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The Magic Bullet for Weight Loss: Diet or Exercise? Mar 16, 2010, 2:00 pm.

Filed under: Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Fit or Fiction

Which is more important for weight loss, exercise or diet? — Martha Hagman, Conn.

This is a complicated question and one that I can’t completely answer because it hasn’t been completely answered by science. A satisfactory explanation for how best to lose weight and why it is so easy to gain weight has yet to be determined. I’ve discussed many possible contributing factors in this column: Genetics, hormones, biological viruses, social viruses, stress, your romantic partner — even air conditioning. All are suspected of playing a role in how and why the body stores fat.

It’s easiest to point a finger straight at calories because it makes sense that if you take in more energy than you burn off, you will hold on to what’s left as excess body weight. So let’s talk about whether eating fewer of them or burning more of them is the better weight loss strategy.

A number of studies have concluded that restricting calories is a better way to drop a pants size than spending more time in the gym. For example, one University of Pennsylvania trial found that men and women who exercised — but didn’t bother to control what they ate — lost 0.3 percent of their initial body weight compared to those who dieted but did not exercise and lost 8.4 percent of their weight.

Don’t cancel your gym membership just yet. This study, like many others looking at the problem, did not compare diet and exercise on equal footing. The women in the diet-only group cut 945 calories per day, and the men cut 1,705 calories. Meanwhile, the exercise-only groups walked or jogged for 30 minutes, five times a week, expending an average of 255 and 190 calories per session for men and women, respectively.

This is sort of like comparing apples to really big apples. In a research study cited by the American College of Sports Medicine to support their daily exercise recommendations, researchers compared people who ate 500 fewer calories per day with those who burned an extra 500 calories by walking and both groups lost about the same amount of weight. This seems to be the general finding with more recent studies, as well.

Of course, you’d have to run about six miles to burn off a Milky Way Bar that takes less than a minute to eat (speaking only for myself, of course). That’s why once you step outside the laboratory, dieting probably plays a bigger role in weight loss than exercise.

Still, it’s clear that combining diet and exercise achieves better results than doing either separately. In a review of more than a dozen studies lasting up to a year, the National Institutes of Health found that groups who did aerobic exercise and cut calories lost an average of 4.2 pounds more than groups who just dieted. Groups that added weight training to the mix were rewarded with losing two additional pounds on average.

Putting all this aside for the moment, the better question seems to me, “What is the best way to prevent yourself from gaining weight in the first place?” or perhaps more applicable to most of us, “What’s the best way to keep it off once you’ve lost it?” Here, the evidence is becoming crystal clear: Exercise is the key factor. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that over 70 percent of people who succeed in keeping their weight down over a five year period exercise regularly as part of a lifestyle change, compared to only 20 percent of people who have regained their weight. The National Weight Control Registry puts the percentage of successful losers who exercise closer to 80.

I’ve often said on this blog, and I’ll say it again, that the formula for losing weight is as simple as moving more and eating less. I think as we continue to unravel the mysteries of body weight we will find this to be fundamentally true still but with many factors tossed into the mix which complicate how your body stores and sheds calories. For now, the best pieces of ammunition you have to fight extra pounds are to get your fanny in gear and use a smaller fork.

You can check out Dr. Oz’s 10 Commandments for Weight Loss and see what fellow That’s Fit blogger Jonny Bowden has to say about fiber and weight loss.

Now it’s your turn. Have you tried to lose weight by either cutting back on desserts, trudging it out on the treadmill or some combination thereof? Have you been happy with the results? Or have you found some other secret to weight loss that you’d like to share with the rest of us? Post it here or tweet me @lizzyfit.

Liz Neporent is a diet and fitness expert and co-author of “The Fat-Free Truth.” She regularly appears on national TV programs and is the president of Wellness 360, a New-York based wellness provider.

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Diet Power – Personal Weight and Diet Software Mar 16, 2010, 1:21 pm.

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Low Calorie Diets Mar 16, 2010, 11:42 am.

Most diets that are considered low calorie diets focus on one thing, to control and limit your caloric intake. Regardless of what the diet is named, it is still based on the same theory. Considering the fact that there are more and more diets popping up everyday, and there is also a record amount of obese people..that is steadily growing. It should be easy to see that this means there are more and more diets being promoted that DON’T WORK, hence the rising amount of overweight people. If all of these diets worked so well…. wouldn’t the number of obese people be decreasing?

