I'm not discounting what you are saying, but some people do need to be careful with protein intake. For some , protein in excess can Spike blood sugar as much as carbs and sugary things themselves.
Originally Posted By: turboseize
80% diet, 20% sports. Watch what you eat, sugary stuff (and most processed food is LOADED with sugar, even if it does not even taste sweet) tends to let your appetite run amok. There are some people lucky people that either are not affected very much or can control the urge (such as my wife), but there are others (like me) who will react to blood sugar and insuline fluctuations with HUNGER.
Then, a lot of people do not eat enough protein, which, especially when trying to loose weight, means loss of muscle tissue, which brings down metabolism. Or they do not eat enough vegetables or fruit, lack some nutrients, and then get cravings. Unfortunately, cravings are not always that efficient in telling you what to eat and can be confused by processed stuff. For example, cravings for chips can be rooted in a desire for protein or iron, as the acerbic "umami" taste is linked to meat in pour brain.
So, eat real food. Enough protein, enough fat (low fat can upset hormone production), and lots of vegetables. As most vegetables are not very calorie-dense (but rich in micronutrients), you are restricting calorie uptake automatically when you are eating huge amounts of vegetables. In some extreme cases, however, calorie counting may be necessary. At the end of the day, weight comes down to calorie balance. Eat more than you burn, you gain weight, eat less, you loose. (Diet and exercise influence, however, whether the lost/gained weight will be made up of muscke or fat.) From personal experience, I find it much easier to control calories indirectly by manipulating my appetite, than to stick to a plan that tells me "now, I don't care it's just 10am, you've already met your calorie goal for the day and from now on, your are going hungry." Takes too much willpower for me...
Now to the last 20%. Cardiovascular exercise burns energy only during exercise. Strength training increases muscle mass and thus increases energy expenditure even when resting. (No, I am not telling you to ditch cardio completely - just as your muscles, joints and ligaments need exercise to keep them from gettinmg disfynctional, the cardiovascular system also should not be neglected. But for the purpose of weight control cardio alone it is not the most efficient.) More important than what you do is that you do at least something. Something is far better than nothing, and something done regularly better than perfect done once and then never again.
But remember: you can do all the sports you want, when your diet is off, your are going nowhere. You cannot outrun your fork.
