Many promoters of dietary schemes would have us believe that a special substance or combination of foods will automatically result in weight reduction. That's simply not true. To lose weight, you must eat less, or exercise more, or do both.

There are about 3,500 calories in a pound of body weight. To lose one pound a week, you must consume about 500 fewer calories per day than you metabolize. Most fad diets, if followed closely, will result in weight loss-as a result of caloric restriction. But they are invariably too monotonous and are sometimes too dangerous for long-term use. Moreover, dieters who fail to adopt better exercise and eating habits will regain the lost weight-and possibly more.

The most drastic way to reduce caloric intake is to stop eating completely. After a few days, body fats and proteins are metabolized to produce energy. The fats are broken down into fatty acids that can be used as fuel. In the absence of adequate carbohydrate, the fatty acids may be incompletely etabolized, yielding ketone bodies and thus ketosis. Prolonged fasting is nsafe, because it causes the body to begin to digest proteins from its muscles, heart, and other internal organs.

Low-carbohydrate diets also produce ketosis. As it begins, large amounts of water will be shed, leading the dieter to think that significant weight reduction is taking place. However, most of the loss is water rather than fat; the lost water is regained quickly when eating is resumed. Appetite, often reduced during ketosis, also returns when a balanced diet is resumed.

Most low-carbohydrate diets do not attempt to limit the intake of proteins, fats, or total calories. (In other words, their fat content tends to be very high.) Promoters claim that unbalancing the diet will lead to increased metabolism of unwanted fat even if the calories are not restricted. This is not true, but calorie reduction is likely to occur because the diet's monotony tends to discourage
overeating.

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