According to a recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ANY DIET that limits calorie intake to 1500 calories per day will result in weight loss. However, this groundbreaking report emphasizes that only a diet that is moderate in fat and high in complex carbohydrates will help you keep weight off permanently.

"We basically tells you that you can loose weight on any of the diets, if you keep the calories down," says agriculture secretary Dan Glickman. "The trick is how you maintain that weight loss."

Most experts agree with this sound approach including Xavier Pi-Sunyer, MD, Director of the Obesity Research Center at St. Luke's Roosevelt hospital in New York: "based on the scientific knowledge we have this (a diet with no more than 30% of calories as fat and 20% of calories as protein daily) seems to be the most efficacious way to go and it is most likely the safest."

This U.S. Department of Agriculture report frowns at unorthodox but yet popular weight loss programs such as the high protein Atkins diet and other similar dietary regimes. While high protein diets seem to produce a significant weight loss in a quick amount of time such diets produce a greater loss of body water than of fat. Other evidence against these high protein diets include the fact that there are no controlled, randomized studies which support the loss of body fat even over the long haul. One other strike against them: there is no evidence that such diets help to reduce blood cholesterol or improve blood sugar levels.

This report is part of the government's attempt to help American's lose weight and keep it off. It comes in the wake of studies that show that at least half of adults are considered overweight or obese. Carrying excess body weight is a significant risk factor for heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and other chronic health conditions.

In addition to daily eating a moderate fat, high complex carbohydrate diet, regular exercise and social support are critical adjuncts in keeping weight off.