The diet and weight loss connection

Diets for weight loss are so common, it seems that almost every day a new weight loss diet is being published and touted on the front cover of every magazine, and even on the six o'clock news.
There are really no great secrets to the diet-weight loss connection, despite all the hype and the fact that diets for weight loss have become a multi-billion dollar industry in the past 2 decades or so.
In fact, these diets are more than likely disguising the diet-weight loss connection by making things too complicated, to get more money, rather than get back to basics.
The secret to losing weight is simple if you can count: you have to burn more calories than you eat in order to lose weight.
One of the places people have become confused is that a pound gained is NOT equal to a pound lost. It is actually 2000 calories to put on a pound and 3500 to take it off. This ratio is even higher for people who have an inactive lifestyle, and little muscle mass, which both lead to a poor metabolism, the rate at which the body burns the calories it consumes.
Some people burn calories more quickly than others. Lean muscle mass is like an efficient machine. Fat is like a rusty, clogged one. Therefore it is not just what we eat, but how toned we are, that can make a big difference in terms of the diet and weight loss connection.
Most people try to starve themselves in order to lose one pound, but that is the worst thing you can do when trying to lose weight. It will have a negative impact on your blood sugar and metabolism, and cause you to have hunger and cravings which will just grow worse the longer you wait to eat. Once you do eat, your body will grab on to those calories and store them as fat rather than burn them as fuel, slowing down your metabolism still further.
Instead of a crash diet, you need a sensible eating plan that you can live with. You can take your daily calorie allowance and plan to spread it out throughout the day, so that you have three meals plus snacks and won't have the chance for terrible cravings to sabotage your diet.
In addition to hunger, we also have emotional reasons why we eat. One of the best ways to look at your diet and weight loss connection is to keep a food diary for a week. Note down what you eat, when, and why. Many people eat out of boredom, stress, to keep others company, and so on.
In addition, you might also want to keep track of how much you are sleeping once you diet. Experts now show that chemicals released in the brain when we sleep in a darkened room help us to keep our weight in balance.
Diet may not be the whole story in terms of weight loss, since metabolism, the amount of sleep, hormones and emotions can all come into play in affecting how much a person weighs. However, diet is one of the main things we can control in this equation, along with exercise and physical fitness. A calorie controlled diet is one sure way to guarantee weight loss if it is followed carefully and sensibly.