Ground Up Strength Fatloss

Hunger is a Physical Feeling

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:53:40 +0000

This is a post that appeared in Gustrength's Blog in May 2009. I think it is a good post and that more people will read it here so I am moving it, along with many other past posts from that blog.

In my post, Instinctual Eating, Thin People, and Appetite, I discussed eating from the perspective of one life-long thin person.

My problem is not, therefore, keeping off fat but eating enough to maintain my strength and of course to continually get stronger. For a person like me that is not so easy to do and involves what seems like a lot of eating. Back when I was still suffering from the bodybuilding affliction it was even worse.

It should be clear that I am not a fat loss expert. You know, there are probably two groups who tend to be the worse at doling out fat loss advice. Overweight people who have never reached their fat loss goal and THIN people. I say they tend to be worse because what really counts is your ability to help other people.

I have this feeling that thin people should try to keep their fat loss advise to themselves unless they have a whole lot of direct experience dealing with the problem and helping others. This is certainly not my area.

I figure it won’t hurt for me to pay attention to how I think about food and how I react to it, though. I know how to eat healthy and obviously I know how to be thin. And I look damned good for a guy over 40…or 20 for that matter. I may not stay thin through conscious effort but I do have the ability to take objective looks at myself. It’s one of the things that have made me successful in my own training. I’m not emotionally attached to my training, eating, or anything to do with it…I’m only attached to the results.

Physical versus Emotional Hunger

Today I was at the pool with friends and somebody was munching on some Doritos and they offered me some.

I recalled Michelle May’s very important statement: “Hunger is a physical feeling.” Now I love Doritos. I mean I REALLY love Doritos. So when offered Doritos I wanted some. Yet I turned them down. Why?

I only wanted the Doritos because I like the taste of them. I was NOT PHYSICALLY HUNGRY. What I wanted had nothing to do with what I needed.

Don’t get me wrong. A couple of Doritos would not have been a big deal. Even a handful would have been just fine. That is not the point. On this occasion I simply chose not to eat them because I was not hungry. Knowing full well that at some point in the near future if I want some Doritos I will damn well eat some.

The question is, do we all recognize the difference between hunger and the emotional desire to eat? Possibly, what we want gets mixed up with what we need.

If you are managing your weight or trying to lose weight ask yourself these questions. Am I eating because I am physically hungry? Or for some other reason? Can I even tell the difference between physical and emotional hunger?

Here is the thing about emotional hunger. It just means something is missing. That something is probably not food or you wouldn’t be overweight. So what do you really need?

While you’re thinking about that read Michelle May’s article, It’s Not Just WHAT You Eat But WHY.

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by EricT

Instinctual Eating, Thin People, and Appetite

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:20:32 +0000

This is a post that appeared in Gustrength's Blog in July 2009. I think it is a good post and that more people will read it here so I am moving it, along with many other past posts from that blog.

Once in a post about Micheal Pollan's ideas about "nutritionism" and instincual eating I made the following statement:

“…nutritionists would never tell you that simply eating by your “instincts” is a magical ticket to health.”

Well, of course, I cannot speak for any and all nutritionists. I cannot speak for nutritionists at all for that matter. Many nutritionists might very well tell you that eating instinctually is just what healthier people do.

The truth is I don't just object to the concept, I object to the word. Instinct. Instinctual. Very muddy waters there.

Many do not share my problem with the word, of course. And you could argue that it’s semantics.

Look at this quote from Michelle May, for instance:

“People who naturally follow instinctive eating or intuitive eating just seem to know when, what and how much food they need. When their body needs fuel they get hungry, triggering an urge to eat. They simply stop eating when their hunger is satisfied. Most of them really like to eat and seem to be able to eat whatever they want. However they’ll turn down even delicious food if they aren’t hungry and they are less likely to respond to stress with emotional eating.”

Michelle May is right, of course. They’re are people like that, YOURS TRULY, for instance. That’s why you will never see me develop fat loss advice. I may talk about healthy eating and nutrition and fat loss in a general sense but fat loss advise? I leave that to the experts, like May.

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But is it instinct or intuition? In psychological terms I would feel more comfortable with something that can be observed in science.

So let me tell you something about myself, as one of those “naturally thin” people. And about some of the people like me I’ve known and talked with.

And before you get too fed up with the “lucky” nature of this…remember that we all have our cross to bear.

Naturally thin people seem to be able to eat whatever they want.

The truth is that most lifelong thin people eat MUCH LESS than they are perceived to by others. The reason they seem to be able to eat “anything they want” is many times because when you observe them eating “anything they want” it’s the BULK of their calories for that day.

They simply take in LESS OVERALL ENERGY period. And in fact…they probably under-eat if they are like me and are very active.

Most thin people who want to gain weight or lean mass but have trouble do it (so called hardgainers) usually are taking in much fewer calories than they think and if asked they will over-report their food intake, quite the opposite of the overweight.

Thin is not automatically healthy.

The idea that lifelong thin people instinctually eat only healthy foods is erroneous. They just eat LESS. Again, I am not a fatloss expert but less energy in than out means less fat gain. Regardless of where the energy comes from. And when I say LESS, again, I mean MUCH less. There was a time when eating 900 to 1000 calories a day was a LOT for me. And I was NOT healthy. In fact..it was a period of the worst health of my life. Anecdotal though it is, it's the same observation I've made in many thin trainees.

Thin people stop eating when they are full.

Most of the time probably. But not always. A thin person is likely to skip as many meals as they eat. Intermittent fasting is popular these days. Well…thin people do that simply because they forget to eat or don’t have time or are so absorbed in what they are doing…or for any of a hundreds of possible reasons.

This is not instinct. This is about attitudes regarding food. Food is just fuel for the most part. As May says, many thin people really do enjoy eating. They eat slowly and savor their food. It probably takes them longer than their overweight friend to finish eating, in fact. Thus, further fueling the perception that they are eating more. When in fact they are simply eating slowly.

But while thin people do enjoy food, as I’m sure Michelle May would agree, it is not exactly about food as such. It is about the moment. In other words, food is something a thin person will enjoy, especially when given their favorite choices. But they don’t enjoy it more than anything else they enjoy. It is not a replacement for anything…in fact is is simply not that important or more important than anything else.

This is not meant as “thin people are so smart” kinda thing. That same thin person may have many destructive and unhealthy habits. When they are forgetting or not bothering to eat they may be downing coffee by the gallon, smoking, you name it. They may not exercise at all. They may have organs surrounded by fat. They may have high cholesterol and many other markers of deteriorating health. Don’t be fooled into thinking that no fat is synonymous with health.

Thin people often turn down food when they are not hungry.

True. Thin people do not tend to eat, most of the time, when they are not hungry. That is not to say that they NEVER eat when they are not hungry. There are many psychological factors which determine why a certain person would turn down food in a certain circumstance. Many people feel uncomfortable eating in public. By the same token some people feel more comfortable having something to munch on. This is similar to social drinking and smoking.

Honestly, though, I think if you were to round up a bunch of thin people and try to map their eating patterns…you’d get a mess. An unpredictable, chaotic mess. Sort of like you’d get with obese people only with the leaning toward not eating and less food rather than eating more often and more food.

If “instinct” means without any order, rhyme, or reason, than yes, thin people eat by instinct.

Yet, most all fat-loss advice involves ORGANIZING your eating. Becoming accountable for what you eat.

Instinct should facilitate survival and we evolved to store energy for lean times. I know, I know, getting into evolution is getting into more muddy waters. But it’s hard to deny the metabolic strategy involved in fat reserves. However many fatloss writers seem to think that evolution is ALL biology and no psychology. Which, of course, can’t be. We’ve evolved many built in cognitive strategies and patterns through the ages.

To say that thin people “instinctually eat less” is like saying there were hunter gatherers who “instinctually” refused to fuel up for the lean winters. Or to eat more when there was more so that there would be fuel reserves for the times when there was less. Which is how it supposedly worked. When there was less overall food available and no such thing as a food surplus (at least a longstanding one) then this worked. But someone who was not able to store fat efficiently (like me) would have been in a bit of trouble in those times.

Face it, there was less food available and you had to expend more energy to get it. Now you just have to pick up your phone and order a pizza.

That’s all very simplistic and ignores about a million influences we have today. But I didn’t say that thin people were born to be thin anymore than fat people are born to be fat.

What’s the point of all this? Well, if there is a point it’s that there may be no point in striving to think like a thin person to get thin. I think a better goal is SELF-KNOWLEDGE. You will never be able to think like another person. You have to learn to think for yourself.

As Michelle May says, in the article the quote above was taken from, “The answer to weight management lies in YOU.”

Give up believing in the myth of the idealized thin person. He or she does not exist. There is no purpose in feeling guilty because you cannot be more like an ideal that is nothing more than a phantom by-product or our culture.

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by EricT

Nutrition is Not a True or False Proposition

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:18:26 +0000

By Eric Troy

I just came across a "nutrition quiz".

I got eight out of ten correct. Only eight? ME? You have got to be kidding me. I am a nutrition stud. Well one of them involved brown rice. Go figure. I knew they wanted to hear that brown rice was healthier than white rice so that is what I answered but really I refuse to capitulate to the nonsense about brown rice being magical health pellets and white rice being evil little starch monsters.

More of the native nutrition of the grain is retained in brown rice, sure but it's the glycemic index and "insulin spike that has 97 percent of bodybuilders thinking that white rice will blow you up like Harry Potter did his aunt. Which is all a bunch of baloney. White rice as part of a varied diet that consists of mixed food meals is quite fine. Remember it is the glycemic load as the meal as whole that counts, anyway. However, although glycemic load seems to have influence on various health parameters, it is not a very good fat loss tool. If you like white rice, eat white rice. Just don't eat TOO much whi…anything.

Here's a quiz/poll of my own. Only one question.

But here are the questions I got wrong.

What's the best food for improving eyesight?

Pomegranate
Collard greens
Carrots

Ok so you know how your mom told you that carrots will make you see better? Well no, they won't. Even though they contain cartenoids and especially beta carotene. The rub is, then, the word "improve". I thought that they wanted me to say collard greens because of the whole leafy green thing and lutein. But lutein has not been "shown" to make you see better either. The hype on lutein has to do with slowing down age related macular degeneration. If "improve" means not to go blind as fast then I guess lutein does improve eyesight, if you believe the studies. But I don't think slowing down the loss of eyesight through age related degeneration is quite the same as improving eyesight, do you? so out of shear stubborness I said carrots. Because they still have just as much claim to "eye health" as leafy greens. Unlikely though, that any one food will save your eyes.

The next one I got wrong is the one that really got under my skin and motivated this post. It was a true/false question. True/False questions are pretty much worthless for nutrtion and in this case, fat loss, folks. Because there are very few "trues" and "untrues" which equate to black and white.

True or False: Eating bananas (the "Monkey Diet") is a great way to stay slim?

True
False

I said false. It is false. The "Monkey Diet" is NOT a great way to stay slim. I got it wrong though. Because according to the quiz makers bananas are not fattening. Of course bananas are not fattening. But in what universe does that mean that bananas are "slimming" and the Monkey Diet is a good way to stay slim or lose weight? Sure you could lose weight eating mostly bananas because you'd probably take in much fewer calories and that will result in a net loss especially at first. But it's a terrible diet and it's doomed to failure. Just because the statement "bananas are fattening" is false does not make the inverse true! C'mon.

The Monkey Diet. Cuz monkeys don't get fat.
image by Chris May via flickr

Nutrition is not a true or false proposition. There are very few concrete answers. There are no "evil" foods. There are no superfoods. Every time someone takes a quiz such as this there is the potential for perpetuating the kind of myths the quiz hopes to discourage. Don't start thinking that 'entertainment' is the same as 'research'.

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by EricT

Diet Alone, Exercise Alone, Or Both For Fatloss?

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:51:51 +0000

By Eric Troy

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The age old question. And it seems to spark absolute outrage on all sides. Which is "better" for fatloss? Diet alone, exercise alone, or a combination of diet and exercise intervention?

Most people involved with helping the very overweight or obese lose weight will tell you that if you have to choose one then diet alone is the way to go.

The exercise industry seems to get downright incensed when this is mentioned. A fairly recent Time Magazine article discussing this sparked some pretty pissed off reaction among fitness experts.

Well, all these things are but tools. And when the experts get precious about their tools rather than the results garnered from judicious use of those tools, we have a problem. Frankly, if someone wants to really help another person it shouldn't matter to them that their favorite chisel isn't the 'best' single tool for the job even though it was the first tool they ever bought and they have more fun using it…and look more authoritative with it in their hand.

As I've said time and time again in this blog and others, you will not work off a bad diet with exercise. For fatloss, diet IS the first thing to consider. You must get your food habits under control. When I say diet, of course, I do not mean "dieting" necessarily. I mean your overall eating lifestyle, from here on out.

Now, people will tell you that exercise has many benefits. Strength training especially! So true, so true. But let's not count our fat cells before they are hatched.

A recent meta analyses out of Germany yet again confirmed what I already believed. Diet alone trumps exercise for weight loss but diet and exercise combined has the greatest effect.

This analysis started with a very broad search that resulted in over 36,869 papers of which an initial 337 met the criteria. These 337 papers were culled down to thirteen. Each set of reviews were performed by independent researchers. This should serve as a good illustration of just how difficult and painstaking this type of research is and just why you shouldn't listen when someone cites one randomized controlled trial to you. Not to mention the other ones. The abstract follows.

Bettina Schaar¹, Corinna Moos-Thiele² and Petra Platen³

The objective of the following meta-analysis was to determine what kind of treatment, or combination of treatments, has the greatest effect on weight loss in overweight and obese adults.

A systematic search was conducted of the available literature published between 1993 and 2006 that covered randomized controlled trials on overweight and obese subjects who underwent treatment consisting of physical exercise and/ or changes in diet. The scope of the search thus incorporated seven relevant databases.

Using 6,545 key word combinations, the electronic search yielded a total of 36,869 abstracts. 13 relevant studies with a total of 826 subjects (BMI > 25; 17 - 68 years of age) met the meta-analysis criteria. The courses of treatment included “diet (d)”, “physical exercise (pe)”, “diet and physical exercise (dpe)”, and “no intervention (ni)”. The results confirmed the hypothesis that the combined intervention “dpe” had the greatest effect with regard to weight loss. The single treatments “pe” and “d” also led to weight loss, with “d” having a significantly greater effect than “pe”.

The main reason for the small sample size of thirteen studies out of 36,819 was that the experimental design and/or procedures of most studies were inadequate. A common error was a failure to assign subjects randomly to the different treatment groups. The results of our meta-analysis indicate that a combination of diet and physical exercise is the best form of treatment to induce weight loss in overweight individuals in the first weeks, followed by physical exercise to maintain weight loss.

Furthermore, the authors found that out of one hundred individuals the probability that diet alone would result in weight loss was forty percent greater than no intervention. Well, it should be obvious that doing something about your diet would have a greater chance of causing weight loss than doing nothing. Although, to be clear, the data does not, and could not, say anything of just what the various dietary interventions were. But they found that out of 100 people the probability that exercise alone would induce weight loss was only eight percent greater. Now, I'll bet that wasn't obvious. Again, the combination of diet and exercise had the best results in weight loss and in increasing lean body mass (of great importance for a healthful outcome).

The authors mention the previous reviews such as the meta-analysis by Garrow and Summerbell in 1995 which also found that a diet and exercise combo had the greatest effect. That review, gulp, found that "strength training" alone had no discernible effect on weight loss. The quotations around strength training were the authors but I would have used one as well since it would be difficult to pin down just what strength training WAS in such a review. But I get tired of always being right in the long run like when I said that strength training is not the key to weight loss. No, I don't read fatloss meta-analysis in my spare time.

