Keeping New Year's Resolutions: 5 Strategies

Well this is it... the week where millions of Americans stand up and announce that they will make a change, reach a goal, achieve a lifelong dream, or all of the above.

 

 

 

I am referring, of course, to the old faithful ritual of making New Year's resolutions.
Whether you intend to exercise more, lose weight, stop smoking, cut down on alcohol or eat a healthier diet, experts agree that one of the keys to making a successful resolution lies in one's own confidence that he or she can make the behavior change and the commitment to making that change!
Here are my top 5 tips to keeping you on your path to a better you.
1. Think about what you would most like to do or change and stick with one resolution for now.
Trust me on this one! I have been told by past clients that they were going to lose weight, stop smoking, begin an exercise program (after 25 years of sitting on the couch)... and to do all of this while they are going back to school for a second career!
Urgh! Talk about setting yourself up for failure. It is far better to add another resolution -- even if you add it in May -- after you master the first than trying to accomplish three major changes all at once.
2. Once you pick what's most important be clear as to why you want this.
It is definitely all about commitment. For example, do you really want to lose weight or are you doing it because someone else wants you to?
3.Have an emergency plan ready.
Know what you will do in case that stressful event comes up which has triggered you to eat everything in the refrigerator, pantry and local convenience store! Have coping strategies and alternatives to eating in order to deal with problems that will come up.
4. Break down a huge resolution into smaller goals.
You are more likely to achieve your goal by focusing on 5 pound increments rather than the 50 pounds. Set weekly and monthly goals and focus only on those. Once achieved, reward yourself. Treat yourself to a spa day, a pedicure, a favorite perfume you've been meaning to buy or even a new hairstyle!
5. No matter what, always love and accept yourself.
You are NOT that 50 pounds you need to lose. You are a great and beautiful person who just happens to want to lose 50 pounds. Remember, You are the same person with or without the 50 pounds. So be you! Don't wait to be happy until you lose that 50, be happy now!

How the Cabbage Soup Diet Works

When winter winds to an end, there are plenty of things to look forward to -- warm weather, blooming flowers, cookouts and the beach. But, for many people, that last item comes with a bit of hesitation. Before you strip down to that bikini, that winter weight has got to go. So when spring and summer are just around the corner, many are looking for a quick fix.

That's why the cabbage soup diet has withstood the test of time, outlasting its "fad diet" reputation. The diet lasts one week and is said to result in weight loss of about 10 pounds (4.5 kg) [source: Zelman]. In a short span of time, double-digit losses are possible. Some people, maybe because they became discouraged and unmotivated by the slower results of other diets, swear by the quick cabbage soup diet. After all, participants cut their caloric intake by at least 50 percent, taking in roughly 800 to 1,000 calories a day [source: Zelman]. The diet isn't by any means appropriate for a lifestyle, but it does help incorporate vegetable and fruits into an individual's meal plans.

Of course, the cabbage soup diet has its drawbacks. First off, it's a bit bland and boring, which makes cravings tough to ignore. It also cuts out a good amount of nutrients along with those calories. The extremely restrictive nature of the diet makes entire food groups off-limits on certain days. And while it does produce quick weight loss, much of this is water loss, not the more beneficial loss of fat. This means dieters will likely gain back a lot of the weight after they return to their normal eating routines.

So, the diet has its pros and cons, but you get to lose weight while keeping warm those last weeks of winter, right? Continue reading to learn more about the cabbage soup diet and its possible side effects.

6 Core moves and Stretches

When you hear the word core, what comes to mind? Abs? Lower back? Obliques?
If you thought one or more of these answers, you're partially right. Basically, your core comprises all the muscles that are responsible for moving and stabilizing the trunk or spine. Simply, your core is your body without arms and legs. If there's any weakness in any muscle of this system, your core is compromised.

I hear all the time about people who have strong abs, but a bad back. One of the reasons is because they do 5 million crunches a day and neglect the other muscles of the core like the lower back muscles, transverse abdominis, or obliques.
Tight upper body muscles like the lats or pecs, which would give you rounded shoulders (the caveman posture), do not help either. They would pull on the spine, forcing it to be out of alignment, or its natural curve.
What ends up suffering for most people is their lower back. Think about it. How many people you know wake up in the morning and say they're suffering from ab pain? If they do, it’s more likely from stomach issues. Many people wake up, or go throughout the day with back pain - that annoying feeling like you have two pit bulls gnawing on your lower back muscles. Or it may be triggered from simple tasks like driving, or carrying a baby. I've been there.
Strengthening all the muscles of your core, while stretching the tight muscles, is the most effective way of preventing or alleviating back issues.
The muscles of the core that surround and stabilize the spine are mostly made of slow twitch muscle fibers. In laymen’s terms that means they fire more slowly than fast twitch fibers and can go for a long time before they fatigue. (Hence the 5 million crunches.)
However, a plethora of repetitions are not necessary. Your core is at work all day long when you breathe or move. But don’t fool yourself and think that breathing and moving will get you a six-pack or a healthy back.
I would suggest 15-20 repetitions for various core exercises, with the proper amount of resistance that’ll bring you to fatigue.

