Everyday, someone is giving us the skinny on fat and serving up new ways to be thin.

It can be overwhelming and hard to digest.

KING

Do you take at least 10,000 steps a day?

"Any dieter will tell you when you loose weight if feels like something in your body is fighting against you," said Dr. David E. Cummings, University of Washington.

To get the lowdown on weight loss, Evening Magazine has gathered experts from the Northwest and asked them to dish on diets.

First, have you ever noticed how hard it is to fight fat and lose weight?

It's not in your head, but in your body. Research conducted at the University of Washington, Seattle VA and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found when women exercised and lost weight, they had an increase in a hormone called ghrelin – a stomach hormone that increases appetite and reduces metabolic rate.

"It tells you that you're hungry," explained Dr. Anne McTiernan, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The best way to stop this gremlin called ghrelin is to eat.

And that's the good news: No matter what you eat, it really seems to lower the ghrelin level.

According to clinical dietitians Anne Linge and Judy Simon, eating more can actually help you weigh less.

The say the act of eating actually increases your metabolism. There's a thermal effect, you burn calories when you eat and eating four to six times a day isn't actually a bad thing if the portions are small.

If you're a dieter who skips meals, the recommendation is to cut it out!

They say breakfast skipper burns their calories up to 10 percent more slowly all day and lower their metabolic rate. The best way to shift metabolism into high gear and burn calories is to exercise.

But how much?

Recently, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services recommended 60 to 90 minutes per day.

Karin Czulik / KING5.com

Don't let a little cold and snow stop you from getting your exercise!

It's overwhelming until you consider that exercise doesn't have to be one hour at a time and it doesn't have to always be in the gym. There are many ways of getting it.

Get off the bus earlier, walk part of the way into work, park farther away. Monitor how many steps you take with a pedometer. Do that and you can eliminate a grueling workout at the gym.

The Surgeon General has recommended to use as a baseline at least 10,000 steps a day, which means if you're looking at weight loss, you might want to work up to 20,000.

When you get thirsty, don't drink a sugary softdrink, but water. By eliminating two sodas a day from your diet, you can lose 25 pounds per year.

A lot has been said about Weight Watchers, The Zone, Atkins and Ornish diets, except which one works the best – at least not until now.

Recently, scientists completed the first side-by-side comparison.

The take-home message was that not one of them worked clearly better than the others, all of them worked better if you stuck to them, and all of them only worked a little bit.

When all the latest research on diets is dished up, digested, and regurgitated, it all boils down to this:

"A system that works for you personally and ideally should be a combination of diet and exercise. And then really make sure it's something you can stick with over time," said Karen Foster-Schubert, University of Washington.

If you would like to lose weight in the name of science, get in touch with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. They are currently looking for women to help with a study to test the effectiveness of diet and exercise. Call 206-667-6444.