Sorry, strength training is just not and the next time someone tells you that or your read that, do me a favor, tell them to come on over here and explain to me just how that is so. It's just not. If you tell me, Eric, I want you to get me really strong but I want to stay fat, I'd say "No problem!". I mean, I'd have a problem with it but it'd be easy to do. I suppose it depends on what you think strength training is but if you think you absolutely have to shed the gut to deadlift 400 to 500 pounds you'd be wrong. You may be able to be more efficient and make better strides for various reasons if you shed the excess fat but it is not a prerequisite for absolute strength gains. And when I say strength I usually mean changes in absolute strength (or really the strength deficit S&P fans). Yes, I know that Olympic weigthlifters are "the strongest people in the world". Let's not debate that again.

I mentioned EPOC in that post I linked above. EPOC stands for Excess Post Exercise Oxygen Consumption. In that post I said that EPOC was easily overestimated and overindulged by fatloss experts who (insert nasty stuff here).

Right again? Man, am I tooting my own horn in this post but it is fun being right all the time. In a recent study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism: Post exercise Fat Oxidation: Effect of Exercise Duration, Intensity, and Modality it was concluded that "although post exercise energy consumption and fat oxidation can be augmented by increasing exercise intensity, these these benefits cannot be exploited by undertaking interval exercise (1:2-min work:recovery ratio) when total energy expenditure, duration, and mean intensity remain unchanged." Thanks to Jamie Hale for giving me a heads up on that study. I can't share the entire study with you since it is not open access. Sorry.

To put it in a nutshell, 10 to 20 minutes of HIIT does not make up for 23 and a half hours of sitting around. Although interval training and any training that uses such a combination of high intensities with low intensity cool down periods are still a very valuable mode of exercise when it comes to conditioning parameters, for fat oxidation/energy expenditure alone, the effect of the exercise bout itself is more important than the post exercise effect, which is trivial when compared to total energy consumed during exercise (according to the study). In other words, EPOC is not your miracle ticket to "free fatloss".

The old mantra "Move more, eat less" still holds true. You need to consume less energy and burn more OVERALL. I still find that a tired bit of oversimplistic sloganizing since the relationship with food and exercise is a complex one that can't be solved by a trite little mantra. But the heart of it reflects the larger reality of fatloss.

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by EricT

Diets: "They All Work When You Stick To Them"

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:02:56 +0000

A qualitative investigation of dieting, weight loss, and physical exercise, in obese individuals.

Samantha L Thomas¹, Jim Hyde², Asuntha Karunaratne³, Rick Kausman⁴ and Paul A Komesaroff⁵

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Nutrition Journal 2008

Abstract

This review explores the extent to which people living with obesity have attempted to lose weight, their attitudes towards dieting, physical exercise and weight loss solutions, why their weight loss attempts have failed, and their opinions about what would be most beneficial to them in their struggle with their weight.

It is a qualitative study, using open-ended interviews, of 76 people living with obesity in Victoria, Australia in 2006/7. Individuals with a BMI of 30 or over were recruited using articles in local newspapers, convenience sampling, and at a later stage purposive sampling techniques to diversify the sample. Data analysis was conducted by hand using a constant, comparative method to develop and test analytical categories. Data were interpreted both within team meetings and through providing research participants the chance to comment on the study findings.

Whilst participants repeatedly turned to commercial diets in their weight loss attempts, few had used, or were motivated to participate in physical activity. Friends or family members had introduced most individuals to weight loss techniques. Those who took part in interventions with members of their social network were more likely to report feeling accepted and supported. Participants blamed themselves for being unable to maintain their weight loss or 'stick' to diets. Whilst diets did not result in sustained weight loss, two thirds of participants felt that dieting was an effective way to lose weight.

Individuals with obesity receive numerous instructions about what to do to address their weight, but very few are given appropriate long term guidance or support with which to follow through those instructions. Understanding the positive role of social networks may be particularly important in engaging individuals in physical activity. Public health approaches to obesity must engage and consult with those currently living with obesity, if patterns of social change are to occur.

Background

Public perception, even that of some health professionals, is that people who are classified as obese are lazy and have made few serious attempts to lose weight [1]. We are now starting to understand that the underlying causes of the obesity epidemic operate at numerous levels – individual, cultural, societal, and biological. We also acknowledge that fad diets are not the solution to weight loss [2], and that we need to consider a number of short and long term strategies to facilitate the social change needed to enable individuals, families and communities to live healthy lifestyles [3].

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Whilst interventions based around physical activity and behavioural therapy for those living with obesity have shown to have positive impacts on wellbeing [4,5], many obese individuals still rely on 'quick fix' strategies in their ongoing and often life-long, struggle with their weight [6]. Furthermore, physicians still recommend many popular commercial diets as individual strategies for weight loss, even though they have been shown not to be effective. Why then are diets still so seductive for obese individuals? Whilst some studies have attempted to quantify the different diets that obese people have been on [7,8], and the motivations for weight loss attempts [9], few studies have qualitatively explored the underlying motivating factors of obese people's weight loss attempts, their beliefs and expectations of diets, and the long and short term physical and emotional health effects of weight loss attempts, and what they themselves think are the optimal solutions in helping them manage their weight [10].

The results reported in this paper were part of a larger study looking at the health and social experiences of people living with obesity in the state of Victoria, Australia [11,12]. The aim of this paper was to explore in detail the extent to which people living with obesity have attempted to lose weight, their attitudes towards dieting and weight loss solutions, their opinions about why their weight loss attempts have failed, and suggestions as to what may help them in their struggle with their weight.

Methods

The study based in Victoria, Australia, aimed to develop a picture of both lived experiences of obesity and the impact of socio-cultural factors on obesity. Given the limited research documenting the narratives of obese individuals, a qualitative research design was utilised. Qualitative studies do not aim to provide data that is statistically reliable, but instead aim to give deep insights into the experiences of individuals, in their own words. The quotes and data presented in qualitative studies aim to be illustrative of the many diverse experiences of a group of individuals and the points at which any similarities and differences occur. The study did not seek to be generalisable, but aimed to provide insights into the experiences that some obese individuals have in their constant weight loss attempts.

A broad, open-ended interview schedule was developed based on an extensive literature review, consultation with public health experts, and discussions with obese individuals. Topics included participants' experiences of commercial diets; how they had engaged in particular dieting strategies; whether diets had worked for them; the impact of dieting on their physical and emotional health; and wellbeing; and their attitudes towards physical activity. We used multiple recruitment strategies to reach as broad a range of individuals as possible. These included articles in local newspapers, convenience and snowball sampling techniques, and at a later stage purposive sampling to diversify the sample to include men, individuals under 25 and those living in rural and remote areas. Individuals were reimbursed for any travel expenses that they incurred. Interviews were conducted between September and October 2006 and were audio-taped. Participants were able to choose if they would like to be interviewed face to face, or by telephone. The latter was extremely important, as it allowed us to include a) individuals who were embarrassed or reluctant to meet with the researchers in person, b) individuals who were not mobile enough to attend a face to face interview, and c) those who lived in remote or rural locations. Interviews lasted between 60 and 120 minutes.

We used a constant, continuous, comparative method to develop analytical categories, test our processes of analysis, and then provide an explanation of why categories occurred [13]. Initial analysis was carried out by one of the study authors (ST). Each of the transcripts were read and re-read. Notes were made about the thematic and conceptual categories that emerged, why these categories were emerging, and areas of similarities and differences. A process of inter-rater reliability was undertaken [14]. A random number of interviews were selected and analysed by other members of the team to check for validity in the interpretation of data. Where there were differences, these were discussed in detail until consensus was reached. Once we were satisfied that no new themes were emerging (analytical saturation), recruitment and interviewing were stopped. After the analysis was completed, participants were sent a copy of the findings and were encouraged to contact the study team with any comments or thoughts.

Results

One hundred and one individuals enquired about the study. Of those, 17 people refused participation after receiving further information about the study. Eight individuals did not turn up for the interview. The study demographics are presented in Additional file 1. A total of 76 individuals participated in the study. Participants were aged between 16 and 72 years old (average 47 years), were mainly women (63, 83%), had a mean BMI of 42.5, and predominantly classified their ethnicity as 'white Australian' (n = 61 80%). Additional file 2 provides a selection of narratives to illustrate each of the following categories.

Table one. Participant characteristics.

Diet paper box one. Participant narratives.

Hide Diet box one

Motivations for Dieting
“I want to look nice. I want to be like most of the other slimmer people. I don’t want to be the big fat blob.” Participant 077

“When I get uncomfortable I think ‘oh I want to lose some weight’. I’ve developed this huge roll under my breast. If I bend over to do my shoes there’s this big roll there. You sit down and it’s there. It pokes out. It’s very uncomfortable.” Participant 009

“I've gone to a carbohydrate modified diet. I really am sticking to the diet to get this weight off so I can fit into a skirt that I want to wear.” Participant 082

Weight Loss Strategies
“I invested a small fortune in [Jenny Craig] and had no success because I was well and truly sucked in by the fabulous girl at the first interview. She motivated me. I was going to take on the world.” Participant 013

“[My Doctor] told me all about the Acomplia. The FDA [has not] approved it yet. But where there is a will there’s a way! I got on the internet and I found it, so I got that shipped here.” Participant 036

“I’ve tried diets over and over and over again. I could easily make my life about losing weight and if I did that I would, there would be results. I have no doubt about that.” Participant 018

“I am not going to use my weight as an excuse to stop myself from doing things because I get enough of that from society saying ‘no you can’t do it because you’re big’, ‘no you can’t be a sexual, beautiful woman and be 135 kilos’. Well yes I can and I am. There are days when I think to myself, ‘oh god, just go and get the banding, you’ll lose 40 kilos, you’ll feel better, and people will f** leave you alone’. But then I won’t be able to eat and you know eating is one of the things that I actually enjoy.” Participant 057

Why don’t diets work?
“My friends say, ‘Oh you’re so beautiful, don’t change, you won’t look the same if you’re thin’. I’ve had my ex-partner say to me ‘Don’t lose weight because then you’ll think you’re too good and I won’t love you anymore’. So you get both messages. Some people want you to stay the same because if you change, if you do lose the weight then you become a different person.” Participant 057

“Weight Watchers had been the only time that I've ever had much success. I did it for a while and probably lost about 5 kilos and felt a lot better. But then I got sick to death of never being able to have a drink and never being able to go out and have a meal and all that sort of stuff.” Participant 074

“I got probably within 2-3 kilos of that and I had everybody around me panicking that I was too thin and not eating enough.” Participant 040

Short and Long Term Effect of Dieting
“Really a failure, and shamed, and you know, I got to the stage where I thought I’m too scared to go back because I will not have lost any weight. And the last few weeks of going, I would starve myself for a couple of days before I went just so that I wouldn’t be a loser. And then, if I didn’t go one week, I wouldn’t go back. And I’m not sure that that’s the diet, that’s the way to approach, for me.” Participant 049

[And how did you feel after you stopped it?] “Just as bad as before I started it.” Participant 008

Physical Activity and Exercise
“When you’re fat and feeling awful you just don’t want to get up and exercise. I’m just too lazy to get to the swimming pool. I’ve got 47 swims left on my Swim Ticket, and I just can’t even be bothered getting to the swimming pool door.” Participant 058

“I sometimes think the day is beautiful and I want to go with the pusher and walk and walk all day. But I don’t feel motivated. I think ’It’s a nice day, I will walk all day and then pick up the kids’. But I don’t go. I just don’t do it. I don’t know, for some reason I don’t feel very motivated to do it.” Participant 056

What would work
“I don’t want a quick fix. I don’t expect a quick fix. I’m a little bit past that. But I want something where I can feel human again, where I can feel like a person again, where I’m not constantly thinking ‘I’ve got to do this’ or ‘I’ve got to do that’.” Participant 011

“Let’s not focus on weight loss, let’s focus on health and lifestyle. Yes you can choose not to eat that piece of steak with the big piece of fat on it or you can choose to eat it. That’s your choice. You can choose to walk around the block three times a week or you can choose not to do it. That’s your choice too. So it has to be about empowering bigger people to make choices that will benefit their lifestyle, their life. It shouldn’t be about weight loss, let’s take it away from the kilos and the pounds and you’ve got to lose, lose, lose.” Participant 003

What motivates people living with obesity to diet?

All participants had attempted to lose weight numerous times in their lives, and in general had attempted to diet from their early teens. Whilst weight loss was the underlying motivating factor for all participants, participants gave a number of associated motivating factors. These included overall health and wellbeing (n = 16, 21%); preparation for lap banding surgery (n = 3, 4%); increased mobility (n = 6, 8%); not wanting to die (n = 4, 5%); advice from a health professional (n = 11, 14%); wanting to participate more fully in their children's lives (n = 7, 9%); wanting to participate in social activities (n = 11, 14%); not wanting to be ridiculed about their weight (n = 4, 5%); wanting to be socially accepted (n = 16, 21%); and wanting to establish a long term romantic relationship (n = 3, 4%).

Weight loss techniques

The most popular weight loss techniques were Weight Watchers (n = 53, 70%); pharmaceutical medications – including Orlistat (n = 19, 25%) and Phentermine (21, 27%); complementary medicines (n = 37, 48%); Jenny Craig (n = 35, 46%); slimming milkshakes (n = 31, 40%), and periods of 'starvation' (n = 20, 26%). Diets and weight loss solutions mentioned by participants are shown in Additional file 3. There was an interesting line of progression in patterns of dieting. Participants stated that they had started with 'fad' diets published in magazines as teenagers (n = 37, 49%), before progressing to more formal commercialised diets. Most commonly the first commercial diet tried was Weight Watchers, followed by Jenny Craig. When these failed, some participants stated that they then tried more extreme techniques, such as pharmaceutical medications, and very low calorie diet supplements (such as slimming shakes). There was considerable overlap between the interventions with participants trying multiple weight loss strategies – sometimes concurrently (n = 19, 25%). These participants most commonly used dieting in conjunction with pharmaceutical medications.

Diet paper box two. Weight loss interventions tried by participants.

The majority of participants were initially introduced to a particular diet by a member of their social network, such as a family member (n = 27, 36%), a friend (n = 13, 17%), or workmate (n = 11, 14%). Many (n = 37, 49%) were able to relate a story of a sister, mother or friend who has lost large amounts of weight on a commercial diet – in particular Weight Watchers. Some (n = 23, 30%) stated that the diet success stories of people within their networks gave them hope that the diet would work for them. Members of social networks played a vital role in encouraging participants to try different types of diets. Many described diet groups as a social activity that they went to with their family members or friends. This was particularly true of mothers and daughters, spouses and partners, and sisters. Others spoke of their diet group as a place where they had a sense of belonging, had some social contact, and had a sense of solidarity with other overweight and obese individuals. Given that these individuals also spoke of a sense of isolation, stigma and discrimination in wider society, the 'diet group' was perceived as a place of social acceptance. However, the diet group also reinforced low self-esteem, negative feelings, and self-blame, and was far from an accepting and supportive space for individuals.

Participants were asked why they tried particular diets. Most participants who had joined Weight Watchers stated that they had joined because a friend or family member was currently "doing Weight Watchers". Furthermore, those who had joined Weight Watchers said that they had tried the diet on many different occasions with a friend or family member, again highlighting the desire of many participants to take part in a social activity with their peers. Unlike any other commercial diet participants spoke of a cycle of losing weight on the Weight Watchers diet, stopping the diet, gradually gaining weight, and returning to Weight Watchers again. Others (n = 31, 41%) stated that they enjoyed the supportive environment of Weight Watchers, the regular weigh ins, the "sensible eating program", the community based nature of the program, the social nature of the groups, taking part in an activity with their family members or friends, and that it was more affordable than many other dieting options. Participants were also more likely to state that they went back to Weight Watchers repeatedly over time (n = 22, 29%), suggesting that whilst on the surface the support was good, the 'diet' itself was unsustainable for most participants and did not promote long term change. A small minority of participants (n = 4, 5%) stated that Weight Watchers was inappropriate for their needs, that they had felt humiliated within the group setting, that there had been too much food, or that they had not lost weight on the plan. These individuals were more likely to attend the group alone, and spoke of feeling unsupported. Thus, the positive aspects of attending Weight Watchers may actually be linked to the positive effects of the social network, rather than the program itself.