I've come up with some general but effective exercises that can strengthen your core, along with a few stretches for common tight areas.

How do diets that limit your carbohydrate consumption cause weight loss?

When your body is not given fuel in the form of carbohydrates, it uses fuel in other ways. So, let's say you've just started following the Atkins plan and are consuming a modest 20 grams of carbohydrates or less. Here is what's happening inside your body:

• The liver stores glucose by converting it to glycogen. It holds perhaps a 12-hour supply of glucose in its glycogen. Once you finish digesting all of the carbohydrates that you last ate, the liver starts converting its stored glycogen back into glucose and releases it to maintain glucose in the blood. Lipolysis also starts breaking down fat in the fat cells and releasing fatty acids into the bloodstream. Tissues that do not need to use glucose for energy (for example, muscle cells) start burning the fatty acids. This reduces the glucose demand so that nerve cells get the glucose.

• Once the liver runs out of glycogen, the liver converts to a process called gluconeogenesis. Gluconeogenesis turns amino acids into glucose.

• The liver then begins producing ketone bodies from fatty acids being made available in the blood by lipolysis. Brain and nerve cells convert over from being pure consumers of glucose to partial consumers of ketone bodies for energy. This process is called ketosis -- which is why the Atkins plan is also known as a ketogenic diet.

So, what does this mean in simple terms? In theory, the Atkins diet enables your body to switch from a machine that uses carbohydrates for fuel to one that uses fat for fuel. Therefore, a diet with little or no carbs forces the body's storage of fat to become its main energy source.

To further understand the way your body loses weight on the Atkins diet, you must consider the way the body uses sugar as fuel. To turn sugars into fuel, your body uses the hormone insulin. Insulin enables our cells to turn carbohydrates into glucose by controlling the amount of sugar in our blood. The body secretes insulin to keep blood sugar from getting too high. Insulin is a storage hormone, meaning that it causes sugar we don't use for fuel to be stored as fat. It also keeps the body from burning stored fat. The Atkins diet suggests that it is this "insulin response" that continues to add fat to our bodies. This function is an asset when food is scarce, but an abundance of sugar-filled and high-carbohydrate foods will promote the accumulation of body fat.

On the contrary, a low-carbohydrate diet allows your body to release less insulin. According to the Atkins plan, when insulin levels are normal, your body will begin to burn its own fat as fuel -- thereby resulting in weight loss. By keeping insulin levels stable, not only does your body burn fat, but it may also lead to less hunger and fewer cravings. Simply put, according to the Atkins folks, their diet attempts to control insulin levels by controlling the amount of carbohydrates you eat.

How Diabetic Diets Work

Diabetes is an increasingly common disease, affecting about 8 percent of Americans -- and nearly a quarter of all Americans older than age 60 [source: CBS]. It's so common that it has made its way into regional dialects; it's known variously as "sugar," "the sugar" and "sugar diabetes" [source: Patrick].

As those nicknames suggest, diabetes affects the body's ability to process dietary sugar. If untreated, it can lead to numerous complications, including blindness, nerve damage, heart and circulation problems, gangrene and amputation of the feet, kidney failure and early death. The good news is that, in many cases, treatment, which usually involves a combination of diet and medication, can greatly reduce the risk of these complications.

There are two types of diabetes. Type I (formerly known as juvenile diabetes) is sometimes called insulin-dependent diabetes. That's because Type I patients have to take insulin, either via regular injections or via an insulin pump. Insulin is the hormone produced by the pancreas that helps the body process sugar. Type I patients don't make enough insulin on their own.

Type II diabetes (formerly known as adult-onset diabetes) is almost always a complication of being overweight. Although its causes and treatment are different from those of Type I, its symptoms and complications are highly similar. In type II diabetes, the body stops being able to use its own insulin.

Type II patients may take insulin. They must also change their eating habits. The goal of a diabetic diet is twofold: to get the patient to a healthy weight (thereby reducing the physical causes of diabetes as well as many of its complications) and to regulate blood sugar by regulating the intake of the foods that produce it.

In this article, we'll look more closely at diabetic diets -- what goes into making a diabetic eating plan, which foods you'll need to be careful about, and some tips for sticking to a diabetic diet in our decidedly unhealthful world.

How Diet Pills Work

Diet pills are a tempting quick fix for an increasingly overweight American populace.

