Diets Work
Diets work! Any diet you go on that causes you to take in less calories than you burn will result in weight loss. Therefore, that diet will work for that reason. The only reason any diet works is because of the calorie content and not because of the carb/fat/protein content. This is where the confusion comes in and the diet book gods make billions of dollars.
There are diet books out there that tell you to eat the most bizarre things in the most bizarre combinations and then when you lose weight they want you to believe it's because you followed their plan. Remember the popular one where you only ate fruit until noon, waited two hours and then ate other things. Those authors made millions. My past favorite was The Beverly Hills Diet. Anyone out there old enough to remember that one? Day one you get to eat all the pineapple you want. Guess what happens when you eat copious amounts of pineapple? You get mouth sores from the acid. Your mouth gets so sore that you never want to look at another pineapple again. This almost guarantees a low calorie day. This diet worked because you took in less calories than you burned. All diets that work do so for that reason alone.
What we know hasn't changed in a very long time. What we know is that the healthiest diet is one consisting mainly of fruits, vegetables, lean protein and whole grains. What we also know is that if you take in more calories (in whatever form) than you burn, you will gain weight. If you take in less calories than you burn, you will lose weight and if you take in the same amount of calories as you burn, you will maintain your current weight. This much we know.
The best possible diet for you is one you make up for yourself. If you are willing to learn about the calories in the foods you eat, keep track, try and live within a calorie range that will create the weight you want to be, you can be successful for life. For example, if I want to weigh 130 lbs. I need to average my daily calories around 1,300, without exercise. If I can do this by making up my own diet, then I can do it forever. Diets you go on, you go off. Educating yourself about what is healthy and how to be the weight you want to be will serve you for life. If you currently weigh l80 lbs. and you start living for a 130 lbs. person, you will eventually get there. Once you do, you just continue what you did to get there, and you will stay there. Live for a 130 lbs. person and that is what you will be. It's math.
So remember:
1) Write down everything you eat and count the calories.
2) Figure out how many calories you would get each day to weigh your ideal weight and attempt to live there. (For women it's the weight times 10, for men times 12). This is your resting metabolic rate. If you add in physical activity, you can take in that many more calories. Calories in, calories out.
3) Weigh yourself everyday, once in the morning. Write down the weight and average it out for the week. Track your progress by looking at your average weekly weight.
Those are the mechanics of weight loss. In the weeks to come I will be giving you tips and covering some of the pitfalls and problems we all encounter as we attempt to change our weight. For some people it is really just a matter of not having the correct information. For others, food and weight go much deeper. More on that later.
For now, good luck and let me know how you're doing.
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I have a big problem with people talking about calories in calories out without talking about exercise.
It is just not that simple, and by saying it is not only do you negate the dynamic body, but also the experience of many dieters.
They did an experiment where they put two women on an 800 a calorie a day diet, one who got to exercise on a bike four times a week, the other got no exercise. In the first two weeks both lost weight, then the one who didn't exercise leveled off and by the end of six weeks had gained weight!
Why? Cause her resting metabolic rate had lowered to her decreased calorie intake. The other woman, by exercising had kept her resting metabolic rate the same.
They recently proved, again, that meat protein dampens the appetite via an enzyme sent to the brain much better than fat (that does not do it) or carbohydrates, which brings hunger back even worse a couple of hours later.
This is why so many people, especially those with sensitive insulin systems, do so much better on a low carb diet then other types of diets.
Body chemistry does matter. (and this doesn't even get into various hormones and their roles)
And that is why I see it almost as demeaning to say that all that matters is eating less calories and not what you eat or how much you exercise.
If you define "work" as leading to weight loss while you are on them...die
If you define "work" as leading to lifelong lower weight and reduction in nationwide obesity...
DIETS DON"T WORK.
People are fatter than ever and dieting more than ever. Why? No one can stay on a diet for their entire life and they all gain the weight back...
again..
DIETS DON"T WORK.
I've found that diets can be like religions to some people and they can get pretty miffed if you criticize their particular "faith".
