Why Dieting Stinks
The results of a two-year study have provided pretty conclusive evidence that a low-carbohydrate diet appears to be effective in helping overweight people shed pounds safely. Last year, a study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, titled, “Weight Loss With a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet.” The results seem pretty conclusive, as participants lost more weight on the low-carb diet than on the others, without any sign of the health problems that some people assign to low-carbohydrate diets.
This is exciting. To get fit at last just requires a low-carb diet and time, right? Sorry, but no. We need to look into this a bit more to see why dieting alone isn’t enough to get you the fitness you need.
First, dieting alone doesn’t do anything to help you retain your muscles. Many people don’t know this, but once we reach the age of 30 or so, we tend to start losing our muscles. People typically lose five to ten pounds of muscle for every decade they age beyond the age of 30. And dieting doesn’t change that. It might reduce the amount of fat concealing your shrinking muscles, but it won’t maintain those muscles, much less build more muscle mass.
Now this latest study didn’t specifically look at muscle mass (a search of the original report didn’t even turn up a mention of muscle) so it’s possible that one type of diet could have more of an effect on muscle mass than another. But going by the results of this study, there’s no reason to believe that any type of diet will do anything special to prevent the gradual muscle loss that comes with age. It’s going to be hard to build an awesome body when your youthful, sexy muscles are slowing fading away.
Second, the results cited in this study are pathetic. The participants were overweight men and women, or people with Type 2 diabetes. They were placed on one of three types of diet. Each person also received instructions and information related specifically to the type of diet they were on. Over the course of two years, each group of people had eighteen 90-minute meetings with a dietician who helped them stay with the plan. People who had trouble sticking to the plan received motivational phone calls as well.
So what were the actual weight-loss results during this study? For people who stuck with the diet for the full two years, the low-fat diet gave the worst results, followed by the Mediterranean diet, with the low-carbohydrate diet giving the best weight loss results. In addition to weight loss, the diets also produced some positive changes in blood chemistry, including reduced cholesterol levels. If you want actual numbers, the low-carbohydrate diet produced an average loss of just over 12 pounds during the two years of the study.
These results aren’t very impressive. With a lot of support and professional coaching, the best diet only produced a 12 pound loss in two years. That’s about a half a pound a month. Of course for an overweight person to lose 12 pounds safely is a good thing, but come on. Will losing a dozen in 24 months, while simultaneously losing some of your youthful muscle, give you the body or the level of fitness you want?
A healthy diet is surely a good thing, and a key element in building the body you want. But as this study shows, dieting alone isn’t enought. The secret to a super body and personal fitness is a plan that combines diet and exercise.
Weight Loss & Dieting Videos
Weight Loss & Dieting News
Jets' Coach Ryan Has Weight-Loss Surgery, Daily News Reports - Bloomberg14 Mar 2010 at 3:05pm
MiamiHerald.com
Jets' Coach Ryan Has Weight-Loss Surgery, Daily News Reports
Bloomberg
March 14 (Bloomberg) -- New York Jets coach Rex Ryan underwent weight-loss surgery yesterday, the New York Daily News reported. ...
NY Jets coach Rex Ryan has lap-band weight-loss surgeryThe Star-Ledger - NJ.com
Jets coach Rex Ryan has weight-loss surgeryThe Associated Press
New York Jets Coach Rex R...
UMass, child weight-loss camp, team up - Boston Herald
14 Mar 2010 at 2:56pm
UMass, child weight-loss camp, team up
Boston Herald
By AP AMHERST - The University of Massachusetts and an Amherst weight-loss camp for children have teamed up to fight childhood obesity. ...
and more »
Wilkinson 'feels weight loss pressure' - Digital Spy
14 Mar 2010 at 5:00pm
Digital Spy
Wilkinson 'feels weight loss pressure'
Digital Spy
Kendra Wilkinson has admitted that she feels under a lot of pressure to lose weight. The former Girls Next Door ...
and more »
Arena Pharmaceuticals posts narrower 4Q loss - BusinessWeek
13 Mar 2010 at 6:52am
TopNews United States
Arena Pharmaceuticals posts narrower 4Q loss
BusinessWeek
The drugmaker said it studied more than 7000 patients who were treated for up to two years, and subjects showed significant weight loss in both trials. ...
Arena will launch lorcaserin with partner or aloneReuters
Arena Pharmaceuticals Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2009 Financial ...PR Newswire (p...
Local Radio Personality is on a Weight Loss Challenge to Save Lives - WSAV-TV
14 Mar 2010 at 5:36pm
WSAV-TV
Local Radio Personality is on a Weight Loss Challenge to Save Lives
WSAV-TV
E-93 Radio personality Kenya Cabine is on a weightloss challenge to raise money and awareness for the American Diabetes Association. ...
Tags: diet, fitness, get fit at last, low-carb, low-carbohydrate, Nutrition, Weight Loss