 

Their ads claim they can help you "feel more fit," "boost your energy" and "melt away the pounds." Who needs diet and exercise when a little pill can erase the weight quickly and easily? With more than 60 percent of Americans now considered overweight or obese, diet drugs have turned into a multibillion dollar industry in the United States.

But although diet pills promise a quick fix, can they deliver? Can they help you lose weight? And if so, can they help you keep it off? Weight-loss questions aside, several diet drugs over the last decade have been associated with serious heart problems and other health-related issues, and diet pills have even been linked to a number of deaths.

Diet drugs are available in several different forms, including prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs and herbal supplements.
­

­Prescription drugs such as Meridia and Xenical are only available with a doctor's prescription. They are carefully regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, and their use is closely monitored by the prescribing doctor.

Over-the-counter drugs are available without a doctor's prescription, right in your local drugstore or supermarket, and are also regulated by the FDA. According to AnneCollins.com, "Products considered by FDA to be over-the-counter weight control drugs [as opposed to dietary supplements] are primarily those containing the active ingredient phenylpropanolamine (PPA)." In 2000, the FDA requested that drug manufacturers voluntary reformulate PPA-containing products in the wake of evidence that phenylpropanolamine can increase the risk of stroke, so there are few diet drugs on the market that still contain this ingredient. OTC drugs also fall under the jurisdiction of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Herbal diet supplements are also available without a prescription. You'll typically find a huge variety of these in health food and nutrition stores as well as in regular supermarkets. Herbal supplements are often labeled "all natural" and are considered by the FDA to be food products as opposed to drugs. As such, they fall under the jurisdiction of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and are regulated differently from OTC drugs.

There is also a selection of diet aids that are administered by patch, as a powder or in liquid form. These types of drugs may fall into any of the above categories -- it is only the delivery method that is unique.

In this article, we will look at the wide variety of diet pills available, find out how they work and what their side effects are and see if they live up to their promises.

Weight Loss Myths

 

There are dozens of weight-loss myths that help to derail people. Here is a list of some of the most common so you can try to avoid them:

• The myth that some kinds of calories are different from others - A calorie is a calorie. If you consume 4,000 calories by eating 1,000 grams of white sugar or 4,000 calories by eating 444 grams of fat, it is still 4,000 calories.
• The myth that low-fat foods are okay or that you can eat as much as you want if it is low-fat - A product can have 0 grams of fat but still have lots of calories. Many fat-free foods replace the fat with sugar and contain just as many or more calories as a fat-containing product.
• The myth that any passive device, acupressure rings and bracelets or soaps or whatever, can help - There is no way to burn calories but to burn them.
• The myth that you can lose 54 pounds in 6 weeks - Despite what the ads say (I LOST 54 POUNDS IN 6 WEEKS WITHOUT DIETS OR EXERCISE!!! or LOSE 10 POUNDS THIS WEEKEND!), you cannot lose a pound of fat unless you burn off 3,500 calories. To lose 54 pounds in 6 weeks, you would need to lose 9 pounds in 7 days, or 1.3 pounds per day. That 1.3 pounds of fat is equal to 4,500 calories, so you would have to burn off 4,500 calories per day. The only way to do that would be to eat nothing AND run a marathon every day for 42 days. That's impossible. The only way to lose that much weight that quickly is either through dehydration or amputation. The ads are lying.
• The myth that anything can create an "enzyme-driven fat-burning cycle" - All sorts of things, from nettle seeds to apple pectin, are supposed to contain enzymes that create an ENZYME-DRIVEN FAT BURNING CYCLE THAT BURNS CALORIES 24-HOURS-A-DAY!!! No.

What is true is that you have to eat fewer calories than you burn in a day if you want to lose weight. You can do that by eating fewer calories than you need, or by exercising more, or both. It is true that some people burn more calories per day than others (just as some people are taller than others, some people have to use the restroom more frequently than others, some people lose their hair faster than others and so on -- people are different). You simply have to find the number of calories your body burns in a day and consume fewer calories than your body needs. That's not to say it's easy -- the psychology of food and eating is very powerful. But that is what you have to do. It is a mental game, and there is no way around it. But now you know the rules of that mental game.

For more information on dieting and related topics, check out the links on the next page.

Fitting in Exercise

 

Exercise is one tool you have to control your weight because exercise is a way to increase the number of calories that you burn in a day. Online resources like this exercise calculator show you how many calories different forms of exercise can burn. One way to make the most of exercise is to integrate some form of exercise into your daily routine. Here are several examples:

• Try to find some type of exercise that you enjoy (or at least can tolerate) and do it every day for 30 minutes, 60 minutes or more. It might be walking, riding an exercise bike while watching TV, or working out in a gym at lunch.
• Try to fit micro-exercises into your daily life. For example, instead of taking the elevator, take the stairs. Park farther away from stores when you go shopping. These little things can add up.
• Put a set of weights at your desk and use them three or four times during the day, as you think or talk on the phone.
• Find an exercise partner. Exercise, for some people, is a lot easier if there is someone to talk to. A partner will also help make exercise a routine.
• Try to exercise every day. It is easier to remember to do something if you do it every day.