Participants who had tried pharmaceutical medications were generally happy with the amount of weight they lost on the medications, but were unhappy with the side effects of the medications. This was particularly true of participants' experiences of Phentermine. Participants who had tried Orlistat were also dissatisfied with the cost of the drug, and found it difficult to afford over a long period of time.

Participants' accounts of their experiences of Jenny Craig were much different. The vast majority of individuals who tried Jenny Craig, did so alone. Those who had joined Jenny Craig spoke of being "seduced" by the "spiel" given by the consultants. Some (n = 13, 17%) stated that the expense of Jenny Craig, and the amount of time they would need to be on the program to lose a substantial amount of weight was unrealistic. Most of those who had tried a Jenny Craig program stated they had only done so once (n = 14, 18%). Apart from the relationship with their consultant, many felt that they were "alone" or isolated when they were on the Jenny Craig diet.

Of the seven participants who had tried Optifast, most commented that they were dissatisfied that there was no other advice given to them about lifestyle change.

Short and long term effects of weight loss techniques

In the short term, the vast majority of participants stated that they had lost weight when they had dieted. Over half of participants stated that they had had short-term success with dieting. Many were able to identify the time when they had lost the most weight, which diet had 'worked', and how much they had lost. Participants described the marked physical and emotional difference that losing weight had had on their lives. Words such as "euphoric", "very happy", "delighted" and "ecstatic" were used to describe how some participants felt emotionally when they lost weight. Some women spoke in detail about becoming "attractive to men" and being able to form romantic relationships when they lost weight. Other participants stated that when they lost weight they physically felt "more comfortable", that they could "move more" and that they could "keep up with the kids".

However, for the vast majority of participants, the euphoria associated with weight loss was short lived. Some participants (n = 16, 21%) stated that they felt like they were a "failure" because they had had friends or family members who had had success with commercial diets, when they had not. Others stated that not being able to maintain the weight loss had made them feel "depressed", "angry" or "cross".

Why diets don't work: Is it the diet, or is it me?

Twenty participants commented that they were unable to maintain dieting because the diets themselves were "unrealistic", "unsustainable", were "too expensive", "didn't address my lifestyle", "focused on food rather than changing my behaviour", were "boring" or "made me constantly think about my next meal". Some participants (n = 12) commented that they were also confused about which choices were correct, because of the different messages that were given by different diet companies. Many highlighted that diets were impossible to stick to, but were successful as long as you remained on them:"They all work… when you stick to them. It's when you go off them that they don't." One individual commented that she repeatedly gave up diets because "sometimes you just want to be normal". This highlighted the sense of otherness participants felt in constantly restricting their lifestyles in their weight loss quest.

A third of participants (n = 25, 33%) blamed themselves or an associated life event for being unable to stick to or continue with a weight loss plan. Some stated that they had a personality type which expected a "quick fix", and were dissatisfied when they did not see instant results, or if their weight fluctuated on programs. Other reasons for discontinuing with a diet included: emotional problems, stress, feeling physically unwell, moving to a new job, changes in financial circumstances, lack of willpower, Christmas, an inability to follow the diet "strongly enough", or not being "committed enough". This again reinforced that participants blamed themselves rather than the diet for their failure to lose weight.

Participants also commented on the pressure they felt from family and friends once they lost weight. Some (n = 15, 20%) commented that they became upset when people commented on or drew attention to the amount of weight they had lost because participants knew that they would probably put the weight back on again. As we have reported elsewhere, participants also commented that if they lost large amounts of weight, friends and family members would comment that they "looked sick" or "too thin" and would try to encourage them to stop dieting.[11] In some cases participants stated that they felt family members and friends would try to "sabotage" their attempts to lose weight. Dieting with a member of their social network was a double edged sword for participants. Some stated that they felt guilty if they lost more weight than their 'diet partner', whilst others felt disillusioned if they lost less weight or if they did not have the same amount of 'success' on the diet.

Physical activity

Very few participants said that physical activity was a part of their weight loss strategy or was used in combination with dieting. When we asked participants if they had tried exercising there seemed to be even more barriers in their way than when we spoke about dieting. The majority of participants (n = 63, 83%) said that they found exercising difficult because of their weight, physical health problems, that they could not afford gym subscriptions, or personal trainers, did not have time to exercise, or felt uncomfortable or embarrassed about taking part in organised exercise activities. Other reasons for not exercising included, "it is dark when I get home from work, so I can't go for a walk", "feeling fat", "too lazy" and "I can't be bothered". Participants stated that it was very difficult to exercise on their own, and wanted an intervention in which someone else would take the responsibility for motivating them and helping them to start being more physically active. "Give me a personal trainer that gets me out of bed every morning and makes me exercise, and yeah, I'd lose weight." Just as with commercial diets, it was interesting that contemplating an activity by themselves was difficult for participants, and again highlighted the need to look for solutions which positively involved informal and formal networks of support.

Participants also spoke of being emotionally humiliated, embarrassed or daunted when they attempted to exercise alone. Swimming and walking were the two most common forms of exercise recommended to participants by health professionals. Whilst many participants felt that swimming would be the ideal exercise for them, most said that they felt ashamed and embarrassed at going to a place where they would have to bare so much of their body to others. One participant described how after her GP recommended that she try swimming, she wore long track pants and a sweatshirt in the water so that other swimmers would not see her body. Another woman commented that when her dietician recommended walking, she walked the local streets at 5 am so that no-one else would see her. Again, the sense of isolation in these narratives was a strong contrast to those in which participants spoke positively about being involved in activities with their network members.
What would work?

Most participants (n = 53, 70%) were quick to point out that there was no magic diet that could help people with obesity. Rather they were very keen to explain, with many examples, that different programs and support systems would be helpful to different people, and that each individual was different. Many highlighted the difficulty of trying to lose weight by themselves and without support. Participants were critical that many diets were extremely expensive, and out of reach of those who had large amounts of weights to lose (n = 17, 22%). However, nearly two-thirds (n = 49, 64%) thought that 'dieting' was an effective way to lose weight. When asked what obese people needed to do to lose weight, 80% of participants stated that they needed to diet. Very few participants mentioned exercise or physical activity as part of a comprehensive weight loss strategy.

There was an underlying theme that participants wanted someone else to take responsibility for helping them to lose weight. Many felt that primary care providers, such as General Practitioners (GPs) were the best people to help them do this. Whilst they had tried to lose weight on many occasions, the majority now felt that they were unable to do so by themselves. This may also explain why a number of participants reluctantly felt that obesity surgery was the only option available to them.

Some participants stated that the best solutions for people living with obesity were those which would be accessible, affordable, long term, and engage them in developing personalised plans which would work for them. Many spoke of the need to empower individuals through supportive programs with other overweight individuals, to engage them in making healthy lifestyle choices, and in living happy, healthy lives. Some believed that the stigma associated with obesity made seeking help extremely difficult, and that there should also be programs focused on dispelling the myths that people living with obesity were lazy and unmotivated, and to blame for their weight gain. So while most participants stated that diets were an effective way to lose weight, the vast majority stated that interventions should not focus on weight loss, but overall lifestyle changes.

Discussion

Participants in this study predominantly turned to dieting rather than 'lifestyle changes' or exercise to help in their efforts to lose weight. Three interesting explanations emerged from this paper.

1) People living with obesity have been 'socially conditioned' to turn to diets for a cure for their obesity, and to blame themselves when diets fail See also Why Programs Work

For most of their lives, starting in early childhood, participants were told that if they dieted they would lose weight. Diets are marketed as magical, quick fix solutions to excessive weight. Research has shown that frequent exposure to messages about weight loss and dieting may strongly influence weight control behaviours [15]. This was true for participants in this sample who reported engaging in repeated and often extreme attempts to lose weight from an early age.

Whilst loaded with unrealistic goals and expectations, most diets did lead to some form of weight loss, at least in the short term. However, participants were unable to sustain weight loss, and felt that they were to blame when the diet failed [16,17]. Participants had also spent much of their lives trying to find a diet that would work. This was also evident in participants' recommendations for the need for many different types of personal plans to suit each individual. Participants also had unrealistic expectations about what they could achieve through dieting alone, in many cases turning to the diets or interventions such as obesity surgery which they perceived would lead to the greatest weight loss in the least amount of time. This finding concurs with others who have hypothesized that dieters have unrealistic expectations about the process and likely success of dieting [18].

2) It is difficult for people living with obesity to engage in exercise or physical activity

It was very clear from the results that people living with obesity are reluctant or find it extremely difficult to engage in physical activity. Why is this? Is it that diets are perceived to be a far easier solution than exercise programs? There is after all, a big difference between the amount of emotional and physical effort required to 'go on a diet' (very low initially) and the amount of emotional and physical effort required to increase physical activity (usually significant). Exercise is not sold as a magic solution to weight loss. In fact the messages about exercise are that it is very hard – i.e. the no pain no gain paradigm. Whilst some participants felt that they were physically incapable of exercising because of health difficulties, many also felt emotionally uncomfortable or publicly humiliated when trying to engage in the types of exercised recommended to them by physicians. The sense of isolation in taking part in physical activity was clear in most participants' narratives. Many participants felt disempowered, particularly in relation to physical activity. Public health workers and researchers should explore whether community based participatory strategies from other successful public health interventions, are adaptable and transferable to obesity prevention and health promotion [19,20] and how we may help in engaging and supporting people in making these lifestyle changes [21]. This is particularly important given emerging evidence that suggests that overweight individuals who are also physically active can significantly reduce their risks of coronary heart disease [22]. and that those who are 'fat' and 'fit' have lower risks of mortality than those individuals who are normal weight but inactive [23].

3) Social networks have both a positive and negative effect on efforts to lead more healthy lifestyles

Participants were strongly influenced by the attitudes and opinions of their informal social network members – especially family members. Whilst social networks were key in encouraging participants to try different diets, they were also instrumental in disrupting participants' weight loss attempts. Participants also sought out semi-formal social networks they could identify with, such as Weight Watchers, which provided a supportive environment, but also did not lead to any long-term change. It is well acknowledged that both formal and informal social networks have been shown to be a very powerful tool in encouraging positive health behaviour, social support, self-esteem, identities and perceptions of control [24]. Self-management and peer education strategies have also been shown to be highly effective motivators in addressing chronic illness [25]. Further investigation into how positive aspects of social networks may be utilised in obesity prevention and health promotion strategies is needed.

Conclusion

We are very good at understanding the direct causes of health problems in obesity, but we are less successful in recognizing and acting on more upstream determinants such as individual's lack of empowerment, the impact of social networks, and the impact of the broader messages individuals receive about how to achieve healthy lifestyles. This may be largely due to the absence of the voices of those living with obesity in obesity research or in the planning of public health interventions. Whilst many individuals classified as obese receive numerous instructions about what to do to address their weight, very few are given appropriate long-term guidance or support. Public health approaches to obesity must engage and genuinely involve those living with obesity in the design, trial and evaluation of interventions if patterns of social change are to occur.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors' contributions

ST was the lead investigator on the study (with PK). She was involved in the design of the study, conducting interviews, analysing data, and writing the manuscript. JH was involved in the design of the study, analysing data, and critically revising the manuscript. AK was involved in the design of the study, conducting interviews, analysing data, and critically revising the manuscript. RK was involved in the interpretation of data and in critically revising the intellectual content of the manuscript. PK was the lead investigator on the study (with ST). He was involved in the design of the study, conducting interviews, analysing data, and critically revising the manuscript.

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© 2008 Thomas et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

by EricT

Footnotes

Appetite regulation - does it exist?

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:41:51 +0000

By Charlotte Erlanson-Albertsson¹

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Scandinavian Journal of Nutrition/Naringsforskning Vol44:12-14, 2000

Appetite regulation and feeding behaviour are critical for survival. Through appetite regulation the proper amounts of fat, carbohydrate and protein are provided through specific signals, as has been demonstrated both in rodents and in man. Although feeding is necessary to provide energy, it also leads to severe perturbations in the homeostasis of the body. To help the body to maintain homeostasis various pre-meal events occur, such as the cephalic phase secretion of pancreatic juice, the production of satiety signals and the production of heat. The latter probably involves the action of uncoupling proteins present in the intestine. The diet-induced thermogenesis is hence important for achieving energy balance in the body. The increasing prevalence of obesity in the Western world is suggested to be a consequence of the overflow of tasty high-fat and sweet food items, which after ingestion override the original rules that we were once constructed for.

Introduction

Animals and humans eat for a variety of reasons, the most obvious being energy deficiency. Other reasons for eating involve palatability/reward, stress, social setting and in the case of humans the availability of food at little or no cost. The various situations involve different signals and molecular mechanisms (1,2)

Energy deficiency feeding

Historically, the first studies of appetite regulation had as a working model that feeding was initiated by food deprivation or food restriction. The underlying concept was that the body continually sensed the amount of energy available; hence a deprivation of food would trigger the onset of feeding. According to Mayers' glucostatic theory a decline in blood glucose would trigger the start of a meal (3). In an analogous way a lipostatic model was proposed, stating that appetite regulation was closely related to the amount of fat stored in the adipose tissue, a depletion of adipose tissue stimulating food intake (4). These theories are still valid today, the molecular mechanisms being continuously identified.

In the case of energy deficiency feeding one important candidate apperars to be neuropeptide Y (NPY). NPY is a potent appetite-stimulating signal, produced in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (5). When injected into rat NPY promotes food intake in satiated rats. Moreover, in a macronutrient choice between carbohydrate, protein and fat, NPY has been found to stimulate carbohydrate intake (6). The ability of NPY to specifically stimulate carbohydrate intake may be important to re-establish energy balance after an overnight fast, the storage of carbohydrate being highly limited. That NPY is important for feeding behaviour in a state of energy deficiency has been suggested by several groups demonstrating increased levels of NPY mRNA following food deprivation or food restriction (7). In addition to an appetite-stimulating effect NPY also suppresses energy expenditure in brown adipose tissue. Moreover, NPY has been found to divert the ingested glucose to white adipose tissue, where it is converted to triacylglycerol, NPY hence promoting a gain in body weight. Other energy-consuming activities, such as intense running or lactation, have also been found to increase the endogenous production of NPY levels in the hypothalamus in rat (g), supporting the role of NPY in re-establishing energy balance during energy deficiency.

Taste feeding

Humans and animals overeat as a result of readily available palatable food, leading to a positive energy balance. This overeating hence occurs even if the animal or human being is already in energy balance. The taste signals hence override the energy balance system of the body and work through different mechanisms.

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One important component in the taste reward feeding system is the endogenous opiate system, as suggested several years ago (9). Hence, opioids have been found to increase food intake in satiated rats, and if given a choice the animals prefer high-fat food to low-fat food (10). Also sweet food is preferred to non-sweet food under the influence of opiate agonists (11). That opiates are more important in fed rats than in food-restricted animals was demonstrated by studying the influence of naloxone, an opiate antagonist, on fed and fasted rats (10). In such experiments it was found that naloxone had no or only a minor effect during consumption of various carbohydrate items in chronically oodrestricted rats, whereas in satiated rats the opiate influence was more important. The endogenous production of opiate peptides has also been shown to be decreased in situations of food restriction and increased during the consumption of energy-rich and tasty food like fat and sucrose (12). Moreover, repeated injections of opiate agonists caused a steadily increased food intake, which might indicate a state of "dependence". The significance of these findings is that rewardlpalatability eating creates a "self-perpetuating" eating pattern, whereas food restriction leads to a loss of reward eating.

When do we stop eating?

Does the body defend itself against overeating or are overweight and obesity a physiological adaptation to a wealth-fare situation as occurs in the Western world with the steadily increased prevalence of obesity?

