some foods such as cabbage soup and celery can burn fat and help you achieve fast weight loss. This is another myth no food acts in this way. Some foods that contain caffeine and green tea can act to speed up the metabolism but no food on its own can burn fat.

Another myth is that fish contains no fat or cholesterol. This is not true fish does contain fat but it is a lot lower than that found in beef, chicken and other meats.

If you are looking to achieve healthy weight loss you need to follow a sensible program of diet and nutrition and increase the amount of exercise that is taken. Exercising helps to increase fitness, lose pounds and burn off excess calories.