A Kansas State University nutrition professor lost 27 pounds in 10 weeks on which of the following diets?
a. A shot-glass full of kale-carrot juice five times a day.
b. A low-fat diet with an emphasis on fruits and vegetables.
c. A low carbohydrate diet plus running 3 miles per day.
d. A diet consisting mainly of Twinkies, Doritos and Oreo cookies.
If you believe that last one is just a joke, think again; it’s the correct answer. And not only that, along with his weight, his LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and triglycerides decreased as well.
This is not a safe diet and I would not recommend it to anyone, but it does give valuable insight into weight reduction diets.
Weight loss, weight gain and weight maintenance are all totally dependent upon the intake and output of calories – what I refer to as the I&O Principle. There is only one way to lose weight and that is for output of calories, those burned, to exceed over time the intake of calories, in other words the caloric value of food eaten. And if the opposite occurs, then weight gain will be the result.
So the Kansas State University professor’s Twinkie diet, while not healthy, was still low enough in calories that he was able to lose weight.
The I&O Principle may be a little less simple than it initially appears because much of our caloric output is the energy cost of being alive, our basal metabolic rates, and these can vary from person to person and even within the same person depending upon age. Basal metabolic rate is pretty much out of our control, but food intake and activity level are the ways that we can manipulate the I&O Principle toward our goals.
Let’s look at the extremes of the I&O Principle before focusing on the practical aspects. Famine will prevent obesity in everyone, even those with the highest genetic predisposition to weight gain. Likewise, running a marathon every day would probably preclude obesity. But let’s get real here, and commit the following to memory: 1 pound of fat = 3,500 calories.
That means that if you eat a 250-calorie candy bar every afternoon for a snack, by doing nothing else but eliminating the candy bar, a loss of a pound every two weeks could be expected. The same result would occur by walking about 3 miles each day, which would expend about 250 calories. As is evident, it usually takes much less time to take in a lot of calories than it does to burn them off.
So diet books can work if they restrict calories enough but often fail because their recommendations are not suitable for the long run. And when the novelty wears off, the pounds tend to come back on.
What is a reasonable diet then? I believe that using both intake and output to support the cause makes the most sense. Even if you are not trying to lose weight, a healthy diet heavy on fruits and vegetables and whole grains is recommended, as is regular exercise.
The amount of exercise and caloric restriction will vary depending on the desired effect on weight. By eliminating 125 to 250 calories from the diet and expending an additional 125-250 calories daily through exercise, you can lose a pound every 1 to 2 weeks – a sensible rate of weight loss.
And by the way, it’s OK to have an occasional Twinkie, as long as it conforms with your goals through the I&O Principle.
– James L. Hardeman, MD, is a pulmonary and critical care physician and author of “Appears Younger than Stated Age – a Doctor’s Secrets on the Art of Staying Young.”