You speak the truth, Irene. Though I exercise quite regularly, I've found I've never been able to lose body fat without dieting -- and I only discovered the truth about how many calories I was really ingesting once I did the tedious work of calculating the calories in everything I ate.
I've had some success by cutting down drastically on carbs, but I'm fully aware that this works for me because it reduces my daily calorie intake. It's kind of a shorthand way of meal planning. I know that a normal portion of meat and a large portion of vegetables will fill me up and have fewer calories than say, meat, vegetables and rice, and it'll be healthy.
Doing this has produced results amazingly quickly for me. It's also amazed me how many calories there can be in things we don't even count as meals -- lattes, fruit juices, sweet snacks and the like. Do the math properly, and then you'll see why people get fat.
Thank you Ms. Keller for sane and down to earth advice. I knew people on the Atkins...a very bad tempered bunch (no carbs=no seratonin=bad attitude). Alot of these folks would do the Atkins without getting off their tushes to excersize.
ALL of them have not kept off the weight, and some of them have even gained when Atkins was stopped.
It really does make a difference eating fresh fruit, veggies, whole grains (good carbs), unsaturated oils, nuts, lean meats in combination with excersize, and limited calories (not starvation). I have practiced this for a few years and am a very healthy and fit 43 year old woman. Piece of cake (Ha!). I refuse to allow any diet program to eradicate my love of delicious and diverse sources of nutrition. Our society is becoming absolutely insane from their multi-million dollar snake oil products. Think of all the Cancers that may be avoided with this uncomplicated regimen.
The "Diet Industries" are enabling people to become neurotic for something as pleausurable and lovely as food. REALITY CHECK...FO
I didn't know people came to this website for diet advice...A
You're wrong. I've lost 50 lbs so far on low-carb. I don't have to count a single calorie. I don't have to worry about fat content. I don't have to weigh my food. I've been battling my weight my whole life (I'm an athlete, so don't talk to me about being lazy & not including exercise either) and I've been on every diet known to man. That INCLUDES calorie counting too. Several times. Calorie counting alone doesn't take into account that depending on what you put into your body, you will burn either fat or muscle. It doesn't take into account that if you don't eat enough, your body will go into starvation mode and hoard calories and fat and not burn anything. You can shut your metabolism down that way, and that's dangerous and certainly doesn't facilitate weight loss. It doesn't take into account that limiting your caloric intake can cause some people to feel constantly drained and hungry and that can lead to bingeing and falling off the diet. Not to mention cravings. It doesn't take into account the fact that some food which is high starch/high sugar can burn off too quickly again leaving you feeling drained and hungry and craving. It doesn't take into account that everyone's body and metabolism is different and reacts to different foods in different ways.
Your diet advice is WAY to simplistic. I would advise anyone who is serious about losing weight to take what you say here as a starting off point and maybe consult a nutritionist. Also, a little trial & error w/ a scale could help you figure out what's right for you.
But just telling people to limit their calories (starve themselves) is doing a huge disservice.
I knew this math computation idea was incorrect when I was 16. My friend and I decided during the summer to go on a fast -- all the rage at the time. We stayed together for 24 hours a day for a week. Neither of us ate any solid food, and we only drank a few ounces of orange juice each day, in addition to the same amount of water. She was a normal weight, and I was about 10 pounds overweight. She lost 9 pounds, and I gained 1!
After that I used the on-line computations where I added every morsel of food I ate, it calculated the calories (usually around 1400), and I indicated my exercise (walking several miles, yard work, stairs, etc), which always added up to more calories than I ate that day. I did not lose weight, and according to the math, I shouldn't even be alive!
After several failed attempts at dieting and exercising, I went on Atkins and lost about 80 pounds. I continued the calculations and was actually eating more calories than ever before (around 2000), and getting about the same amount of exercise.
I have no reason to lie about this -- the math doesn't work for me. Atkins does. Now I mantain my weight loss (for about 3 years now) by slowly introducing whole grains, fruits and vegetables back into my diet -- I stop when I gain a couple of pounds. I still don't eat sugar, white breads, processed or junk foods. I still don't count calories, and never will.
In my experience, the body is much more complicated than a math computation.
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