Building a Sustainable Diet

 

Photo courtesy USDA
The new USDA Food Pyramid.

Building a sustainable diet and exercise plan is the key to maintaining a consistent weight. This is not easy for many people. As described in the previous sections, the landscape is literally covered with calories, and exercise takes time and energy.

The first step to building a sustainable diet is to start counting the calories that you consume in a day so that you become conscious of two things:

• You need to understand exactly how many calories you are eating on a "normal" day.
• You need to realize where each calorie comes from -- you need to build a calorie database in your brain so that you know, whenever you eat something, just how many calories it is supplying.

In the United States, any food that you buy in the grocery store is required by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to have a nutritional label with that food's calorie content. You can also look at a chart like this one to find out the number of calories in different foods. Any chain restaurant will supply you with nutrition information both at the store and on the Web (or you can see a Web site like this).

The second step is to figure out how many calories you need in a day. You can use the "12 calories per pound" rule, or you can get more precise by looking at the formulas in How Calories Work.

Pick your "ideal weight" -- the weight that you would like to maintain. Then calculate how many calories a day you can consume to maintain that weight.

The third step is to compare the two numbers -- You may be startled by the difference between the "number of calories you need" and "the number of calories that you take in" in a day. That is where the extra pounds are coming from.

The fourth step is to figure out how to bring the two numbers in line. What you will soon realize is that 1,600 or 1,800 or 2,000 calories per day just isn't that many. You have to watch and count everything you eat and drink every day and stick to your daily limit.

The fifth step might be to add exercise to the mix so that you can raise the number of calories you can consume per day. Online resources like this exercise calculator will show you how many calories different forms of exercise can burn. Burning 250 or 500 calories per day through exercise can make a big difference.

How Dieting Works

Let's imagine that you are overweight and you would like to lose several excess pounds. To lose 1 pound of fat, what you have to do is burn off 3,500 calories. That is, over a period of time, you have to consume 3,500 calories less than your body needs. There are several ways you can create that deficit. If you assume that you weigh 150 pounds and that your body at rest needs 1,800 calories per day (150 * 12 = 1,800) to live, here are several examples (some realistic, some not):

• You could lie in bed and starve yourself. Since you are lying in bed, you are consuming 1,800 calories per day. Since you are starving yourself, you are taking in no calories. That means that, every day, you create a deficit of 1,800 calories and, approximately every two days, you will lose 1 pound of body weight.
• You could consume fewer calories than your body needs. For example, you might choose to consume 1,500 calories per day rather than the required 1,800 by controlling what you eat. That creates a 300-calorie deficit every day. That means that approximately every 12 days, you will lose 1 pound of weight (12 days x 300 calories = 3,600 calories).
• You could consume 1,800 calories per day and then choose to jog 2 miles (3.2 km) every day. The jogging would burn about 200 calories per day, and over the course of 18 days you would burn about 1 pound of body weight (18 days x 200 calories = 3,600 calories).
• You could consume 2,500 calories per day and run 10 miles per day. You will burn 1,800 calories per day at rest and then 1,000 calories per day running, for a total of 2,800 calories. You are consuming 300 calories fewer than you need, so you would lose a pound every 12 days or so (300 calories x 12 days = 3,600 calories).

As you can see from these examples, the only way to lose fat is to consume fewer calories per day than your body needs. For every 3,500 calories that your body takes from its fat reserves, you lose 1 pound (0.45 kg) of body fat. You can create the deficit either by monitoring and restricting your intake of calories, or by exercising, or both.

The idea behind most diets -- everything from Weight Watchers to the grapefruit diet -- is simply to help you somehow lower the number of calories that you consume each day. That's all they do.

Sample Menu

 

Face it, many of us are over-worked, over-booked and totally over-extended. So, convenient food often takes the lead in our daily diets. In a typical day someone might consume something like this:

• You might have two Pop-Tarts® for breakfast,
• then hit Pizza Hut for lunch,
• grab some SnackWell's and a cola for a snack,
• head for McDonald's for dinner
• and top it off with some potato chips while watching TV.

You can see how the number of calories coming in can easily reach 3,000, 4,000 or 5,000 per day without any effort at all. That's the problem.

