Miracle Diet? Fat Chance!
So you think you know how to eat right—what foods are healthy, what foods keep
the weight off—yet you can't stop peeking at the latest fad diet. A voice inside
says
you'd lose the weight without cutting calories if you ate your cheeseburger without
the
bun. The voice says weight loss will happen if you drink liquid protein. Or just
stop
eating for 3 hours before you go to bed. Or maybe the magic formula is eating 40%
of
your calories from carbohydrates, 30% from protein, and 30% from fat at each meal
and
snack.
Sound a bit crazy? Yes, it does. Yet at any given time, about two-thirds
of us are trying to lose weight or keep it off.
1. The only permanent way to lose weight is to:
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All of these steps
help. Low-fat diets can cut your risk for heart disease and other ills. But experts
say it's not the type of the diet that affects weight loss. It's how many calories
you consume and how many you burn. Calorie-burning exercise is vital. But it won't
work alone. If a 120-pound woman walks briskly for an hour, she burns about 200
calories. But you must give up 500 calories a day to lose 1 pound a week.
2. If you want to lose weight, the worst time to eat is:
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If you eat the
same dinner at 6 p.m. or 10 p.m., it won't matter weight-wise. But emotional eating
(such as downing a bag of cookies while depressed) often occurs at night. You'll
also feel more satisfied and energetic if you eat during the day.
3. The high-protein/low-carbohydrate fad diets work
because:
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This diet has been
around for a century, going in and out of style. It’s really a low-calorie diet
in
disguise. A high-protein diet burns no more fat than a healthier, low-calorie
diet.
Carbohydrates aren't more fattening than protein. Both fat and protein have 4
calories per gram. Fat has 9 calories per gram. And despite diet claims, there's
no
proof that eating carbs makes you store more fat. It's excess food of any kind
that
packs on weight. Do these diets keep you from feeling deprived? Experts say yes,
because they let you eat foods you thought were taboo, like butter and cheese.
Over
time, they create boredom by limiting food choices. They can leave you tired and
nauseated. And they can make you constipated.
4. If you want to lose weight, what would be the most filling,
lasting snack? (Standard serving sizes are shown.)
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High-fat food like ice
cream tastes great, but just half a cup has 230 calories. It goes down fast and
has
low "satiety." This means you get hungry again quickly. Two carrots are about
70
calories. They make up a bulky, high-fiber snack. This snack fills the stomach
in a
lasting way. And it raises blood sugar slowly. An ounce of pretzels offers little
bulky fiber. And it raises blood sugar too fast. The orange juice (100 calories)
is
a setup for dieters. People tend not to swap drink calories for food calories.
This
is because the fullness doesn't last. A tablespoon of peanut butter offers a
satisfying protein. But you have little to chew on. You can add it to celery sticks
for a filling combo.
5. Dieters have often avoided fat because:
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But some fat is good
for you. You need polyunsaturated fats for certain body functions. Omega-3 fats
in
fish are heart-healthy. So are monounsaturated fats in the Mediterranean diet.
Only
saturated fat is labeled bad. This type of fat is found in dairy products and
red
meats. Fat doesn't burn as efficiently as carbohydrates during exercise. That's
because it takes more oxygen to burn fat. But that really doesn't matter. Your
workout burns both. Just make sure to exercise at a level that lets you breathe
comfortably.
6. A diet is a fad if it:
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Fad diets fail, experts
say, because they don't teach you how to manage weight for the long term. When
you
see you can't stick to a fad diet, you probably will likely go back to eating
the
way you did before. The National Weight Control Registry is a record of people
who
lost 30 or more pounds and kept it off more than a year. The Registry offers clues
to what really works. It notes that:
- 98% of people say they changed how much food they ate to lose weight.
- 94% got more exercise. The most common form of exercise was walking.
- Registry members keep their weight off in several ways. Most say they eat a low-calorie, low-fat diet. And they get a lot of exercise.
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