Don't you just love the helpful utterances from the plethora of pseudo-dietitians hanging around the NS BB and chat room? Seemingly empowered by their own success with the program, they endeavor to help newbies, proselytizing them in an almost evangelical mode. During some of these ministerial sessions, I've had the occasion to laugh at some of the pronouncements, as their Rosie O'Donnellesque nature has provided amusement at times when I was fading into NS ennui. The best of them so far:

"Water burns fat!"

I wanted to call Rosie, but she had already left The View. Only dear Rosie could have embellished this naively preposterous comment to give it more comedic value. I picture her employing some hyperbole like, "I will produce dietitians and physiologists who support the fact that never before in the history of the world as we know it has water failed to burn fat!" This, of course, would be followed by a raucous chorus of "Amens" from the dutifully oblivious lemmings in the audience. But I digress.

What's my point? My point is that there is no substitute for intelligent research when approaching a subject as important as your own body's response to diet and exercise. Taking the advice of charlatans can often backfire. Knowledge is power, folks. Take care to evaluate the anecdotal information you read in the forums and chat rooms here. Just because someone has lost 100 lbs does not make him or her a nutritionist or physiologist. The diet and exercise mechanisms that worked for him or her might not work for you. Do a lot of research, and I don't just mean pop science diet books. Also, understand that people love to be listened to, so thank these nattering nabobs of NutriSystem for the entertainment when they come up with crap like "Water burns fat!"