welcome to diets faq

Dieting is the practice or habit of eating (and drinking) in a regulated fashion, usually with the aim of losing weight. It is also used in some cases to gain weight or to regulate the amounts of certain nutrients entering the body.

The practice of dieting in order to lose weight is ancient in its origins. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, physicians and patients regulated their food carefully, in order to prevent disease. The scientific classification of foods was broken down into proteins, carbohydrates, starches and lipids. Doctors and scientists began experimenting with targeted diets in the 19th century.

William Banting is one of the first people known to have successfully lost weight by dieting, circa 1863, by targeting carbohydrates. (The low carbohydrate diet, marketed today as the Atkins Diet, remains popular today.)

dieting techniques

Most typically, "dieting" means eating in a carefully planned way in an attempt to reduce excess body fat and decrease bodily measurements, such as clothing size. There exist a (sometimes confusing) multitude of weight loss techniques, many of which are ineffective. What works for one person will not necessarily work for another, due to metabolic differences and lifestyle factors.

Scientific principles surrounding dieting

Successful weight loss diet is all about energy in versus energy out. If a person takes in less food energy than he or she expends over a period of time, the person may burn fat and subsequently lose weight.

Diets affect the energy in component of the energy balance by limiting or altering the distribution of foods. Techniques that affect the appetite can limit energy intake by affecting the desire to overeat. This can be attempted by focusing on foods that are filling, through the use of certain appetite-suppressing drugs, or through activities such as mild exercise, that affect appetite. Other techniques address habitual or emotional eating.

Affecting the energy out component is the focus of fitness and exercise programs. These might also be included in a comprehensive "diet."

Dieting in order to lose weight does just that -- you lose weight, water, some fat and muscles. Since muscles are denser, you lose a lot of weight, but little in size. Fat is bulkier, so a three pound fat loss can cause a size loss.

To lose a pound of fat, one must create a caloric deficit of approximately 3,500 calories (37,600 kJ per kilogram of fat); therefore, if a person creates a deficit of 500 calories per day, the person will lose approximately 1 pound of fat per week (5,400 kJ per day to lose a kilogram a week).

Muscle-loss during weight-loss can be restricted by regularly lifting weights and by a high protein intake. (It is said that 0.8 to 1.0 g of protein per pound of body weight (1.76 to 2.20 g/kg) per day is sufficient.)

What Dieting is not

Certain religions, such as Judaism and Islam, impose strict restrictions on food choices and preparation. These restrictions, however, are not usually considered "dieting." Vegetarianism is usually not considered "dieting," as it is most often adopted for religious, spiritual or ethical reasons, or in some cases because other food choices are not available. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia, which are psychological and neurological disorders that cause victims to endanger their lives with calorie restriction, must not be confused with dieting.

Potentially hazardous dieting techniques

Yo-yo dieting is particularly dangerous and ineffective, because it decreases the metabolism, leading to an immediate weight gain once the caloric restrictions are eased.

Many over-the-counter (OTC) and prescribed medications have been proven to be extremely hazardous to the health and consequently withdrawn from sale, so consumers need to be wary.

While anyone can lose weight by fasting (temporarily stopping one's food intake altogether), it is an extremely dangerous practice. When concentration camp survivors, who involuntarily suffered famine as a result of the horrendous living conditions, were examined by doctors, what little weight they had was mostly fat, with practically no muscle.

The only "safe" method of weight loss is to eat a sensible healthy diet with a moderately decreased caloric intake from your normal diet, and to increase exercise gradually until weight loss results. It should be noted that people may follow these guidelines and not actually lose weight, but may see health improvements.