If you are one of the over 70% of adult Americans who are either overweight or obese, and are looking for ways to lose weight fast and safe without bariatric or weight loss surgery, this blog is for you. Before we look in to the various options for losing weight, let us look at the statistics of obesity and overweight status from the Centers for Disease Control that can give us an idea of the problem. Overweight and obesity data from the CDC More than one-third (34.9% or 78.6 million) of U.S. adults are obese. [Read abstract Journal of American Medicine (JAMA) ] Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable death. [ Read guidelines ] The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008 U.S. dollars; the medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight. [ Read summary ] Non-Hispanic blacks have the highest age