A large percentage of the population is overweight. People try many types of diets and programs but it boils down to eight different ways to lose weight.

1. Sensible diet and intense and frequent exercise. This option is difficult and many times very hard to do with busy schedules, working and parenting.

2. Fad Diets that are unbalanced and meant to be temporary, such as the grapefruit diet, cabbage diet, rice diet, etc. These diets promote quick weight loss, but quick weight gain after the diet stops.

3. Support group diets such as Weight Watchers®, Jenny Craig®, e-diets, etc. – These diets can work but require group weigh-ins that many people are not comfortable with.

4. Diets from non-medically supervised clinics that provide "quick fixes" without long-lasting or maintenance plans.

5. Using fat-burners, herbal products and metabolic boosters. These diets don't follow a plan and are dangerous if used improperly, with a possibility of leading to heart trouble, and offer no apparent long-term benefits.

6. Medically supervised low-calorie diets with meal replacement products such as Optifast®®, Nutrimed®®, Advanced Health Systems, Protidiet®, etc.

7. Medically supervised programs that use appetite suppressant medications like Bontril®, Adipex®, Meridia®®, etc. and fat blockers such as Xenical®.

8. Surgical treatments like gastric bypass and bariatric surgery.

The first five methods are used by people on their own, sometimes with guidance. The last three require medical supervision and are the most effective weight-loss programs in the United States today. They are recommended and approved by universities, medical centers and even the National Institutes of Health.