• Home
  • About Jerry Brainum
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • FAQs: Frequently asked questions or problems

Applied Metabolics

Jerry Brainum | Nutrition, Health, and Exercise

The Best Weight-Loss Diet: What Does the Science Show? by Jerry Brainum 11/19

November 1, 2019
By: Jerry Brainum
Filed Under: Fat loss, Intermittent fasting, Low carb, Nutrition

Those who seek to lose excessive body fat are faced with a plethora of diet choices. Each diet has its advocates who proclaim that their diet is the most effective at promoting body fat loss. And there is rarely a time when another new fad diet surfaces, often promising to be the ultimate cure for obesity. Often, these various diet plans tout a firm scientific foundation behind them. But skeptical critics of dieting note that if these diets really worked, then why do 97% of those who follow them regain lost weight within a year? Others say simply that for any diet to work, you must experience a deficit of calories ingested compared to how many calories you expend through physical activity. Others even discount the role that exercise plays in promoting more permanent weight loss. They note that when you exercise, your appetite increases. So any calories that you burned by exercise are quickly replaced by food calories. That such statements are ludicrous is easily proved by the sheer number of successful dieters who lost excess fat and kept it off through a combination of exercise and dieting. Indeed, without exercise about half the weight lost through dieting consists of muscle mass. Losing muscle mass is problematic because the extent of muscle mass determines the resting metabolic rate or the number of calories burned at rest. The lower the resting metabolic rate, the lower the rate of caloric burning.

When you begin a diet, it's common to experience a plateau effect that occurs after about 3 to 4 weeks of continuous dieting. This is caused by the body recognizing that you have opted to ingest fewer calories than you normally do. The body responds as if you are in a starvation mode, and makes changes accordingly to prevent the loss of lean mass, mainly muscle mass. One way it does this is by downgrading the production of thyroid hormones. Specifically, the active thyroid hormone known as T3 is converted into a far less active form called reverse T3. The net effect is a significant decrease in the resting metabolic rate. You will experience this as a slowdown in the rate of weight loss. It can be overcome in several ways. One is to increase your activity or exercise level.To effectively alter body composition, you need to exercise at least 4 times a week, doing both resistance and aerobic exercise. Another way to break a dieting plateau is to increase you caloric intake at least twice a week. The final way is to simply overcome the drop in thyroid output by ingesting thyroid drugs. That last solution, however, is the least desirable. For those with occult or undiagnosed heart disease, taking thyroid drugs could impose an additional strain on the heart and pose serious health problems.

So the best plan to lose excess body fat entails a combination of diet and exercise. You must do both to effectively maintain fat loss after the . . .

Join today and get access to this article and all past and present Newsletters, since September 2014.  Each month you’ll get a new issue sent to your inbox.  Subscribe today for only $10/month!

Click here to subscribe now & read this article.

Tagged With: best diets for fat loss, gluten-free diet, Intermittent fasting, low carb diet, mediterranean diet, Paleo diet, Plant-based diets for weight-loss, vegetarian diet, Weight-loss diet science

Only $10/month - Subscribe Today!

Subscriber Login

  • Lost Password

Boost Your Size, Strength and Leanness With…
Supplements That Work
Top Researcher Cuts Through the B.S.
and Shows You Which Ones Really
Pack On Muscle and Melt Off Fat