Your body, it turns out, is extremely efficient at capturing and storing excess calories. Whenever your body finds that it has excess calories on hand, it converts them to fat and saves them for a rainy day. (See How Calories Work and How Fat Cells Work for details). It only takes 3,500 excess calories to create 1 pound of new fat on your body. If you are taking in just 500 extra calories per day, then you are gaining a pound of fat per week (500 calories x 7 days in a week = 3,500 calories/week). Since it is easy to get 500 calories from just one ice cream cone or a few cookies, you can see that weight gain is completely effortless in today's society. Food is just too easy to find

Taking Calories In

The 1,800 calories that a typical person at rest needs per day is just not that many. For example, if you go to your neighborhood McDonald's restaurant and order the Big Xtra meal, you will get a sandwich, a large order of french fries and a large Coke®. This meal contains:

• 710 calories in the sandwich*
• 540 calories in the french fries*
• 310 calories in the drink*

(*See McDonald's USA Nutrition Facts for details.)

A meal at McDonald's can add up to almost a whole day's worth of calories.

In other words, just this one meal provides 1,560 calories you need during a day. If you get an M&M® McFlurry™ with it for dessert, you'll get 630 more calories, so you are already consuming almost 2,200 calories just at this one meal!

Similarly, if you go to Pizza Hut and get a Meat Lover's Pan Pizza®, each slice contains 360 calories.* If you eat three slices and get a large drink to go with it, that's 1,390 calories -- just 410 calories shy of a full day's worth of calories. (*See the Pizza Hut Nutrition Guide for details.)

Similarly, if you eat 12 SnackWell's Crème Sandwich Cookies -- which, if you think about it, really is not that hard to do -- you've taken in 660 calories. That's more than one-third of the daily caloric intake.

These three cookies contain 165 calories.

The point here is not to slam these products or make them look bad. For example, I've got two kids and I go to McDonald's at least once a week. The point is that, in America and most other developed countries, it is incredibly easy to find and consume calories. Let's take a look at what someone might consume in a typical day.

Your Body's Efficiency

 

Have you ever wondered why, for so many people (and especially for anyone older than 30 years old), weight gain seems to be a fact of life? It's because the human body is way too efficient! It just does not take that much energy to maintain the human body at rest; and when exercising, the human body is amazingly frugal when it comes to turning food into motion.

At rest (for example, while sitting and watching television), the human body burns only about 12 calories per pound of body weight per day (26 calories per kilogram). That means that if you weigh 150 pounds (68 kg), your body uses only about:

150 X 12 = 1,800 calories per day

Twelve calories per pound per day is a rough estimate -- see How Calories Work for details.

Those 1,800 calories are used to do everything you need to stay alive:

• They keep your heart beating and lungs breathing.
• They keep your internal organs operating properly.
• They keep your brain running.
• They keep your body warm.

In motion, the human body also uses energy very efficiently. For example, a person running a marathon (26 miles or 42 km) burns only about 2,600 calories. In other words, you burn only about 100 calories per mile (about 62 calories per km) when you are running.

You can see just how efficient the human body is if you compare your body to a car. A typical car in the United States gets between 15 and 30 miles per gallon of gasoline (6 to 12 km/L). A gallon of gas contains about 31,000 calories. That means that if a human being could drink gasoline instead of eating hamburgers to take in calories, a human being could run 26 miles on about one-twelfth of a gallon of gas (0.3 L). In other words, a human being gets more than 300 miles per gallon (120 km/L)! If you put a human being on a bicycle to increase the efficiency, a human being can get well over 1,000 miles per gallon (more than 500 km/L)!

That level of efficiency is the main reason why it is so easy to gain weight, as we will see in the next section.

Introduction to How Dieting Works

Dieting is one of those things that is completely integrated into American culture. On any given day, a huge portion of the U.S. population is "on a diet" and "counting calories" in one way or another. And look at how many of the diet names in the following list you recognize:

• The Atkins Diet
• The Cabbage Soup Diet
• The Grapefruit Diet
• The Hollywood Miracle Diet
• The Rice Diet
• The Scarsdale Diet
• The South Beach Diet
• The Zone Diet

You probably recognize many of these names because you hear them all the time!

In this article, we will look first at weight gain and why gaining weight is so easy. Then we will look at what you can do about weight gain -- in the form of diet and exercise -- to maintain a consistent weight.

Body weight

Although some people prefer the less-ambiguous term body mass, the term body weight is overwhelmingly used in daily English speech as well as in the contexts of biological and medical sciences to describe the mass of an organism's body. Body weight is measured in kilograms throughout the world, although in some countries people more often measure and describe body weight in pounds (e.g. United States and sometimes Canada) or stones and pounds (e.g. among people in the United Kingdom) and thus may not be well acquainted with measurement in kilograms. Most hospitals, even in the United States, now use kilograms for calculations, but use kilograms and pounds together for other purposes. (1 kg is approximately 2.2 lb; 1 stone (14 lb) is approximately 6.4 kg.)

