Born To Die

Our legacy is only as relevant as the civilisation that acknowledges its existence.

How are we to prove that our feet once tread the earth, within remnants of decaying organic matter?

Ever since the dawn of life; When our hearts learned to beat, as did our eyelids flutter.

Ingrained in them was an inevitable truth.

We see through those lenses, as light of verity coursed within our veins.

We chose to ignore.




We were born to die.
.
.

11. 11. 11

The 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year of the millennium.

11. 11. 11

It could signify lots of things. 1 being the ultimate position, the first. 1 being the only one, the exclusive. 1 signifying strength in a number. 1 being complete in itself.

And so, let's make a wish.

I wish for strength.

For love.

For happiness, for joy.

For success;

For wealth;

For clear skies;

For health.

I wish for peace, for understanding.

For kindness, virtue, notwithstanding.

I wish for friends, far and near.

Blossoming relationships, hearts true and dear.

Best of all, I wish,

That time does us justice,

And we live to see our wishes come to exist.

We Found Love

Yellow diamonds in the light,

And we're standing side by side,

As your shadow crosses mine,

What it takes to come alive.

It's the way I'm feeling I just can't deny,

But I've gotta let it go.

Shine a light through an open door,

Love and life I will divide,

Turn away cause I need you more,

Feel the heartbeat in my mind.

We found love in a hopeless place.

I wouldn't mind dancing in the dark with you,

Lasers piercing our hearts,

Conjoined as one, the bass our son,

Melting into a hypnotic furore.

Hiding My Heart Away

I wish I could lay down beside you when the day is done,

And wake up to your face against the morning sun;

But like everything I've ever known,

You'll disappear one day,

So I spend my whole life hiding my heart away.

I Wish I Had Loved You More

Part of me still refuses to believe that you're gone.

I can feel it in the deadening of my emotions, an inherent sadness that has left my heart, but courses and throbs just beneath the skin.

I wish I could just cut it out.

It's taken a lot of work, but I've felt a reminiscence of the truth - a drop of the heart, a chill down the spine.

I wish I felt more.

Last night I had a dream. It was so vivid I still remember it clearly. To be honest, I blame the instinctive nature of our relationship. Innate, habitual, repetitive, fitted. As fitted as the outsides of my soul to the inner tendons and muscles of my arm.

I wish my soul could know you better.

Therein you lie, a ghost of an appendage. I remember having something to tell you. And just as a severed arm is imagined to move, I ran around calling your name.

I wish I knew you'd never answer.

But it takes more than pure determination to bring someone back. It'll take the realm of impossibility and the entire Universe to put you back into your fragile damaged body - for to accomplish such a feat would tear asunder the rigid fabric of our known existence.

I wish I had the power to.

Funnily enough, I was expecting it. Because I needed evidence. I needed to see with my own eyes, hear with my own ears, the silence that encompassed your absence. He didn't have to say anything. No words could describe the deafening presence of a life gone by. And we just stood there. Staring. Contemplating loss. Feeding grief off morose destitute. What was there else to say?

I wish I knew.

On that beautiful sunny afternoon, I ran around calling your name, knowing you would never ever answer again. Knowing that you would never walk through that door, never look me in the eye, never smile, never laugh.

You'll never ask me how was my day, never tell me what kooky thing you bought for dinner.

Never sit there and watch me eat, never keeping me company.

Never

Ever.

I ran and yelled, ran and yelled, ran and yelled.

Ran and yelled, ran and yelled,

Ran and yelled.

I ran and yelled,

But you never yelled back.

I wish I had loved you more

Back to Black

What do you do, when there's nothing left for you; When you realise that all you're grasping at are phantoms of a prime long gone. Auburn photographs ignited by the ghosts of recollection, fuelled by reminiscence, but ultimately reduced to nothing but dust.

Everyone's going home.

I want to go home.

I miss home, I truly do.

But I can't.

I can't allow the idea that when my two years here are finally up, the time I spent in this foreign land will be nothing more than a mere dream, to form and solidify into the bane of my existence.

People have asked me, why don't I go home?

I tell them I am busy with my work; That plane tickets are expensive, that time is not on my side.

Truth is, there is nothing left for me in my home country.

What will face me is the bleakness of my future, the warm lingering of a past that has hurried me by.

