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Re-activateCutting calories is the key to weight loss regardless of whether a diet emphasizes fat, protein, or carbohydrates, reported the New York Times yesterday on a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week. In the largest controlled study of its kind, reseachers put more than 800 overweight adults on one of four diets that reduced calories through different combinations of fat, carbohydrates, and protein. After two years, every diet group had lost—and regained—about the same amount of weight regardless of what diet had been assigned.
The lesson here: people lose weight if they lower calories, but it does not matter how. "It really does cut through the hype," said Dr. Frank M. Sacks, the study's lead author and professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health. "It gives people lots of flexibility to pick a diet that they can stick with."
In our recent survey on dieting, we found that getting slim—and staying there—takes more than watching fat or carbs alone. Successful dieters swear by a variety of healthful behaviors to maintain weight loss, such as exercise, portion control, and eating more fruits and vegetables, combined with realistic expectations. One weight-loss strategy that is conspicuously absent from the recommendations: going low-carb.
Read more tips on weight-loss success and our favorite ideas for healthful eating on a budget, and for more on how cutting calories and exercise can help you lose weight, see our Treatment Ratings (subscribers only).
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