The term is usually encountered in connection with:

• food and feeding behaviour
• normal and abnormal growth and development
• the physiological and hormonal control of ingestion and digestion
• foraging for food in animals
• hunger and other motivations to eat
• problems in regulating body weight, often resulting in obesity
• eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa
• effects of disease
• athletic competitions where the participants are classified according to their body weight

Food Balance Wheel

The Food Balance Wheel suggests an alternate interpretation of the USDA Food Guide Pyramid^[1] recommendations for balanced eating. Created by author Art Dragon^[2], it converts the principles of the food pyramid from a number-based format to a visual presentation that may be more accessible to users interested in balanced eating.

Low glycemic index

"The glycemic index (GI) factor is a ranking of foods based on their overall effect on blood sugar levels. The diet based around this research is called the Low GI diet. Low glycemic index foods, such as lentils, provide a slower, more consistent source of glucose to the bloodstream, thereby stimulating less insulin release than high glycemic index foods, such as white bread."^[27][28]

The glycemic load is "the mathematical product of the glycemic index and the carbohydrate amount".^[29]

In a randomized controlled trial that compared four diets that varied in carbohydrate amount and glycemic index found complicated results^[30]:

• Diet 1 and 2 were high carbohydrate (55% of total energy intake)
  • Diet 1 was high-glycemic index
  • Diet 2 was low-glycemic index
• Diet 3 and 4 were high protein (25% of total energy intake)
  • Diet 3 was high-glycemic index
  • Diet 4 was low-glycemic index

Diets 2 and 3 lost the most weight and fat mass; however, low density lipoprotein fell in Diet 2 and rose in Diet 3. Thus the authors concluded that the high-carbohydrate, low-glycemic index diet was the most favorable.

A meta-analysis by the Cochrane Collaboration concluded that low glycemic index or low glycemic load diets led to more weight loss and better lipid profiles. However, the Cochrane Collaboration grouped low glycemic index and low glycemic load diets together and did not try to separate the effects of the load versus the index

Low carbohydrate versus low fat

Many studies have focused on diets that reduce calories via a low-carbohydrate (Atkins diet, Scarsdale diet, Zone diet) diet versus a low-fat diet (LEARN diet, Ornish diet). The Nurses' Health Study, an observational cohort study, found that low carbohydrate diets based on vegetable sources of fat and protein are associated with less coronary heart disease.^[12]

A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials by the international Cochrane Collaboration in 2002 concluded^[13] that fat-restricted diets are no better than calorie restricted diets in achieving long term weight loss in overweight or obese people. A more recent meta-analysis that included randomized controlled trials published after the Cochrane review^[14][15][16] found that "low-carbohydrate, non-energy-restricted diets appear to be at least as effective as low-fat, energy-restricted diets in inducing weight loss for up to 1 year. However, potential favorable changes in triglyceride and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol values should be weighed against potential unfavorable changes in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol values when low-carbohydrate diets to induce weight loss are considered."^[17]

The Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Dietary Modification Trial^[18] found that a diet of total fat to 20% of energy and increasing consumption of vegetables and fruit to at least 5 servings daily and grains to at least 6 servings daily resulted in:

• no reduction in cardiovascular disease^[19]
• an insignificant reduction in invasive breast cancer^[20]
• no reductions in colorectal cancer^[21]

Additional recent randomized controlled trials have found that:

• A comparison of Atkins, Zone diet, Ornish diet, and LEARN diet in premenopausal women found the greatest benefit from the Atkins diet.^[22]

• The choice of diet for a specific person may be influenced by measuring the individual's insulin secretion:

In young adults "Reducing glycemic [carbohydrate] load may be especially important to achieve weight loss among individuals with high insulin secretion."^[23] This is consistent with prior studies of diabetic patients in which low carbohydrate diets were more beneficial.^[24][25]

The American Diabetes Association released for the first time a recommendation (in its January 2008 Clinical Practice Recommendations) for a low carbohydrate diet to reduce weight for those with or at risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Side effects

Side effects

Dieting, especially extreme food-intake reduction and rapid weight loss, can have the following side effects:

• Prolonged hunger
• Depression
• Reduced sex drive
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Fainting
• Sinus problems (especially post-nasal drip)
• Muscle atrophy
• Rashes
• Acidosis
• Bloodshot eyes
• Gallbladder disease
• Seizures
• Malnutrition, possibly leading to death
• Subsequent weight gain

Weight loss groups:Dangers of fasting

Lengthy fasting can be dangerous due to the risk of malnutrition and should be carried out under medical supervision. During prolonged fasting or very low calorie diets the reduction of blood glucose, the preferred energy source of the brain, causes the body to deplete its glycogen stores. Once glycogen is depleted the body begins to fuel the brain using ketones, while also metabolize body protein (including but not limited to skeletal muscle) to be used to synthesize sugars for use as energy by the rest of the body. Most experts believe that a prolonged fast can lead to muscle wasting although some dispute this. The use of short-term fasting, or various forms of intermittent fasting have been used as a form of dieting to circumvent this issue.

