When I was diagnosed as being at risk of T2 diabetes I did some research and came across the work that has been done suggesting that if you lose 15% of your bodyweight you have a high change of reversing / averting the condition. I did it in 8 weeks through a very low calorie diet, losing 42 pounds in 56 days, as advocated by the magnificent Dr Jason Fung and others. Though I wasn't obese I had been wanting to lose my accumulating belly fat for some time but before coming across the science had always assumed such a diet was extreme. Such is the propaganda we're bomdarded with. Now I keep my weight at the same level by skipping breakfast, consuming about 2/3 of my previous calorie intake and occasionally fasting.

Intermittent fasting - of which Dr Fung is the great guru - is something whose health benefits are now being rediscovered, though whether the message will get through to the public is another question. Going back to the ancients, people have always known fasting is beneficial but the food industry pays a lot to ensure that knowledge gets swamped by its own message, which is that if you aren't filling your face at any given moment you're doing something wrong. Big Pharma backs them up all the way; the last thing it wants is people not getting all the ills obesity brings. The fact, as this post suggests, is that we don't need to eat anything like as much, and certainly not as badly, as we do. As it also implies, exercise is valuable too, though from my recent experience I now believe diet to be far more important when it comes to getting / keeping weight off.

My advice to anyone seeing dieting as a long road is simple: go nuclear. Just think, in 8 weeks it could all be over. Now obviously I wouldn't advise anyone do this without looking further into the matter in case there are reasons it wouldn't be a good idea. Seek advice, though remember most doctors tend to be conservative to the point of over-caution. Take anything they tell you along with Jason Fung's book 'The obesity code'. Other considerations (ie compelling health concerns) aside, I know which one I'd go with.