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You Don't Start a Weight Loss Diet Thinking That It Will Fail But Failure is the Most Common Outcome or There'd be No Obesity Epidemic
If You Don't Care That You're Not in the Shape You Want, You Wouldn't be on this Site My primary life goal was not a job, or an education, or a family; it was to solve my overweight and "I'm-too-fat" problem. I got fat at age twelve. I solved it. I learned HOW to do it. It was an enormous amount of work and took a great deal of time and then effort. I tried all the plans and vegetarianism too and failure was most often the outcome. You see, all the plans out there don't actually teach you HOW weight control works.
What I learned, as I describe on this site's home page, is that there's only one thing that dictates weight control and that's Calorie Balance. Now, it's more complicated than that, and that's what I teach in my body of work. OK, if calories control, then any diet MUST, somehow, cause one to eat fewer calories than he burns. Simple. But, you're never taught this basic principle. You go from one diet plan to another as if there's some sort of magic to each one, that it's somehow different than all the others.
Lets Look at Some of the Major Diet Programs of the Last Twenty Years: An Analysis Dr. Atkins's Low-Carbohydrate Plan First published in 1972 with several later variations, the main crux of Atkins's plan was a major reduction in carbohydrate intake. Atkins's maintained that calories don't count from day one. Some have argued that he never said that, but that notion simply does not stand up to scrutiny.
I like the low-carb diet but not Atkins's Version of it. There's too much missing from his Plan to make it workable and his Induction Phase (first step in following the Plan) is gruesome for most.
Zone by Dr. Barry Sears I've long enjoyed these philosophical battles between those competing for the diet throne. Zone is a variation on the low-carb plan and proposes a 20/30/40 ratio for protein/fat/carbohydrates. Dr. Sears gets to be politically correct with the Visions of the Annointed Diet Experts by keeping the fat intake at the recommended 30% level set by the medical Establishment. How did he arrive at these ratios? I just told you why for fat (politically correct, but not biochemically correct). So Sears worked from an agenda, not wishing to rankle anyone, and not from facts. Why 40% for carbs? Dr. Sears believes that ketones in the blood are a bad thing as do most doctors. You see, ketones were first discovered in the blood and urine of diabetics. But no one took the time to understand that there are two types of ketosis: physiological, and pathological. One OK, the other not.
So, in the Zone Plan, he keeps carbs up and insulin up and no ketones form. This is very important: a low-carb plan begins to work its magic when daily carb intake is less than 25% of total calories. I teach the details of this in my work. You can see, then, that 40% in the Zone is simply too high to effectuate fat release and its subsequent hunger-squashing result. How does Zone reduce calorie intake? In the same time-honored way all the others do: a menu. You get a menu to follow which is sort of like portion control. The menus are ALWAYS calorie restricted. No MAGIC, just following the calorie rule. But, you're never taught any of the basic rules so you fail when you stop with the menu (which you will).
Weight Watchers A very interesting plan. Again, there are few people or companies who will stand up to the medical Establishment and other card-carrying members of the "fat-and-cholesterol-are-bad" crowd. Weight Watchers won't.
WW also gives a menu and uses points. The worst part of this diet is that it's low-fat, so when you reduce your calorie intake and those carbs get converted to body fat, there's little fuel left in the blood and hunger, painful hunger, is the result. Not too many people can overcome hunger.
Nutri-System This company was started right here in my own home town of Philadelphia by Harold Katz the former owner of the Philadelphia 76ers. Since then it has been out-of-business and re-birthed many times. In its most recent re-incarnation they've adopted the meal plan routine and tied it to pre-packaged foods. Perfect way to control calorie intake.
But, just to show how silly this is lets look at the GI: One feeds 50-gram portions of carbohydrate foods to test the blood glucose response to them. Now, a 50-gram portion of potato measures 1 1/2 X 1 1/2 X 1 inches -- that's it. You can't apply the GI to mixes of foods and to foods/meals that contain more than 50-grams -- the test is precise, but the marketer's use of it isn't. 50-grams won't be much of a meal. Besides all of the above, the GI does not work and good-carb/bad-carb is all rubbish. Why? That 50-gram portion of potato will yield glucose blood levels and an insulin response that shuts off fat release and maxes out carbohydrate conversion to fat. I hash out all of these details in my book Net Carb Scam. Will some other carb give a higher glucose response? Yes, but that's meaningless as the fat-shutting-off is already complete by the ingestion of 50-grams of any carbohydrate food. How does Nutri-System reduce calories? Portion control, same way as everyone else.
Eating Right 4 Your Blood Type
How many research papers came up on this subject? None, zero, nothing at all. If there is any weight loss, again it's calories. In fact, one of the 4 blood type diets is a low-carb diet so that'll work to reduce calories.
The South Beach Diet Another cardiologist, similar to Dr. Atkins's background, wrote this book. He even admitted in its pages that he knew little about nutrition. Pretty easy analysis on this, similar to those above.
How do people lose weight on this plan? You guessed it -- a menu. Checking out the daily calorie intake for the plan for the first two weeks shows a calorie intake of 1,500-1,700 calories per day. Very few people won't lose weight eating so few calories.
Sonoma Diet This recent addition to the diet wars bases its program on the so-called Mediterrannean diet, one that's argued to be heart-healthy although no compelling evidence supports this contention. In fact, its emphasis on olive oil and wine might be the two main factors that would convey health advantages.
How does Sonoma reduce calories? Portion control and menus. Again.
Here's Why All These Plans Don't Lead to Sustainable Weight Loss It's very clear that most plans employ the same methods of menus and portion control. Free-living people don't, in reality, eat that way. No wonder weight loss failure is at an epidemic level:
What About Calorie Diets Such as the 1,500 Calorie, 1,200 Calorie, and 1,000 Calorie Diets? Of course if you follow them, they'll work. Unfortunately, most people mis-report what they eat and don't lose. I see this all the time. But if you're burning 2,200 calories per day and you only eat 1,200, you'll have to lose, nothing else is possible. But, in everyday life, people think they're eating a reduced calorie diet when they're not. This is why so many people believe that the Calorie Theory is false. Your best combo is my Ultimate Diet Secrets lite and Net Carb Scam books. After reading them you'll be educated at the highest level. |
