Diet 101: Forget exercise, lose weight by reducing your calories

May 28, 2:30 PMNY Wellness ExaminerRoger Ziegler

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These people are not losing weight by spinning alone. They look great because they reduce their calorie intake too.

Eat what you want, just less of it and you'll lose weight. That is the conclusion of Harvard University researchers.

If you're trying to lose weight by going to the gym, or running or any other kind of exercise, STOP.

You're wasting your money and your time. You are going to stay fat, unless you change your diet.

Of course, exercise counts for good overall health, but not for losing weight.  says the Harvard Heart Letter in their May 2009 issue.

How do you lose weight and keep it off and you don't have to do a lick of exercise or stop eating anything you like?

Start the ELF diet. EAT LESS FOOD. REDUCE YOUR CALORIES, LOSE THE WEIGHT

The ELF diet. Eat Less Food. Eat everything you are currently eating - but eat 25% to one HALF the amount.  Portion control, my friend. Oh dear God, did he just say 'control?' Yes, you might have to put down that third Twinkie. Instead of focusing on the snack cake's rich cream-filled interior, focus on your goal: to live happier and better with less weight.

The Harvard Heart Letter says when it comes to losing weight, "the only thing that really matters is taking in fewer calories than you burn."

They compared weight loss across found popular diet strategies: low fat, average protein; low fat, high protein; high fat, average protein and high fat, high protein.

Different diets, similar results

The diets they tested were different, but the one constant was that each person reduced their calories. Most participants in these groups lost about the same amount of weight and everyone felt about the same in terms of feeling hungry or satisfied. So in this case it didn't really matter what you ate, as long as you ate less of it.

The newsletter recommends reducing your calories by about 10% at first or about 250 calories a day. They then suggest you exercise enough to burn an additional 250.

How much is 250 calories anyway?

Reducing 250 calories is one or two less cookies, unsweetened iced tea instead of Snapple or soda. 1% milk instead of whole. One less pat of butter at dinner, or use olive oil, so good and tasty.  Eat half your cheeseburger or deli sandwich and share it or take it home for tomorrow. One scoop, not two. Or two, not three. Start where you are.

You can track calories and exercises at www.mypyramidtracker.gov. I checked other sites like fitday.com, my-calorie-counter.com, myfitnesspal.com and even an iphone app  and all of them require you to register. If you find one where you don't, please let us know in the comments on this page.

After the first week, you should be at 25% less than what you ate two weeks ago and then move to half, for deeper weight loss.

Drop the sugar and processed foods first and see if there's a difference.

A high processed foods diet is probably going to keep you a fatapouf your whole life no matter how many spinning classes you take. You burn about 500 calories  a workout but your ice cream sundae with a Big Mac chaser adds 3500 calories or more.

You can also eat healthier foods like kimchi and quinoa and pistachio nuts and seaweed (yup, toasted it's a delicious snack).

It's not only the high calorie stuff. I am convinced it's all the preservatives and additives that is in food that keeps us fat.

The French eat tons of cheese and fatty pigs and bread and are on average waaayyy  thinner than we are.  But their food is mostly freshly produced. They get their bread, milk and cheese freshly made with a minimum of ingredients so it metabolizes quicker.  There isn't a Tolstoy novel of ingredients on most of their food labels. And their portions on average, are much smaller.

Are you eating to make yourself feel better?

No need to beat yourself up over it, if that's the case, but recognize what role food might be playing in your life - is it a habit of yours to "drown your sorrows" with a pint of Haagen-Dazs. Drown away, but have two spoonfuls instead of the pint while you find a better way to get happy.

You have the power within you right now, to change. Take one baby step differently today than you did yesterday.

Admire your ability to actually step over a three inch high bar. Be proud of yourself that you took one step and you have already begun the process of losing weight permanently.