Should You Adopt A Low Calorie Diet?

When it comes to dieting, for every important component of the human eating spectrum you'll find a diet that proposes to eliminate that component to help you lose weight. In all the hubbub, the simple idea of a low calorie diet has been largely lost. Calories aren't "sexy" anymore.

What is a calorie, anyway? The scientific definition is the amount of heat required to one gram of water one degree Celsius. A good way to think of this is as the amount of energy stored in a piece of food. The higher the calorie count in something, the more potential energy there is in it. The problem is, when your body has too much "energy" on hand, it doesn't just dump it ... it stores it as fat.

Whatever your diet plan promises to cut out to help you lose weight, the bottom line is that it is decreasing your caloric intake. The exception to this is the carbohydrate control diets, although even with those it's a matter of personal dietary habits before the diet begins. There is also specialized biology involved with the carb control diets that changes the way the body handles fat and calories.

So take a look at your own diet plan. A trip to the grocery store might help here. Write down the calorie counts -- JUST the calorie counts - of the foods you would have eaten during an average day before you began your diet. Be honest! Did you scarf down a few handfuls of Cheez-Its before dinner? Did you have a Pop-Tart for your evening snack? Write it all down. Don't forget to allow for things like cream and sugar in your coffee, if you used them.

Now, do the same thing with your daily consumption after you began your diet. It's a safe bet that you'll find the calorie count is much lower.

Why don't more diets cut calories? Well, think of it this way: you've just been told an easy way to analyze your eating and figure out your calorie consumption. If you can do that by yourself, and see where you need to make cuts, why do you need a diet plan? You can live the low calorie life on your own!

This is by far not an indictment of all reduced calorie diets. Most of them are well thought out and have sound medical reasoning behind them. You simply should understand what most of them are truly doing.

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