It’s not what you eat but how much you eat of it.
A landmark study on dieting and weight loss has found that the calories-in versus calories-out equation is the single most important bit of math in weight control. Not counting carbs or restricting fat – just moderate eating and exercise, plain and simple.
From the New England Journal of Medicine:
Comparison of Weight-Loss Diets with Different Compositions of Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates
There is intense debate about what types of diet are most effective for treating overweight — those that emphasize protein, those that emphasize carbohydrates, or those that emphasize fat. Several trials showed that low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets resulted in more weight loss over the course of 3 to 6 months than conventional high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets, but other studies did not show this effect. A smaller group of studies that extended the follow-up to 1 year did not show that low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets were superior to high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets. In contrast, other researchers found that a very-high-carbohydrate, very-low-fat vegetarian diet was superior to a conventional high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. Among the few studies that extended beyond 1 year, one showed that a very-low-fat vegetarian diet was superior to a conventional low-fat diet, one showed that a low-fat diet was superior to a moderate-fat diet, two showed that a moderate-fat, Mediterranean-style diet was superior to a low-fat diet, one showed that a low-carbohydrate diet was superior to a low-fat diet, and another showed no difference between high-protein and low-protein diets. Small samples, underrepresentation of men, limited generalizability, a lack of blinded ascertainment of the outcome, a lack of data on adherence to assigned diets, and a large loss to follow-up limit the interpretation of many weight-loss trials. The novelty of the diet, media attention, and the enthusiasm of the researchers could affect the adherence of participants to any type of diet. The crucial question is whether overweight people have a better response in the long term to diets that emphasize a specific macronutrient composition. Thus, we recognized the need for a large trial that would be designed to overcome the limitations of previous trials and that would compare the effects of three principal dietary macronutrients. We studied weight change over the course of 2 years, since weight loss typically is greatest 6 to 12 months after initiation of the diet, with steady regain of weight subsequently.
The Center for Consumer Freedom surmizes this quite well: “It’s time to focus on lifestyles and moderation, and let go of faddish diets and unhelpful activist advice about which foods should be vilified this week.”
