When it comes to losing weight everyone is an expert. Everyone, and here I mean women, knows at least one recipe that could make miracles when in fact it is not that simple. Losing weight is very hard and it takes time, exercise, ambition and faith that you will succeed no matter how hard it will be.

 

A recent study in The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that the diet someone chooses is largely irrelevant. What counts the most is in fact the number of calories in your food.

 

The study lasted two years and was led by researchers at Harvard’s School of Public Health and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center of the Louisiana State University. It was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. It involved 811 overweight and obese adults who were divided into four groups randomly assigned to one of four eating plans. The four diets were similar to popular diets like Atkins, Ornish or the Mediterranean diet.

 

The diet plans were as follows: 1. Low fat, average protein: 20 percent fat, 15 percent protein, 65 percent carbohydrates; 2. Low fat, high protein: 20 percent fat, 25 percent protein, 55 percent carbohydrates; 3. High fat, average protein: 40 percent fat, 15 percent protein, 45 percent carbohydrates; 4. High fat, high protein: 40 percent fat, 25 percent protein, 35 percent carbohydrates.

 

The participants were asked to cut 750 calories from their normal diets, but not go below 1,200 calories. They were also asked to do 90 minutes of moderate exercise every day. Individual or group counseling was given to everyone involved in the study.

 

After six months, the participants lost 13 pounds on average, but after two years, the average weight loss was about 9 pounds while waistlines shrank an average of 2 inches. Only 15 percent of dieters achieved a weight-loss reduction of 10 percent or more of their starting weight.

 

Those who attended counseling the most shed more pounds than those who did not – 22 pounds compared with the average 9-pound loss.

Frank Sacks, a lead author of the study and professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at Harvard said “it’s not a question of eating a particular type of diet. To lose weight, it comes down to how much you put in your mouth.”

 

“There's no special diet that's better for weight loss than any other. As long as it's healthy for you -- high in unsaturated fats, high in whole grains and fiber, low in junk foods and high carb-junk foods, and low in fatty meats -- any of these variations will be fine for losing weight,” he said.

 

Commenting on the results of the study Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, supported the same idea: “As long as people follow a heart-healthy, reduced-calorie diet, there is more than one nutritional approach to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.”