Weight loss pills, fat loss pills, magic potions and diets, and weight loss plans that will cause you to lose all the weight you want to lose. Beware of all of them. Unless, that is, they include exercises to lose weight.

Even then, of course, they may not work for you. You just have to "suck and see", until you find a weight loss program that you're happy with. But one thing is certain - if you don't exercise properly then you have a small to zero chance of permanently losing weight.

You don't have to start training like an Olympic athlete. But you do have to give your body the means of getting back to a healthy weight, without starving yourself. Even if there were a magic pill that melts fat away, your body would most likely start to compensate for the loss of fat by replacing it. There may be a short time when you lost weight but it would not be long before it was put back on again.

You see, your body loves what might be called the "status quo". It doesn't like change. It will strive to keep things the way they are. And if you're overweight then your body will regard that as the norm and will, at least initially, resist attempts to change your weight. Surplus proteins from over-eating will at first be excreted, and a shortfall will be made up by retaining proteins that would otherwise have been excreted.

Your body also regards your present level of exercise, or physical activity, as the norm, and will adjust its weight to cope with it. So if you presently exercise seldom if at all then there's really no need for your body to want to lose weight because it can cope with the weight you are.

This is why exercise is so important in any weight loss plan. Once you start to exercise, even if it's only a little exercise two or three times a week, your body will adjust to the new conditions. You will know that doing exercise of any kind when you are over-weight is more stressful than doing the same exercise when you are at your proper weight.

The stress your body experiences when you do your exercise routine gives it a message, which is to reduce weight in order to make the exercise easier. Your body seeks to work in the most efficient way possible. All kinds of systems are at work, including regulating body temperature so as to facilitate the efficient working of the body. If you move into a hot environment your body invokes its sweat glands to excrete moisture in an attempt to reduce body temperature. Goose pimples are the body's response to sudden cold, when an increase in body temperature is called for.

So it is with weight. Ceasing physical exercise for any length of time tends to result in weight gain, as your body finds it can now cope quite well with the additional weight. An increase in exercise causes the body to adjust its weight so that it can cope with the new demands upon it in the most efficient way possible.

So you can forget about any diet plan or weight loss method that doesn't have exercise as an essential component, and concentrate on those that do.

Take a moment to check out this review of three leading weight loss programs.

Copyright © 2009 Philip Gegan