Not all calories are necessarily treated the same. Many think that as long as they are consuming as little calories as possible, the more weight they will lose. WRONG. In the end, you are damaging your metabolism, and will gain your weight back quicker than you think. Some think having a high protein and no-carb diet is the answer to weight loss. And we have all had the no fat diet, which in the end is just extra sugar added to our foods. Yes, you will lose weight initially, but the second you eat "normally" again, that weight will come right back on. Other times people think that as long as they are hitting their daily caloric intake recommendations in general, no matter what foods they are consuming, they are good to go.
Not always the case! Be careful!
A calorie is not always a calorie. For example, if you were to be on 1300 calorie diet in order to lose weight, that doesn't mean to have 1300 calories worth of pasta and bread sticks! The only cases this would be appropriate would be if you needed to carb load for a race, or recover from an extreme sport or event. If you eat your daily need of calories in mostly carbs, and don't plan on intense exercise following after, the carbs are metabolized and stored as glycogen within the muscles, and stored as fat. Obviously, if all calories consumed was in the form of potato chips and dip, this fattening diet would be stored as fat!
The best thing to do, is find that happy medium of lean proteins, carbohydrates, and fat.
Having a balanced diet will ensure you are getting the proper nutrients you need on a daily basis. Additionally, eating all forms of food groups will ensure proper and smart weight loss, that will most likely come off and STAY OFF! Ways to find out about having a smart and balanced diet is by visiting a registered dietician, nutritionist, or you can visit www.mypyramid.org, for a basic idea of what to do.
So let's forget all of these fad diets, and celebrity "how-to's" and eat right, and eat SMART! Good luck!
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