Each individuals body works differently, down to the intake and outtake of calories or our “metabolic rate”. Some people may naturally burn more calories than others, thereby having a “faster metabolism”.

People with fast metabolisms lose weight easily in comparison to people with a slow metabolism. So the goal of any diet should be to speed up the metabolism. Usually a persons metabolism starts to slow down in their 20’s-30’s, however once again this differs in everyone. Generally speaking though, this is why a lot of people become overweight during that age period.

The setback that most people have when trying low calorie diets is they go to far with it. If your caloric intake is TOO low then your body will go into “food shock” or “survival mode”. When this happens your metabolism actually SLOWS down in order to preserve energy and nutrients, thereby causing your weight loss to come to a halt. The sad thing is that most low cal diets will cause the user to do just that, making them not very effective, because they actually make you burn calories slower.

Another thing that is wrong with diets like that is you are cutting the intake of calories to quickly, instead of gradually doing it over time. This can also cause detrimental effects. If your calories are at a very low level, then your muscle mass deteriorates. Muscle burns calories for sustenance…if there are not enough calories to burn, then the muscle withers away….when the muscle withers away, the fat remains and it is now harder to burn without the muscle to help you burn the calories. It’s a chain reaction that occurs all too often in the dieting world.

The mistake that most diets make is they are UNDER FEEDING you. If you don’t get enough nutrition then everything that I just talked about will happen to you. After one week of depriving yourself of nutrients, not only will you still be over weight, but you’ll feel miserable too. If you’re trying to speed up your metabolism then you should eat a bunch of small meals through out the day, instead of 3 large ones, or just one small one. By eating small amounts of nutritious food at 2-3 hour intervals throughout day, you will be forcing your body into what is called ketosis. When this happens your metabolism will spike and make it easier for you to burn weight. If you want to know more crucial info like this I would suggest you download the diet plan on this site.

Atkins Diet Foods Mar 16, 2010, 4:00 am.

Atkins diet foods are easy to find and available everywhere. There are many varieties to choose from, whether you pick prepackaged low-carb diet foods or make your own meals. No matter how you want to do the Atkins plan, there is a solution out there for you.

Youll need to keep the Atkins food pyramid in mind when you make food choices. The Atkins pyramid looks much different than the USDA Food Guide Pyramid. The base of the pyramid consists of protein sources such as eggs, fish, beef, chicken and tofu. On a daily basis, your diet should consist primarily of these foods. The second tier has low glycemic vegetables like salad greens, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and spinach.

The third tier is made up of berries and avocado. Fruits should be used on an occasional basis after the initial stages of the Atkins diet. Vegetable and seed oils, cheese, dairy, nuts and legumes are used sparingly and in appropriate portions. While the FDA pyramid has oils and fats at the top peak, the Atkins pyramid places whole grain foods in this spot. Whole grain foods should be used very occasionally and dont make up the mainstay of the Atkins diet.

When you start the Atkins plan, youll need to make sure you understand which foods are acceptable for your stage of the program. The Induction phase is the most restrictive, but it only lasts two weeks.

You owe it to your dieting success to stay within the acceptable foods list. One of the best ways to do this is to follow the Atkins menu plans that are printed within the New Diet Revolution book. There are also Atkins cookbooks and cookbooks that are geared toward other low carb diets that are helpful in formulating meal plans.

Its a helpful idea to use a cheat sheet of acceptable Atkins foods wherever you go. If you are out and about and hungry, the last thing you want to do is to try to think back in your memory to figure out what you can and cannot eat. Carrying a list of acceptable foods with you will make finding a snack or meal while out on the run easy. You cant always rely on low carb labels to tell you whether or not something is diet friendly. Ever since low carb became the new diet craze, manufacturers have been jumping on the bandwagon to attract Atkins dieters. They label items low carb to sell products and dont have your health in mind. Relying on foods from your own personal list is the best way to stay on the plan.

Another good resource for keeping track of the appropriate Atkins foods is an online diet program. There are several available. Some are free and some have a small monthly fee. The programs require you to register and then they provide you with personal weekly menu plans based on your needs and your carbohydrate gram level. There are normally printable weekly shopping lists that make picking up your Atkins diet foods from the grocery store easy and quick.

Atkins diet food is easy to find once you know what you are looking for. The books, food pyramid and online resources can help you make better food choices and stay on the diet for the long term.

Courtesy of www.dietitica.com : Diet – Weight Loss - Fitness – Nutrition

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