In fact, the body has powerful defence mechanisms against overeating, the primary mechanisms residing in the gastrointestinal tract. These defence mechanisms may be seen as strategies to minimise the homeostatic pertubations during feeding. We must realise that to the body homeostasis all meals are disturbing events. One strategy is the digestive secretion occurring during the cephalic phase, which begins at the sight or smell of food. This secretion is dependent on the taste of the food as well as on the familiarity with the food. Sarles et al. (13) found that a familiar French breakfast caused a significantly higher pancreatic flow in a group of French patients compared to an unfamiliar meat-containing English breakfast! In further studies aversive taste stimuli lead to a low pancreatic response. This is an important message to "forbid" potential feeding situations, where children are "forced" to eat food that they dislike.

Another strategy to minimise the homeostatic disturbance following feeding is the production of satiety signals, mostly peptides, that restrict feeding (Figure 1). These signals reside primarily in the gastro-intestinal tract, like the cholecystokinin (CCK) and glucagon-like peptide, and cause satiety, as demonstrated both in animals and in man. Hereby, CCK acts mainly to inhibit gastric emptying (14), while glucagon-like peptide has a central appetite-decreasing effect (1 5). In addition, signals residing outside the gastro-intestinal tract assist in restricting food intake. One important candidate molecule is leptin, produced in the adipose tissue (16), which reduces feeding. The mechanism of action for leptin involves a class I cytokine receptor for leptin, localised in the brain. It has also been demonstrated that leptin counteracts the apetite-stimulating effect of NPY (17), NPY-leptin hence forming an important system for regulating energy balance. The importance of leptin for appetite regulation in man has been clearly demonstrated in two severely obese children, with total lack of leptin, due to a genetic mutation (1 8). These children are being treated with recombinant leptin,
leading to a reduced body weight.

Most obese patients do not lack leptin; instead the levels of leptin have been found to be elevated (19). This phenomenon has given birth to the expression "leptin resistence", which suggests that the system somehow is resistant to the effects of leptin. The mechanism of action for this resistance is not known, but may be due to the failure of action of a couple of leptin-dependent anorectic peptides, such as cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART), melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH) and CCK.

The body also produces signals that affect the taste feeding. One such molecule is enterostatin, which has been found to restrict fat intake in experimental animal models (20,2 1). The mechanism of action suggests a target protein of 53 kDa, which specifically binds enterostatin, opiate peptides (met-enkephaline and Pcasomorphine) acting as competitive inhibitors for this binding (22).

A third strategy to maintain homeostasis during feeding is the production of heat. Every feeding event leads to a rise in body temperature, a process named diet-induced thermogenesis. This rise in body temperature occurs steadily during a meal and declines rapidly after the meal has ended. According to the theory of thermostatic regulation of feeding (23), Figure 2, the rise in body temperature acts to restrict feeding, feeding being stopped to avoid hyperthermia, a critical temperature being 39.3"C in mouse (24). The rise in temperature has several favourable effects in attaining homeostasis, since digestion and absorption of food products is accelerated as well as the passage of food through the intestine (2).

Heat production through uncoupling proteins The production of heat occurs through a rise in metabolic activity. This is seen following the various processes occurring during feeding, i.e. chewing, swallowing, digestion, absorption and metabolism of food products. Another stimulus for metabolic activity is mitochondrial uncoupling due to the presence of a recently discovered family of uncoupling proteins in the intestine, named ncouplingprotein 2 (25), Figure 3.(not included) These proteins uncouple the electron transport chain in the inner mitochondrial membrane from ATP synthesis, creating heat instead of chemical energy. The regulation of these proteins and their expression is being investigated; in the intestine enterostatin has been shown to cause an upregulation of uncoupling protein 2, which could be an important appetite restricting effect. Leptin has in a similar way been demonstrated to cause an upregulation of uncoupling protein 2 in the adipose tissue (26), whereas NPY has been demonstrated to have the opposite effect. This suggests that uncoupling proteins may be important target molecules in appetite regulation.

Conclusions

In conclusion, a couple of strategies assist the body during a meal to restrict feeding and allow the body to reach energy balance as soon as possible after food taking. In spite of these restricting signals there is an increasing prevalence of obesity in the affluent society. This increased prevalence of obesity is probably due to the surplus of highly tasty and energy-rich food items, which we were originally shaped to be rewarded by and which we cannot resist.

The present situation is hence completely new in evolution, defence mechanisms being insufficient in most people. Education and information is so far the only remedy that works, judging from the inverse relationship found between body weight and education, from school to university (27). Women seem more ready to learn than men (28)! "The doctor entertains the patient, while Nature heals the patient", was a saying attributed to the French philosopher J e a n - J a c q u e s Rousseau. In today's situation we need both the doctor and the dietician to entertain and heal the patient. Nature does not manage!

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References

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2. Erlanson-Albertsson C: Appetite regulation and pancreas. In: Eds. Pierzynovsky SG ZR, ed. Biology of the pancreas in growing animals. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 1999:287-3 13.
3. Mayer J: Bulletin of the New England Medical Center, Volume XIV, April-June 1952: The
glucostatic theory of regulation of food intake and the problem of obesity (a review) [classical article]. Nutr Rev 199 1 ;49:46-8.
4. Kral JG: Surgical reduction of adipose tissue in the male Sprague-Dawley rat. Am J Physiol 1976;23 1 : 1090-6.
5. Beck B, Jhanwar-Uniyal M, Burlet A, Chapleur-Chateau M, Leibowitz SF, Burlet C: Rapid
and localized alterations of neuropeptide Y in discrete hypothalamic nuclei with feeding
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6. Stanley BG, Daniel DR, Chin AS, Leibowitz SF: Paraventricular nucleus injections of peptide YY and neuropeptide Y preferentially enhance
carbohydrate ingestion. Peptides 1985;6: 1205-11.
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regulation. Am J Physiol 1994;266:R1687-91.
8. Wilding JP, Ajala MO, Lambert PD, Bloom SR:
Additive effects of lactation and food restriction to increase hypothalamic neuropeptide Y
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9. Morley JE, Levine AS, Yim GK, Lowy MT: Opioid modulation of appetite. Neurosci
Biobehav Rev 1983;7:281-305.
10. Barton C, Lin L, York DA, Bray GA: Differential effects of enterostatin, galanin and opioids on high-fat diet consumption. Brain Res 1995;702:55-60.
11. Drewnowski A, Krahn DD, Demitrack MA, Nairn K, Gosnell BA: Taste responses and
preferences for sweet high-fat foods: evidence for opioid involvement. Physiol Behav 1992;
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12. Welch CC, Kim EM, Grace MK, Billington CJ, Levine AS: Palatability-induced hyperphagia
increases hypothalamic Dynorphin peptide and mRNA levels. Brain Res 1996;721: 126-3 1.
13. Sarles H, Dani R, Prezelin G, Souville C, Figarella C: Cephalic phase of pancreatic secretion in man. Gut l968;9:214-21.
14. Moran TH, Baldessarini AR, Salorio CF, Lowery T, Schwartz GJ: Vagal afferent and
efferent contributions to the inhibition of food intake by cholecystokinin. Am J Physiol
1997;272:R1245-51.
15. Naslund E, Barkeling B, King N, et al: Energy intake and appetite are suppressed by glucagonlike peptide- 1 (GLP- 1) in obese men. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1999;23:304-11.
16. Green ED, Maffei M, Braden VV, et al: The human obese (OB) gene: RNA expression
pattern and mapping on the physical, cytogenetic, and genetic maps of chromosome 7.
Genome Res 1995;5:5-12.
17. Erickson JC, Hollopeter G, Palmiter RD: Attenuation of the obesity syndrome of oblob mice by the loss of neuropeptide Y [see comments]. Science 1996;274: 1704-7.
18. Montague CT, Farooqi IS, Whitehead JP, et al:
Congenital leptin deficiency is associated with severe early-onset obesity in humans. Nature 1997;387:903-8.
19. Maffei M, Halaas J, Ravussin E, et al: Leptin levels in human and rodent: measurement of plasma leptin and ob RNA in obese and weightreduced subjects. Nat Med 1995;l: 1155-61.
20. Erlanson-Albertsson C, York D: Enterostatin—a peptide regulating fat intake. Obes Res
1997;5:360-72.
21. Erlanson-Albertsson C: Enterostatin - apeptide regulating fat intake. Scand J NutrINaringsforskning l994;38: 11-4.
22. Berger K, Winze11 MS, Erlanson-Albertsson C: Binding of enterostatin to the human
neuroepithelioma cell line SK-N-MC. Peptides 1998;19:1525-31.
23. Himms-Hagen J: Role of brown adipose tissue thermogenesis in control of thermoregulatory feeding in rats: a new hypothesis that links thermostatic and glucostatic hypotheses for control of food intake. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med 1995;208: 159-69.
24. De Vries J, Strubbe JH, Wildering WC, Gorter JA, Prins AJ: Patterns of body temperature during feeding in rats under varying ambient temperatures. Physiol Behav l993;53:229-35.
25. Ricquier D, Bouillaud F: The uncoupling protein homologues: UCP1, UCP2, UCP3, StUCP and AtUCP. Biochem J 2000;345 Pt 2:161-79.
25. Scarpace PJ, Nicolson M, Matheny M: UCP2,UCP3 and leptin gene expression: modulation
by food restriction and leptin. J Endocrinol 1998;159:349-57.
27. Kuskowska-Wolk A, Bergstrom R: Trends in body mass index and prevalence of obesity in
Swedish men 1980- 89. J Epidemiol Community Health 1993;47: 103-8.
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Published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License. Responsible editor: Nils-Georg Asp, appointed by Swedish Nutrition Foundation

by EricT

Its A War Not A Battle

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 19:14:36 +0000

This post is related to some of the concepts discussed in Strength: Simple But Difficult

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I really like a good analogy. And I consider myself pretty good with them. I've noticed that some people are masters of good analogies. And others…not so great.

The trick with an analogy is you have to argue with yourself. When you come up with an analogy to illustrate something you need to try to tear it down. Come up with situations where the analogy doesn't hold. The easier this is to do and more situations you think of…the worse the analogy.

People that don't get analogies are those who take them at FACE VALUE. It sounds right so use it. But since things can be interpreted in various ways and analogies can be so ambiguous a bad one can do more HARM than good.

One common analogy in the fitness world I believe to be harmful is when fitness and health pursuits are referred to as BATTLES. A really common one is fatloss.

Fatloss is a battle, they say.

Well, you've also heard the expression "win the battle, lose the war".

It isn't anything special to battle off 25 pounds. It also isn't anything uncommon to battle off the same 25 pounds again and again.

If you were in an actual war this would be like continually winning and losing the same piece of territory over and over again. And each time you do it, a few more soldiers go down. Eventually, you find you've lost the war. In an actual war you'd have to consider if the benefits of your action were worth the cost.

What you want is not just to LOSE fat you want to manage fat. You want to keep it off. That is a WAR. The difference between a war and a battle is that a war drags on and on. It, in effect, becomes a lifestyle.

Imagine that you are in charge of this war. IN CHARGE. Now imagine that you have two choices. One, you put a large amount of resources into a piece of land (a certain number of pounds). You hyperfocus on this goal above all else.

"Successfully".

You win the territory but you lose all your soldiers; finding yourself without the resources to DEFEND it. It is an empty victory. You are King of the Hill for one second and all the other kids are coming at you.

Your other choice is a "war by inches". You commit just the resources you need into small gains of territory. And you OWN this territory. You gain a bit more. And you OWN that too. As you go along you get better at holding on to your territory. It becomes less a sense of trying and more a sense of flow and naturalness. In the end you win the war.

Why does this happen? It has to do with goals. Goals are important but that does not mean that all goals are good for you. To pick the right goals you must do a cost-benefit analysis. You must think of this analysis in regard to the long-term. What will this get me? What will it cost me?

Constantly changing goals is a common theme in all fitness. And I hear trainers screaming "pick a goal and focus on it, pick a goal and focus on it" all the time as if just chanting that will magically make people successful. The question is WHY are they constantly changing goals? There could be many different reasons but a very common one I see is jumping into the boat and shoving off without a paddle.

The fact is, many people ARE focused, as far as they are concerned. They are, in fact, HYPER-focused. Obviously they picked a goal but the reason they bailed out is that they realized that they could NOT PAY THE COSTS until after the fact. This is a mental game. It isn't a fat, protein, or carbohydrate game. And it isn't a barbell, kettlebell, bodyweight game. Those are details.

You will make mistakes. And this will make you better at doing it. What you are doing is attempting to become self-regulated rather than self-controlled.

Michelle May calls this being "in charge" versus "in control". At the heart of this is SELF-KNOWLEDGE

It is the SAME in strength-training. In the long run strength training is a game of ounces, not pounds.

Sure, you will have those times, many I hope, of huge victories. You "go to battle" with the bar and you win. And you should celebrate. But if you are always looking for the big win you will never learn to appreciate the small ones. And I got news for you, if you cannot appreciate the small things in life; if everything always has to be HUGE; you are on the road to losing the war.

Not that I really think life is a war. Bad analogy!

Related discussion » Importance of Progression/Consolidation

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by EricT

Misconceptions Abound: Strength, Fatloss, Skills, and Progression

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:25:54 +0000

By Eric Troy

Part 1 of a 2 (or more) part post.
Go to Part 2

This page is a blog page. That means that I am not going to provide a bunch of scholarly references at the end. I am not going to do a week of research to prepare. I might have done a little cross checking but these pages are meant to be informal reactions, opinions..me drawing on my experience, etc. And HOPEFULLY, to stimulate discussion of ANY kind.

That is my idea for this particular blog. Many others use blogs with many different models.

It's all about tone. You do not need any particular expertise. You do not need to continue to educate yourself. You do not need to have trained anyone. You do not need any of that to make an authoritative sounding blog post. One that will have the air of 'truth' or 'fact'. In fact, you can get most of your 'facts' wrong and still convince/impress those who don't know the words you know or have just a little less exposure to the lingo.

You can bring your misconceptions with you to your blog, then make those misconceptions a REFERENCE for others who are looking for answers.

As a matter of fact, a few key bullet points and making it all sound "so simple" will probably win you more fans than ten true experts (whatever your definition).

And you know who will be some of your biggest fans? Those whose beliefs you reinforce! If your misconceptions are common misconceptions, then what you need is a modicum of marketing skills and some web page design savvy to be hyuuuuge. The fans…they were already in your camp before they read what you wrote.

Here is a number of BIG misconceptions around that will help you build a successful blog. Just pick a few and get to the blogging and the adoring fans are bound to come.

Fatloss is the BIGGEST source of misconceptions. Here is a common one:

1. Strength training is the KEY to fatloss.

This is GREAT marketing. You can get droves of people to your blog by telling them what the KEY to fatloss is. So definitely use this one.

But yes, sorry, strength training is NOT the KEY to fatloss. You can strength train your butt off for years, becoming incredibly "strong" and still have your gut proceed you into every room. Anyone who has been both strength training for a while and who has problems with body fat will tell you that strength training will not magically melt pounds off your body because of all the "fat burning muscle".

Yet, people are still hearing things like:

"A pound of muscle burns thirty calories a day!"

Not true. A pound of muscle burns maybe 6 calories just by virtue of its existence.

"Strength training stokes up your metabolism and turns it into a roaring furnace!"

This is probably based on the EPOC effect which is part of the process of recovering from high intensity exercise like strength training in which oxygen is consumed at a greater rate for a certain time after exercise while the system returns to homeostasis, meaning a greater percentage of fat burned during this period. It's true and it's the claim to fame for HIIT (high intensity interval training) versus steady state cardio. But it is easily overestimated and overindulged by "fatloss experts" who want to re-invent the exercise wheel because they are too lazy or simply unqualified to do what needs to be done FIRST: Help people get their diet in line and change their eating (lifesyle) habits. Movement is a BIG part of that and a big part of health. But EPOC won't make up for a bad diet. Or for sitting around 23 hours a day.

