Science Says “Calories Count” for a Sensible Weigh to Weight Loss
It seems the old adage; “You are what you eat” is a little off. According to research recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, it isn’t what you eat, but how much. Results from the two-year study, which assigned 811 overweight participants to one of four reduced-calorie diets, found that from a weight loss perspective it didn’t matter what foods the participants ate, but how many calories they consumed. These findings are in line with a 2008 study by Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research which found that keeping a food diary can double a person’s weight loss.
A nationally projectable survey by the Calorie Control Council found participants who were currently dieting made an average of 3.6 dieting attempts in 2007, and it seems that finding a diet to produce the most rapid weight loss has long been the primary quest for the majority of dieters. However, the current study “really goes against the idea that certain foods are the key to weight loss,” notes Frank Sacks, principal investigator and professor of cardiovascular-disease prevention at Harvard School of Public Health. “This is a pretty positive message. It gives people a lot of choices to find a diet they can stick with.”
