One visitor to FitWatch was asking, “Will a high calorie but low fat diet, and exercise, help me lose fat?” I’ve got one word for that: N-O.

Remember, fat doesn’t make you fat. Generally speaking, eating more calories than your body burns will cause you to store fat. The only way for you to lose fat on a high calorie diet is to exercise A LOT, so you burn all those extra calories — or do a lot of weight training to turn it into muscle.

A low calorie diet (below 1200 for women, 1800 for men) isn’t any better either. Your body needs calories for everyday use — you even burn calories while you sleep.

To lose fat, you need to create a calorie deficit, by either lowering the amount of calories you eat, by burning more calories through exercise, or both.

If you’re trying to eat healthy, you might worry about adding too much dairy to your diet, since dairy products are generally considered high fat foods. But if you add the right kind of dairy to your meal plan, it doesn’t have to have a negative impact on your calorie count.

In fact, studies have shown that dairy foods may actually contribute to weight loss and a healthier body, since it provides the body with the calcium it needs. Calcium found in dairy products is far better than any other source of calcium.

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