I don’t know how these wive’s tales get started, but if I talk to a hundred people about nutrition, ninety-nine of them will ask about fat burners before anything else. This, of course, is a big fat no-no, and a sign of our times, a sign that you see everywhere: on TV, in your favorite magazines, in outdoors advertising and all over the Internet.

You see ripped bodybuilders swearing that the way they got ripped was by drinking Joe Blow Juice, or taking Arnold’s Muscle Pills, or using the Crunchersizer exercise machine. Everyone knows that these muscle-bound pictures of health are getting paid for what they say. And what they say is what they’re told to say by the advertiser. Are these viewers that gullible that they buy into using a product just because they see it on TV? They must be, because the fitness industry makes millions selling “mail-order muscles.”

So, do they work? If you’re wondering whether flexing those steel bars will give you arms of steel, eventually — that’s very probable. But do you really need them? No, only if you think you do. And by then, it’s too late and you’re hooked.

For those of you who haven’t yet bit hook, line and sinker, there’s hope. But, you have to go about it the right way. First, write down everything you eat and drink for two days. And that means everything! If you ate a 5-lb bag of chocolate covered cashews, no cheating! Write it down.

Once you see what’s there in black and white, you can tell what foods you’re eating, what eating habits you've started, what you may be addicted to and where you’re heading if it continues. Do you eat too much sugar, too much fiber, too much starch, or just plain too much of everything? You know the saying, “you are what you eat?” Well, this is one of those wive's tales that happens to be true.

So, once you establish what to eat and stick to it for 6-8 weeks, and your results start to dwindle— that’s the time, and only then, when a “fat burner” product can be introduced into this new food lifestyle.

A “fat burner” will most always get you losing weight again. And since this is the time when most people abandon their program, seeing these weight-loss results again act to keep you on whatever fitness program you started. So, the weight comes off, and the muscles come on. By now, you should be putting two and two together.

The bottom line is that you can get a ripped body with 6-pack abs, without the use of " fat burner products", just with a sound and sensible physical fitness program and proper nutrition. Don’t ever count on shortcuts to get you where you want to be. Nothing replaces this little verse: Inspiration, with perspiration. That’s the way to grow.