Another dieting fad that's been tried time and time again over the last several decades, is calorie control. And like any other diet, this does work... if it's done properly. One of the biggest problems with calorie control though, is often the same problems we see with low fat diets: Hunger.
Most people try to restrict their calorie intake to very low amounts. The concept is fairly valid too: Eat less calories than you use and you'll lose weight. And this is quite true. Some people go overboard with their calorie restrictions though, and some people choose the wrong types of foods to eat for their daily calorie allotment.
The first problem is with severe restrictions. You see, the human body is an amazing thing. It can adapt to almost anything you throw at it, because its sole purpose is to stay alive. Everything you do to your body sends it a message, and it reponds to each message appropriately. You may not understand that it's responding to a message you sent it though, because you may not realize exactly what you were telling it.
When you exercise for instance, and use your muscles more than usual, you're telling your body you need strength. So it complies by building those muscles for you. You end up being sore for a day or two, and this is simply an indication that your body did what you asked of it. So the next time you want to use those muscles in the same way, they're be more capable of complying. If you continue to ask your body for more than it currently has available to give you though, it will keep improving itself to try and meet your requests. This is why you can get stronger quite quickly if you simply work at it.
When you drastically reduce the amount of food you're eating though, this tells the body that you're in a famine period. In other words, it sees that you have very little food to eat and it assumes you may not have more anytime soon. So it responds by lowering the amount of energy it's using for various things. This is a reduced metabolism. And that lowered energy expenditure causes your body to maintain its fat levels instead of shedding them.
Now you can force your body to let go of some of its extra fat, but you have to work at it. And that means doing exercises and physical activities. Since your body is so determined to keep you alive though, you may find that you have to work even harder at exercising when you're on a low calorie diet. You'll also find that you have little energy or stamina too, because the body is trying to reserve it all for you until a feast period comes along again.
The second problem with low calorie diets is again the types of foods you choose to eat. If you're filling up your daily calorie allotment with sweets or simple carbohydrates that don't keep your hunger at bay for very long, then you'll find yourself hungry more often than not. And walking around hungry all day is a sure way to keep you from sticking to your calorie restriction goals. What's worse though, is that when you finally do get fed up with feeling hungry all the time, you don't just give in to temptation... you go overboard and stuff yourself with anything and everything you can find.
As we said before though, eating less calories than you use each day will help you to lose weight. But don't go overboard and try to restrict your calories too severely, and don't waste the calories you are allowing yourself with foods which will leave you feeling hungry most of the day.