The biggest factor that exercise brings, and especially strength training, is the preservation of lean muscle mass. Preserving lean mass while losing fat is of profound importance. Another very important factor that exercise seems to play a key role in is controlling visceral fat.

The different kinds of fat in our body are basically named by where they are located. So visceral fat refers to the fat surrounding our organs. Even very think people can have a problem with visceral fat and lack of exercise does seem to be a primary factor. You can have very low subcutaneous fat and still risk your cardiovascular health because of visceral fat.

You cannot work off a bad diet. The way you eat, or don't eat is the KEY to fatloss and the key to keeping off the fat. Exercise is a factor in that. All strenuous physical activity is a factor. A big one. But not the KEY. The person telling you that strength training will make you thin…has probably never been fat.

But shhh…don't tell anyone.

2. Body-weight and martial arts training makes you "lean and toned" while strength training with weights makes you big and bulky.

Hmmmm…I'll tackle the strength training one first. Strength trainees come in all shapes and sizes. Now I'll tackle the martial arts one. Martial Artists come in all shapes and sizes. Including over-weight.

Body-weight trainees, if they weren't on the light side, would not tend to stick exclusively to body-weight training for very long and, logically, the most successful, and thus the most enthusiastic 'body-weight officianados' are not fat people.

This is similar to the misconception that all gymnasts are very muscular and ripped.

False. Just the elite ones you've been exposed to through the Olympics and other high-profile events tend to be very muscular and ripped. This is confusing cause with correlation. Gymnasts who are able to develop a great deal of body strength while maintaining a low body-fat percentage, tend to be the more successful ones and thus the ones we associate with representing gymnasts as a whole. But that does not mean that doing gymnastics type training will make you look like your favorite Olympic gymnast. This is simply selection bias at work.

Bryan Chung has a great name for this. Or, actually, a couple of great names. He calls it the "sport causality bias" or "the elite athlete selection bias"¹

However, if you are into body-weight training and since body-weight training comprises gymnastics type training, you darn sure better tell people they will look like a gymnast!

Check out the following video about the legendary DEATH TOUCH of martial arts. I remember seeing this on television when it aired. And I laughed my ass off.

Here is a very good example for martial arts. It can serve two purposes. The first is to show how people will believe almost anything if you present it right..even the 'death touch'. That is the mythical martial arts skill that allows you to knock people down, knock them out, or even kill them from across the room! Apparently Stephan Bonner was one of the ones to be immune to the death touch. That is because Stephan did not play along. The instructor actually provides this explanation for the large percentage of people who are IMMUNE to the death touch: "they don't believe". Ummmm..I think you just discredited yourself.

This is a good example of people WANTING to believe things. So keep telling them what they want to believe and they'll go for it.

The other purpose of this video is to illustrate what I said about martial artists coming in all shapes and sizes. The resolution is not good but look at the students..all shapes and sizes in just ONE room.

3. You always progress in a linear fashion.

There are many ways of looking at linear progression but a huge misunderstanding in strength is that your training will continue to be a simple journey from point A to point B and there will always be a straight line between those points.

So, imagine that point A is at the bottom of a long flight of stairs and point B is at the top. EVEN if you go up two stairs and regress down one, up one, and down two, and so on and so forth until you eventually reach the top your PROGRESSION from the foot of the stairs to the top is still LINEAR.

This is exactly the model you want to assure people will always work if you want to be a really successful strength writer. You may not be such a successful strength TRAINER but that is not required. Lucky! A straight line is always more inviting than a curvy one full of detours and side-roads.

Detours and side-roads, are, of course, the reality. So-called linear progression…straight up the stairs… works for a certain period of time when you first begin but the more advanced you get the more creative your training must become. The more thought it takes. I didn't say complex. Complex is not always required. But simple-minded may not continue to work.

So, the first thing you want to do is get up a nice piece about Milos of Kroton and his bull. I know you've heard that story. It is required on every strength related website and most books. So, Milos got himself a bull calf and he carried it up a hill, or a mountain, depending on the version. He repeated this every day. As the bull got bigger he got stronger until, eventually he was carrying a full grown bull up a hill, or a MOUNTAIN! WOW!

Most people know that this is a fable. But most people believe it to be a true model of strength training. They believe that if you increase the load in very small, minute, increments, over a long period of time you won't ever "feel" the difference but eventually these very small increments (even one-half pound a day) will add up to hundreds upon hundreds of pounds.

You definitely want to use this story. It inspires people. If that is all there is to it, I can do it, they think. They can envision themselves lifting herculean weights without too much effort at all!

You and I both know that Milos would have failed miserably to continue to carry the bull up the hill. At some point this straight "linear progression" would have failed to continue. Remember, LOAD is the ONLY parameter that changes here. The distance he carries the bull does not change and the story is implying that the time involved does not change. He doesn't carry the bull any faster or slower each time. After all, he doesn't even 'notice' the changing weight.

Linear progression WORKS when it WORKS. We must except that the same thing will not continue to work forever. We are constantly changing. We are not static. We are dynamic.

When I use the term linear progression in this way, I am borrowing the term the way it is generally meant. The idea that there is a way to progress that is "non-linear" is ridiculous. Don't get "periodization" which regards training, mixed up with progression.

But we'll keep that between ourselves.

4. Skills are always developed in a sequence.

This is related to number two.

Each exercise or strength related thing that you do is an individual skill. They, in and of themselves are not "strength" but are a display of skill which shows specific strength. You put a bunch of these diverse skills together and you have something that can be called overall strength.

But each of these skills are made up of a sub-group of other skills. Movements or positions that are themselves fairly complex.

Let's say you want to do a handstand. The way most people would do this is to simply try a handstand. They would put their hands on the floor, throw their feet in the air, remain there for a second in a kind of handstand, and fall. Some of the more creative types might use a wall to put their feel against, thus providing some stability, and then try to wean themselves from the wall.

Either way this would be an example of linear skill acquisition. Ok, I don't even know if that is a real term, I just made it up but I think you get the point. The linear part is an increase in time as you continue to try to do a handstand. Each time you add just a little bit of time. It may be a microsecond. But eventually the microseconds add up and you are standing on your hands long enough for you to consider it a 'handstand'.

This can actually work. For some of the people some of the time. Depending on their base of conditioning and their boredom threshold.

A more efficient way of doing it would be to break the handstand down into a number of different components. Each of these skill components would be developed separately. You would, in effect, attack it from both ends, and as you try to move into the main skill a 'cross-training' effect occurs as each of these 'sub-routines' find their way into the complete skill.

An extreme version of this is at work when people use body-part training to 'get strong'. Only they go too far and break the body down into a bunch of different parts instead of training 'functional-units'. The answer is to simply realize that you are TRAINING SKILLS OR MOVEMENTS not body parts or even body segments.

The most important thing to realize is that finding the most efficient way to learn a skill does NOT mean finding the most convoluted and complicated way. The kind of knowledge it takes to learn and perform new movements more and more effortlessly involves a process elimination rather than accumulation! We want to whittle down what we do to that which is absolutely necessary. Everything else is just excess weight to carry around with you…pun intended.

But when your write up your step by step plan for handstands, stick to the first method! If you can't tell people what they want to hear you're never going to make it.

5. Strength train stalls or Plateaus are 'inevitable'

The standard definition of a stall is a temporary stop in progression. When most people talk about a stall or plateau they are talking about failure to progress on one or two exercises.

That is an exercise plateau. Not a 'strength training' plateau.

The problem is that cessations in progression in particular exercises have gotten all mixed up with stagnation or even overtraining.

Complete failure to progress in strength training would indicate a much bigger problem than a "stall".

But it gives rise to many silly ideas. Such as if you fail to add five pounds to your squat one day you should take a week off. Ridiculous.

When most GOOD strength trainers tell you how to break a plateau they are telling you how to break a plateau on a PARTICULAR exercise. Exercise plateaus are not even themselves inevitable, they are just very difficult to avoid. But even while exercise plateaus occur there is always another way to get strong. Pick up a new skill. Cross-train. Be creative.

Only people who are training to compete in just a few lifts should be obsessing over a handful of movements and even they must use variety in their training.

This is a tricky one in terms of winning over the crowds. You would think that telling people that strength training stalls are not inevitable would be a popular message. But, don't be fooled. People want to feel better about their own failure to progress instead of being told HOW to progress. So, for sure, you want to stick with the "plateaus are inevitable" message.

6. That's five examples

Notice at the beginning I didn't tell you 'here is 5 misconceptions' Indeed, I didn't make the title of this post "5 Training Misconceptions".

That is because I didn't know what I was going to write about until I did it. Like I said, this is an informal blog.

Big mistake. Never let people think you don't have a plan. And I definitely should have named this post "5 Training Misconceptions". People love lists!

And what's even better is this last one is a bonus. Off-subject though it is.

Hopefully you don't take the cynical and facetious nature of this post too seriously. I am not, by nature a negative person. The facetiousness was meant to make a point and hopefully, somewhere along the way, that point was made.

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What is Training People?

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:57:45 +0000

By Eric Troy

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I was perusing "fitness" blogs today and the funniest thing happened. I saw a blog post in which the post itself didn't interest me. It was more of the same old same old simplistic reaction to a complex "human" problem. What got me wanting to blog about the page, on this, my FIRST post on my blog here, was the TITLE.

The title was about how so-called fitness professionals train people. I got confused. You see, for a minute I thought the stress was on the word train. But instead it was on the word people.

Changes the subject of the post a little, doesn't it?

I'll try not to get started again on the idea of a fitness professional, whatever the heck that is, except to say that I suspect people create 'fitness' blogs and go on and on about 'fitness' because it is a good keyword..although a highly competitive one.

But yeah, yeah, the human element is important. The idea that you are training individuals. The fact that so-called fitness pros need to be reminded of that is what is sad.

But we TRAIN people. What does that mean? It's different than to teach people.

In fact, if you really consider the subtle difference between the words train, or teach, or even mentor, you may begin to wonder what the heck gym trainers are.

You see, training in the strictest sense is much more narrow than teaching. You train people for a specific purpose. A specific skill or set of skills. For a specific TASK.

It is a short term process.

If you have an athlete that must drop weight then that is about either fitting in to a specific weight class or about optimizing body composition and therefore efficiency. But either way you are PREPARING for something. Your training is still training bent on the same goal…optimizing PERFORMANCE.¹

And yet the average Jane looking to lose fat finds him or herself being deluged by "training" methods. There is even a video game for Nintendo DS called "My Weightloss Coach".

People hire trainers to help them lose weight, for instance. Weight loss is not a specific "event". You don't train for it. It is a long term process of lifestyle adjustment. A LEARNING process.

I am not suggesting, even for a second, that hiring a good weight loss expert is a bad idea. What I am suggesting is that if said expert hands you a magic weight loss program with a bunch of "magic" exercises…get a new one. Training to lose weight is training to lose. Training complements weight loss. Can facilitate it. But a good training plan should be centered around improving performance. Conveniently, improved performance tends to coincide with a more efficient body. And a more efficient body does not carry around gobs of excess fat.

So there is a big mistake people make when hiring trainers. They fail to define very specific, concrete goals. They give trainers a "blank-check" so to speak, therefore leaving the trainer the option to place them in whatever box they are comfortable with.

And they do the same thing when they are their own trainer.

When it comes to exercise, fat-loss is a side benefit. Especially since diet is the most important aspect of it. In fact if I hear one more damned argument about whether steady state or HIIT or even vibrational platforms (the new thing for weight loss..that's right!) are better I'll scream. No, I'll tear off my own arm, fling it at the person talking, and then scream.

There is NOTHING worse than focusing ONLY on a far-off, ill-defined and nebulous goal to demotivate you in the gym.

It may surprise you that I said that since so much fitness advice is about having long term goals.²

Well think about it like this.

You are weighing in at about 285 at 5 foot 8 and you have been very overweight for quite a few years. Now, you want to improve so you begin an exercise program. You set as your long term goal: FATLOSS.

Problem is you have a hard time visualizing yourself at the end of this process. You have a very tough time figuring out how you will ever navigate it. There are so many choices your are overwhelmed. So you are overwhelmed with choices on how to reach a FAR OFF goal that you really can't even imagine. Recipe for failure.

I talked about the problem with choice in these posts at GUStrength's blog in my posts The Paradox of Choice by Dr. Barry Shwartz (be sure to watch Dr. Shwartz's great video) and Fitness: All Encompassing Means Paralyzing?

But that is not the point. Steady State Cardio, HIIT, swimming. You want to know what the big problem is with all the cardio types that get lined up on the treadmills every new year only to drop out?

What do you think? It's because they picked the wrong program? They should have done HIIT (high intensity interval training)? They got bored? That may be a small part of it. I'll tell you the bigger one.

Lack of gratification. All long term and nebulous goals combined with a lack of short term goals means you are very likely to drop out.

Very long-term goals are not as important as people make them out to be. Every new year along with the new year resolutions crowd there is a fitness writer crowd writing article about goal setting and resolution. Most of them far off the mark and just not "getting it".

Very long term and sorta kinda long term goals…they tend to change and evolve over time as you learn more about yourself. And you learn more about yourself, in large part, THROUGH your training and the choices you make. You learn what's important to you and what is not. You make mistakes. You learn some more. What is important to you changes. And changes again. Because you are a dynamic and ever-changing machine. Not a static one.

You want to be in control of your results but there is a dark side to control. When you are busy trying to hold on to everything you fail to let things happen.

The very long term goals are something you keep in the back of your mind, subject to rumination and even ruination. To be successful you must have what I guess I'll call short-term and longish term goals.

For your immediate goals, the best type to focus on are PERFORMANCE RELATED GOALS.

For those of you who like to call yourself fitness trainers, btw, if I've offended you, instead of chewing me out maybe ask yourself if you can give a concrete definition of the word fitness without any specific context. Because to me it is about as meaningless as the word holistic. And if you're still pissed I will live with the fact that your endorsement is not forthcoming!

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by EricT

What To Eat: Three Questions To Ask Yourself

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:28:17 +0000

By Michelle May, M.D.

We are bombarded with conflicting messages about what to eat—often side by side on the same magazine cover. These confusing messages create internal conflict when what you want to eat must face off with what you should eat according to the latest expert.

Ironically, the definition of "good" and "bad" foods changes every few years so people feel confused and overwhelmed by all the conflicting and often arbitrary messages about what they are supposed to eat.

However it is possible to strike a balance between eating for nourishment and eating for enjoyment. In fact, one of the keys to optimal health and lifelong weight management is to nurture your body and your soul with the foods you eat.

So how do you drown out all the noise and find that balance when deciding what to eat? Start by asking yourself three simple questions when you're hungry: "What do I want to eat?" "What do I need to eat?" and "What do I have to eat?"

What Do I Want to Eat?

The first question, "What do I want to eat?" may come as a surprise. But what happens when you try to avoid food you really want-like those Girl Scout Cookies that were delivered after you started your new low-carb diet?

First you check the label and confirm that they're off limits so you put them in the freezer. Two days later they whisper to you from their hiding place, "Pssst. We're in here!" You manage to resist them, instead munching on some olives, four cubes of cheese, a hunk of leftover meatloaf with a side of celery sticks, two pieces of low-carb toast—and yet you still don't feel satisfied.

"Hey! We're in here and we taste great frozen!" You finally give in to your urge and have two Thin Mints®. Blew it again! Might as well eat a few more—and a bowl of ice cream—and start over tomorrow. Sound familiar?

Thinking about what you really want to eat without judging yourself will keep you from feeling deprived and out of control when you choose to eat certain foods.

You might be worried that if you ask yourself what you're really hungry for, you'll always choose foods you "shouldn't." At first this might seem true since cravings tend to get stronger when you try to ignore them for too long.

