Negative Calorie Diet Reviews

The Negative Calorie Diet reviews well for hype, but is there a scientific basis for its claims that eating certain foods can lead to significant weight loss?

The Negative Calorie Diet has had a lot of interest recently and we thought we’d check out its effectiveness as a safe, healthy and credible way to lose weight and keep it off.

The principle behind the diet is actually very simple…and very attractive to people that like the idea of low effort weight loss!

Negative Calorie Diet Reviews to lose weight fast

The theory underlying this diet is simple.

‘Negative calorie foods’ are those that require your body to use more energy digesting and absorbing them than the foods actually contain.

For instance, an orange that contains 60 calories will require your body to use, say 100 calories digesting it. Therefore you have burned up the 60 calories in the orange plus an extra 40 calories.

The premise of the diet is that if you eat only negative calorie foods you’ll lose weight just by eating them.

Examples of the negative calorie foods recommended on this diet include:

…And so on. You get the idea, fruit and veg basically.

The diet lists around 100 negative calorie foods that should make up your daily food intake.

In fact, they’ll make up all of your daily food intake until later in the diet when some lean protein is permitted.

You’re also recommended to do some deep breathing exercises, which are claimed to help you burn more calories.

Exercise is also recommended to boost your metabolism.

Negative Calorie Diet Reviews – Does it Work…?

Undoubtedly. This is a very low calorie diet and you will lose weight following it.

The authors claim that you’ll lose a pound a day, maybe as much as 14lbs in the first two weeks.

You may well do, but this will be mostly water.

However, this is not a long term eating plan and once you go back to eating normally, most if not all of that weight will go back on again.

The main problem we have with this diet is the complete lack of any scientific basis for it, despite the claims by the authors to the contrary.

Sure, there is a thermic effect of feeding (TEF). Basically your body burns energy when you eat, digest and assimilate food.

Protein foods have the highest TEF, with around 25% of the calories being utilised to process them.

Carbs come in at around 5-10% and fats at less than 5%.

The variation is due to everyone’s metabolism being different.

Eating protein can boost your metabolism and protein foods may promote weight loss, more so than carb or fat rich diets.

But you’ll only be eating fruit and veg on this diet.

In fact, this diet is seriously lacking in protein and fats and you’ll become deficient in the essential vitamins and minerals they contain if you follow it for long.

Another problem is that this diet is incredibly boring!

Eating nothing but fruit and veg for more than a few days is dull and we would suggest that most people would struggle to stick with it for more than a few days at best.

There’s little if any evidence to suggest that eating so-called negative calorie foods will lead to weight loss. Any weight loss caused by this diet will be due to the extremely low calorie intake.

Another factor to bear in mind is that your body will burn stored body fat as a last resort.

Cut your calories too low for too long and your body thinks you’re starving. It will slow down your metabolism and burn muscle tissue to close the energy gap caused by the diet.

Not a good thing as muscle tissue is responsible for most of the calories your body burns each day.

Follow a very low calorie diet like this one for more than a few days and you’ll end up with a slower metabolism and less muscle tisue than before you started.

The net result? You’ll burn fewer calories and be more prone to weight gain.

Negative Calorie Diet Reviews – The Bottom Line…

This is not a diet for long term weight loss – the most important criteria for us for any weight loss program.

Sure, you may lose a few pounds if you can stick with it for more than a few days, but that will be mainly water, not fat.

There is no such thing as less than zero calorie foods – all foods contain some calories – and the evidence base to support the exclusive consumption of negative calorie foods as both safe and effective is simply not there!

The Negative Calorie Diet reviews well, however, in terms of it’s promotion of the consumption of plenty of fiber and nutrient-rich fresh fruit and vegetables.

The Negative Calorie Diet reviews poorly as an evidence based, balanced diet that will help you to develop the new eating habits essential for long term weight loss and maintenance.

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Our Negative Calorie Diet reviews verdict? Give this fad diet a miss!