Which one: Low-calorie diet or Protein diet?

An overweight woman looking to lose weight can get help from a professional.

For Dr. David Elia *, the overweight woman must first lose weight and balance your diet to keep it off pounds.

To his patients lose weight, the choice will be between reduced calorie diet and protein diet. Questions about his experience

Which plan to choose?

Dr. David Elia: We can not lose weight if you follow a balanced diet, which, by definition, brings many calories as one spends a day.

This is a first misunderstanding that I often see in my consultations, "Doctor, I weigh 10 kg too few years and yet if you knew how I eat balanced." The strategy to lose weight is just to eat unbalanced, that is to say, to expend more calories than one absorbs.

This imbalance can be achieved with a reduced calorie diet, where there are not enough calories over expenditure, or a protein diet.

In contrast, balanced diet is the one that will follow once lost excess pounds.

What do you think of the low calorie diet?

Dr. David Elia: The low-calorie diet is a strategy that is slow. It's hard to lose more than a pound and a half to two pounds per month, continuing to eat well, but less. And since women are hungry, they do not always take a long time. They often crack after one, two or three months and will resume as soon as they have a kilo lost 3. Therefore, they will resume this regime to release it again after a few months and so on. I see in my daily practice one in three women reaches its target goal after many months or even a year, this type of diet. And because this strategy is starving and frustrating as it is necessary to avoid for months all high-calorie foods, we love everyone, like pastries, meats, cheeses, cakes, chips, etc.

And there is a risk of developing eating disorders, guilt, not to mention the negative impact on the environment of these women in constant regime.

It is for these reasons that for my part, I recommend instead the protein diet.

Like the low-calorie diet, this diet should be coordinated by the doctor.

Attention, it is not a question here of a "wild" protein diet of buying bags of proteins or pharmacy drugstore and take unattended and without prescription. This practice seems inefficient with a high risk of weight regain after stopping, and dangerous risks including real discomfort or even more or less serious accidents.

The true protein diet is a strong medical approach that induces a very special metabolism, (ketogenesis).

What are the benefits of protein diet?

Dr. David Elia:

1) Upon initiation of this particular metabolism (5 bags per day + vegetables + supplements + 100 grams of true protein food), women have more hunger, which is very comfortable for the regime. However, cravings are not canceled. Caloric component hunger subsided but not the fun part, the one that is experienced facing a food that smells good example, or that are particularly preferred by greed.

2) protein diet does not fatigue, sometimes reverse calorie diet may be responsible for a lack of energy or feeling unwell due to the caloric insufficiency. The protein diet may even be accompanied by extra vitality.

3) Weight loss is very fast, with an average loss of 10% of starting weight in 4 weeks. If one weighs 60 kg, for example, we can get to 54 kg after one month, six pounds lighter in 4 weeks.

4) This is probably one of the techniques that best preserves muscle mass. The vast majority of weight lost is at the expense of fat and not muscle.

What are the disadvantages of the protein diet?

Dr. David Elia: There is a known problem that is social and friendly. Indeed, when following a protein diet, one feeds more traditional way, which prevents out, eating out or going to dinner with friends.

This disadvantage is moderated by the fact that the duration of this diet is quite short because very quickly effective.

Again we quickly lost the pounds off?

Dr. David Elia: Yes, very quickly we take the pounds lost if we do not immediately begin the second part of the process. The protein diet is a kind of starter that allows to quickly reach the desired weight, which then allows to get into the thick of things, that is to say, learn to eat properly, in a balanced way, correcting mistakes. Without that second step, the protein diet is useless, as is also the case with all other types of plans, including low calorie. If once the target weight reached, remange 'as before', we immediately gained weight.

Once therefore sought the obtained weight (low calorie diet or protein diet), locate the usual dietary errors with the doctor with a nutritional balance that allows each woman to define the profile. Women often do not eat enough complex carbohydrates (starches, pasta, rice, potatoes, bread) for fear of fat. Or from carbohydrates should reach 50% of daily calories to be sufficiently full. This is the seasoning of these carbohydrates makes you fat (butter on bread, parmesan over pasta sauce over rice ...).

Another common error is a failure in protein (meat, poultry, fish): 10 to 15% protein that is not enough, we must reach 25%. It's simple, everything is not carbohydrates or proteins necessarily belongs to the class of lipids (fats), which is twice as calorie and low satiating.

There is no question of establishing a new regime or to give very strict guidelines that would make the bed of failure. The objective is to control the easiest mistakes to change. This is the great principle of therapists: move which is the easiest and not move what is difficult. The impossible missions are frustrating and lead to failure, hence the need to discuss with her doctor habits.

Personally, I particularly ensure that my patients were not hungry between meals. If this is the case is that they do not consume enough carbohydrates and protein. Then I insist that they regularly grant fun meal, eg 2 "happy meal" about 14 meals a week. With such exceptions, they do not accumulate frustration and the balance does not feel ...

* Dr. David Elia gynecologist, editor of GENESIS magazine, the leading gynecological press regularly published in scientific journals and is the author of more than 35 popular books.

And finally, Dr. David Elia is a member of the scientific committee of e-health.