Can You Lose Weight Online?
By Christine Sutherland.
People used to believe that self help was something of a joke, that online weight loss couldn't possibly work, and that live meetings were the best approach to successful weight loss.

With the benefit of modern scientific analysis, we now know that these old beliefs couldn't have been more wrong. It's become very clear that dieting and eating plans are a recipe for disaster (even so-called "healthy" diets), with experts saying that dieting adds, on average, an extra 6 lbs per dieter every year!

In addition we now know that online programs equal or outperform live programs, even when compared to having your own personal therapist or counsellor.

Of course people with serious issues like trauma or personality disorders will still require more intensive support, but for the overwhelming majority of people seeking help with weight loss, or smoking cessation, relationship problems, depression, anxiety, etc, online programs present the cheapest and best quality result that they can possibly get.

And the aim of all help is to support you toward self reliance in any case!

Not all online weight loss programs are equal. Be careful to avoid charlatans (use Google to discover their background) and disproven methods like hypnosis, dieting or eating plans, or new-age hocus pocus. Choose only those programs with proven results, run by qualified health professionals.

Just as new-age approaches are mostly ineffective, not every conventional treatment is worthwhile either. Talk therapy is all but useless in most cases, and the "gold standard" of therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, has almost no scientific proof behind it. In fact some studies show it to be no better than placebo.

Also, do not be sucked in by sites which provide copious testimonials in an effort to part you with your money. Professional therapists or clinicians don't use testimonials because it's regarded as unethical and a betrayal of the client/therapist relationship. In the world of health, testimonials shout out "amateur"! So instead of testimonials, look for a single modest statement, or a small set of case studies, and most definitely look for actual clinical research!

Why should you ignore testimonials?

Because it's very possible that there are thousands of unsatisfied clients for every one testimonial. When was the last time you saw a site publish letters of criticism?

So the bottom line is, we encourage you to use a self-help approach to freeing yourself from your weight problems, and at the same time we urge you to examine your chosen treatment method carefully to make sure you select a proven method, with good support facilities.

I hope now that you know that online programs do work, and you appreciate the importance of ensuring they are backed up by clinical research and staffed by trained professionals, that you might like to grab a couple of freebies that give you a solid taste of what that's like. Check out 2 free books, "17 Solutions" and "Stop Wishing and Start GETTING!", just 2 of the range of freebies available as a free member of TopLifeSolutions.com. Why is all this free? Because TopLifeSolutions.com is part of the Kind Communities Initiative, and it wants to get real, proven, valuable information to you, so that together we can make a difference to community health and happiness.

Article Source: http://www.articlemap.com

Freebies aren't always worth the time of reading, but these freebies are because they're written by internationally-renowned health expert Christine Sutherland, and are based on real research and clinical experience. The methods work for weight loss, as well as for depression and other problems.