The math behind dieting

I’ve never been a math person. Maybe that’s why I’ve never been a diet person either. If it’s not required for a class or needed to figure out how much my roommates owe me for bills, I ain’t calculating it.

Both cooking and eating has always been enjoyable for me, and I don’t plan on ruining that now. The March 2008 edition of Women’s Health Magazine had a great mid magazine feature on ways to cut back on extra pounds without slaving over nutrition labels and calorie counting.

The first rule of thumb is to forget about calorie counting. Although already prepared dinners may make it easy, if you get creative and stray from the beaten path, you’re more likely to down guess what your meal is worth. The magazine suggest signing up for a deliver meal program like DeliciouslyYours (ediets.com) or Health Management Resources (hmrprogram.com) which will bring you correctly portioned healthy food to your door. Also suggested is looking in the frozen food isle, with guidelines. Dr. Elisa Zied, author of “So What Can I Eat?!” says to hunt for dinners less than 500 calories with at least 4 grams of fiber and no more than 15 grams of fat (less than 3 saturated and no trans fat), with fewer than 700 milligrams of sodium.

Most diets require keeping tabs on the percentages of foods eaten in a given day. Giving up favorites can be tough and can ultimately backfire. Focus at the grocery store on filling your cart mostly with fresh ingredients like fruits, vegetables and lean meats (chicken, turkey, flank steak, pork chops and fish). When you do need to go for the packaged foods, check that you’re buying whole wheat, and skip out on the high-fructose corn syrup, sugar and molasses.

Women’s Health Magazine also found that treadmill displays can be more fiction than fact. A review by a Duke University medical researcher found that treadmills inflate the number of calories you burn by 10-15 percent. Instead, hit the weights and up your pace, getting a double workout with strength and cardio. This routine can lead to an increase in your metabolic rate by up to 7 percent.

Diets don’t work for everybody, especially difficult standards set without your consent. Plan a nutritional diet that works for you, practicing meritocracy that fits into your lifestyle.