There seems to be no end to the variety of diets for losing weight. The Mediterranean diet, the Atkins diet and the South Beach diet are just a few of the weight loss strategies that have gained popularity in recent years. Despite all that variety, all diets come back to one core principle. Theres no getting around it: To lose weight , youve got to eat less, said Dr George Blackburn of Harvard Medical School in his book Break Through Your Set Point (HarperCollins, 2007.) All weight loss programmes limit calories one way or another. Calories, the basic units of energy, are at the heart of weight loss.
Weight gain happens when you take in more than you expend, and weight loss happens when you use more than you consume. How much weight a person gains or loses also has a lot to do with the individuals metabolismthe process by which the bodys cells convert the calories from food into energy for bodily functions such as breathing.
How your metabolism affects your weight
The bodys metabolism is responsible for the majority of calories a person uses. However, metabolism occurs at different rates from person to person. It tends to slow with age, due to the wearing down of cells in the body. As metabolism slows, people who continue to eat the same number of calories will gain weight because the energy is not used as quickly. As many people age, their amount of physical activity also tends to decrease, and weight gain becomes even more likely.
By dieting, people limit the calories they take in and can avoid that weight gain. Many diets focus on eliminating one group of foods entirely. The Atkins diet, for example, severely limits carbohydrates. Other diets focus on limiting fats. Fat contains about twice as many calories as an equal amount of carbohydrates or proteins. But the evidence suggests people need to consider limiting both fats and carbohydrates to lose weight. Forcing scientists or the public into the jurors box to decide whether fat or carbohydrate contributes more to obesity is like debating whether tornadoes are worse than hurricanes, said Kelly Brownell and Katherine Battle Horgen, of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders, in their book Food Fight (McGraw-Hill, 2004.) People consume too many calories, which is the key to the obesity problem.
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