There has been a recent surge in experts weighing in (pun intended) on popular and celebrity diets to rate them in terms of effectiveness, nutritional adequacy, and balance. Look at latest crop of magazines, Internet news reports, and television specials.

What is a semi-motivated would-be dieter to do?

Every diet listed seems to give rise to a chorus of criticism. Either it contains too few fruits and vegetables, not enough fiber, not enough fat, or too few calories. The glycemic index is too high or too low, nutritional content of its staples are not good enough, there is too much or too little of something.

Who rates what we are eating now? We simply pig out on everything from pizza, to fast food, to snacks (did you know that potato chips are most popular snack food in America - accompanying 32% of our lunches?), desserts, ice cream and beer.

While it would be nice, I suppose, to have a population who ate only healthy foods, in moderation, exercised daily, and took care to ingest at least minimum requirement of vitamins and minerals, that is not reality, my friend. We overeat on all wrong foods, we avoid regular exercise like plague, and huff and puff our way into enlarged bodies that are twenty to fifty pounds heavier than our frames deserve.

This is a very contentious area. Mr. Weightless will only tell simple truth, so below is information that has been proven to be true, but final judgment is yours.

Slow and Steady Wins Race...

Slow and steady exercise that raises your heart rate a significant amount, but that still allows you to breathe without struggling for at least 20 minutes will encourage fat loss. This is called aerobic exercise. The term aerobic means "with air", meaning that your muscles are burning sugar and fat in presence of oxygen. To be able to burn calories in presence of oxygen, you have to be taking regular breaths, so activity you're doing must be a moderate pace, at most. For many people who are overweight, this can mean simply a fast walk. For many athletes, this may be a quick jog. It doesn't matter where you are along spectrum as long as your heart rate is raised and you can breathe normally or carry on a conversation.

Why 20 minutes? At first, your body will only burn blood-sugar because it is readily available. If you keep going long enough, your body realizes that blood-sugar won't be enough, so it starts burning fat as well. If you stop exercising before this happens, then your body will simply be tired and you will feel hungry because your blood-sugar will be low (see my article on Satiety, click here). Your body wants to retain fat and avoid burning it. This is a survival mechanism... read my article on Adaptation that you can find on my website.

...Or Does Maximum Intensity?

There is another school of thought that has had similar success with just as much good theory behind it. Vigorous exercise for 10-15 minutes will burn just as many calories from your blood-sugar as a longer duration exercise, but it will also raise your metabolism for many hours afterwards. In other words, you won't burn fat during your workout, but you will slowly burn fat for a period of time after finishing. This method has been shown to have more dramatic effects on lowering body-fat than low-intensity exercise described above. This is anaerobic exercise, meaning "without air". You'll be going fast enough that your breathing won't be enough to fuel calorie burning. Carbohydrates (blood sugar) will burn without oxygen, which leads to creation of lactic acid. This is what accumulates in your muscles, and makes them feel like they're burning.

However, there are serious drawbacks to this method, which make it difficult to recommend this strategy exclusively. Before embracing high-intensity mindset, read below.

First, if a person is just starting a program, they risk serious injury if they try to exercise too vigorously. Knees, hips and ankle joints are very common injury sites, and muscle cramping can be very painful even if it is short-lived. Don't exercise at your peak intensity until you're used to exercising!