Ok I admit it. I have absolutely had enough with all the dieting nonsense getting around these days. I get mad now whenever I see a new product coming out promising they are the next big thing in the dieting industry.

The Tony Ferguson Weight Loss program is the latest program that gets under my skin. It promises fast and easy results, yet is another strict, fad diet that is going to leave a lot of people unhappy with their results.

It seems the guy has got no idea what causes weight gain, and is simply out to make a few bucks.

My main complaint with the program is that it is ridiculously low in calories. The average diet contains approximately 800-1000 calories a day. (1200 for men.) This will result in fast weight loss, (great for his marketing plan) but will ultimately lead to faster weight gain in the future.

This is because low calorie diets lose more muscle and water weight, resulting in a slower metabolism. This leads to weight gain when you go back to your normal eating because you no longer burn off as many calories as you did before going on the diet.

Our body fat is stored on us for a reason. It is our energy source to survive when food is in shortage. Problem is, when we cut calories too far, our body panics.

It realises that there is a shortage of food coming in, so it is reluctant to use up its fat stores. This is because it doesn’t know how long this food shortage is going to last.

So what it does then is it breaks down our muscle tissue and uses it for energy. And since every pound of muscle helps us burn an extra 50 calories a day, losing it results in a slower metabolism.

Another way to look at it is by knowing that the body is always trying to adapt to survive. So if we cut calories, our body is going to find ways to survive on this limited supply of energy.

It does this by burning off less calories during the day. The easiest way to do this is to get rid of muscles, because muscle burns a lot of calories.

One last thing that Mr Ferguson doesn’t realise is that people are overweight because they love food! Cutting calories so far, and cutting out our favourite foods only cause our cravings to increase.

The longer we deprive ourselves of what we love, the more our cravings intensify, until sooner or later we give up, and usually binge.

So not only does low calorie diets destroy our metabolism, it increases our appetite. This extra intake of food coupled with our now slower metabolism will put fat back on us faster than we can imagine.

So forget the Ferguson diet, it is unrealistic and too tough. The bottom line to weight loss is to simply eat less calories then you burn off.

Eat foods you enjoy, keep your calories around 11-12 calories per pound of bodyweight, do regular exercise and the fat will come off much easier.