I always hate the word "diet," because even though it's also a medical term, it's usually used by people looking for a quick fix. We all know that losing weight and getting in shape is a life long change in lifestyle. I'm especially reminded of that since I just got back from my yearly physical and...well...I don't want to tell you what my weight is.

Having said that, I think all diets have at least something that we can take away from them and use, and Yahoo's Buzz log has the top 20 diets being searched on Yahoo right now. They include old standbys like Atkins, The Zone, and Weight Watchers, and a few newcomers, such as the Master Cleanse Diet and The Hallelujah Diet, which is "biblically based." I have no idea what that means, but it probably means walking in a desert for a really long time.

I was surfing around the new and improved AOL Food today, and I came across this A to Z Guide To Diets. It doesn't have every single diet, of course (how could they when there's a new diet book out every week?), but it has the one that you're probably on or are thinking of trying, including The 3 Hour Diet, The Abs Diet, Atkins, Blood Type Diet, Bob Greene, Cabbage Soup, Dr. Phil's Diet, Fat Flush, Fat Smash, Grapefruit Diet, L.A. Weight Loss Diet, NutriSystem, Sonoma, Ultimate New York Diet, Ultrametabolism, Weight Watchers, and The Zone.

The only plan I've tried is The Abs Diet, because it's not only sensible and realistic, it promotes a lot of exercise and not starving yourself or cutting out a ton of foods you like to eat. But I cringe at the word "diet." It just screams "temporary fix," and keeping the weight off and your body healthy is a life-long plan.

I don't know about you, but even though I love every sunny, poolside moment of summer, I secretly rejoice when the days start to get shorter and the air a little chillier. The end of summer means the beginning of fall, and that means I get to drop kick my bathing suit and body-baring shorts and tanktops. I don't have to be so conscious of what I'm eating. And not eating.

But "dieting" isn't a seasonal activity. People watch what they eat year-round. According to Forbes, "Americans spent an estimated $46 billion on diet products and self-help books in 2004." If that's the case, why is obesity such a problem in the US? Because, as a government review has found, two-thirds of dieters on "diet regimes" will regain all the weight that they lost within a year. Give them five years, and almost everyone will gain it back.

People gain the weight back for a number of reasons, but one of them is that the popular diet programs are very expensive, especially since many health and nutrition experts believe that they are ineffective to begin with. Forbes examined the weekly menus of the ten most popular diets to find out just how expensive they really are. The results are listed below. The first dollar amount is how much the program costs per week for any associated book, membership fees, and food costs, and the second percentage is how much more that is than the average $55.44 a normal person spends on food.

• Jenny Craig - $137.65, 152.8%
• NutriSytem - $113.52, 108.5%
• Atkins - $100.52, 84.6%
• Weight Watchers - $96.64, 77.5%
• Zone Diet - $92.84, 70.5%
• Ornish - $78.75, 44.6%
• South Beach - $78.76, 44.4%
• SlimFast - $77.73, 42.8%
• Sugar Busters - $69.62, 27.9%
• Subway - $68.80, 26%

Whatever happened to good old fashioned "eat less, exercise more?" I think that's free.

Just about any diet will work if you stick to it, even if your diet consists of eating only banana bread. The problem with diets is that people do not stick to diets and even if you love banana bread, there are so many other good things to eat out there that it would just be too boring. Not to mention, of course, that very restrictive diets are not usually the healthiest ones.

Forbes has worked out their list of the top 10 diets that work. They correctly point out that restriction is the reason that many diets fail. Because most people will only have enough willpower (or interest) to stick to a diet for a short time, a very restrictive diet will produce maximum results quickly and is more likely to be selected by someone looking to lose weight. This is not the right way to lose weight. Diets are also a multi-billion dollar business, so there is a question as to whether the originators of some diets actually want people who try them to maintain their weight loss.