According to the polls the number of people wanting to lose weight and going on diets is growing year after year. Most of these people think that quick diets with very little calories are the best way to lose weight. People are also exercising a lot and actively seeking information about health and spending fortunes on diet products and books.

With all this dieting and health awareness, how can it be possible that the average weight is higher than ever and the obesity problem is growing almost everywhere in the Western world? Are the people lying about what they do? Are they somehow still doing it wrong? Why do they still gain weight despite all that dieting and exercising?

The answer is, that the advices they are following are based on wrong assumptions. They try to cut calories, but cutting calories is not an effective, sustainable weight loss method. It only leads to yoyo-dieting. When you count calories, you are counting the energy you are getting from three different macro-nutrients: carbohydrates (4 cal in 1 gram), protein (4 cal in 1 gram) and fat (9 cal in 1 gram). When you look at those figures, you can understand why you have been told to avoid fat the best you can: it has a lot of calories in it.  So how can you burn fat naturally?

However, the calories from different macro-nutrients are not the same. Your body processes them differently, and carbohydrates are the only macro-nutrient causing weight gain. Therefore it is possible that you can actually gain weight while starving on something as low as a 1000 calorie diet, if these calories come from foods high in carbohydrates. Not really the result you were after, is it?  So what is the best diet plan for you?

If you have a tendency to gain weight, it is very likely that your body has problems with handling the carbs you eat. Are you constantly thinking about how to lose weight fast if that is the case? The answer is simple: cut down your carbohydrate intake and see what happens!  What would your food regimen look like if instead of eating crackers and chips for snacks, you substituted carrot sticks and apple slices?  Would you feel better and have more sustainable energy?  Try it today for a healthier diet plan!