Why Your Resolution To Diet Won't Work

 

The results of a two-year study have provided pretty conclusive evidence that a low-carbohydrate diet is more effective than other types of diet in helping overweight people lose weight safely. In 2008, a study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, with the title, "Weight Loss With a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet." The results seem reasonable 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 claim are associated with low-carb eating.

So that's cool. Just go on a low-carb diet for a while and you'll soon have the body you want, right? Sorry, but no. Here's why a great diet plan isn't enough to get you the fitness you need.

One major concern is that dieting alone doesn't do anything to help you retain your muscle mass. As you may know, once people reach the age of 30 or so, we tend to lose muscle mass. An average person will lose five to ten pounds of muscle for every decade they age beyond the age of 30. Dieting alone does nothing to change that. It might reduce the amount of fat concealing your shrinking muscles, but it won't do anything to build new muscle, or even retain what you already have.

Secondly, the results cited in this study are lame. The participants were overweight men and women, or people with Type 2 diabetes. They were split up into three groups, one for each of the three diet approaches. They were also given instructions and materials specific to the diet they were to follow. During the two-year study, each group of people got a total of 27 hours worth of meetings with a dietician who helped them stay with the plan. People who were having particular trouble got motivational phone calls as well.

The results of all this? Among the people who stayed in the program for two years, the average weight loss for the low-fat diet was 3.3 kg (7.27 lb), for the Mediterranean diet was 4.6 kg (10.14 lb), and for the low-carb diet was 5.5 kg (12.13 lb). There were also some positive changes in markers of health such as cholesterol levels.

This sounds good at first, but is it really? The best performing type of diet, with more support than most of us would have, resulted in a loss of just over 12 pounds in 24 months. One type of diet (the low-carbohydrate diet) may be better than the others, and for overweight people to lose some weight is surely good. But is losing 12 pounds over 2 years, with a dietician's help and without any consideration for preserving your muscles, really going to get you the body you want?

A healthy diet is surely a good thing, and crucial to achieving the fitness you want. But as this study shows, dieting alone won't get you there. The key to superior health and fitness is a comprehensive fitness program.