Some dieting experts say they are seeing a disturbing new trend in the ongoing quest to find the perfect weight-loss formula. They say that doctors are prescribing drugs for obese patients that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

While losing weight may lessen the appearance of cellulite for some women, for others, it may actually worsen the condition, the results of a new study indicate. Cellulite refers to the appearance of 'dimpling' on the thighs, buttocks and hips. It is sometimes described as 'orange peel' skin. Around 85% of women are affected. According to the researchers, while the condition is not specific to overweight people, excess weight may worsen the condition.

Most women are affected by cellulite, but while weight loss may help some, it may worsen the condition for others, says a U.S. study. "Approximately 85 percent of women are affected by cellulite," said study co-author Dr. John Kitzmiller. "Cellulite is not specific to overweight people, but excess weight may worsen the condition. We found that weight loss in overweight patients improved the appearance of cellulite, but for a few, it actually worsened the condition."

Research, conducted at the University of Hertfordshire's Obesity and Eating Research Unit, found that the slimmers lost an average of eight stone but that two thirds of them had regained weight within two years. And only 18 per cent of them were a healthy weight five years later. Here, dietitian JULIETTE KELLOW shows how to keep the weight off - for good.

Anna Nicole Smith allegedly lost all her excess blubber by using the weight loss supplement TrimSpa. Now Carmen Electra is claiming the secret to her slammin' body is not due to good genes, marathon gym sessions or a strict diet, but to a miracle pill named NV.

Weight Watchers, a 40-year-old institution for women looking for moral support as they diet, is slimming down fast in the UK as its members desert.

Courtesy of The Daily Mirror:

1 DON'T DIET:
2 KEEP ACTIVE:
3 ENJOY YOUR FOOD:
4 EAT BREAKFAST:
5 EAT MORE, NOT LESS:

An Australian research team has reported that a low-GI carbohydrate-rich diet leads to weight loss of five per cent or more and reductions in ‘bad’ cholesterol levels.

EATING chilli regularly could help in the fight against insulin resistance and obesity, according to new Australian research. In a comparison of bland versus chilli-laden meals, researchers from the University of Tasmania’s School of Human Life Sciences found that a few spoonfuls of chilli reduced the post meal surge in insulin, particularly in overweight people.

New mums are under enormous pressure to slim down almost immediately after giving birth, it was claimed today. Rapid weight loss after becoming a mother – a trend adopted by many celebrity mums – is having an adverse affect on Irish women’s health, a dietician warned.

People often overlook beverages in their quest to lose weight, but sodas and other sugary drinks can be a significant source of calories. As many as one in five calories comes from drinks, and soda accounts for 25 percent of beverages Americans consume. Some researchers have gone so far as to say soft drinks are to blame for the obesity epidemic in the U.S.

Overweight women who are breastfeeding and want to lose weight can do so safely by decreasing the amount of sweetened drinks, snack foods, sweets and desserts in their diet and walking briskly for 45 minutes per day, four days per week, a new study indicates.

A St. Louis weight-loss instructor is suing The Coca-Cola Company over its product loyalty campaign, called "My Coke Rewards." Julia Havey claims the campaign might encourage kids to drink so much Coke they could die. The campaign gives customers points for buying Coca-Cola products. They trade in points for prizes that range from baseball gloves to free vacations.

The DailyMail asked four busy women to try an array of body-enhancing products for a month to see if they could banish their bikini blues this summer.

SparkPeople.com, a site that offers advice on weight loss, nutrition and exercise, announced Wednesday that it has launched a social-networking service that will let people interact and participate in community groups.

Want to shed weight but don't know where to start? Get stuck into these top tips from dietitian Juliette Kellow.
Juliette Kellow

1 Don't blame nights out or parties for your overindulging. Accept these are a part of life and incorporate the calories into your diet.

2 Follow the way slim women eat. For example, they might not finish everything on their plate or they often skip dessert.