I don't want to taint the memories of my childhood and adolescence with my skewed, harsh, disdainful grown-up lenses.

While I'll be welcomed home by my loving and wonderful family, long-lost friends and a plethora of hearty meals, they'll eventually have their life to live, their own future to carve.

And I have mine too.

While staring into the bleak face of uncertainty, it isn't easy to relinquish the possibility of a better life elsewhere.

Better make good use of what we have now.

Better fight hard for what we want now.

Because soon, and I mean very very soon, I may be leaving on a plane.

Back to where I came from.

Back to harsh reality;

Away from the dream.

Back to black.

What Makes Winters Lonely, Now At Last I Know

Now at last I know

What a fool I've been

For I've lost the last love

I shall ever win

And/Now at last I see

How my heart was blind

To the joys before me

That I left behind

When the wind was fresh

On the hills

And the stars were new in the sky

And a lark was heard in the still

Where was I

Where was I

When the spring is cold

Where do robins go

What makes winters lonely

Now at last I know

Quote of the Day

"Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."

-Aristotle

A lark can only sing so sweetly as it can fly.

Zzzzzzzzzz

I'm starting this post at 1:30 in the morning.

I just took a shower, feeling all refreshed and clean, taking a stab at blogging while my hair dries.

Each and everyone of us lives within both states of fantasy and reality; Therein the made-up world consists of our persona and sense of self, whilst hard-hitting reality bluntly slaps us in the face with facts of our shortcomings and physical limitations.

Within this chaotic emulsion comes a coalescence of self-awareness, whereby we are born and gain a perception of who we are as a human being.

There exists a fine thread, a balance, between the two states. Our personalities battle constantly with the barrage of influence consisting of our daily activities and social lives, to maintain the equilibrium, keeping us sober and accepted in the eyes of society.

When the safeguards fail or sensors become distorted, only then shall a sense of disequilibrium occur depending on which state is favoured or overpowering.

Too strong a feeling of self-entitlement or self-gratification will only lead to narcissism; An overtake of the body's sense of physical confinement only serves to highlight weaknesses and a depressed self-esteem.

Hence... yeah.

That's it.

I have no idea what else to say.

*Well, to be honest, I do have lots to say, a myriad of stuff zipping through my brain. But my fingers procrastinate, and truth be told, they do have trouble keeping up.*

And so, here lies the hanging post of the day.

Finished at 2:00 am in the morning.

Go to sleep, you say?

I'm not sleepy.

I'm really not!

I swear!

Look, my eyes are still open wide

See?

Seee????

See?

I'm not.... sleepy...

I'm... awa...ke......

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

:)

Please, Just Stop. It's Getting Annoying

No point acknowledging a person whose insecurities permeate the entire being.

It's tiring and absolutely unwarranted.

Rude.

Uncouth.

A little chaotic, but annoying nevertheless.

So go on, play your silly games.

Because I don't see the red tape that's got you bound.

The only person who's holding you down,

Is yourself.

Support

When something turns into shit,

It's only because we allowed it to.

Support the cause.

We're All Gonna Go One Day, Might As Well Make It Worth the While

Nurse reveals the top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed

By Bronnie Ware (who worked for years nursing the dying)

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn't work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly,in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved.Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip.But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks,love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have sillyness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again,long before you are dying.

We're all going to die one day.

And what we'll bring along won't be the money we made along the way;

Nor the certificates we earned,

The cars we bought,

The penthouse we owned,

The managerial post we had to leave.

The one and only thing we'll bring along,

Is the love for others,

And the love others have for ourselves.

Smile a little, don't be dour.

You know who you are :)

Hooker

I'm gonna drink my tears tonight,

I'm gonna drink my tears and cry,

Cause I know you love me, baby;

I know you love me, baby.

Just not enough.

Just not well enough.

Just not enough.

I could be girl, unless you want to be man;

I could be sex, unless you want to hold hands;

I could be anything, I could be everything;

I could be mom, unless you want to be dad.

Then throw me away,

To soak in the shit of my destitute.

I'm your hooker.

Kanasai

the fuck if I can smile, model and twist my body so the light from the window hits my angular face at the perfect angle to highlight my symmetrical features while carrying MY boxes. I'd be lucky I can even breathe

Kanasai, defined by UrbanDictionary as a Hokkien word meaning 'like shit'.

