You are probably familiar with the Healthy Gut’ yoghurts that promise a product that will take care of your digestion and gut health. They market themselves on containing live bacteria (probiotics) that make their yoghurt a must if you want a healthy digestive system.

Most Yogurts such as Greek and Natural yoghurt are already packed with probiotics! Yes, both Greek yoghurt and ‘healthy gut’ yoghurts contain lots of probiotic cultures. You could spend hundreds of extra £££’s per year on essentially the same thing, but one is sold as yoghurt, the other is pushed to be our guts best friend. Save your money and pick up Natural or Greek yoghurt (flavoured or plain).

Wearing waist belts and sweatsuits designed to make you pour with sweat will actually work.

But it does not help you lose fat. The only reason you may see a decrease in weight after using such things is that you have lost fluids through sweat. Now you are dehydrated and the second you’ve drunk enough to rehydrate, the scales will bounce back up again.

These are teas that claim to flush toxins out of your body and hold the secret to bonus weight loss. There are hundreds if not thousands of them out there competing for your custom.

These do pretty much nothing. Yes, I said it, and here’s the simple reason why you should avoid these: your body is perfectly capable of detoxing itself! We only have these incredible things called kidneys, and liver amongst other things that flush out toxins daily. The best way to drink these teas is by putting them in the bin and having a glass of water. Or if still want to have teas, try herbal teas like green tea and peppermint tea. These don’t sell themselves as anything but herbal tea, but they may offer some benefits.

‘Diet’ pills & shakes claiming to help you drop fat fast and turn your body into a fat-burning furnace. Cleverly advertised by famous people you may recognise (to gain your trust) or people with incredibly lean, jacked bodies saying that the product is the reason they have bodies like that…

Yeah, right… diet pills and shakes are some of the biggest scams in today’s market. Exploiting your vulnerability and emotions when you seek to desperately lose weight is simply evil. I am sorry to burst your bubble but these products are a must avoid!

Meal replacement drinks are lacking the nutrition that a balanced diet would bring and because they are making you consume such few calories (which is not good long term) that you will see some weight loss. After a few weeks, your metabolism will decline significantly which will stunt all weight loss but also see a rebound of weight gain the second you start enjoying normal foods. This kind of yo-yo dieting aims to gain your trust with a couple of weeks of weight loss but leaves you stranded when you want to enjoy a normal meal with your family and wonder why you’re not losing weight.

Diet pills are full of caffeine that can leave you with a bad headache, but not as bad as when you step onto the scale. You see, you can take as many diet pills as you like, but you will not lose any weight if your diet isn’t right (you are eating fewer calories than your body needs). There is no cheating a good diet for fat loss.

Have you seen those abdominal belts that will give you chiselled abs, arm straps that will shrink your bingo wings or vibration plates that will tone your legs and bum?

They don’t work. There’s no evidence to show using these products will deliver the results they claim. The vibrations may feel good but they aren’t doing anything but jiggle your fat. It’s all false hope and an easy, convenient way to do something. Let me tell you now, there is no substitute for hard work, but as for hard abs… Do some sit-ups, get your diet right and you will see them.