3 Identify bad habits and change them for healthy ones. For example, instead of heading for the fridge when you get home, go to the fruit bowl.

Click here for more.

Emap has launched a paid-for online dieting and healthy eating website as a spin off from its celebrity magazine Closer. Closerdiets.com launched today, as a subscription service, offering tailor-made healthy eating and weight-loss plans.

A new study shows that extremely obese people who had weight loss surgery had less than half the risk of heart disease following surgery and were also less likely to require heart surgery to unclog blocked arteries than those who did not have the surgery.

Here are some foolproof tips on how to lose weight:

1. Choose a diet
2. Choose a way to exercise
3. Cope with stress
4. Keep your diet effort top priority
5. Handle your negative thinking

THERE ARE many reasons why it is important to drink water, especially if you are losing weight. Initial weight loss is largely due to loss of water and you need to drink an adequate amount of water in order to avoid dehydration. The process of burning calories requires an adequate supply of water in order to function efficiently; dehydration slows down the fat-burning process.

A REVOLUTIONARY new drug which helps people lose weight has been launched in the UK. It causes weight loss by blocking the brain's craving signals, suppressing the appetite. The drug, called Acomplia, is made by the French pharmaceutical firm Sanofi-Aventis, and has been used successfully in clinical trials.

It was reported last week that one supplement, Zotrim, helped people to lose weight even if they weren't dieting. However, according to Independent dietician Dr Carrie Ruxton "a supplement pill should be seen only as an extra tool. For long-term weight control, a sensible diet and exercise programme must be the principal way."

Victoria Beckham reportedly lost 6lbs from her already skinny frame before flying to Germany for the World Cup.

It's been a while since I brought you some weight loss tips and you can never have too many of them, so here are a couple more:

- Get serious
- No quick fix
- Stay motivated
- Choose a weight control program

The Daily Plate is a new site that helps you keep track of what you have eaten and the amount of calories you have consumed.You search for a food item, select the right one from a list of possibilities, and hit the "I ate that" button. It logs the item, the calories consumed, and so on.

According to Tucsoncitizen.com's online personal trainer the total calorie intake just from liquids on this "typical" day is 845. If you add that up over five days, that's a whopping 4,225 calories, about enough to put on a pound of unwanted weight. So in just one year, you could easily put on 50-plus pounds just from liquids. Replace just a few of these with some good old-fashioned water, and you could stand to lose 25 or 30 pounds. Add in a little more exercise, or more efficient exercise, into the mix and you'll be way ahead of the game.

Drug compan Cytodyne has been successfully sued for $1M for falsely advertising the diet pill Xenadrine RFA-1 as "a revolutionary thermogenic diet supplement clinically proven to increase fat loss by an astounding 17 times more than diet and exercise alone.'"

Fat burners, diet pills, nutritional supplements – you know who gets the most out of these products? The manufacturers and sellers.

The University of Chester is to begin offering an MSc in Weight Management from September.Aimed at personal trainers, doctors and health professionals, the year-long course will cover topics including diet, exercise and the current obesity epidemic.

This guy lost 30 pounds in 3 months and here are the 50 weight loss tips which helped him do that. A couple of highlights include:

- Dietary control and exercise.
- Change your lifestyle.
- Join an online support group.
- Take before and after photos.
- Start reading labels.

A study by Schools Health Education Unit in the UK has found that teenage girls are missing breakfast to lose weight while increasingly knocking back large quantities of spirits and experimenting with drugs such as cannabis.

Here is an article on the kinds of food you should eat in order to lse weight. These include:

- Protein
- Cereal
- Seafood
- Milk
- Flaxseed oil
- Green tea
- Oats

The most successful weight loss diets are those that involve a weekly commitment to a class or meeting, according to research that monitored people using four popular commercial methods.

A group of 300 people, aged between 18 and 65, volunteered for a weight loss trial sponsored by the BBC and run by nutritionists at the University of Surrey. At the end of six months, the dieters had lost between 5 and 9 kg – with an average fat loss of 4.4kg. The Atkins groups shifted the weight faster in the first four weeks, but the other groups caught up by the end of the six-month period.

