Why Dieting is the Worst Way to Lose Weight

No to fat, yes to muscle!

“The word ‘diet’ was supposed to simply describe the way a person eats. ‘Diet’ comes from the Latin, diaeta, meaning ‘way of life,” says Venuto. “But in our technologically advanced, sedentary society today, and with the obesity crisis we're facing, and the multi-billion dollar industry it has spawned, the word ‘diet’ has become tainted. Today, I think 'diet' carries too much negative baggage to use so loosely. The way I define it, a diet is any unsustainable change in your eating behavior to try to lose weight. When you say you're going on a diet, you're also saying that at some point you're going off it. While you're on it, you suffer all those negative associations I mentioned above”

No to fat, yes to muscle!

“By contrast, think about the connotations of the word ‘nutrition.’ Do you think of anything negative? I don't. I think of: vitamins! Minerals! Micronutrients! Fiber! Muscle-building protein (amino acids)! Unrefined foods, closer to their form in nature! Energy! Vitality! Health! Now think of the word ‘program.’ A program implies that there is structure. So I define a nutrition program as a structured plan you can follow as a lifestyle, which nourishes you with nutritious food that helps you get leaner, stronger, fitter and healthier . . . and stay that way. I propose we replace ‘diet’ with ‘nutrition program’ unless we are specifically talking about something short term.”

No to fat, yes to muscle!

“I believe this distinction in words is crucial, but just to play devil's advocate, let's assume that diet and nutrition program mean exactly the same thing. There's still a huge problem with the diet alone approach, and therefore, why 99 percent of the entire weight loss industry is wrong: Diet is only one of the elements needed for a leaner, stronger, fitter, and healthier body. There are other elements that most people are missing.” The full name of Venuto’s book is Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle: Transform Your Body Forever Using the Secrets of the Leanest People in the World. "Dieting might improve your health. On the other hand, depending on your approach to ‘diet,’ it might destroy your health. Dieting is not always healthy. Nutrition and training together is a sure-fire pathway to health. Weight loss diets fail 80-95 percent of the time. Not because they don't take the weight off, but because they rarely keep it off. Most dieters relapse. Drug addicts and alcoholics in rehab have a higher success rate than that. Exercise and an active lifestyle are vital for long term weight loss maintenance. The right kind of exercise is also vital for re-shaping your body.”

No to fat, yes to muscle!

The Muscle Loss Epidemic. “With diet alone, 30 to 50 percent of your weight loss could come from lean body mass. And if you're getting older, the prospect of losing muscle and strength should genuinely frighten you. After age 50, you lose 1-2 percent of your lean muscle every year if you do nothing (if you're not resistance training). After age 60, you lose up to 3 percent per year. Let's suppose you're 50 or 60 and you're thinking, ‘A few percent of my lean mass? What's the big deal? I have no desire to look muscly.’ I can understand that. Your goals and values do change as you get older. But I already realize that most people don't want to look like bodybuilders. However, gaining lean muscle, strength and fitness will improve the quality of anyone's life. Maintaining the muscle you have must be a priority for everyone because losing lean mass every year means losing your mobility and losing your independence as you get older.”

No to fat, yes to muscle!

Stop the Diet Insanity! “Given these facts, it's sheer insanity that we have millions of people who want to lose weight -- for health and for happiness -- and the first thing or only thing they think of as a solution is diet. They're asking for deprivation, hunger, missing out on favorite foods, loss of muscle, loss of strength and eventually, loss of independence, putting a burden on other people to take care of them. I'm not being melodramatic. I'm on mission to expose the mistakes of the dieting mentality and promote the benefits of the muscle-building, fitness and nutrition lifestyle.nThe good news is, there's a right way to burn fat and transform your body, but it's not a one-trick show. You have to put several pieces together. This is total lifestyle change, so it's not easy. But it is worth it. This is as near to a miracle formula as you will ever find.” There are four elements to his Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle approach: 1. Nutrition program. 2. Resistance (strength) training. 3. Cardio Training and 4. Mental training”