Weight loss groups: Stimulants

Stimulants such as ephedrine, green tea, caffeine or synephrine work to increase the basal metabolic rate.^[

Weight loss groups:Diuretics

Diuretics

Diuretics induce weight loss through the excretion of water. These medications or herbs will reduce overall body weight, but will have no effect on an individual's body fat. Diuretics can thicken the blood, cause cramping, kidney and liver damage. In a single report, the death of Jacqueline Henson was found to be related to swelling in her brain, which was associated with excessive water consumption over a short period of time, while she was on a special water diet

Weight loss groups:Medications

Certain medications can be prescribed to assist in weight loss. The most recent prescription weight loss medication released is Acomplia (generic name Rimonabant), manufactured by Sanofi Aventis. Used to treat obesity in persons with a BMI ( body mass index) of 30 or above as well as for smoking cessation treatments, Acomplia is still pending FDA approval for use in the United States. Other weight loss medications, like amphetamines, are dangerous and are now banned for casual weight loss. Some supplements, including those containing vitamins and minerals, may not be effective for losing weight.

Food diary

Food diary

A July 2008 study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, showed dieters who keep a daily food diary (or diet journal) of what they eat lose twice as much weight as those who do not. The researchers concluded, "It seems that the simple act of writing down what you eat encourages people to consume fewer calories."^[10] Diet journaling software and websites have become popular to help people track calorie consumption, calorie burning, weight loss goals, and nutritional balance.

Weight loss groups

There exist both profit-oriented and non-profit weight loss organizations who assist people in their weight loss efforts. An example of the former is Weight Watchers; examples of the latter include Overeaters Anonymous, as well as a multitude of non-branded support groups run by local churches, hospitals, and like-minded individuals.

These organizations' customs and practices differ widely. Some groups are modelled on twelve-step programs, while others are quite informal. Some groups advocate certain prepared foods or special menus, while others train dieters to make healthy choices from restaurant menus and while grocery-shopping and cooking.

Most groups leverage the power of group meetings to provide counseling, emotional support, problem-solving, and useful information

Psychological aspects of weight-loss dieting

Diets affect the "energy in" component of the energy balance by limiting or altering the distribution of foods. Techniques that affect the appetite can limit energy intake by affecting the desire to overeat.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy has been effective in producing long term weight loss ^[8]. Judith S. Beck has been one of the most prominent practitioners and writers to bring this method to a popular audience.

Consumption of low-energy, fiber-rich foods, such as non-starchy vegetables, is effective in obtaining satiation (the feeling of "fullness"). Exercise is also useful in controlling appetite as is drinking water and sleeping.

The use of drugs to control appetite is also common. Stimulants are often taken as a means to suppress hunger in people who are dieting. Ephedrine (through facilitating the release of adrenaline and noradrenaline) stimulates the alpha(1)-adrenoreceptor subtype, which is known to act as an anorectic. L-Phenylalanine, an amino acid found in whey protein powders also has the ability to suppress appetite by increasing the hormone cholecystokinin (CCK) which sends a satiety signal to the brain.

How the body gets rid of fat

How the body gets rid of fat

All body processes require energy to run properly. When the body is expending more energy than it is taking in (e.g. when exercising), the body's cells rely on internally stored energy sources, like complex carbohydrates and fats, for energy. The first source the body turns to is glycogen (by glycogenolysis). Glycogen is a complex carbohydrate, where 65% of it is stored in skeletal muscles and the rest in the liver (totaling about 2000 kcal in the whole body). It is created from the excess of ingested macronutrients, mainly carbohydrates. When those sources are nearly depleted, the body begins lipolysis, the mobilization and catabolism of fat stores for energy. In this process, fats, obtained from adipose tissue, or fat cells, are broken down into glycerol and fatty acids, which can be used to make energy. The primary by-products of metabolism are carbon dioxide and water; carbon dioxide is expelled through the respiratory system.

Proper nutrition

Food provides nutrients from six broad classes: proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, dietary minerals, and water. Carbohydrates are metabolized to provide energy. Proteins provide amino acids, which are required for cell construction, especially for the construction of muscle cells. Essential fatty acids are required for brain and cell membrane construction. Vitamins and trace minerals help maintain proper electrolyte balance and are required for many metabolic processes. Dietary fiber is another food component which influences health even though it is not actually absorbed into the body.

Any diet that fails to meet minimum nutritional requirements can threaten general health (and physical fitness in particular). If a person is not well enough to be active, weight loss and good quality of life will be unlikely.