A third of women in the UK (29.9%) say that having to wear a bikini is what they dread most about the summer holidays, according to a new survey by tescodiets.com.

The Flavour Point Diet, by Dr David Katz and Catherine Katz has already sold 10,000 copies in the US, and, like the popular Atkins diet, it doesn't require cutting out favourite foods - chocolate and meat feature as do rice and potatoes. It works by categorising foods into flavour "themes" to retrain your taste buds and keep you satisfied, thereby helping to control weight.

Byetta, a new drug for diabetes has an interesting side effect -- weight loss. The drug promotes that feeling of fullness after you eat and regulates how much you are eating, which is one of the problems underlying diabetes.

Some smart alec has decided to cash in on the success of The Da Vinci Code by bringin out a diet book titled - The Diet Code: Revolutionary Weight-Loss Secrets from Da Vinci and the Golden Ratio”. Apparently it brings to the world a new twist on the Mediterranean diet by using ancient mathematical formula called the Golden Ratio that was used by Da Vinci.

Here are the the Top 10 weight loss myths:

Myth 1: Organic food is best.
Myth 2: Exercise is the most important component of a weight loss effort.
Myth 2: Exercise is the most important component of a weight loss effort.
Myth 4: There's no such thing as 'bad' food. You can eat whatever you want so long as you eat in moderation.
Myth 5: It is wrong to deprive yourself of your favorite foods because you'll develop an obsession for them later.
Myth 6: It takes willpower to lose weight.
Myth 7: Vegetarianism is the healthiest way to eat.
Myth 8: It is important to follow the advice from the latest scientific studies to know what's best regarding diet and exercise.
Myth 9: I'm thin so none of this applies to me right?
Myth 10: Bariatric surgery is always an option.

Weight Watchers share price is on the slide after a poor quarter. Increased competition from pharmaceuticals companies and their weight loss drugs does not make the future looks too rosy either.

According to Desoriente.com you don't need to worry about working out or dieting if you are obese, all you need to do is use their appetite surpressing lip balm.

A weight loss camp for kids as young as 5 is to open in the US this summer. The Wellspring Family Camp in Michigan provides a scientifically based weight loss and behavioral change immersion program for young overweight and obese children and their parents.

Here are eight steps to helping yourself have a happier life:

- Reduce Stress
- Sleep Right
- Accentuate The Positive
- Listen To Music
- Enjoy Scents
- Schedule A Physical
- Exercise
- Eat Well

QuestionEverything.com is a new diet website developed and is maintained by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare. It has been suggested that this site is part of a marketing campaign designed to promote their new non-prescription diet drug Alli (low-dose Xenical).

According to a study in the International Journal of Obesity boosting levels of the hormose oxyntomodulin limits appetite and raises activity levels at the same time - leading to speedy but healthy weight loss.

A study by Washington University School of Medicine has found that for obese adults in their 60s and 70s, moderate weight loss achieved through diet and exercise goes a long way in improving physical function and combating frailty

In order to get in shape and maintain it, you should work out at least three to five days per week, alternating between or combining strength and cardiovascular training for about an hour each session. In order to lose ‘fat’ — say, one pound per week — you must decrease your daily caloric intake by approximately 500 calories.

Bottled water that is said to help induce weight loss by making those who drink it feel full, will go on sale in Portugal later this month in what its manufacturer said will be a world first.

According to a study by University Of Minnesota teenagers who go on diets or take unhealthy measures to lose weight may end up gaining pounds in the long run. The findings, according to the study authors, suggest that dieting and other forms of weight control are either spurring weight gain and eating disorders, or serving as an early warning of problems ahead.

If you like to be abused whilst getting dieting advice then why not try the charmingly named Fat People Are Stupid blog where Rocco Castellano the co-founder of askROCCO Media gives his straight talking diet and fitness tips.