American Consumers Give $30 Billion a Year to Growing Diet Industry.

Byline: Amy Baldwin

Jan. 5--If starting a diet is your new year's resolution, chances are you'll burn some serious cash trying to melt away those excessive pounds.

With two out of three Americans being either overweight or obese, dieting is understandably a huge industry. (Yes, pun intended.) Consumers shell out $30 billion a year trying to lose weight, according to eDiets.com.

"It's amazing. We spend so much money, and we are still getting bigger," said Jennifer Stuht, research coordinator for the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado and the National Weight Control Registry.

Where does all that money go? Here are a few places:

-- There are hundreds of diet books. The two most popular on Amazon.com are "The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss," ($14.97); and "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution," ($7.99).

-- There are diet programs like Weight Watchers, which charges $11 a week for in-person meetings or…