Top 10 Weight-Loss Myths

Many moons ago, when I first started trying to lose weight, someone told me that eating celery made me burn more calories than any other food -- you used more calories to eat it than it actually contained was the theory. I went celery mad. Morning, noon, night... celery was my best friend.

One day, I was standing at my office's kitchenette, chopping away at come celery stalks, when coworker sidled up to me a quietly said, "I should tell you that you constantly reek of celery. Reek. I'm only saying this because I care. it's like eau de celery whenever you walk by." I turned, not green, but beet red and immediately stashed my celery sticks in the fridge to consume at home.

My celery binge lasted about a month. And did I lose an amazing amount of weight? No. One pound in over three weeks. Of course, that pound was pound, but I can only assume I did less snacking thanks to my celery-munching. Because, of course, the old celery story is just one of the long-abiding weight-loss myths like those in this feature:

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