A recent conversation with a friend inspired me to write this short article that will hopefully convince you that for the majority of the population, weight loss comes down to a reduction in calories. Period. As I was sitting there listening to a list of 'rules' her nutritionist gave her to follow I couldn't help but attempt to debunk some of the blasphemy I was hearing.
A lot of older nutritionists these days give out advice that came out of the 70's; their time period. It was the beginning of the whole 'fat makes you fat' era that unfortunately lots of people still fall for today. Lots of studies have shown that the main factor responsible for weight loss is simply consuming less calories than you're burning. The most ridiculous thing she told me her nutritionist told her to do was to not eat after 8pm. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Your body doesn't have a little clock inside it which waits for 8:01pm after which it shoves excess calories into fat cells.
Your body requires x number of calories a day to simply survive. That number is on average 2000. If you consume 1500 calories a day you'll be in a deficit of 500 calories. A pound of fat is 3500 calories, so if for seven days you eat 500 less calories a day, by the end of the week you'll be at a total deficit of 3500 calories which is roughly a pound of fat lost. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. This is the basis of weight loss 99.99% of the time.
Low-carb and low-fat are not something to lose sleep over. Per gram, fat is higher than protein and carbs in calories, so if you eat less fat you're essentially eating less calories which is why people go on crazy low fat diets, ignoring the tons of health benefits that fats offer.
People choose to ignore the real science behind it and instead rather listen to someone who's taking their money to offer them outdated advice that won't get them anywhere. If these 'diets' work, great, but in the end there were easier ways to get there. If you're out with friends for dinner and it's 8:15 (gasp), don't restrict yourself from eating. Know how many calories you're consuming each day and even if it's 10 or 11pm and you still haven't hit your target calorie goal, go ahead and eat and get to that number.
Oh, after my half hour speech I figured I had convinced her that timing doesn't matter. We had to cut the conversation short to go have dinner because it was 7:40 and it would take more than 20 minutes to get to the restaurant and order.
If you're interested here's a quick study to read:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WN4-4C4FMW6-JJ&_user=10&_coverDate=03%2F31%2F1964&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1622928281&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=04b83c48025420a3c2ee6ff2253f742f&searchtype=a
