These marketing campaigns aim to make overweight people believe they can lose 10 pounds in a week. Can it be done? Yes and no would be the answer. A person can lose 10 pounds of water weight in a week (MacDonald, 2009). Unfortunately, water weight will not remain permanently low. To lose effective fat weight a person must consume fewer calories. An average person would have to reduce their intake below that of an average individual to burn the fat they have stored at an average of 9 calories for every gram of fat (MacDonald, 2009). Just to lose a pound of fat, they would need to eliminate 3600 calories (MacDonald, 2009). A person, at their normal weight, must limit their intake to 1800 calories per day in order to maintain that weight (MacDonald, 2009). For someone to lose a pound, that would mean fasting for two