My friends, losing fat in San Antonio is not rocket science...or is it?

When it comes to the "science" of fat loss, loads of research studies have shown that what works for some often works for many. Let's take a look:

Here's a study from 2008 - Johnstone et al
Effects of a high-protein ketogenic diet (a diet that causes your body to burn fat for energy) on hunger, appetite, and weight loss in obese men feeding ad libitum.
Am J Clin Nutr.2008 Jan;87(1):44-55.

In this particular study the researchers compared two groups of men. Group 1 followed a diet consisting of 4% carbohydrates and Group 2 followed a diet consisting of a 35% carbohydrates.

4 weeks later, Group 1 was down 14lbs on average while Group 2 was down an average of 9 and 1/2 lbs. What was interesting about this study was that the subjects got to eat as much food as they wanted provided they stayed within the nutritional guidelines.

The researchers learned that a high-protein, low-carbohydrate ketogenic diets reduce hunger and lower the amount of food a person eats drastically more than a high-protein, medium-carbohydrate nonketogenic diet does, at least in the short term. It would appear that dropping your carb intake (and 35% is pretty low to begin with) is just another great selling point when you're looking lose body fat.

Here's another study from 2003:
Louis-Sylvestre et al.
Highlighting the positive impact of increasing feeding frequency on metabolism and weight management.
Forum Nutr. 2003;56:126-8. Review

This study is pretty straight forward and to the point. It demonstrated that folks (adults, here) who normally ate four meals a day gained body fat and weight when they changed things up and started eating just three meals a day.

And they still ate the same number of calories as before, so it seems that by eating more frequent meals you can lose more fat!

Now, let's go way, WAY back to 1957:
Kekwick and Pawan
Metabolic study in human obesity with isocaloric diets high in fat, protein or carbohydrate.
Metabolism. 1957 Sep;6(5):447-60

Even back in the stone age, researchers put on their thinking caps. They evaluated and compared 3 hypocaloric (lower maintenance, restricted calorie) diets. They were:
1) a diet of just 1000 cals that consisted of 90% fat; and the folks lost about .9lbs per day
2) a diet of just 1000 cals that consisted of 90% protein; and the folks lost about .6lbs per day
3) a diet of just 1000 cals that consisted of 90% carbs; and the folks actually gained weight. (oops)

In my mind this tells us that when choosing what to eat it ain't just calories that count. It REALLY helps to know just what kinds of calories your eating.

I know you're bored with this already, so here's the last one from 2003:
Greene, P., Willett, W., Devecis, J., et al.,
"Pilot 12-Week Feeding Weight-Loss Comparison: Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate (Ketogenic) Diets," Abstract Presented at The North American Association for the Study of Obesity Annual Meeting 2003, Obesity Research, 11S, 2003, page 95OR.

This study involved 3 different groups on differing diets for a total of 12 weeks:
Group #1 was on a low fat/low calorie diet (only 1800 calories a day) they dropped about 17 lbs.
Group #2 was on a low carbohydrate/higher calorie diet (about 2100 calories) and they dropped about 20 lbs.
Here's the really cool part: Group #3 combined the low carbohydrate diet AND the low calorie diet (1800 calories) and they dropped an average of 23lbs.

Is that great or what?

Here's the bottom line, San Antonio: if fat loss is your goal (and it should be) then you shouldn't just focus solely on calories, but that doesn't mean that calories don't count! You've got to make sure you're getting the right kind, in the right amount at the right time, like I said here.

Simply put you should reduce the carbs, reduce the calories, and increase the frequency of your meals in order to get the most from you fat loss efforts.

And that, my friends, is the truth...

Steve
Steve Payne is San Antonio's premier fat loss expert. If you're really serious about fat loss, then please consider San Antonio's finest fat loss "boot camp", the Firestorm Fitness Systems Fat Burning Fit Camps, The 28 Day Miracle Fat Loss Program or you can e-mail Steve here for more information on his many GUARANTEED success programs. And please visit http://www.safatloss.com/ today.