Eat Yourself Skinny…Almost
With the New Year comes a deluge of dieting and weight lose programs with the usually claims you can lose weight without changing the way you eat…well almost.
It seems every miracle diet claim comes with a pesky asterisk and fine print in a font size almost too small to read.
A recent ad received in the mail claims “Lose 30+ Pounds Without Dieting*”. Below that claim is, NO Pills, NO Diuretics, NO Stimulants, NO Pre-packaged Meals, NO Calorie Counting. Not only is the word no capitalized it is in red to catch the readers attention. So why the need for the asterisk? The footnote states the manufacturers of the you don’t have to change your diet weight loss product advocates a “healthy lifestyle including regular exercise and portion control”.
Having an after photo of an attractive women who lost 70 pounds in 11 months grabs your attention. Oh wait. There is a symbol after month which again in small type states the women pictured in the ad used the advertised product “with sensible diet.”
If you begin exercising and practicing portion control, it begs the question whether or not this diet product actually works or is it just a costly placebo?
The simple truth is most people who are overweight or obese eat too much relative to their physical activity. Eating more calories with sedentary lifestyle translates into excess fat.
Putting on extra pounds is easy when food is abundant and relatively inexpensive. Loosing excess weight is more difficult. It takes about 4 hours of walking to burn the calories in a large slice of cheesecake you can eat in 10 minutes or less. Unless you want to walk for 4 hours or jog for 2 hours, it is easier passing on the cheesecake and other high calorie foods.