You see these articles all the time: how to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks, 14 pounds in 2 weeks, how to lose 5 pounds in 2 weeks, lose 15 pounds in 2 weeks, and YES, even how to lose 20 pounds 2 weeks! The answer by these authors are overpoweringly: Juice diet! Why? Because it flushes out your system while you are still getting enough carbohydrates and so forth...

But, it is deceptively exciting to see a weight loss of 5 or 6 pounds in a week, especially if you do not realize that most of the weight lost is not body fat but simply muscle glycogen and water, and with a juice detox 5-7 pounds is fecal matter from the colon (depending on how long you stay on the diet), which you will put back on when starting to eat solid foods again.

The only intelligent reason to go on a juice detox, should be to cleanse your body, and to get rid of unhealthy eating habits. There is no sense in going on such a diet to lose weight fast, and then simply going back to your old eating habits.

Firstly, juice, and especially juice that is extracted with a dedicated juice extractor (which separates the juice and the pulp) does not contain near the amount of natural carbohydrates and fiber, as do whole fruits and vegetables.

By going on such a diet for too long, you will be void of sufficient carbohydrates. And in the absence of sufficient dietary carbohydrate, your body will turn to its reserve store of carbohydrates (glycogen), located in the liver and the muscles, in order to provide fuel for any activity.

On average, a person's muscle tissue contains 500-700 grams of glycogen, but every gram of muscle glycogen is stored with 3 - 4 times its weight in water, so the total loss of weight which is seemingly substantial, consists of only muscle and water. For example, if you burn 500 grams of glycogen then at the same time you lose up to 2000 grams of water: a total of 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds) of body weight, but you have lost absolutely no body fat.

There are more effective ways, and ways from which you can emerge with an eating plan for life. In the above case you will lose weight fast, but when you are done, it will all come back without exception if you keep on eating as you used to. You can lose a substantial amount of weight in 2 weeks, if you have to, but do it the right way, and know what you are doing, so that you will have the knowledge to come out of those 2 weeks victorious and on your way to the body that you want!

In order to lose the maximum amount of fat in 2 weeks, or in any time period for that matter, you need to consume less calories than your body burns. You must however ensure that those calories come from the right sources, and that you do not deny your body the valuable nutrients that it needs in order to burn fat. You need protein, you need carbohydrates, and you need fats.

Getting into a decent exercise regime will support your efforts even further. You will go beyond thinking in terms of losing weight in 2 weeks, and you will become lean and good looking for life.