Well, today was really kanasai. It was kanasai like no sai has ever been kana-ed before. In fact kanasai would be putting it lightly, and I fear there may be no word in any existent language or dialect crude enough to describe it.

Today we had to move.

And move we did. We practically had to empty the contents of our room, and transfer it to a room that is similar in size, a block away. Sounds easy?

Well, it was definitely no fucking help that the freakin' procedure was so gruelling due to a 4 hour gap between the changing of rooms. A FOUR HOUR GAP.

Henceforth, the retards that we are had to sit like bloody refugees in a military camp, OUTSIDE of the new block where we're supposed to stay, to wait for the NICE, FRIENDLY, HELPFUL VILLAGE OFFICE STAFF to get their ass down to the office, and give us the damn keys to our room.

Wonderful. Absolutely fabulous.

Why treat us any better now, since you've been treating us like dogs before. I bet they've been going on like, "By golly, lets treat them like cows now! Throw them onto the friggin' field, and let us watch them graze their brains out. Hopefully they don't thread dirt into our flats and shit hay on the floor. Smashin' idea!"

Regardless of how shitty a day it has been, I had quite an epiphany this morning.

You see, I had 20 or so items to move out, consisting of two large luggages, two handcarry baggages, around seven boxes, duffel bags, sling bags, large full plastic bags and baskets filled to the brim.

And well... Have you ever seen me? Like, observed my physique? I have the shoulders of a pre-pubescent girl, the waist of a nymph and arms that hang limply like dessicated twigs. My legs are two spindly toothpicks trying to pass themselves off as usable limbs.

Darn it, and I thought I could fool people into thinking I was a girl!

Because the earth is round, therefore boys are supposed to carry their own bags. Not that anyone was raring to help me anyway. But, yeah.

So I slaved and dragged my belongings with whatever I could muster with this pathetic body. I panted, heaved, grunted, stumbled, pulled, push, kicked. Anything that could have made those damn things reach the top of the slope faster, I did.

And after an hour or so....... I did it.

It was all there. My boxes gleaming under the dreary sky, the pink/purple luggage standing proudly on the top of the hill, a testament to my effort.

And then it struck me.

This is life. Life as I will be facing very much soon. Life where no one gives a shit about what you're doing, how you're suffering. Where no one offers you a hand, unless you have a free arm to feed their mouths simultaneously as you grasp on to their calculating grip.

Everything I do, I do it by myself.

And everything I accomplish, I accomplished with my own hard work.

My blood, sweat, tears.

Those boxes I carried to the top of the hill. I did it MYSELF. And there were perfectly able guys, men who were stronger than me, taller than me, bigger than me, just strutting about as a struggled with my heavy stuff.

To be honest, this could have gone both ways. I could have sulked, cursed the world. Hate everyone for hating me, cry for being so unpopular.

Or I could just get my act up, and move the damn boxes.

Well, they're on the hill, aren't they? ;)

Karma. What goes around comes back around, my baby.

I would never wish unto you, what I myself wouldn't want unto me.

Thank you to those who helped me eventually. You didn't have to, but you did.

Like I said, karma.

Goodbye. I'll See You Around, Maybe Later, But Definitely.

Pluck a bullet out of the air,

Drive it into skin.

It'll still hurt as much,

As the realisation,

Of who pulled the trigger.

People come and go,

As the tides rush to the shores,

We live in a world,

Where being stagnant,

Just causes you to be swept along in the crowd.

Change.

Is devastating.

Is unpredictable.

Is terrifying.

Change.

Is rejuvenating.

Is growth.

Is life.

We need to change.

And change comes with the need to live.

So if tomorrow ever comes, and we say goodbye,

Remember it's for the best.

Because the time spent apart,

Only allows us to appreciate the time spent together.

Ticks, Parasites

Ticks are parasites that feed on the blood of animals, including humans. They transmit the widest variety of pathogens of any blood-sucking arthropod. Tick-bourne diseases include Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, rocky mountain spotted fever, tularemia and tick-bourne relapsing fever.

Fun fact: During feeding, ticks can sometimes get so engorged on blood, they more than quadruple in size, causing them to be immobile.

When detached and squeezed, they explode with a deliciously squishy 'Pop', releasing blood and other gore contained within their vacuum bag-like posteriors.

Interesting yet disgusting creatures, these insects are.