NaturalAnabolicsCVRshad.jpg

Read More / Purchase

Search

Newsletter Archives

Categories

  • 5-alpha reductase inhibition (1)
  • acid-base nutrition (1)
  • Aerobic exercise (4)
  • Aerobics and fat loss (7)
  • Alpha GPC (1)
  • amino acids (5)
  • Anabolic drugs (5)
  • Anabolic resistance (4)
  • Anabolic steroids (18)
  • Anti-aging (16)
  • Antioxidants (3)
  • Ashwagandha (1)
  • Athletes and steroids (6)
  • August 1 (3)
  • binge eating effects (1)
  • Black market drugs (1)
  • bodybuilding Coaching (1)
  • Bodybuilding Nutrition (15)
  • Bodybuilding posing (1)
  • Bodyweight strength training (1)
  • Book review (2)
  • Brain function (2)
  • Branched-chain amino acids (3)
  • Caloric restriction (1)
  • Carbohydrate loading (2)
  • Carbohydrates and exercise (5)
  • cardiovascular disease (4)
  • Cell hydration (1)
  • cellulite (1)
  • Chronobiology (1)
  • Citrulline (2)
  • Coconuts and health (1)
  • Coffee (1)
  • Cold weather exercise (1)
  • Concurrent training (2)
  • Contest prep (23)
  • Cortisol (1)
  • Covid-19 (4)
  • Creatine (7)
  • Cross-fit training (1)
  • Curcumin (1)
  • D-aspartic acid (2)
  • Dental health (2)
  • Depression (1)
  • Designer steroids (2)
  • Detox diets (1)
  • Detoxification diets (1)
  • DHEA (1)
  • DHT and health (1)
  • Diet fads (2)
  • Dieting and Metabolism (2)
  • diuretics (1)
  • Drugs in supplements (2)
  • ecdysteroids (1)
  • Effects of inactivity (1)
  • Eggs (4)
  • Erectile dysfunction (1)
  • Ergogenic aids (13)
  • Essential Fatty Acids (2)
  • Estrogen and men (1)
  • Estrogen in supplements (2)
  • Exercise concentration and focus (1)
  • Exercise frequency (3)
  • Exercise recovery (15)
  • Exercise techniques (12)
  • Fast food nutrition (1)
  • Fat loss (45)
  • Fat-burner supplements (5)
  • female Bodybuilders (1)
  • Fish oil (2)
  • GLP-1 agonist drugs (1)
  • GLP-1 agonist natural alternatives (1)
  • glycogen (1)
  • Growth hormone (8)
  • Gym air pollution (1)
  • Hair Loss (1)
  • Hard Gainer (1)
  • Health effects of extended sitting (1)
  • Herbal testosterone supplements (4)
  • High intensity training (14)
  • High protein diet and health (5)
  • Hormesis (1)
  • hormones (17)
  • IGF-1 (4)
  • Inflammation (1)
  • Insulin (2)
  • Intermittent fasting (7)
  • Intestinal microbiome (2)
  • Joint supplements (2)
  • Ketogenic diet (3)
  • Kidney health (1)
  • Late night eating (1)
  • longevity (12)
  • longevity research (7)
  • Low carb (13)
  • Male sexual function (1)
  • Marijuana (1)
  • Massage (1)
  • Meat Science (1)
  • Mental health (2)
  • metabolic stress (2)
  • Milk (3)
  • Mitochondria (2)
  • Mumie (1)
  • Muscle Cramps (1)
  • Muscle hypertrophy (29)
  • Muscle injuries (2)
  • Muscle pump (1)
  • Muscle soreness (1)
  • Muscles and Aging (1)
  • Muscular strength (7)
  • music and exercise (1)
  • Myostatin (1)
  • Natural anabolics (7)
  • Natural bodybuilding (16)
  • Natural sun protection (1)
  • Natural Testosterone boosters (1)
  • Newsletter (102)
  • Nicotine (1)
  • Nitric oxide (2)
  • nootropics (1)
  • Nutrient timing (8)
  • nutrients and aging (2)
  • Nutrition (45)
  • Nutrition conference (1)
  • Omega-3 fatty acids (1)
  • Optimal training techniques (10)
  • Osteoarthritis (1)
  • Paleolithic diet (1)
  • Physique contest preparation (15)
  • Placebo effect (1)
  • Prohormones (1)
  • Prostate health (1)
  • Protein and carbs (4)
  • Protein and longevity (1)
  • Protein needs for bodybuilding (10)
  • Protein nutrition (5)
  • Protein oxidation (1)
  • Protein supplements (17)
  • Resistance training and aging skin (1)
  • Resistent starch (2)
  • Sarcopenia (2)
  • Sauna baths (1)
  • Science meeting studies (3)
  • Selective androgen receptor modulator drugs (5)
  • Shoulder pain (1)
  • side effects of estrogen in men (1)
  • Skin Health (2)
  • sleep (4)
  • Sodium (1)
  • soy health effects (1)
  • Sports Medicine (2)
  • Squat exercise (1)
  • Stimulant supplements (2)
  • Stress (1)
  • Stretching (2)
  • Sun tan pills (1)
  • Supplements (39)
  • Tendon injuries (1)
  • Testosterone and food (3)
  • Testosterone and heart health (6)
  • Testosterone boosters (1)
  • Testosterone metabolism (9)
  • Testosterone replacement therapy (4)
  • The best time to exercise (1)
  • Thyroid function (1)
  • Time course for muscle gains (1)
  • TMAO (2)
  • Training principles (28)
  • Training techniques (22)
  • Training to failure (4)
  • ursolic acid (2)
  • vegan nutrition (2)
  • Vegetarian nutrition (5)
  • Viruses and fat gains (1)
  • Vitamin D (2)
  • Women and Nutrition (2)
  • Women's health (9)
Copyright © 2025 appliedmetabolics.com
Affiliate Sign Up & Login | Sitemap
Website by Nine Planets