It seems like a no-brainer that the key to weight loss is cutting calories, but many people swear by one diet or another as being best. It turns out that the most important part of any diet is your ability to reduce your calorie intake. This news verifies what I have always believed...The best diet is one that is tailored to you personally. A diet that you can stick to (and possibly enjoy) will make it easier to reduce your calories, and have the most benefits.

Cutting Calories Key To Weight Loss

In the largest controlled study of its kind, reseachers put more than 800 overweight adults on one of four diets that reduced calories through different combinations of fat, carbohydrates, and protein. After two years, every diet group had lost—and regained—about the same amount of weight regardless of what diet had been assigned.

The lesson here: people lose weight if they lower calories, but it does not matter how. “It really does cut through the hype,” said Dr. Frank M. Sacks, the study’s lead author and professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health. “It gives people lots of flexibility to pick a diet that they can stick with.”

This is great news for anyone on any diet. Just pick a diet that you can stick to and you will lose weight. Even if it's just cutting out certain high calorie foods that you eat on a regular basis, you will most likely be reducing your overall calorie intake and in turn lose weight.

For instance, did you know that if you just say no to soda and other sugary beverages you could lose 15 pounds in one year? It's true. It also works the other way around...For every year you continue to drink soda and high sugar beverages you could gain 15 pounds.

Whether you like the South Beach Diet, Weight Watchers, Mediterranean, The Zone, or a make your own diet plan...Stick to it, and you can lose weight.

Lose Weight with Web 2.0...

The Daily Plate (TDP) allows you to search more than 502,000 food
items for calorie counts, total carbs, fat, and protein so you can
track what you're eating. What's great about this search function is
that when you search for a certain food, TDP also provides healthy
alternatives with fewer calories and reviews made by other members.

And if cutting calories isn't your thing, try getting more sleep.
Sleep and Lose Weight...

The women’s one simple goal: Get at least seven and a half hours of sleep a night. That’s it. In fact, we asked the women not to make any significant diet or exercise changes — we wanted to see if sleep and sleep alone would make a difference.

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From the Momathon Blog...

Moms are sleep deprived. It's a fact of life. I don't need a research study to tell me that sleep is good. It's obvious, I just feel better when I get 7-8 hours of sleep. I graze more on junk food when I'm tired. And why not, I'm tired and cranky. Can a sleep makeover really help moms lose weight?
Researchers say getting enough zzz's will help you lose weight.

Also See:

The Recession Diet

How Do You Choose A Diet?

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
at Catherine-Morgan.com and Women4Hope