In a list of headlines you never thought you'd see on ThatsFit, this should be number one. The claim stems from UCLA research which includes "the most comprehensive and rigorous analysis of diet studies." They start out by saying you can lose five to ten percent of weight while on a diet, but in the grand scheme of things it does little more than put abuse on the body.

According to the research, dieting does nothing for sustained weight loss nor does it have any health benefits for the majority of people on them. Now, if you asked any one of us for an opinion regarding that statement most of us would say it came from a tabloid. Dieting has no health benefits? Who can believe something like that? Well, going back to the study, it all boils down to what people do post-diet. Within six months of dieting, people see positive results. But four or five years later people end up gaining back more weight than they lost in the beginning.

This flip-flop weight gain puts stress on the body and is even related to cardiovascular disease. So if a majority of people end up gaining it all back, what's a person to do? Well first off, realize this is simply a study. Dieting does work for a lot of people, and at most this research shows what can happen if you don't maintain it. More important, however, is leading a healthy lifestyle of exercise and moderate eating for long-term health benefits.