However, once you let go of the guilt about eating certain foods they lose their power over you. Learn to trust your body wisdom and you'll soon discover that you want to eat a variety of foods to feel healthy and satisfied.

What Do I Need to Eat?

The next question to ask yourself is "What do I need to eat?" While food decisions aren't "good" or "bad," clearly some foods offer more nutritional benefits than others.

As you consider what food to choose, ask yourself, "What does my body need?" Keep in mind the principles of variety, balance and moderation when deciding what to eat. Consider nutrition information, your personal health issues, your family history, what else you will be eating and doing that day, and how your body responds to certain foods.

Enjoy your healthy choices by focusing on fresh foods, appealing combinations, new flavors and interesting recipes.

What Do I Have to Eat?

The key to the final question, "What do I have to eat?" is planning. If you feel hungry and the only thing available is a vending machine, you're likely to choose a snack food that may not be very healthy, may not taste very good and may not really be what you were hungry for anyway.
Instead, strive to have a variety of foods available that are healthful and appealing but not overly tempting. These are foods you enjoy when you're hungry but won't be calling out to you from their storage place saying, "Come eat me!"

Of course, you're not always in control of which foods are available. At a restaurant, office potluck, or friend's house, simply see what’s available and ask yourself, "Is there a healthy choice that will meet my needs without feeling deprived?" For example, could you be happy with frozen yogurt instead of ice cream this time?

Matching the food you choose to what you're really hungry for and what your body needs leads to greater satisfaction and more enjoyment-with less food.

Balanced eating is simply the result of all of the individual decisions you make. Eating food you truly enjoy while taking good care of your body is the best way to make long term changes that you can live with.

Michelle May, M.D. is a recovered yoyo dieter and the award-winning author of Am I Hungry? Download a copy of 101 Things to Do Besides Eat at www.AmIHungry.com

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by EricT

Cissus Quadrangularis & Irvingia Gabonensis Combination

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:14:16 +0000

Next Page: Background

The use of a Cissus quadrangularis/Irvingia gabonensis combination in the management of weight loss: a double-blind placebo-controlled study

Julius E Oben*1, Judith L Ngondi1, Claudia N Momo1, Gabriel A Agbor1,2
and Caroline S Makamto Sobgui1,2

Address: 1Laboratory of Nutrition and Nutritional Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry, B.P. 812, University of Yaoundé 1, Yaoundé, Cameroon and 2CRPMT, Institute of Medicinal Plants Studies, Yaoundé, Cameroon

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the effects of two formulations, Cissus quadrangularis-only and a Cissus
quadrangularis/Irvingia gabonensis combination, on weight loss in overweight and obese human
subjects.

Methods: The study was a 10 week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design involving 72 obese or overweight participants (45.8% male; 54.2% female; ages 21–44; mean age = 29.3). The participants were randomly divided into three equal (n = 24) groups: placebo, Cissus quadrangularisonly, and Cissus quadrangularis/Irvingia gabonensis combination. Capsules containing the placebo or active formulations were administered twice daily before meals; no major dietary changes nor exercises were suggested during the study. A total of six anthropomorphic and serological measurements (body weight, body fat, waist size; total plasma cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, fasting blood glucose level) were taken at baseline and at 4, 8 and 10 weeks.

Results: Compared to the placebo group, the two active groups showed a statistically significant difference on all six variables by week 10. The magnitude of the differences was noticeable by week 4 and continued to increase over the trial period.
Conclusion: Although the Cissus quadrangularis-only group showed significant reductions on all
variables compared to the placebo group, the Cissus quadrangularis/Irvingia gabonensis combination resulted in even larger reductions. This apparently synergistic formulation should prove helpful in the management of obesity and its related complications.

Cissus quadrangularis image by Sundar via wikimedia

Next Page: Background

Published: 31 March 2008
Lipids in Health and Disease 2008, 7:12 doi:10.1186/1476-511X-7-12
Received: 17 February 2008
Accepted: 31 March 2008

This article is available from: http://www.lipidworld.com/content/7/1/12
© 2008 Oben et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0]

Please note: This work is provided on this website for informational purposes. The conclusions therein do not necessarily reflect the views of Ground Up Strength.

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by EricT

Trans Fatty Acids: The Poison In Our Food Supply

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:17:00 +0000

…That Most People are Still Eating Everyday

By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

Most people are eating a poison every day without giving it a second thought. This substance can increase belly fat and consuming even small amounts (2% of total energy intake) is consistently linked to coronary heart disease. The research also says that this stuff can increase visceral fat, contribute to insulin resistance, increase risk of type 2 diabetes, increase bad cholesterol, decrease good cholesterol, trigger systemic inflammation and adversely affect almost every cell in your body.

What substance could be so harmful that it causes all of these health problems and yet is so prevalent in our food supply that most people are eating dangerous amounts every single day? This industrially manufactured ingredient is called Trans fatty acids (TFA’s).

TFA’s are not found in nature, with the exception of some ruminant-derived TFA’s in certain dairy products (usually contributing less than 0.5% of total caloric intake). TFA’s come mostly from the industrial hydrogenation of vegetable oils, which alters the natural cis configuration of the oils to the trans configuration. If you see “partially hydrogenated” oil in the ingredients list of any food product, then it contains TFA’s.

TFA’s have been studied for decades, but were largely ignored until the past several years. Research papers linking trans fats to heart disease date back to the 1970’s. In 1994, the Center for Science in the Public Interest petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to put trans fats on food labels (didn’t happen until 2006). Since 2006, TFA’s have thankfully received a decent amount of publicity when they were in the news regarding new food labeling laws and the banning of their use in restaurants in some states.

New studies have been published in the past year confirming the dangers of TFA’s. Four recent studies indicated 24, 20, 27 and 32% higher risk of myocardial infarction (MI) or CHD death for every 2% energy of TFA consumption isocalorically replacing carbohydrate, SFA, cis monounsaturated fatty acids and cis polyunsaturated fatty acids, respectively.

TFA intake in the United States still averages 2-3% of total energy intake, 4% in some developing countries where fast food is being introduced and as high as 8-10% in certain subgroups (who eat large amounts of baked goods, fried foods, pastries, doughnuts, etc). The government recommended maximum is 1% of total energy intake (2 grams!). Some experts say there is NO safe level of TFA intake.

Legislation has been enacted in some states banning the use of TFAs in restaurants. It was big news New York. As of 2008, 11 cities and counties have adopted regulations to restrict TFA use in restaurants. However, industrial TFA use is still widespread and lots of people are still scarfing them down every day.

If Trans fats are so dangerous, why is their use so widespread? Dietary fat expert Udo Erasmus put it this way: “TFA’s are a food manufacturer’s dream: an unspoilable substance that lasts forever.” TFA’s are cheap and for countless food products, they can prolong shelf life, allow easy transport, provide solidity at room temperature (to make spreads), and increase suitability for commercial frying.

Although most people have heard of TFA’s, the bad news is that this increased awareness has not been enough to translate into behavior change.

A study recently published in the Journal of The American Dietetic Association (ADA) found that in 2007, 73% of Americans knew that TFA’s increased risk of heart disease, compared to 63% in 2006. However, the bad news is that 79% of Americans could not name 3 foods that contain trans fats. 46% of Americans could not name any sources of trans fats on their own.

“Knowledge about food sources of fats remains low” says Robert Eckel, professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado.

Public health messages have been raising awareness, but they haven’t been enough. “TFA’s are bad for you.” Ok, so now what? What you really need are some simple behavior guidelines and a list of foods to eat very infrequently if you eat them at all.

Here are some good places for you to start.

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4 Ways to Avoid Trans Fatty Acids

1. Eat mostly foods that do not have a label. At the risk of stating the obvious, if you don’t eat anything that comes in a box or package with a label, then you won’t ever consume manmade TFA’s. If your diet consists primarily of fruits, fibrous vegetables, root vegetables, beans, legumes, brown rice, unprocessed whole grains, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish and lean meats, you’re home free.

2. Watch for label loopholes. WARNING: Food companies are lying to you on their product labels to make you think their foods are TFA-free. The front of their package may say “ZERO grams of trans fats,” and yet there is hydrogenated oil listed in the ingredients. How could that be? There is a label loophole where the government allows companies to claim zero trans fats if there is less than a half a gram per serving. So the food companies sneakily manipulate their serving sizes until the servings are so small that the TFA content falls below the per serving limit.

3. Read ingredients lists. The primary source of TFA’s is partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. In particular, soybean, sunflower, cottonseed and palm oils are frequently hydrogenated. Your first step then, is to read food labels on any packaged products and look at the ingredients list. If it contains partially hydrogenated oils, it contains TFA’s.

4. Avoid foods that contain TFA’s most of the time. TFA’s are commonly found in baked goods (bakery), fried foods and packaged convenience foods, especially:

cookies*
crackers*
biscuits*
pastries*
pies*
doughnuts*
packaged frozen foods (breaded chicken, breaded fish, etc)
corn chips
potato chips
packaged popcorn
some breads
frostings
french fries (fried potatoes)
taco shells
margarines and spreads
shortening
some salad dressings
some candies
some artificial cheeses

*major food sources for American adults

In 2002 when I published the first edition of my ebook, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle, I warned my readers of the dangers of trans fatty acids. I was not the only one either. Years ahead of the 2006 law requiring trans fats to be listed on food labels and the 2007-2008 restaurant TFA bans, numerous health professionals were already warning people to stay away from TFA’s.

Not enough people heeded the warnings, while meanwhile, politics and commercial interests delayed legislation. No doubt, skyrocketing rates of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease can be largely linked to the continued use of these artificial fake food additives. In the US alone, 1,700,000 new cases of diabetes, 233,600 diabetes-related deaths, 600,000 myocardial infarctions and 451,300 coronary heart disease-related deaths are reported every year.

A campaign for better education and lifestyle change is worth supporting. As researchers from Harvard said, “A comprehensive strategy to eliminate the use of industrial TFA in both developed and developing countries, including education, food labeling, and policy and legislative initiatives, would likely prevent tens of thousands of CHD events worldwide each year.”

For a healthy and balanced lifestyle, and for better long-term compliance, I’m rarely in favor of tagging any foods as totally “forbidden” or to use words as strong as “poison” in describing foods. But if there are any exceptions, trans fats are one of them.

If you are unable or unwilling to eliminate TFA’s from your diet completely, then you would be wise for the sake of your health and your family’s health, to keep foods containing TFA’s to a bare minimum and avoid eating any TFA-laden foods on a daily basis.

Last, but not least, be on guard, because history tells us that when one harmful food additive is banned, it is often replaced with another, which is sometimes even worse. That’s why item #1 on my list of four ways to avoid trans fatty acids is the best way to avoid anything that is harmful to your health.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

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References

Americans’ Awareness, Knowledge, and Behaviors Regarding Fats, Eckel RH et al, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Feb 2009 (2):288-296

Metabolic implications of dietary trans-fatty acids, Dorfman SE et al, Obesity, Feb 2009, 1-8. Cardiovascular and metabolism disease area, Novartis institutes for biomedical research, INc. Cambridge, Mass.

Mortality from arteriosclerotic disease and consumption of hydrogenated oils and fats, Thomas LH, Br J Prev Soc Med, Jun 1975 29(2): 82-90

Health effects of trans-fatty acids: experimental and observational evidence. Mozzafarian D, Eur J Clin Nutr, May 2009: 63 suppl 2S5-21, Harvard Medical School

Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill, Udo Erasmus, Alive Books, 1994

by EricT

7 Steps To Weight Loss Without Dieting Deprivation And Guilt

Fri, 22 May 2009 16:19:31 +0000

By Michelle May, M.D.
www.AmIHungry.com

If your commitment to eat right, exercise and lose weight always seems to lose its steam, you're not alone. Successful weight loss isn't just about what you're eating, but why you're eating in the first place. If you’re ready to lose weight without dieting, deprivation and guilt and decrease emotional eating, you need to know about Instinctive Eating (sometimes called intuitive eating).

To see what I mean, see if the following statements apply to you:

I am hungry all the time
I think about food and eating all the time
I feel guilty when I eat certain foods
I have trouble passing up tempting food even if I’m not hungry
I eat when I am bored, stressed, sad, lonely or angry
I am prone to emotional eating
I feel too full after eating
I eat differently in private than I do in public
I yoyo between dieting and eating too much

If any of these statements are true for you, you've probably discovered that dieting hasn't helped you lose weight long term. To help you understand why, let’s take a look at three different eating styles: Overeating, Restrictive Eating and Instinctive Eating (or intuitive eating).

Overeating

In "Overeating" people eat because it is mealtime or because something looks good - whether they're hungry or not. They are often “emotional eaters,” eating to distract themselves or cope with stress and emotions. They may also reward, comfort or entertain themselves with food. Their weight tends to go up and down depending on what is going on in their life and whether they are off or on their diet.

Restrictive Eating

In "Restrictive Eating," a person controls his or her weight by dieting. They decide when, what and how much to eat based on the rules of the latest diet they are following. Since diet rules are always changing, they sometimes feel confused about what they should eat. They think of food as either "good" or "bad" - and they think of themselves as good or bad, depending on what they ate. They experience feelings of deprivation and guilt that can lead them back to overeating.

Instinctive Eating

Now think about someone who doesn't struggle with his or her weight. If you're having trouble thinking of someone like that, think of a baby or a young child. This is called Instinctive Eating or intuitive eating.

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People who naturally follow instinctive eating or intuitive eating just seem to know when, what and how much food they need. When their body needs fuel they get hungry, triggering an urge to eat. They simply stop eating when their hunger is satisfied. Most of them really like to eat and seem to be able to eat whatever they want. However they'll turn down even delicious food if they aren't hungry and they are less likely to respond to stress with emotional eating.

You might believe that a person who follows this instinctive eating or intuitive eating pattern has been blessed with willpower and a great metabolism. But the truth is we were all born to eat instinctively. It's just that many of us "unlearned" our natural ability to know how much to eat. The good news is that you can relearn those skills for weight loss without dieting or deprivation.

Seven essential steps to lose weight without dieting:

1. Let go of the idea that there is a perfect diet that will finally solve your problems. The answer to weight management lies within you.

2. Whenever you have an urge to eat, instead of focusing on the food, first ask yourself, "Am I hungry?" Remember that hunger is a physical feeling. It's not the same thing as appetite, cravings or the desire to eat – that is head hunger!

3. If you’re physically hungry, remember that there are no "good" or "bad" foods. You're less likely to overeat certain foods if you know that you can have them again when you really want them.

4. Give up your platinum membership in the Clean Plate Club. Stop eating when your hunger is gone but before you feel full, even if there's food left on your plate.

5. If you feel like eating even if you're not hungry, ask yourself if something in your environment triggered your urge to eat. What could you do to reduce the trigger or distract yourself from it? For example, could you put the candy dish out of sight or do something else for a while until you're actually hungry?

6. If there was an emotional trigger, ask yourself what you could do to better cope with that emotion. For instance, if stress triggered your urge to eat, could you try a relaxation exercise instead of slipping into emotional eating?

7. Don't expect yourself to be perfect - it's not possible or even necessary.

By relearning instinctive eating or intuitive eating, you'll see that eating to satisfy hunger is pleasurable and that it's good to eat foods that you enjoy. You'll find that meeting your other needs in appropriate ways will bring balance and joy to your life. By learning these important skills, you will start living a healthier lifestyle, decrease emotional eating - and lose weight without dieting, deprivation or guilt!

Michelle May, M.D. is a recovered yoyo dieter and the award-winning author of Am I Hungry? What To Do When Diets Don't Work. Learn to lose weight without dieting, deprivation or guilt with Dr. May's complimentary mini e-course at [http://www.amihungry.com/mini-e-course-intro.shtml]

Comments

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by EricT

The Two Pounds Per Month Rule and How to Burn Fat Faster

Thu, 21 May 2009 14:29:21 +0000

By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

Why do you always hear that 2 pounds per week is the maximum amount of fat you should safely lose? If you train really hard while watching calories closely shouldn’t you be able to lose more fat without losing muscle or damaging your health? What if you want to lose fat faster? How do you explain the fast weight losses on The Biggest Loser? These are all good questions that I’ve been asked many times. With the diet marketplace being flooded every day with rapid weight loss claims, these questions desperately need and deserve some honest answers. Want to know where that 2 pounds per week rule comes from and what it really takes to burn more than 2 pounds of fat per week? Read on.

