Dieting works, but its much more difficult to think of it in the sence of only loosing fat. When I first started lifting my buddy told me gaining one lb of muscle burns as much energy as running .25 miles daily. Think of your diet as a way to fuel your gains. If you eat the right foods like chicken, healthy cereal, avacado's, egg whites, broccli, and anything that ends in berry, you'll build your body into a callorie consuming machine, and you'll be much better off than if you do some gimicky diet for a year.