Last post we talked about some of the different kinds of diets out there and what the general ideas behind them are. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, and some are just pure quackery. The big question is “How do you tell the difference?” Below, we’ll go over the four criteria a diet must fulfil to be considered good for fat loss and general health in the long-term.

1.      It takes into account total calories and adjusts. All this means is that you eat either equal to or less than the number of calories you burn in a day. If somebody says you can follow this diet and eat as much as you want and still lose weight, they’re either wrong or lying to you. And if their diet actually can have you eat more calories than you burn in a day and still lose weight, they shouldn’t be telling you. They should be telling people in Sweden so they can collect their Nobel Prize in physics for breaking the laws of thermodynamics.

Any diet, so long as it puts you in a sufficient calorie deficit, will cause weight loss. It doesn’t matter if it’s high or low carb, high or low fat, “clean” food or processed. Just like your bank account, it doesn’t matter if you spent the money on your children’s education or cocaine and hookers. if you’re spending more than you’re taking in, it’ll get smaller.

How many calories does it need to be to be sufficient? Generally you can cut between 10 and 20% of your total calories and that’ll work. So, if you eat 2,000 calories a day to maintain your current bodyweight, lowering that to between 1,600 and 1,800 should work.

Now, you might be wondering, “Why not just eat only 1,000 calories so it’ll be faster?” It would be faster in the very short term. There’s just one problem: you’ll end up losing more muscle. We want to keep as much muscle as possible because muscle burns a lot of calories even when you’re just sitting on your butt or sleeping. If you cut 1,000 calories, then your body will get rid of muscle so you don’t starve to death. This is like if your company’s revenue is low and you start firing the good workers. Helps in the short term, but later you’ll pay dearly for it. It’s better to go a bit slower so more of your lost weight is fat.

2.      It gives you the bare minimum of each macro to stay healthy. This topic is hotly debated: just how much of each is enough. So far, we know that you’ll need at least 0.3 grams of fat per pound of lean body mass (your love handles aren’t a part of this) per day so you can transport vitamins and make hormones. So, if you’re 200lbs and you’re 20% body fat, then your lean mass is 160lbs. That’s 160 x 0.3 = 48 grams of fat. This is the absolute minimum to stay healthy. Fats also tend to help you feel fuller for longer, so don’t get rid of them entirely.

For protein, the minimum to stay healthy and alive is 0.36 grams per pound of total bodyweight per day (your love handles are a part of this.) So, if you weigh 200lbs, then you should be getting 72 grams of protein per day. It’s important to note, though, that eating more protein will help you hang on to muscle, which is important for helping you burn calories. Protein also helps you feel full for longer.

And, for carbs, the recommended minimum is about 130 grams per day. Aside from that, you can do pretty much anything you want. One thing that could help is if you try to get most of your carbs from starches and vegetables. This is because there’s more fiber in those things than in things like white bread and processed sugars. Fiber also helps keep you full.

3.      You meet all your vitamin and mineral requirements. There are too many vitamins and minerals to list here. Just know that as long as your diet provides you with all of them in high enough quantities, you’re good. Your best bet for getting all of these is to eat lots of fruits and vegetables. And no, ketchup is not a vegetable despite what Ronald Reagan once said. Think of it this way, if it’s a plant that your child doesn’t like to eat, it’s probably good for you.

4.      You must be able to stick to it. This is where things tend to fall apart. It isn’t that people failed to lose weight on the diet. It’s that the diet ended and people went back to eating like they did before. Or, the diet was unsustainable and people quit. Either way, this means you’ll be getting back all those pounds you worked so hard to lose.

What are you supposed to do, then? You have to pick the diet that you can stick to even when life is stressful or you’re feeling awful or you’re busy. If you don’t love the foods that the ketogenic diet is having you eat, then you’ll drop that diet when you’ve had a long day at work, the kids are bothering you, and you’re exhausted. You’ll probably skip the keto food and go right for the double chocolate ice cream. If you’re on a carnivore diet, but you go over to Thanksgiving dinner, it’s going to be a bit rough when the stuffing and cranberry sauce starts going around the table.

In the end, the important thing is that you’re eating fewer calories than you burn, you’re getting enough fat, carbohydrate, and protein to stay alive, and you’re getting all your vitamins and minerals. Even that, though will fail if you can’t adhere to the diet. Find a diet that you can stick to for the rest of your life. Only then will the weight come off and stay off.