Why Only 2 Pounds Per Week?

The truth is, two pounds is not the maximum amount you can safely lose in a week. That’s only a general recommendation and a good benchmark for setting weekly goals. It’s also sensible and realistic because it’s based on average or typical results.

The actual amount of fat you can lose depends on many factors. For example, weight losses tend to be relative to body size. The more body fat you carry, the more likely you’ll be able to safely lose more than two pounds per week. Therefore, we could individualize our weekly guideline a bit by recommending a goal of 1-2 lbs of fat loss per week or up to 1% of your total weight. If you weighed 300 lbs, that would be 3 lbs per week.

Body Weight Vs Body Composition

Weight loss is somewhat meaningless unless you also talk about body composition; the fat to muscle ratio, as well as water weight. Ask any wrestler about fast weight loss and he’ll tell you things like, “I cut 10 lbs overnight to make a weight class. It was easy - I just sweated it off.”

You’ve also probably seen people that went on some extreme induction program or a lemon juice and water fast for the first week and dropped an enormous amount of weight. But once again, you can bet that a lot of that weight was water and lean tissue and in both cases, you can bet that those people put the weight right back on.

The main potential advantage of any type of induction period for rapid weight loss in the first week is that a large drop on the scale is a motivational boost for many people (even if it is mostly water weight).

Why do you hear so many diet and fitness professionals insist on 2 lbs a week max? Where does that number come from? Well, aside from the fact that it’s a recommendation in government health guidelines and in position statements of most nutrition and exercise organizations, it’s just math. The math is based on what’s practical given the number of calories an average person burns in a day and how much food someone can reasonably cut in a day.

How Do You Lose More Than 2 Pounds Per Week?

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Can you lose more than 2 lbs of pure fat in a week? Yes, although it’s easier in the beginning. It gets harder as your diet progresses. How do you do it? My rule is, extraordinary results require extraordinary efforts. An extraordinary effort means a particularly strict diet, as well as burning more calories through training because you can only cut your calories so far from food before you’re starving and suffering from severe hunger.

Simply put, you need a bigger calorie deficit.

If you have a 2500 calorie daily maintenance level, and you want to drop 3 lbs of fat per week withe diet alone, you’d need a huge daily deficit of 1500 calories, which would equate to eating 1000 calories per day. You would lose weight rapidly for as long as you could maintain that deficit (although it would slow down over time). Most people aren’t going to last long on so little food and they often end with a period of binge eating. It’s not practical (or fun) to cut calories so much and in some cases it could be unhealthy.

The other alternative is to train for hours and hours a day, literally. People ask me all the time, “Tom, how is it possible for the Biggest Loser contestants to lose so much weight? Well first of all they’re not measuring body fat, only body weight. Then you have the high starting body weights and the large water weight loss in the beginning. After that, just do the math – they’re training hours a day so they’re creating a huge calorie deficit.

But without that team of trainers, dieticians, teammates, a national audience and all that prize money, do you think they’d be motivated and accountable enough to do anywhere near that amount and intensity of exercise in the real world? Would it even be possible if they had a job and family? Not likely, is it? It’s not practical to do that much exercise, and it’s not practical to cut your calories below a 1000 a day and remain compliant. If you manage to achieve the latter, it’s very difficult not to rebound and regain the weight afterwards for a variety of physiological and psychological reasons.

For Fast Fat Loss: Less Food Or Harder Training?

Trainers are becoming more inventive these days in coming up with high intensity workouts that burn a large amount of calories and really give the metabolism a boost. This can help speed up the fat loss within a given amount of time. But as you begin to utilize higher intensity workouts, you have to start being on guard for overtraining or overuse injuries.That’s why strict nutrition with an aggressive calorie deficit is going to have to be a major part of any fast fat loss strategy. Unfortunately, very low calorie dieting has its own risks in the way of lean tissue loss, slower metabolism, extreme hunger, and greater chance of weight re-gain.

My approach to long term weight control is to lose weight slowly and patiently and follow a nutrition plan that is well balanced between lean protein, healthy fats and natural carbs and doesn’t demonize any entire food group. To lose fat, you simply create a caloric deficit by burning more and eating less (keeping the nutrient density of those calories as high as possible, of course).

But to achieve the extraordinary goals such as photo-shoot-ready, super-low body fat or simply faster than average fat loss, while minimizing the risks, I often turn to a stricter cyclical low carb diet for brief “peaking” programs. I explain this method in chapter 12 of my e-book Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (it’s my “phase III” or “competition” diet).

The cyclical aspect of the diet means that after three to six days of an aggressive calorie deficit and strict diet, you take a high calorie / high carb day to re-feed the body and re-stimulate the metabolism. Essentially, this helps reduce the starvation signals your body is receiving. It’s also a psychological break from the deprivation which helps improve compliance and prevent relapse.

The higher protein intake can help prevent lean tissue loss and curb the hunger. A high protein diet also helps by ramping up dietary thermogenesis. A high intake of greens, fibrous vegetables and low calorie fruits can help tip the energy balance equation in your favor as fibrous veggies are very low in calorie density and some of the calories in the fiber are not metabolizable. Healthy fats are added in adequate quantities, while the calorie-dense simple sugars and starchy carbs are kept to a minimum except on refeed days and after (or around) intense workouts.

There’s No Magic, Just Math

In my experience, a high protein, reduced carb approach in conjunction with weights and cardio can help maximize fat loss – both in terms of increasing speed of fat loss and particularly for getting rid of the last of the stubborn fat. It helps with appetite control too. But always bear in mind that the faster fat loss occurs primarily as a result of the larger calorie deficit (which is easily achieved with sugars and starches minimized), not some type of “low carb magic.” If your diet were high in natural carbs but you were able to diligently maintain the same large calorie deficit, the results would be similar.

I’m seeing more and more advertisements that not only promise rapid weight loss, but go so far as saying that you’re doing it wrong if you’re losing “only” two pounds per week. “Why settle” for slow weight loss, they insist. Well, it’s certainly possible to lose more than two pounds per week, but it’s critically important to understand that there’s a world of difference between rapid weight loss and permanent fat loss.

It’s also vital to know that there’s no magic in faster fat loss, just math. All the new-fangled dietary manipulations and high intensity training programs that really do help increase the speed of fat loss all come full circle to the calorie balance equation in the end, even if they claim their method works for other reasons and they don’t mention calories burned or consumed at all.

Beware of The Quick Fix

Faster fat loss IS possible. My question is, are you willing to tolerate the hunger, low calories and high intensity exercise for that kind of deficit? Do you have the work ethic? Do you have the supreme level of dietary restraint necessary to stop yourself from bingeing and putting the weight right back on when that aggressive diet is over? Or would you rather do it in a more moderate way where you’re not killing yourself, but instead are making slow and steady lifestyle changes and taking off 1-2 lbs of pure fat per week, while keeping all your hard-earned muscle?

Remember, 1-2 pounds per week is 50-100 pounds in a year. Is that really so slow or is that an astounding transformation? You don’t gain 50-100 pounds over night, so why should anyone expect to take it off overnight? Personally, I think short-term thinking and the pursuit of quick fixes are the worst diseases of our generation.

If you want to be one of those “results not typical” fat loss transformations, it can be done and it may be a perfectly appropriate short-term goal for the savvy and sophisticated fitness enthusiast. It’s your call. But when you set your goals, it might be wise to remember that old fable of the tortoise and the hare, and buyer beware if you go shopping for a fast weight loss program in today’s shady marketplace.

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
www.BurnTheFat.com

About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world's best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

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by EricT

It's Not Just WHAT You Eat But WHY

Wed, 13 May 2009 00:06:27 +0000

By Michelle May, M.D.

Many people have the mistaken belief that their weight problems are caused by what and how much they eat. Those are important but they only tell part of the story. In fact, what you eat and how much you eat are strongly affected by why you’re eating in the first place.

The Am I Hungry?® Eating Cycle will help you see how each decision you make can affect your other choices.

As you review the Eating Cycle, ask yourself the following questions to help you recognize and better understand how you make conscious or subconscious decisions about your eating. More importantly, use these questions to discover possible steps you can take to become more mindful about your decisions.

Why? Why do I eat?

• Why do I think I eat?
• Am I aware of any situations or emotions that trigger me to want to eat when I’m not hungry? Examples: Mealtimes, social events, certain people, stress, boredom, buffets, getting ready to start a diet…

• Have I tried a lot of diets? What happened? How did they work for me long term? Why?

When? When do I feel like eating?

• How often do I feel like eating?
• How do I know if I’m hungry?
• How could I redirect my attention away from food until I’m hungry?
• What could I do to cope better with my emotional triggers for eating? Examples: Manage stress better; tell someone how I really feel; find a hobby; treat myself to a hot bath; ask for more help around the house…

What? What do I eat?

• What do I eat in a typical day? Would a food diary for a few days help?
• Do I restrict myself from eating certain foods—then later give-in and overeat those foods?
• What health issues do I need to be aware of when deciding what to eat? Examples: High blood pressure, high cholesterol, family history of diabetes.
• What kind of beverages do I drink?
• What types of foods do I feel like eating when I’m eating for emotional reasons? Why?
• Are there any areas of my diet that I could improve right now?
• What specific change would I like to make at this time?
• What kind of foods could I keep on hand to eat when I’m hungry?

How? How do I eat?

• Do I eat while I’m distracted? Examples: Watching T.V.; reading; driving; working; talking…
• Do I eat fast?
• Do I really taste my food?
• Do I eat differently in private than I do in public?

How Much? How much do I eat?

• How do I typically feel when I’m done eating? Do I like that feeling?
• Do I usually clean my plate?
• If I’m not hungry when I start eating, how do I know when to stop?
• What situations or emotions trigger me to overeat?
• What could I do to address those triggers more effectively? Examples: Order less food; ask for a to-go container; get up from the table; turn off the TV; say “no” to food pushers…

Where? Where do I invest the fuel I eat?

• Am I physically active?
• Do I watch too much TV or spend too much free time in front of computer?
• Do I exercise? What do I like to do?
• What else do I do with my energy? Examples: Play with my children; work on my hobbies; volunteer; travel; spend time with friends…
• Is there anything else I’d like to do with my energy that I’m not doing now? What are my goals for my relationships, my career, and my life?
The first step to changing the way you eat is awareness. As you become more mindful of each decision point in your Eating Cycle, you’ll discover small changes that can make a big difference in why, when, what, how, and how much you eat and where you invest your energy.

Michelle May, M.D. is a recovered yoyo dieter and the award-winning author of Am I Hungry? Read more about the Am I Hungry?® Eating Cycle at http://AmIHungry.com/

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by EricT

Calorie Restriction For Life Extension: What They Didn't Tell You On Oprah

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:15:17 +0000

By Tom Venuto
www.BurnTheFat.com

On a recent episode of the Oprah show, one of the guests was a 51 year old man with the heart of a 20 year old. He's been following a calorie restriction plan and they said he might be one of the first people to reach 120 years old by following this plan. There have been stories both in the lay press and scientific press about calorie restriction for years and it has been a frequent talk show topic on other many other TV shows. However, before you cut your calories in half in hopes of adding another decade onto your life, you'd better get the other half of the story they didn't talk about on Oprah.

I’ve seen a lot of strange things in the health field, and although calorie restriction (CR) is the subject of serious and legitimate scientific study, I consider CR to be one of those strange things. Of course, that’s because I choose a different lifestyle - the muscle-friendly Burn The fat, Feed The Muscle lifestyle - but there’s more than one reason why I’m not a CR advocate:

Hunger while dieting is almost always a challenge. There’s some hunger even with conservative calorie deficits of 15-20% under maintenance. Prolonged hunger is one of the biggest reasons people fall off the weight loss diet wagon because it’s unpleasant and difficult to resist. This is why pharmaceutical and supplement companies spend millions of dollars on researching, developing and marketing appetite suppressants. Yet CR advocates put themselves through 30-50% calorie restriction on a daily basis as a way of life in the hopes of extending life span or health.

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Practitioners of CR follow a low-calorie lifestyle, but technically, they are not in a chronic 30% calorie deficit. That would be impossible. What happens is their metabolisms get very slow (that’s part of the idea behind CR; if you slow down your metabolism, you allegedly slow down aging). So a 6 foot tall man who would normally require nearly 3,000 calories to maintain his weight, might eventually reach an energy balance at only 1800 or 1900 calories. This is not just due to a ‘starvation mode’ phenomenon, that’s only part of it. It’s primarily because he loses weight until he is very thin and his smaller body doesn’t need many calories any more.

Does caloric restriction really extend lifespan?

The biological mechanisms of lifespan extension through calorie restriction are not fully understood, but researchers say it may involve alterations in energy metabolism (as mentioned above), reduced oxidative damage, improvements in insulin sensitivity, reduction of glycation, modulation of protein metabolism, downregulation of pro-inflammatory genes and functional changes in both neuroendocrine and autonomic nervous systems.

Mouse studies on CR go back as far as 1935 and monkey studies began in the late 1980’s. So far the results are clear on one thing: caloric restriction does increase lifespan in rodents and other lower species (yeast, worms and flies). Studies suggest the life of the laboratory rat is 25% longer with CR (even longer with aggressive CR). Primate studies are still underway and humans have been experimenting with CR for some time. In primates and humans, biomarkers of aging show signs of slower aging with CR. This makes many proponents talk about this CR as if it were a sure-thing, already proven through double-blind randomized clinical human trials.

The truth is, there is NO direct experimental evidence that you will live longer from practicing CR. Due to the length of human lifespans, we will not have the necessary data for at least another generation and perhaps multiple generations. Even then, it will still be highly speculative whether CR will extend human life at all and if so how much. We can only estimate. I’ve seen guesses in the scientific literature ranging from 3 to 13 years, if CR is practiced for an entire adult lifetime.

Jay Phelan, a biologist at UCLA is skeptical. He says the potential life extension is on the lower end of that range and the increase is so small that it’s not worth the semi-starvation:

“There is no current evidence that lifelong caloric restriction leads to increased lifespan in primates. It’s certainly tantalizing that things like blood pressure or heart rate look as though they are a lot healthier and I believe they are. Whether or not this translates to a significantly increased lifespan, I don’t know. I predict that it doesn’t.”

I don’t quibble qualitatively with their results. Yes, it will increase lifespan, but it will not increase it by 50% or 60%, it won’t increase it by 20% or 10%, it might increase it by 2%. So if you tell me that I have to do something horrible for every day of my life for a 2% benefit - for an extra year of life - I say no thanks.”

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by EricT

Mindful Eating: Get Out of Autopilot

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 23:54:19 +0000

By Michelle May, M.D.

Have you ever finished a candy bar and wished you had just one more bite? Are you surprised when your hand hits the bottom of the popcorn bucket at the movies? Do you ever feel completely stuffed and miserable after you eat?

These are all symptoms of unconscious or mindless eating.

Many people eat while they watch TV, drive, work—even while talking on the telephone. And many people eat too fast, so busy filling the next forkful that they don’t notice the bite in their mouth. Since your brain can only really focus on one thing at a time, you’ll miss the subtle signs of fullness so you won’t stop until you feel uncomfortable or until you run out of food. Most importantly, you won’t enjoy your food as much so you have to eat more to feel satisfied.

Eating is a natural, healthy, and pleasurable activity when it’s done to satisfy hunger. The bottom line is that weight management is not just about what you eat. How you eat matters just as much.

