Debunking the "diets don't work" myth

[Arch0wl]

A lot of this problem has to do with the word "diet": fad diets tend not to work. However, some people interpret "dieting" as calorie restriction, as if to say "calorie restriction doesn't work."

Examples:
http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/f...ng-to-science/
http://fit.webmd.com/teen/healthy-we.../fad-diet-myth

A lot of people believe that it's simply impossible to lose fat and you're stuck at the fat level you're at due to genetics or whatever. This is demonstrably false -- going 3500 calories into deficit will burn off a pound of fat, and the amount of variation that is lost due to genetics is hardly going to make a difference for the vast, vast majority of people.

Let me put this in perspective: do you know someone who is allergic to Vitamin C? I know a single person. This is probably how many people you'll know who will be obese due to factors other than excess calorie consumption. This is obviously not how many people are overweight.

What happens when most people try calorie restriction and fail is that they simply don't take proper care to remember how many calories they're eating. They did something wrong. Once I was trying to lose 5lb and slowed on this because I severely underestimated how many calories were in watermelon and jicama. That one error cost me about a week of wasted dieting effort.

You can lose fat on pizza if you want. The only thing that matters is whether you're in calorie deficit. Mind you, you would probably want to have adequate protein intake to minimize muscle atrophy, but there isn't one food that by virtue of that food alone "makes you fat." Calorie surplus makes you fat.

To quote from here: http://news.discovery.com/human/heal...erous-myth.htm

"The diet did not fail; the dieter chose to quit the diet. This is an important distinction that’s overlooked by all the anti-dieting “experts.” Blaming the diet because the dieter chose not to stick to it is like blaming the dusty treadmill in the garage for not helping its owner lose weight.

The claim that diets don’t work is not only factually wrong, it is dangerous. With two-thirds of American adults overweight, people should be encouraged to trim down for their health, not discouraged from doing the only thing that has been medically shown to work. If you are trying to get fitter this year, don’t give up on the diet, and it won’t give up on you."

A lot of people will cite decline of age as evidence that their "metabolism went down" and so this is why they have the amount of fat they do. Actually, old age does not contribute that much to metabolic decline: you have a resting metabolic rate, and most BMR calculators will put your metabolic loss at about 200 calories/day by the time you're 50. In other words, you've only made a loss of 200 calories/day to your metabolism. This is hardly something you can't compensate for. People with old age gain fat for reasons -- decline of activity they had when younger, poorer eating habits now that they're on their own, lack of opportunities to diet properly, and so on.

Fat creation is essentially transfer of energy into mass, because calories are a form of energy. You will lose fat by burning energy -- aka going into calorie deficit.

I'll end with this quote:

[Afrobean]

The only thing that matters is whether you're in calorie deficit.

This is what I tell people all the time. It doesn't matter what you're eating or how you're exercising, you just have to be using more calories than you're taking in if you want to drop weight.

No one ever wants to hear this message though.

I don't really have anything to add. Just wanted to say that I agree with the idea and wish more people would get it. Even without changing exercise habits, a person can lose plenty of weight just by hitting an appropriate caloric intake for their daily needs.

[Arch0wl]

Throughout my life, I've made three major fat loss effots:

1. When I was in fifth grade I weighed 155lb, and lost a lot of fat once I got in control of my diet -- my parents previously fed me everything. I looked like this before losing fat:



the change more obvious when compared to this picture of me as a teenager:



2. Last year I went from 185lb to 140lb.

3. This year I went from 207lb to 170lb.



In the last two years alone this is a cumulative loss of 82lb for my cut cycles. The lifetime total probably exceeds 100lb.

If 3500 calories did not equal a pound of fat, then the universe just happens to coincide with my calorie calculations on a day-to-day basis out of chance. I'm inclined to disbelieve this.

[SCWolf]

Diets work, people don't.

[25thhour]

I use myFitnessPal, and my supposed Daily calorie intake is ~3000 to drop 2 pound a week. I usually eat about 1500-2000 calories a day if I don't eat out, and In less than a month I have dropped 14.8 pounds.

[Toxophilis]

this is what i keep trying to tell my mother but she doesn't listen (shes on slimming world and has been for like longer than ive been alive). she eats healthier than most people i know, but shes still overweight because she never does any exercise

i barely eat anything at all and what i do eat is pretty healthy, but i am still borderline overweight because i do shit all every day drink doesn't help either

these weight loss groups work for some people because of their killer metabolisms but most people who go wont lose anything because they teach you that eating healthy is the most important thing and it really isnt in the majority of cases (slimming world is very bad since they dont count calories but rather what is considered 'bad' or 'good' food to eat)

[Arch0wl]

Originally Posted by Toxophilis

she eats healthier than most people i know, but shes still overweight because she never does any exercise

Exercise is a trivial component of weight loss; it's nearly entirely diet. If she's still overweight, you're underestimating how caloric her diet is.

You will need to exercise if you want to get abs, but speaking in terms of just overweight v. not, diet is the overwhelming component.

[Reach]

Yeah, I never trust anyone that says they don't eat anything at all, yet they're overweight.

Too many studies have shown that people are are denial about how much they eat.

Even diet records aren't accurate because people under report what they eat on the records. Many people either purposely or accidentally omit information.

The only way to lose weight is to eat less. I usually don't count calories. Just portion sizes are enough if you're honest with yourself.

[Toxophilis]

Originally Posted by Reach

Yeah, I never trust anyone that says they don't eat anything at all, yet they're overweight.

i should elaborate a bit on my moms diet then. slimming world uses 'syns' rather than calories, and some foods are considered 'syn free' which means you could eat as much as you want of that particular food. that's why i think its pointless.

on the other hand, i really am not lying about not eating much. i usually skip breakfast since i wake up late, have a small dinner on a tiny plate, and usually just dont eat anything at all for the rest of the day, maybe like a sandwich or something if my stomach growls but thats it. my white text states that i probably get most of my calories from alcohol, though, so theres that.

[Reach]

Yeah, I question the validity of any program that allows you to eat an unlimited amount of any food with calories in it. I've seen programs that allow unlimited fruits and vegetables. Lol? Except that can add even hundreds of calories to your diet depending on the fruit/vegetable. Many fruits are actually extremely high in calories.

As for your diet, if you're a big drinker it's probably that. Alcohol has tons of calories in it, not to mention that your body cannot and will not burn fat until alcohol energy has been expended (so even if you're at caloric deficit you can halt fat burning entirely by downing a bunch of alcohol).