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Diet Myth Busters

by Dr Marc

Have you counted calories, engaged in daily exercise and still could not lose weight? There are overweight individuals who repeatedly fail at losing weight despite reporting a daily caloric intake of 1200 calories a day. There are a number of explanations that could account for this including: low metabolism, under-reporting of calories eaten and over-reporting of calories burned during exercise.

I ran across an interesting study published in NEJM, that searched for an answer. The researchers studied a group of “diet-resitant” obese individuals who perceived a genetic cause for their obesity, used thyroid medication at a high frequency, and described their eating behavior as normal. Several of these individuals had 20 previous attempts at dieting and most had undergone extensive medical evaluations for obesity. This study helps dispell a number of common diet myths….

Diet Myths:

It’s my metabolism
This “diet- resistant” group had a resting metabolic rate within 5% of predicted. Metabolism was directly correlated with the amount of lean body mass and did not differ significantly from the control group.

I burn calories more efficiently
The rate at which the body expends energy to digest food and convert it to fuel was no different between the diet resistant and control group. Similarly the rate at which calories were burned for exercise was no different.

I count calories and eat 1200 calories a day
The diet resistant group under-reported their actual food intake by 47% or 1053 calories a day! This calorie intake analysis was calculated by using tagged water and compared with an individual’s food log.

I exercise
The diet resistant group over reported physical activity by 75% or 251 calories per day. Similarly this calories burned analysis was calculated by using tagged water and compared with an individual’s exercise log.

Diet Myths Busted
The number one reason why many dieters fail at weight loss is under-estimating food intake and over-estimating exercise. This is one of the reasons I believe “losing weight is 90% mental.” As the Discovery Channel’s Myth Busters would say… this myth is busted!

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