It would be fun to watch how enlarged they can get on their own,

before they reach capacity,

and blow up.

:)

Fear the Prospect, of Being Too Late

Part of the survival mechanism bestowed upon us by evolution is our ability to shut out death from our thoughts. By stifling active concepts of dying within the brain, we essentially live free from the vice-like recognition of our ever-impending doom.

We are dying, yet blissfully unaware of it.

From within this induced retardation emerges the sense of immortality. In short, we forget how fragile life is.

We live life without appreciation, without thought to the person next to us. We take things for granted because we assume it will always be there.

We rob, we steal, we lie.

We hurt others not because we're evil, but because there lingers the untruth of the presence of time to make things right.

We take people to be always there, stagnant, living, in limbo; Till death decides to make its mark, will we realise it's too late.

We'll never get to say the things we've wanted to say all along.

Make right the wrongs we've done.

See their faces.

Hear their voice.

Feel their touch.

Never. Ever.

And what remains will be the dusk of their days; regrets left to ponder, words left to stew, under the glare of ignorance and the heat of mortality.

We dig our own graves, graves of remorse, with each passing moment we don't say to someone, what we really want to say to them.

So, call up your love ones, your friends, your exes.

Tell them what they mean to you, and you to them.

For fear not the shame, nor the cost;

Fear not their sentiments, nor their replies.

Fear not the rejection, nor the ridicule.

Fear only the prospect,

of being too late.

I Shall Be An Angel To Your Demons

Tears.

Anguish.

Fear.

Ache.

Lay your worries unto me,

Rest your weary head.

Fury.

Injustice.

Pride.

Loss.

For I shall bear your burden,

In your sins, I toil.

Merriment.

Hope.

Promise.

Love.

Where in those, do I stand?

For now I'm left with nothing,

But desolated dreams in sand.

Memory.

Lingering.

Dissipation.

Gone.

Past these primes of glory,

Forgotten and forlorn.

There's an Animal in My Soup!

Elephant in the room;

Gnawing on our ankles,

Pirouetting in disdain,

At the lazy dance we're performing.

One spin, two spin,

We all fall down,

Into nothingness,

Into tribality,

Into banality.

The elephant in the room,

With teeth as sharp as thorns,

Watching, waiting,

Seething.

Till it consumes within itself,

A black hole.

Prevailing emptiness,

Will fill the space

We left behind.

Gone, Going, Gone

"Another shot before we kiss the other side;

I'm on the edge of something final we call life tonight."

Memories, encapsulated

Ribbons of light on dew

May the morning rise

Raise flight

A thousand golden doves

Silence

Pitter patter

Tick tock

Now it's gone

Here, once

Twice, not

Trivial, feeble

Brief

Tread your footsteps lightly

For fear they leave a mark

On the robust fabric of history

That you have weaved, you've sought

Memories

Exist, an embodiment

Ethereal within substance

How much do they weigh?

Their weight in gold, for you.

But for now it's gone.

Smile more

Uttered, unbeknownst

Our last moment.

Tears sketch,

Places to be kissed,

Trembling

At sites needing your touch.

Gone

Going

Going

Gone

You're on the edge of glory,

And all I can hang on, for the rest of my life,

Is hope, for another moment with you.

Photoshop Experiments

Been tinkering around, despite exams looming in... what? A week?

Call my priorities twisted;

This is my respite.

Tell me whatcha think.

http://alexandersays.tumblr.com/

Lomo-lomo, Can you tell?

http://alexandersays.tumblr.com/

Will be switching over mostly to Tumblr.

Follow me! :)

Tumblr

I'm on Tumblr!!!

http://alexandersays.tumblr.com/

You Can...

You can change your nose,

Cut your hair,

Wear new clothes,

Pad your derrière.

You can strip all fats,

Colour your eyes,

Switch to a Cadillac,

Pretend to die.

Renounce your country,

Speak in Thai,

Bleach your skin,

A new personality, contrive.

Move your home,

Drive away,

Shave a jaw,

Change what you say.

You can change how you look,

change how you feel.

Change where you live,

with who you deal.

You can change your friends,

even your family,

Destroy any documents,

your recorded identity.

But even with the help of time,

and those tricks you connived,

You'll never ever change,

who your really are, inside.

