This popular internet dieting concepttea is not recommended by dieticians

The website Reddit allows you to find forums by category, and of course, there are many forums for losing weight. And many Reddit users talk about the CICO diet as being extremely simple:

For years I thought that to lose weight you had to eat broccoli and spinach and do a lot of exercise. I was so wrong.

Another explained that:

The CICO diet will work, no matter what you eat. Junk food, healthy food, cheap food. It doesn't matter, the CICO diet is the only thing that matters when it comes to weight loss.

Here's why that's not entirely true.

The CICO diet?

The CICO Diet simply means means 'calories in, calories out.' The concept is extremely simple: you need to consume fewer calories than you burn. It doesn't matter what type of food you eat as long as the number of calories in is not greater than the number of calories out. However, what you eat and how you eat it is important as part of a healthy diet. Although weight loss can be effective by following this diet, it may not last as long and leave one in poorer health.

The problem with the CICO diet

We know that the quality of the calories we consume - as well as the macronutrient balance - impacts our metabolism, how full we feel and how our bodies burn calories

- Dr. Cynthia Sass.

Eating a piece of cake, made with sugar, chocolate and butter will not affect our body in the same way as eating the same number of calories with a piece of cake made of buckwheat flour and whole almonds, all without sugar.

'Eating only junk food while eating few calories will wreak havoc on your skin, your mood and your gastrointestinal functions.' In addition, as Mira Olic, a clinical dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, USA, explained, certain macronutrients play an important role in muscle tissue repair and development.

In conclusion, to lose weight, it is better to eat quality food and, above all, to have a balanced diet with carbohydrates, a little good fat and lots of vegetables rather than counting calories. As Dr. Cynthia Sass explains, 'it's an old-fashioned way of thinking.'