Since most bodybuilders know what to do, I suggest for rest of us, a protein shake between breakfast and lunch or between lunch and dinner. The time you choose depends on when you have longest period of fasting. For me, it's between lunch and dinner, so my shake comes around 3pm.

Part Two -- Start an exercise program, with first week involving nothing but stretching major muscle groups. Stretching increases tonal stimulation to muscles (tone) causing them to burn more calories at rest. Plus it protects against injuries.

2. Week Two -- Start dieting by replacing 1/2 of a meal with same protein shake from last week. Do this for 1 week.

3. Week Three -- Replace one whole meal with a protein shake. Change mixture of shake to 60% whey and 40% casein proteins. For most people, this comes out to about a 500 calorie reduction.

4. Week Four -- Reduce caloric intake by another 250 calories. I suggest adding a second protein shake, made up of same 60:40 mix and use it to replace 1/2 of a another meal.

Record amount of weight you're losing. Never let it reach a rate of more than 4 pounds per week (that's double what I normally recommend).

5. Week Five -- Repeat week four.

6. Week Six -- Add back last 250 calories you dropped and stop drinking second shake. End Result

You could lose up to 12 to 18 pounds on average in 6 weeks. The exact amount depends on many factors including exercise.

Quick Weight Loss Summary:

Don't do it. Fast weight loss inevitably will lead to future weight gain. Just don't do it. But, if you do, at least follow my steps, healthiest steps to fast weight loss.

To Healthy Living!

Michael A. Smith, MD Chief Medical Consultant Diet Basics

Dulloo and colleagues also tested plant compound EGCG found in green tea. They found that stimulant ephedrine alone had no effect on thermogenesis, but that caffeine plus ephedrine resulted in an 84% increase. However, adding EGCG to caffeine plus ephedrine mix increased thermogenesis even further.

"Our studies ... raise possibility that therapeutic potential of green tea extract, or indeed a combination of EGCG and caffeine, may be extended to management of obesity," Dulloo and co-authors write.

A researcher who reviewed study for WebMD says that while work is interesting and extends this group's previous findings by showing that compounds in green tea other than caffeine are involved in thermogenesis, caution should be used in interpreting animal data and applying it to humans.

"They used [a particular type of fatty tissue] from rats and we don't really know how significant that tissue is in humans or if it is different in obese vs. non-obese people," says Sheri Zidenberg-Cherr, PhD. "It doesn't rule out significance of findings, and it is a good model to use to look at effects of caffeine and combination of caffeine and [plant] compounds that are present in green tea, but until better clinical trials are done in humans, it's hard to say what physiological significance of this actually may be."

Zidenberg-Cherr, who is an associate professor of nutrition at University of California, Davis, also points out that thermogenesis plays only a very small role in energy expenditure in adults. Most of energy expended is used to maintain basic body functions such as breathing and flow of blood throughout body.

She says green tea may have many health benefits due to its plant compounds, but cautions that it is not answer to weight-loss woes. "Green tea can't be used, and it shouldn't be used, as a 'magic bullet' for weight loss," she tells WebMD. "You've got to combine it with other changes, including increasing physical activity and reducing a high-calorie diet."

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