Anybody who tells you that you won't lose weight if you don't eat is nuts. If you go without food long enough you'll die, of course, but you'll get awfully thin first.

So what about fasting to drop some extra pounds before your wedding? There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, as long as you don't go too long. It's hard to tell exactly how long that is, and when you start seeing negative effects differs for each person.

A smarter (and safer) strategy is to cut your caloric intake significantly, while still eating.

Maybe you've heard of "negative calorie" foods or diets. There's really no such thing, but the effect can be that your body has far fewer calories to burn, and ends up overdoing it a little. That means your net calories from those foods are negative.

Fruits are good for this. Substitute fruit for some of the other stuff you eat that has lots of calories. Don't dunk the fruit in caramel dip first! You can eat your body weight in apples and still lose weight, especially if they take up the stomach room donuts usually fill.

Either fasting or cutting your calories way down is definitely a "crash diet." Don't do this too often. You probably can't keep it up, which means you're going to cheat, which will keep you from losing weight at all. That defeats your purpose.

Always remember, it probably took you years to build up to your current weight. It at least took you months. It's probably going to take just as long, or longer to lose that weight. Expecting to be thin overnight is like expecting to win the lottery. It happens sometimes, but the odds of drowning in your own bathtub are much higher.

Copyright by Roy Miller