The National Academy of Sciences and the World Health Organization publish guidelines for dietary intakes of all known essential nutrients.

Sometimes dieters will ingest excessive amounts of vitamin and mineral supplements. While this is usually harmless, some nutrients are dangerous. Men (and women who don't menstruate) need to be wary of iron poisoning. Retinol (oil-soluble vitamin A) is toxic in large doses. As a general rule, most people can get the nutrition they need from foods. In any event, a multivitamin taken once a day will suffice for the majority of the population.

Weight-loss diets which manipulate the proportion of macronutrients (low-fat, low-carbohydrate, etc.) have not been found to be more effective than diets which maintain a typical mix of foods with smaller portions and perhaps some substitutions (e.g. low-fat milk, or less salad dressing).^[7] Extreme diets may, in some cases, lead to malnutrition.

Energy obtained from food

Energy obtained from food

The energy intake from food is limited by the efficiency of digestion and the efficiency of utilization. The efficiency of digestion is largely dependent on the type of food being eaten, while efficiency of utilization is affected by individual factors, including body weight and hormones.

The effects of chewing, especially in elderly people, have been shown to affect the intake of micronutrients. However, there was no significant effect on the intake of macronutrients, such as sugars, fats, and proteins[

Fat loss versus muscle loss

Fat loss versus muscle loss

Weight loss typically involves the loss of fat, water and muscle. Overweight people, or people suffering from obesity, typically aim to reduce the percentage of body fat. Additionally, as muscle tissue is denser than fat, fat loss results in increased loss of body volume compared with muscle loss. Reducing even 10% body fat can therefore have a dramatic effect on a person's body shape. To determine the proportion of weight loss that is due to decreased fat tissue, various methods of measuring body fat percentage have been developed.

Muscle loss during weight loss can be restricted by regularly lifting weights (or doing push-ups and other strength-oriented calisthenics) and by maintaining sufficient protein intake. Those on low-carbohydrate diets, and those doing particularly strenuous exercise, may wish to increase their protein intake. According to the National Academy of Sciences, the Dietary Reference Intake for protein is "0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight for adults."

Excessive protein intake may cause liver and kidney problems and may be a risk factor for heart disease.[5] There is no conclusive evidence that moderately high protein diets in healthy individuals are dangerous, it has only been shown that these diets are dangerous in individuals who already have kidney and liver problems.

Types of diets

Types of diets
[edit] Low-fat diets
Main article: Low-fat diet

Low-fat diets involve the reduction of the percentage of fat in one's diet. Calorie consumption is reduced but not purposely so. Diets of this type include NCEP Step I and II. A meta-analysis of 16 trials of 2–12 months' duration found that low-fat diets resulted in weight loss of 3.2 kg (7.1 lb) over eating as normal.[1]
[edit] Low-carbohydrate diets
Main article: Low-carbohydrate diet

Low carbohydrate diets such as Atkins and Protein Power are relatively high in fat and protein. They are very popular in the press but are not recommended by the American Heart Association. A review of 107 studies did not find that low-carbohydrate diets cause weigh loss, except when calorie intake was restricted.[3] No adverse effects from low carbohydrate diets were detected.[4]
[edit] Low-calorie diets
Main article: Low-calorie diet

Low-calorie diets usually produce an energy deficit of 500–1,000 calories per day, which can result in a 0.5 kilogram (1.1 lb) weight loss per week. They include the DASH diet and Weight Watchers among others. The National Institutes of Health reviewed 34 randomized controlled trials to determine the effectiveness of low-calorie diets. They found that these diets lowered total body mass by 8% over 3–12 months.[1]
[edit] Very low-calorie diets
Main article: Very low calorie diet

Very low calorie diets provide 200–800 kcal/day, maintaining protein intake but limiting calories from both fat and carbohydrates. They subject the body to starvation and produce an average weekly weight loss of 1.5–2.5 kilograms (3.3–5.5 lb). These diets are not recommended for general use as they are associated with adverse side effects such as loss of lean muscle mass, increased risks of gout, and electrolyte imbalances. People attempting these diets must be monitored closely by a physician to prevent complications.

what is dieting

Dieting is the practice of ingesting food in a regulated fashion to achieve or maintain a controlled weight. In most cases dieting is used in combination with physical exercise to lose weight in those who are overweight or obese. Some athletes however aspire to gain weight (usually in the form of muscle). Diets can also be used to maintain a stable body weight.

Diets to promote weight loss are generally divided into four categories: low-fat, low-carbohydrate, low-calorie, and very low calorie.[1] A meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials found no difference between the main diet types (low calorie, low carbohydrate, and low fat), with a 2–4 kilogram weight loss in all studies.[1] At two years all calorie-reduced diet types cause equal weight loss irrespective of the macronutrients emphasized.[2]