Diet Research? It must be January.

Yes indeed, it’s the first week of the year, and that means millions of Americans are trying to shed between 5 and 500 pounds. Some scientists were even willing to stick their necks out there and say fructose is a culprit in weight gain (a culprit not the culprit). Check the archives and you will find me many times saying that every weight loss diet that works requires drastically reducing if not altogether eliminating added sugars.

So Loyola University wants to help you out. They’ve got what they think are the top 4 reasons diets fail. Let me save you some reading:

  1. Underestimating calorie intake (e.g. eating too damn much)
  2. Overestimating activity and calories burned (e.g. imagining that an amble around the mall is just like a 5 mile run)
  3. Poor timing of meals (the dreaded “starvation mode“)
  4. Inadequate sleep (having a job and other responsibilities)

Really? I’m on board with reasons 1 and 2, although I see them as two sides of one coin. But do they really think that sleep is a bigger issue than unrealistic expectations in the first place, or diet plans that are for whatever reason unsustainable? Do they think that eating at the wrong time is truly a bigger issue than unsupportive friends and family who –subtly or openly — undermine the dieter’s efforts?

Want to lose weight without torturing yourself? Try eating reasonable portions of real food: plenty of veggies; adequate protein; no sweets, no crap that comes out of a box, no food-like chemistry sets. Hey, it’s no dumber than the other diets you’ve tried over the years.

In Closing: free classes; Downtown Vegas and F15; maybe now somebody will ask banks to follow the law pretty please?; Onnabugeisha; ha!; conform or be called a terrorist; Malala; why oh why did Texas give him a second term?; more employment data than you probably want; somebody inform Scalia that 24 is not a documentary; the estate tax is not a wealth tax, it’s a wealth moving into the hands of someone who didn’t actually earn it tax; it turns out you need facts before you can figure out what to think about them; well that’s gonna have conservative panties in a wad; the Romney Loophole; is anybody surprised by this?; and I think Brent may have been playing Black Ops 2.

3 thoughts on “Diet Research? It must be January.”

  1. Why should banks follow the law? They are a cash cow for the Fed Gov’t as through “deferred” prosecution they are only forced to share the spoils.

    Corrupt through and through; all of them on both sides.

  2. myfitnesspal.com has a great calorie tracking program (free) and it IS a surprise how many calories “healthy” foods can contain.

    I went to a restaurant recently, a rare treat these days, and was initially chargrinned/surprised by the normal size of the serving. It wasn’t “super-sized” and my big-eyes were disappointed. What they lacked in quantity they made up for in quality (lamb gyros – and not cut from one of those giant meat-wheels)

    And lo, the regularly sized meal was enough to fulfill.

  3. Jukk0u:

    Recently I went to lunch with a friend at a big chain restaurant with a low calorie section of the menu. Would you believe that not one of their salads came in under 500 calories?? So much for thinking you’re eating “healthy” by getting a salad!

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