Is it possible to diet your way to fitness? Last year, a study titled, "Weight Loss With a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet," published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported on the two-year effectiveness of these three types of diet for overweight people. The best results came from low-carbohydrate diets, and there were no signs of the health risks that some people claim for these kinds of diets.
So that's cool. To get fit at last just requires a low-carb diet and time, right? I'm afraid it isn't that easy. We need to look into this a bit more to see why a great diet plan isn't enough to get you the fitness you are looking for.
One big drawback to relying on diet alone to get fit is that concentrating on dieting ignores your muscles. Effective diets may help you lose weight and reduce body fat, but they don't help prevent this muscle loss, and they certainly don't help you add muscle. Many people don't realize this, but starting at the age of 30 or so, we gradually begin losing muscle mass. If we don't do anything to counteract this, we is likely to lose five to ten pounds of muscle per decade. That's a lot of muscle, and something that a diet won't help you with.
Now this latest study didn't specifically look at muscle mass (a search of the original report didn't even turn up a mention of muscle) so it's possible that one type of diet could have more of an effect on muscle mass than another. But going by the results of this study, there's no reason to believe that any type of diet will do anything special to prevent the gradual muscle loss that comes with age. It's going to be hard to build an awesome body when your youthful, sexy muscles are slowing fading away.
Second, the results of the diets are weak. The people studied were either overweight or suffering from Type 2 diabetes. They were split up into three groups, one for each of the three diet approaches. They were also given instructions and materials specific to the diet they were to follow. During the two-year study, each group of people got a total of 27 hours worth of meetings with a dietician who helped them stay with the plan. People who had trouble sticking to the plan got pep talks over the phone as well.
So what were the detailed results of the study? For people who stuck with it, the low-fat diet gave the worst results, followed by the Mediterranean diet, with the low-carbohydrate diet giving the best weight loss results. The diets also produced some positive changes in blood chemistry, such as lower cholesterol levels. As far as total weight loss goes, the people on the low-carbohydrate diet lost just over 12 pounds during the two years of the study.
This sounds good at first, but is it really? The best performing type of diet, with help from a nutritionist, resulted in a loss of just over 12 pounds in 2 years. One type of diet may be better than the others, and for overweight and diabetic people to lose some weight is surely good. But is losing 12 pounds over 2 years, with a dietician's help and without any consideration for preserving your muscles, really going to get you the body you want?
A good diet is clearly an important piece of your health and fitness puzzle. And now we know that a low-carbohydrate diet is probably the best choice if you want to lose weight or avoid getting fat in the first place. But it is also clear that there's more to getting and staying fit than diet alone. You're going to have to invest in a professionally designed fitness program, one that combines exercise and good nutrition.
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