Where this article (and a great many like it) annoy the bejesus out of me is in their sole focus on diet for fat loss.

Yes, diet matters.

In fact, diet matters a lot.

It matters in both quantity (the old "calories in/calories out"), quality (especially macronutrient breakdown and degree of processed foods), and timing (particularly of carbs in morning/post-workout feedings).

But diet is not the whole story.

Your body is comprised of several types of tissue. For the most part, the variable elements are adipose mass (a/k/a "fat"), skeletal muscle (those things Arnold Schwarzenneger made famous), and retained fluid (a/k/a "water weight") which is highly variable, responsive to carb loading, inflammation, and other factors, and is most of what rapid weight loss programs target -- which by analog means it's not long-lasting weight loss. You won't see appreciable changes, generally, in bone mass or organ size, absent excess skin on the morbidly obese.

The body has a complex set of autoregulatory systems, which seem to go out of whack under conditions prevalent in modern industrialized societies: abundent processed high-carbohydrate diets, little activity, social stresses, environmental toxins (particularly androgenic compounds). And yes, genetic and other factors play a role.

The question is, what can you do about it.

The article suggests "eat less".

Eating less can influence your body fat. And skeletal muscle, though not in a good way by itself (dieters lose 20-25% or more of their weight as muscle, absent countermeasures). But it's also going to kick off a bunch of adaptations which largely work against the goals of a deliberate low-calorie dieter.

So, what else can you do about it?

Pick up heavy shit. Lifting weights is what stimulates skeletal muscle to grow. Add 2-3 days of 30-60 minutes of resistance training to your program, and you'll retain, or add, muscle, while losing body fat. This is what programs such as "Body for Life" and others promote. It's basic stuff that strength trainers and strongmen have known about for over 100 years. Compound, freeweight, whole-body exercise: squats, deadlifts, press, bench press, chins (if you can do them), rows, pull-downs. Some core/ab stability work.

Especially if you're past 30 or 40. Your body is now well into losing the muscle it had originally had, at the rate of about 1/2 pound per year. You can literally turn back years of loss in a few months of training, to great effect.

Move. Intensely if possible. For someone grossly out of shape, simply walking for 20, or 15, or 10, or even 5 minutes a day is a good start. But if you can walk or jog for a good 20-40 minutes, what you want to do is up the ante with intensity, not duration, with high-intensity interval training (HIIT). Google "Tabata intervals" for a particularly engaging pasttime. No, doing the 20 minute treadmill waddle is NOT sufficient. Though if you're doing HIIT 2-3x weekly, another few sessions of longer moderate-intensity cardio will help.

So, yet another article saying "low-calorie dieting alone results in temporary weight loss in subjects" is hardly surprising. What have those in the know long known? That low, and especially very-low (>1000 cal/day deficit) dieting results in a high degree of lean-tissue loss, that metabolism slows by 40% after a few weeks, and that the post-diet recovery generally results in gaining yet more fat on a muscle-deprived frame, for a worse overall health outcome.

And we know this shit, well:
http://alwyncosgrove.com/2010/01/hierarchy-of-fat-loss/
http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html

A great article previously posted to HN is "Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie". This NY Times piece falls well into that lie category: http://www.mensjournal.com/everything-you-know-about-fitness...

So:

- Yes, diet. Cut processed foods, get sufficient protein, minimize excess carbs, eliminate junk calories (white anything, soda, HFCS, trans-fats, sugar, fruit juice). Figure out your BMR and estimated activity level (NOT your BMI, another bullshit fitness concept that needs to be shot dead) as a ballpark sanity check for calories.

- Pick up heavy shit. Specifically, a whole-body, freeweight, compound-movement strength program 2-4x weekly. If you can't use freeweights, machines are OK, but you'll do better with stuff that moves freely through space for numerous reasons.

- Move. If you're not moving at all, then start with something, and increase that until you're at 20-40+ minutes daily. If you're already moving, increase intensity 2-3x weekly. If you're doing both, add some more moderate cardio, particular morning fasted activity (your body's got no option but to burn fat at this time).

- Sleep, manage stress, get approriate recovery, cut out toxins in your life (chemical and social), address injuries or illnesses. Be gentle but firm with yourself.

If you want more, take a look at The New Rules of Lifting, Body for Life, or Mark Rippetoe's excellent Starting Strength.

In time you'll see big changes. Pretty much guaranteed.

Oh: yes, it's a lifestyle thing, you see. You'll have to keep doing some of this for most of the rest of your life. Odds are you may even find you like both the activity and the results.

If not, and you're honestly following the program, we can talk about what else to look at.

(Edits: minor typo/style fixes)