Back in 2010, Mark Haub, who's a nutrition professor at K-State (Go Wildcats!) decided to start a diet consisting of twinkies, doritos, debbie cakes, cereal and other sweet treats.
His premise: That in weight loss, pure calorie counting is what matters most -- not the nutritional value of the food.
And wouldn't you know it, 10 weeks later the premise held up and his results were shocking:
- He shed 27 lbs
- His LDL (bad cholesterol) dropped 20%
- His HDL (good) increased 20%
- His Triglycerides decreased by 39%
Amazing and almost science defying right? Hmm, perhaps.
Before the diet, he shifted from consuming 2600 calories to 1800 calories and locked in that number (that's a giant drop and not recommended for most people). He took one protein shake and a multivitamin daily along with some veggies for dinner, this way he wouldn't be completely nutrient deficient.
Basically 2/3 of his diet consisted of sweet treats. He also timed his meals to eat every 3 hours.
How can this happen and what does this prove?
If you're having a hard time losing weight, you must know how much you're consuming on a daily basis. At least initially. It's work, it's not sexy, and it doesn't sell like the latest celebrity go-to diet...but it's simple physics.
If you were having trouble with your finances, your advisor would initially probably want to know where the money is going so you would have to track it down. Similar idea with nutrition. To really take control of what and how much you're eating, one of the best ways is to start writing everything down.
Although, there may be some variation among people with metabolic irregularity (i.e.: thyroid) calories are a unit of energy, and the relationship between matter and energy figures prominently among the physical laws of the universe.
The second thing that's important is the timing your meals. Mark ate every 3 hours and his portions were not enormous (200-500 calories). This kept his metabolism fired up during the day (when we don't eat, the metabolism slows down). Although he had massive surges in cravings because of the sugar spikes, he stuck to his calorie daily goal (which remember was also 800 calories lower than he was usually eating).
Now, there were no long term results recorded and he agrees that it's very likely that his overall health would decline since he was not taking in enough nutrients.
The point of the study was to show that calorie control and timing is very important when it comes to weight loss. You need to set some parameters....and the number can fluctuate depending on the amount of exercise you do daily, but it should stay within a reasonable amount.
Finally, if you're looking to shed some weight without big surges in cravings (and have more energy during the day), you should replace those sweet treats with complex carbs which will help regulate your blood sugar levels and create a more sustainable nutrition plan. Also, round our your plate with plenty of greens, legumes, protein and healthy fat in order to decrease overall sugar cravings.
Committed to your health,
Kendrick