These Top 10 weight Loss Facts are positively clear about what works and what does not:

1. Like a savings account If you take in more energy than your body needs, through the foods you eat and drink, your body stores the extra calories as fat, adds some interest and you put on weight. If you use up more energy than you take in, you burn off the extra amounts and you lose weight.

2. It is very clear then that reducing your food intake is surely the best way to lose weight.

3. Exercise is considered to be very good for you, however, it takes a lot of exercise to lose even a small amount of weight. As you tone your body, body-fat reduces and muscle volume increases. Now although this may be better for your health, it can seem bad for your weight. Muscle weighs more than fat so your weight may go up! The greatest problem with this is: your appetite often increases after exercise, so you eat more and wipe out the benefits of the exercise.

4. You should not think of yourself as being greedy; what you need to accept is that you may have to change your eating habits. All too often there is no time to eat sensibly and as a result eat too little at one meal and too much at another. Try not to miss the most important meal of the day - breakfast - and then you should eat at regular intervals throughout the day with less in the evening so your body can have time to process your food before you go to bed.

5. Diets with contradictory features appear regularly so don't assume that the latest one is the one that will work for you. What may work for one will not work for another; if you are serious about weight loss, just follow this simple outline.

6. Cut out as many fatty, high calorie foods as you are able and remove visible fat from fresh meat.

7. When cooking, it's better to grill (broil), steam or poach rather than frying; if you must fry, then use a thin spray of oil or stir-fry very quickly.

8. Some fats are essential in your diet, and some are difficult to avoid, such as spreads or salad dressings, so only use the smallest possible amount of the "light", "low-fat" or "fat-free" brands but check the labels to see whether they remain low-calorie; other things are often added to make them taste better!

9. Whenever you sit down to a meal, try to reduce the size of your normal portion by at least one-third; so instead of having three of anything except fresh vegetables or fruit, go down to two.

10. Because protein is digested more slowly than carbohydrate, it tends to make you feel fuller for longer, so when cutting your portions back you may find that you feel more satisfied if you cut out some carbohydrate rather than protein.