I SEE YOU (0)

Dreams

We only make ourselves to be as we see ourselves. Our physical nature is the projection of our inner psyche. We live through life as much as life lives through us, and often times, life WILL get rough.

People will bitch. Parents will nag. Bosses will complain.

And if we allow such negativity to overtake us, it will eventually overwhelm everything we stand for, only to be replaced by a wave of disgruntlement and the idea that something inside was stolen from us.

What we don't recognise is, others can only seize what we allow them to take.

And if we let them steal our dreams, our hopes, our sense of self - We probably were never grasping on to them as tightly as we had hoped.

You let yourself down because you lack belief in those that you stand for.

And over the course of time, dreams blossom, stagnate or wither with the tide; We leave this world eventually either as one who lives on through his dreams, or a crumpled shell devoid of aspiration.

And that is a mistake I hope I can conquer.

For every dream you make,

you invest a bit of yourself in it.

And for every dream you lose,

a little bit of you dies with it.

Judas

John 6:64-71:

"...Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve."

I'll bring him down,

A king with no crown.

In the most Biblical sense,
I am beyond repentance

Fame hooker, prostitute wench, vomits her mind

But in the cultural sense I just speak in future tense

Judas kiss me if offenced

Or wear an ear condom next time

Jesus is my virtue, but Judas is the demon I cling to.

Why Do Men Cheat?

To be honest, the effects of centuries of stewing in languid masochism still rears its ugly head every once in a while, often taking the substantial form of a talking pig in which evolution has rendered whatever intellectual capacity or pertinent brain structure into a vestigial organ contained within its roving donkey dong.

And it's not surprising to see these creatures often holding relatively high posts in a certain society's hierarchical structure due to their innate tendency to flock together. Oh, and add the Constitution to boot, and we have a party of brain-sitting Neanderthals running the country.

To describe them as intelligent would be significantly off-kilter, as their mental processes usually progress in a way that the modern, enlightened Man can never understand.

Seriously? Men have affairs because wives neglect their responsibilities?

Really, dude, you sure you wanna go there?

[quote] "...wives are supposed to stop everything to fulfil their husbands demands... ; Husbands driving home after work see things that are sexually arousing and go to their wives to ease their urges...." [end quote]

Ladies and gentlemen, there you have it. The banal existence of women as described by a bigoted misogynist, the idiotus headinhisassicus species from the genus Chauvinistic Pignae.

From their point of view, if your wife was cooking dinner for your starving family of ten and you come home with an engorged organ from looking at sexually arousing things while driving, said wife must, ONE - drop all kitchen utensils; and TWO - drop to her knees.

I mean, who doesn't feel all hot and sexy after slaving the day away changing crap-filled diapers, attending to colicky demon spawn and washing soiled underwear while in the midst of stirring boiling vats of soups and whatnots to satisfy those grumbling tummies?

Plus, we ALL KNOW that the highways of Malaysia are plastered with mega-posters of girl-on-girl porn. Pfft. That's why, instead of keeping a 10-2 on the wheel and a foot on the brake, we Malaysian men are more likely to be getting ourselves sexually aroused whilst driving back home from work.

Come to think of it, I must have been living in a different country all my life.

If

If.

If if if.

We use it everyday.

'What if...?'

'If I'd....'

'If it weren't...'

'How if...'

If if if.

'If' is a strong word.

'If' is a reflection of possibilities, the divergence of choice, the prospects within the future.

'If' is the alternate truth.

'If' makes a mockery out of the gift of freedom bestowed by autonomy. The sardonic emergence of parallel living and the backtracking of decisions.

Because it vilifies our actions with contemptuous temptations, of something else worth living; doing. Of our wrong choices:

'If' be-gets regrets.

Paradise Lost & Found

For if the man remained blind within the presence of such precarious beauty,

then shall his heart be reduced to ashes,

for his soul can ne'er be salvaged.

First Love

"You are always gonna be my love

いつか誰かとまた恋に落ちても

I’ll remember to love

You taught me how

You are always gonna be the one

今はまだ悲しい love song

新しい歌 歌えるまで"

And even if I didn't love, I wished I did;

And if I did, I'd never wish I didn't.

For it's better to have loved and lost,

than to have never loved at all.

Get It Right

"What can you do when your good isn't good enough?

When all that you touch crumbles down,

'Cause my best intentions keep making a mess of things."

All I want,

is to just get it right.

