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I could kick myself for falling prey to the '90's way of thinking that persons who restricted calorie consumption to lose weight were in a word, anorexic--or on the way to becoming anorexic.
I could kick myself for falling prey to the '90's way of thinking that persons who restricted calorie consumption to lose weight were in a word, anorexic--or on the way to becoming anorexic. Twenty years after the “diet wars” gained momentum, many medical experts now agree that any diet that is low in calories and saturated fats, focuses on vegetables, fruits and whole grains (complex carbohydrates), and encourages a healthy protein intake is a reasonable choice for individuals planning to lose weight and get healthy. Such a diet, if tailored to an individual's personal preferences, can become a permanent and easily sustainable lifestyle change.
The February 2009 report from the NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine) titled, Comparison of Weight-loss Diets with Different Compositions of Fat, Protein and Carbohydrates, challenges the notion that calorie counting is superfluous and goes on to reveal that after studying four popular dieting concepts, the amount of weight lost per person studied over two years was about the same regardless of the diet used. It didn't matter what they ate, it boiled down to calorie consumption. In the study, doctors calculated each participant's energy needs, and structured a diet for him/her that allowed 750 fewer calories than needed to fuel their daily activities and maintain their current weight. The assigned calorie requirements ranged from 1400 to 2000, with women being on the lower end of this range. (I personally do well on 1200 to 1400 calories per day.) To read the full report by the NEJM and decide for yourself, CLICK HERE.
This study is one of the most important in recent years on the subject and it validates an important component of the method I myself used to lose nearly half my body weight. When you take this knowledge a step farther and factor in the mental and spiritual pieces of the quotient, you will have a cocktail for success that gives you a workable range of diet choices, the "glue" to hold it all together, and the power to supercharge your overall weight loss results. (My personal average was consistently around 2 lbs. per week, which is a lot higher than the individuals noted in the study mentioned above.)
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