Last year, a young woman who is close to me lost 85 lbs in less than 9 months. She really needed to lose it -- at 5'7 her present 125 lbs is much healthier than 210, although I think she overdid it a little. How did she do it? Not through ridicule, and not through an eating disorder. She joined the LA Weightloss program, and followed their diet suggestions to a T.

She did NOT use their pills, though!

She tells me that the diet she followed was nothing unusual and not hard to follow. SHe could eat pretty well whatever she wanted, including fast food as long as she ordered it as recommended. SHe changed her cooking methods slightly (ie no frying in butter), watched her portion sizes, ate at least the minimum requirements of fruits and veggies every day, and most importantly (according to her) AVOIDED ALL PROCESSED FOODS.

TO her mind, that's the key - avoid all processed foods, and you sidestep a lot of problems. But all the stress she was facing in her personal affairs last year probably 'helped' a lot too, I hate to say!