Diet fads and snake oil

I have been through the mill as far as dieting, exercise, and fads. I have seen many, many, many diets that I know won't work, or will work if you can maintain them over time. Once you reach your "goal" weight and go back to "normal" eating, you lose the fight and gain the weight back.
The only people who lose weight and keep it off for life are imaginary as far as I can tell. I haven't met any of them in real life yet, because, if they lose the weight and keep it off, they have solved their problems.
I haven't solved my problems yet, but I am moving in the right direction.
The gastric bypass gave me the head start.
The Dietitian gave me the tools.
Now, it's time for me to correct a few things that are still wrong in my life, and I should be able to solve my problems for life.
Prayer, diet and exercise are the keys.
Proper eating, having my head in the right place, and no major outside disasters will allow me to win this race. But, there is no end for this race. It will continue until I am dead.
The race will never end until I leave this body behind.

I had a teacher in 7th and 8th grade who told a story of the king who would give away his daughter in marriage to the man who could tell a story that would never end. We heard the story every day for two years, and the story never ended. We kept waiting for it to end, and it went on and on.
This is that story. It will never end.

Now, on to the snake oil:
I have a friend who sent me some chocolate that has ingredients in it to help you lose weight. It is part of a multi-level marketing system that is moving up the ladder rapidly.
I looked up each ingredient, and read about them to see if there was anything harmful in it. There wasn't.
So, the diet chocolate will work? Yes and no.

1. The stuff is expensive as all diet plans are.
2. There is not enough quantity of each ingredient to make any difference in your diet.
3. The diet required you to drink one glass of water with the chocolate before a meal. If you were 100 pounds or more overweight, you had to drink 3 glasses of water!
   
4. The main active ingredient besides dark chocolate was xylitol, which is a natural diuretic. So, you drink the water, and the xylitol makes you pee! Guaranteed weight loss. Xylitol also has benefits as far as your teeth are concerned. If you chew gum with xylitol, it has the effect of neutralizing the acid in your mouth that would cause tooth decay. This is something I learned from a dentist friend of mine. But, the amount of it in this chocolate, plus the fact that you get rid of the chocolate pretty quickly, negates it's benefits.
5. When you stop the diet, you lose the race, as I said before.
6. Some of the other ingredients haven't been tested long term, so their benefits/dangers may not be known. I do know that xylitol loses it's diuretic effects with usage, so it may not work after awhile. Your body gets used to it.
   

I have never met anyone who could lose 100 pounds or more and keep it off for life by eating one little chocolate piece. Or even 3 pieces!
Now, the water is a good idea. But three glasses? No wonder they lost weight. They were bloated with water! 3 glasses could be dangerous too.
If you want to make money with a multi level marketing company, Google "Send out Cards". This is the only company I know that has a legitimate product that will work if you work at it.