Dieting Myths Debunked!

Dear readers, the title says it all. Without further ado, let me present to you the few top big slimy fat lies of dieting and weight loss! Original link here.

Myth 1: Low-fat or no-fat diets are good for you.

Fact: Leading dietician Lyndel Costain says: 'People tend to think they need a low-fat diet to lose weight, but you should still have a third of your calories coming from fat.'

The body needs fat for energy, tissue repair and to transport vitamins A, D, E and K around the body.

Lyndel Costain adds: 'As a guideline, women need 70g of fat a day (95g for men) with 30g as the minimum (40g for men).

'There's no need to follow a fat-free diet. Cutting down on saturated fats and eating unsaturated fats, found in things like olive oil and avocados, will help.'

PLUS: 'Low fat' foods such as yoghurt with fruit usually contain large amounts of sugar (approx. 20-30% of your daily recommended allowance). Plain yoghurt would be a healthier option. see Myth 5

Myth 2: Crash dieting or fasting makes you lose weight.

Fact: This may be true in the short term, but ultimately it can hinder weight loss. Claire MacEvilly, a nutritionist at the MRC Human Nutrition Research Centre in Cambridge, explains: 'Losing weight over the long term burns off fat. Crash dieting or fasting not only removes fat but also lean muscle and tissue.'

The loss of lean muscle causes a fall in your basal metabolic rate - the amount of calories your body needs on a daily basis.

This means your body will need fewer calories than it did previously, making weight gain more likely once you stop dieting.

It's also why exercise is recommended in any weight-loss plan to build muscle and maintain your metabolic rate.

Claire MacEvilly adds: 'Fasting can also make you feel dizzy or weak so it's much better to try long-term weight loss.'

PLUS: Crash dieting causes you to starve and can lead to full blown binges when your resolve weakens, which will then rack you with guilt, thus repeating the whole cycle.

Myth 3: Food eaten late at night is more fattening.

Fact: Many diets tell you not to eat after a certain time in the evening. They say the body will store more fat because it is not burned off with any activity.

A study at the Dunn Nutrition Centre in Cambridge suggests otherwise. Volunteers were placed in a whole body calorimeter, which measures calories burned and stored.

They were fed with a large lunch and small evening meal for one test period, then a small lunch and large evening meal during a second test period.

The results revealed the large meal eaten late at night did not make the body store more fat.

It's not when you eat that's important, but the total amount you consume in a 24-hour period.

Lyndel Costain adds: 'It is true that people who skip meals during the day, then eat loads in the evening are more likely to be overweight than those who eat regularly throughout the day.

'This may be because eating regular meals helps people regulate their appetite and overall food intake.'

PLUS: A regulated appetite helps your body burn more calories compared to a starved or a state of irregularity, since your body will be poised to ready itself for starvation by generating more fats as a food store.

Myth 4: Fattening foods equal rapid weight gain.

Fact: Believe it or not, true weight gain is a slow process. You need to eat an extra 3500 calories to gain one pound of body fat (and vice versa for losing it).

Lyndel Costain explains: 'If the scales say you've gained a few pounds after a meal out, it's largely due to fluid, which will resolve itself - as long as you don't get fed up, and keep overeating!

'A lot of people feel guilty and think they've blown their diet if they eat rich foods. But, how can a 50g chocolate bar make you instantly put on pounds?

'For long-term weight control, balance high-fat foods with healthy food and activity.'

Myth 5: Low-fat foods help you lose weight.

Fact:

'Low-fat' or 'fat-free' doesn't necessarily mean low calorie or calorie-free, warns Lyndel Costain.

Check the calorie content of foods, especially cakes, biscuits, crisps, ice creams and ready meals.

Extra sugars and thickeners are often added to boost flavour and texture, so calorie content may be only a bit less, or similar to standard products.

Foods labelled low-fat should contain no more than 3g fat per 100g.

'Watching the quantity is important,' adds nutritionist Alison Sullivan. 'People tend to have half-fat spread but then use twice as much.

'And things like fruit pastilles may be low in fat, but are high in sugar which turns to fat.

'With low fat foods, look to see where else the calories might come from.'

PLUS: Simple mathematics. Binging on two bars of chocolate stating to contain 50% of sugar from the original is equivalent to one original bar. Remember: MODERATION IS KEY.