A Letter From Joy

"Calories Matter Most"? Not So Fast!

Joy Bauer, MS, RD, CDN, responds to the New England Journal of Medicine study on weight loss

If you’ve been watching the news these past few days, I’m sure you’ve heard about the new study on weight loss diets recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Basically, the study demonstrated that the macronutrient composition of a diet (the specific breakdown of fats, protein, and carbohydrate) doesn’t affect weight loss. Instead, the researchers found that the amount of calories consumed mattered most. In order to lose weight, you must take in fewer calories than you burn off, regardless of whether the majority of those calories come in the form of protein, carbohydrate, or fat. In fact, this isn’t such big news after all…it’s what many nutritionists and researchers have suspected for a long time.

Make no bones about it, cutting calories and reducing portion size is essential if you want to successfully lose weight. But, as a nutrition professional concerned with individuals’ overall health and wellness, I feel it is equally important to emphasize the quality of a diet. In other words, you not only want to look for a plan that reduces your quantity of calories in order to promote weight loss, but also one that incorporates a highly nutritious, varied, and balanced combination of foods in order to improve general health and reduce risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. Let’s say, for instance, you devise a plan to drop a few pounds by eating only 1400 calories per day for a month. It wouldn’t matter if you consumed all 1400 of those calories as doughnuts, or as French fries, or ice cream, or pure butter….you would still drop roughly the same amount of weight by the end of the month. Of course, you already know that this is not a healthful (or sustainable) way to lose weight, because eating these unhealthy foods day in and day out would cause other detrimental changes to your health, such as a rise in cholesterol or increased inflammation throughout your body (not to mention headaches, mood swings, and an upset stomach!).

Obviously, when it comes to choosing a weight loss plan, you don’t have to choose quantity over quality, or vice versa…you can have both! That’s where I come in—in creating my diet plan, I did all of the research and planning for you. I’ve developed a well-balanced weight loss plan that incorporates appropriate amounts of heart-healthy fats, lean proteins, and high-quality carbohydrates, while minimizing the amount of added sugars, salt, toxic fats, and refined starches. The online program offers you a balanced intake of all three macronutrients (all of which serve important functions in maintaining health). Equally important, my plan also provides adequate amounts of all of the essential vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients we need to look and feel our best. By following my meal plans, you’ll consume the right kinds of calories in the right amounts to reduce your risk of disease, optimize your health in the short and long term, and, of course, lose weight. Best of all, all of the work is done for you…you don’t have to laboriously count calories, tally grams of carbohydrate, or adhere to any special formulas. You simply follow the meal plans I have laid out for you, and, in the process, learn lifelong skills like portion control and appetite management.

The New England Journal of Medicine study also demonstrated that having a support system in place to keep you motivated and accountable is crucial to weight loss success. I’m not the least surprised by that finding, either. That’s why I’ve designed a website that offers a multi-tiered support community that will keep you going strong. On my site, you’ll find message boards teeming with other dieters ready and willing to offer you advice, answer your questions, and boost your morale when you need extra encouragement. Having the active support of this online community behind you dramatically improves your chances of achieving your weight loss goal. If you find that you need more individualized, one-on-one counseling, you can take advantage of our online nutrition coaching program, which is included as part of all member subscriptions. We’ll match you up with your own personal diet coach, whom you can communicate with online whenever you encounter challenges or need a motivational push.

I think this study offers up a few important lessons. First, there is no magic formula—or perfect proportion of macronutrients—for weight loss. At the same time, that doesn’t mean that just any combination of foods composes a healthy and sustainable approach to weight loss. Choosing a varied, balanced, and reduced calorie diet that improves overall health in the long term is, without a doubt, the most effective strategy for losing and maintaining weight. Second, you can’t go it alone. If you want to stay in it for the long haul, you’re going to need a group of people willing to offer you emotional support when you come up against challenging circumstances. Fortunately, my plan combines both of these features in an easy-to-follow, easy-to-stick-with format that has helped hundreds of people shed pounds…and lead happier, healthier, more vibrant lives as a result.