Choosing to eat “mindfully,” in other words, giving food and eating your full attention, will allow you to have optimal satisfaction and enjoyment without eating to excess.

Mindful eating makes it possible for you to experience the difference between physical satisfaction and fullness. Mindful eating also allows you to feel more satisfied with smaller quantities of food. Learning to savor your food simply makes eating more pleasurable. Knowing what satisfies you and getting the most pleasure from your eating experiences are key factors for a lifetime of weight control.

Try the following strategies to help you identify your body’s signals and truly enjoy your food:

• Start by recognizing whether you’re hungry before you begin eating. If you aren’t hungry, you won’t be as interested so it will be harder to stay focused. Besides, if a craving doesn’t come from hunger, eating will never satisfy it.

• Don’t wait until you’re famished. One of the keys to conscious eating is to keep your body adequately fed to avoid becoming overly hungry which increases the chance that you’ll overeat.

• Next, decide how full you want to be when you’re finished eating. When you eat with the intention of feeling better when you’re done eating, you’re less likely to keep eating until the food is gone.

• Choose food that will satisfy both your body and your mind. Our society is so obsessed with eating right that we sometimes eat things we don’t even like. However, satisfaction comes not just from fullness but from enjoying the taste of your food—without guilt. Feeling guilty about eating certain foods actually causes more overeating, not less.

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• Set the table in a pleasant manner. Creating a pleasant ambience adds to the enjoyment of eating and to your level of satisfaction. Besides, you deserve it.

• Eat without distractions. If you eat while you’re distracted by watching television, driving, or talking on the telephone, you won’t be giving your food or your body’s signals your full attention. As a result, you may feel full but not satisfied.

• Eat when you’re sitting down. Choose one or two particular areas at home and at work that are only used for eating and eat only there. For example, do not eat while standing over the sink, peering into the refrigerator or sitting in bed.

• Appreciate the occasion. Appreciate the atmosphere, the company, or simply the fact that you’re giving yourself the opportunity to sit down and enjoy your meal.

• Take a few breaths and center yourself before you begin eating. This will help you slow down and give eating your full attention.

• Appreciate the aroma and the appearance of your food. Notice the colors, textures, and smells of the food and imagine what it will taste like.

• Decide which food looks the most appetizing and start eating that food first. If you save the best until last, you may want to eat it even if you are full.

• Savor the aromas and tastes of your food as you eat it. Put your fork down between bites and be conscious of all the different sensations you are experiencing.

• If you notice that you’re not enjoying what you chose, choose something else if possible. Eating food you don’t enjoy will leave you feeling dissatisfied.

• Pause in the middle of eating for at least two full minutes. Estimate how much more food it will take to fill you to comfortable satiety.

• Push your plate forward or get up from the table as soon as you feel satisfied. The desire to keep eating will pass quickly. Keep in mind that you’ll eat again when you’re hungry.

• Notice how you feel when you’re finished eating. If you overate, don’t punish yourself. Instead, be aware of the physical and/or emotional discomfort that often accompanies being overly full and create a plan to decrease the likelihood that you’ll overeat next time.

Once you’ve experienced the increased pleasure from eating mindfully, you may be motivated to become more mindful during other activities too. Living “in the moment” and becoming more aware can increase your enjoyment and effectiveness in everything you do.

Michelle May, M.D. is a recovered yoyo dieter and the award-winning author of Am I Hungry? Download a copy of 101 Things to Do Besides Eat at www.AmIHungry.com

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by EricT

Paint by Numbers or Masterpiece: Restrictive Versus Healthy Eating

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:20:24 +0000

By Michelle May, M.D.

There is a harmful idea virus that has become so widespread, so ubiquitous, that it is accepted as normal. It has subtly integrated itself into our beliefs, our thoughts, our language, our behavior and our reality. It’s so pervasive that it has become “conventional wisdom” and almost no one questions it.

So What Is This Idea Virus?

It is the belief that restrictive eating is healthy eating. It usually starts with information about nutrition or weight management that mutates into rules and restriction. But the blurring of the line between healthy eating and restrictive eating is the difference between a work of art and paint-by-number. Either way, you end up with a nice picture—until you get up close to take a look.

Healthy Eating	Restrictive Eating
In Charge	In Control
Nourishment	Diet
Fuel	Calories
Quality	Points
Healthy	Skinny
Aware	Preoccupied
Concious	Consumed
Mindful	Vigilant
Information	Dogma
Guide	Rules
All food fit	Good or Bad
Balance	Perfection
Variety	Temptation
Moderation	Deprivation
Choosing	Earning
Deciding	Rationalizing
Flexible	Rigid
Hunger Based	By the clock
Comfort	Portion Sizes
Physical Activity	Penance
Effortless	Willpower
Trust	Fear
Learning	Failing
Self-Acceptance	Condemnation
Enjoyment	Guilt
Pleasure	Shame
Freedom	Bondage

The main reason that this virus is so powerful is that it has a built-in protective mechanism: the underlying belief that people who are overweight are incapable of handling freedom or choice. This belief ensures the survival of the virus because when you try to restrict yourself (or others) it actually leads to more cravings for the foods you’ve labeled “bad.” When you finally “give in,” you’re more likely to overeat, proving that you are incapable of handling freedom or choice leading to more restriction.

One of the reasons that this idea virus is so successful at replicating itself is that it initially appears to be beneficial to its host so many people will intentionally seek out. For many people that promote health, wellness and weight loss, “lifestyle change” and “healthy eating” have become euphemisms for “you’re going to be on this diet for the rest of your life.” The virus is so subtle and so ingrained that they usually don’t even realize that restriction is at the core of their message.

How is this Idea Virus Spread?
You are most prone to this virus if you’re overweight (or think you are). Everybody else that has the virus tries to give it to you in an effort to help you (or sell you something). It takes the form of rational suggestions, loving advice and even harsh criticism.

The idea virus spreads vertically through advertising, television, magazines, books, the Internet and medical research. It is propagated by marketers, models, celebrities, reporters, experts, bloggers, researchers and legislators. It then spreads horizontally from doctor to patient, dietitian to client, friend to friend, wife to husband and parent to child. This virus is also swiftly moving from the United States to the rest of the world.

How to Cure This Virus
Take a close look at the “picture of health” you’re painting. Is it constrained by rigid lines and someone else’s choice of colors? Or does it express your individuality, your preferences and your lifestyle? Choose now how you want to create your work of art. Here are some specific steps to rid yourself of the “restrictive eating is healthy eating” virus.

1. Diagnose the virus. Filter everything you read, hear and say by asking, “Is this restrictive in nature?” (You might be surprised when you start to notice just how pervasive it really is!)
2. Begin to monitor your little voice. (This virus is sneaky so it may be helpful to journal so you capture the real essence of your beliefs, thoughts, feelings and choices.) When you notice restrictive eating thoughts from the second column above, gently replace them with true healthy eating thoughts from the first column.
3. The virus may have you convinced that you are incapable of managing your weight without rigid rules. Find role models, health care providers and non-diet approaches that don’t propagate the virus. With time, support and new tools you can do it!
4. Use nutrition information as a tool not a weapon. Remember, all foods fit into a healthy diet.
5. Make the healthiest choice you can without feeling deprived. All foods fit using balance, variety and moderation.
6. Let go of the belief that you need to eat perfectly – that is the virus talking. Accept that you’ll sometimes regret certain choices you make – that is part of healthy eating. When you don’t get caught up in guilt and shame, you’re able to learn from your experiences.
7. Repeat this often: “It’s just food and I can learn to trust and nourish myself without restriction.”
8. Discover joy in creating your own masterpiece!

Michelle May, M.D. is a recovered yoyo dieter and the award-winning author of Am I Hungry? What to Do When Diets Don’t Work. Find additional articles and resources at www.AmIHungry.com.

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by EricT

You Have To Eat Breakfast

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:00:24 +0000

Weight Managemenet Myth or Fact?

By Michelle May, M.D.

In our information-driven society we receive a constant stream of news reports, research and expert advice telling us what to do. Don’t get me wrong. Smart choices based on a solid foundation are important. But to make long term lifestyle changes, it’s essential that you THINK about how information applies to you.

Think about this common rule:

You HAVE to Eat Breakfast

Complete this sentence: Breakfast is _.

I’ll bet you said “…the most important meal of the day” right? This piece of wisdom is supported by numerous studies that have shown that people who eat breakfast:

• Function better (and in the case of children, perform better in school)
• Are less likely to overeat later in the day
• Weigh less than breakfast skippers

You might think, “What’s the big deal? I only skipped ONE meal!” Well, if you ate dinner at 6:00 pm, skipped breakfast and ate lunch at 12:00, you have gone 18 hours without eating.

That IS a big deal because that first meal after sleeping literally breaks your fast and prevents you from being too hungry to make mindful decisions later. In addition, eating breakfast reassures your metabolism that there’s a reliable fuel supply so it doesn’t need to slow down and conserve energy.

Maybe you’re thinking, “But when I eat breakfast, I’m hungry all day.” Of course! When you kick start your metabolism with breakfast, your body will freely use the fuel then ask for more. The kind of fuel and the amount you eat will determine how often you get hungry.

So what’s the myth? When I speak at any conference about the non-diet approach and hunger-based weight management, someone always asks, “So if a person isn’t hungry for breakfast, they don’t have to eat it, right?”

Right. But why aren’t they hungry? They have to answer that question first to figure out how breakfast might help them with their health and weight management goals.

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The Chicken or the Egg

The association between lower body weight and eating breakfast might be a case of which came first. People who skip breakfast generally weigh more—but perhaps it’s because they overeat in the evening due to triggers like TV, boredom, habits or stress—so they don’t feel hungry when they first wake up.

Some people even get up and eat at night so there is no “fast” to break. Is breakfast important for them—or is it more important to address why they’re eating at night?

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

In other cases, people who struggle with their weight skip breakfast because they’re aftraid that once they start eating, they won’t be able to stop. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When they do finally eat, they’re overly hungry so they feel out of control. That can lead to guilt and even more eating the rest of the day and into the evening. They go to bed determined they will “be good” tomorrow but wake up and repeat the cycle all over again.

If this sounds familiar, become aware of your overall eating pattern and remember to ask the question, “Am I hungry?” before you eat. Learning other ways to cope with head hunger, like finding something else to do besides eat in front of the TV at night, will allow you to feel hungry in the morning for breakfast. With practice you can break the cycle of skipping breakfast then overeating the rest of the day.

The Morning After

Even people who eat instinctively will sometimes have a heavy evening meal, for example, at a favorite restaurant for a special occasion. When they do, they’re usually not as hungry the next morning. Skipping breakfast on occasion won’t harm your metabolism and it allows you to intuitively balance your intake over the course of 24 hours or so.

Not a Morning Person

For some people it takes a little while for their body to wake up and give them the “eat” signal. That’s ok. You don’t have to eat within minutes of your feet hitting the floor. Just check in with yourself again in an hour or so to see if you’re noticing hunger. Be prepared with a light breakfast as you retrain yourself to eat in the morning. Soon you’ll have a healthy new habit.

Rush Hour

Maybe you feel too stressed in the morning to eat breakfast. So instead you slam a couple of cups of coffee while you’re getting ready, rush around to get the kids to school, then race off to work and stress out in a traffic jam. All that caffeine and adrenaline might mask your hunger but skipping breakfast will make you even more irritable and less productive.

The obvious solution is to give yourself a little extra time in the morning to eat. Alternatively, have quick, healthy items on hand like a scrambled egg wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla or a baggie of low fat granola, almonds and dried cranberries to munch on.

Wake Up Call

Some people eat breakfast but choose foods that are high in saturated fat, sugar, refined carbohydrates and calories but low in nutrition—donuts, Danishes and drive-throughs fall into this category. Some people eat more than they really need, like a large bagel or a stack of pancakes, then feel sluggish afterward.

Some people don’t eat breakfast—they drink it instead. A fancy coffee drink usually has very few nutrients but loads of empty calories.

Fact: Breakfast kick starts your metabolism and your day. But it’s also a convenient time to eat nutrient dense foods like bran cereal, low fat or skim milk, whole grain toast, peanut butter, hard boiled eggs, yogurt or fresh fruit.

So is breakfast the most important meal of the day? Now that’s food for thought!

Michelle May, M.D. is a recovered yoyo dieter and the award-winning author of Am I Hungry? What to Do When Diets Don’t Work. Find additional articles and resources at www.AmIHungry.com.

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by EricT

The One Fat You Should Be Eating In Your Diet

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:02:35 +0000

By:Tollie Schmidt

One of the most common diet mistakes made is passing on full-fat vinaigrette in favor of fat-free salad dressing. Fat helps your body absorb the nutrients from lettuce and other vegetables and also improves satiety (which means having a salad for lunch really will keep you full until dinner). But you'll do your body the biggest favor if you opt for a dressing made with olive oil. Yes, it's high in calories and fat (120 calories and 14 grams of fat per tablespoon), but studies found it protects against heart disease. And no one is saying you should pour with abandon. Drizzling on salads, steamed vegetables, pasta, and even meats-is the appropriate method. Here's a quick lesson on which olive oil to choose and how to work it into your diet without packing on the pounds.

Opt for extra virgin this is the best quality and most flavorful type of olive oil. It contains more polyphenols-antioxidents that help protect against heart disease and cancer-than other kinds of olive oil and other oils high in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, such as canola oil. A recent report in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that people whose diet included one to two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil a day showed a 1.74 mg/dl increase in their good (HDL) cholesterol levels. (Other studies show that every one-point rise in HDL reduces heart-disease risk by 2 to 3 percent.)

Experiment to find your favorite. As with wine, the flavor of olive oil depends on several factors-the areas where the olives are grown, the variety of the olive, and the stage of ripeness when the olives are picked. They can be fruity, peppery, or smooth and buttery. Try brands from a few different locations-Tuscany, Spain, Greece, California, France, and even Chile-to find the kind you prefer.

Buy small amounts. Those big cans do seem like a bargain, but olive oil can go rancid in a few months, even if it's properly stored. Olive oil has three enemies: heat, light, and oxygen. Choose a brand that comes in a dark bottle or a can, and store it in a cool, dry place.

Limit your intake: Research shows that one-tablespoon a day is enough to improve your health. Use olive oil in place of other fats, like butter or mayonnaise, and try it in recipes where it plays a starring role.

Decoding the name game: Cold pressed: means no heat is used to extract the oil from the olives; heat breaks down the flavor. Extra virgin, has the most antioxidants and a low acidity level. Fino, is a blend of extra-virgin and virgin oils. Light, refers to flavor, not calories or fat. Unfiltered, contains small particles of olives. Virgin has a slightly higher acidity level than extra virgin.

Yes, there is such a thing as good and healthy fats. Fats are very important for your body, skin, and heart. Olive oil is a great source of heart healthy fat fighting nutrients for your body.

About the Author:
Tollie Schmidt lived his life as the fat kid. His weight reached over 500 pounds. Losing over 300 pounds of fat, Tollie struggled with bulimia and became a personal trainer. Today, Tollie's a highly sought after International Speaker, Author, Producer and Dreamer. Today our Youth have a voice for change. (Empowering Greatness for a Dream-Infused Life).
Tollie's Personal Site

Article Source: www.ContentSyndication.org

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by EricT

Characteristic		Characteristic	N (%)
Age Range Mean	16-72 47	Gender Female	63 (83%)
Marital Status Single Married Divorced Widowed	27 (36%) 31 (41%) 12 (16%) 6 (8%)	Education At least completed High School	34 (45%)
Geographical Location Rural	28 (37%)	Employment Status Unemployed	39 (51%)
Weight (kgs)# Range Mean	72 – 225 119	BMI# Range Mean	30-72.1 42.5
Obesity Classification# Obese Morbidly Obese	32 (42%) 43 (57%)	Ethnicity White Australian English Greek Italian Lebanese Irish	61 (80%) 4 (5%) 3 (4%) 3 (4%) 3 (4%) 2 (3%)

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