While the old-fashioned "eat less, exercise more" approach can work, it doesn't work for many. Studies show that, 95 percent of the time, counting calories does not keep fat off over the long term. A better approach is to focus on higher-quality calories or eating what I call a "SANE" diet.
A 2006 study of 63 men and women ages 20 to 60 at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., compared a group of subjects following a traditional calorie-counting "eat less, exercise more" program (we'll call them the Conventional Group) with a group of subjects who observed a simpler "eat more, exercise less" program (we'll call them the SANE Group).
The Conventional Group ate a typical Western diet while doing traditional aerobic exercise for 40 minutes daily, six days per week.
The SANE Group ate a higher-protein, lower-carbohydrate diet while exercising only 50 percent as much, but with higher-quality workouts focused on high-intensity cardio and resistance training.
Overall, the Conventional Group ate fewer calories and exercised 13 hours more than the SANE Group, And yet, at the end of the 12-week study, the researchers found that the SANE Group's results exceeded the Conventional Group's in all ways:
■ The SANE Group had a 21 percent decrease in body fat and 16 percent decrease in belly fat. The Conventional Group had a 10 and 8 percent decrease, respectively,
■ The SANE Group posted a 9 percent increase in lean muscle, versus a 4 percent decrease for the Ccnventioral Group.
■ The SANE Group showed a 21 percent decrease in LDL (bad) cholesterol compared with a 9 percent decrease for the Conventional Group.
Given how poorly conventional calorie-focused strategies perform, it's astonishing how many weight-loss programs continue to recommend them.
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