How do you lose weight quickly? Effortlessly?

Do you envy that woman with great abs, who spends less time than you do in the gym? There you are, slogging away at the treadmill, struggling through your crunches and your figure is nothing near what she's got?

She seems to get twice the results with half the effort.

You watch your diet and hit the treadmill but don't seem to get anywhere. So what are you missing?

A friend of mine went from 80kg to 60kg. After a bout of depression, she decided to do something about it. She joined a gym and learnt a few tricks that burn those extra calories. Her secret?

Drink lots of ice cold water. Soft drinks, teas, juices and all contain sugar, which adds significantly to your calorie consumption. Did you know a can of coke contains about 155 calories while a gallon of water contains zero calories? Switch from soft drinks to water and you'd automatically cut down the calories you consume. Another thing she told me was to stick to ice water. This is a trick used by models as well. When you drink ice water, your body burns more calories just bringing the cold water to body temperature. You burn more calories in the simple act of drinking cold water.

Her next tip was to switch from chocolates and sweets to bread. Complex carbohydrates take much longer to digest than simple sugars. Bread satisfies hunger and keeps you full longer. On these two principles and regular exercise in the gym, she burned away 20 kg and now looks fabulous.

I was surfing the net for other tricks. Instead of hitting the gym, I found Billy Blanks workouts a lot more effective than pounding the treadmill. I got the Billy Blanks Elite package and I think the secret lies in the billy bands. Those resistance bands with weights in the bars make the most of every move, so your workout really packs a punch. There's a detailed writeup about Billy Blanks Elite at http://www.getyouthful.com/billyexercise.html . My husband said I looked better right after the first workout and encouraged me to stick to it. I did. I lost an inch off my waist but my weight stayed the same, so I started scouting around for more ways to cheat.

I came across a slimming gel used by female body builders to maximize the effects of their workouts. Apply it on the muscle groups you want to really tone and you can feel the warming effect. As you work out, the parts you apply that gel on works harder than ever. To get those abs I envied, I applied that on my awful belly. Too soon to see much results, but at least the jelly belly is firmer now. The instructions say it would take 12 weeks to see the results so I have a long way to go.

The final cheat I have yet to try is an appetite suppressant. Something that contains hoodia might be just what I need. It comes in pill form most of the time, but I've found some Hoodia patches that you stick on and they'll start suppressing your appetite. You can find Hoodia patches, supplements and drinks at http://www.sisadvice.com/Hoodia-diets.htm