Congratulations
on taking this first step towards losing weight. Like any worthy goal, losing weight
requires discipline and effort, but the rewards are beyond measure. You will feel more
alive, more vibrant -- with greater energy and vitality to do what you love and achieve
what your heart desires.
I firmly believe that when we
treat our body as a gift from God that we are privileged to help build and maintain, we
not only benefit physically, but also experience an untold level of mental calm and
spiritual well-being. Though I often speak of the importance of healthy attitudes and
beliefs in influencing our physical health, I sometimes understate the powerful influence
of physical strength and vitality on our emotional well-being. When we honor our body
through healthy eating and vigorous exercise, we can achieve a truly remarkable level of
emotional and spiritual growth.
I wish you all the best in
your efforts and may God bless you with the strength, vitality and physical health
necessary to make all your dreams come true.
1.
Eat only when youre hungry.
Ask yourself before every
bite, "Am I really hungry, or am I tired, frustrated, angry, sad, etc.?" If
youre tired, take a nap, dont eat. If youre angry, process your anger by
talking about it or hitting a pillow, but dont eat. If youre frustrated, deal
with your frustration without eating. If youre sad, call a friend from comfort,
dont eat food for comfort.
If you know youre not
hungry, but you still want to eat, then make a commitment to break the pattern
of unconscious eating or comfort eating by doing 15 pushups, sit-ups, squats or
jumping jacks before you eat. Then if you are still hungry, eat. Breaking a pattern
can be incredibly powerful. Try it. Next time you think you are hungry and reflexly reach
for something to eat, get down and do 15 quick pushups or 15 sit-ups or both. You may be
surprised to find that you are no longer as hungry as you thought you were. Make a
commitment to try this for one week. Lasting change always begins first in consciousness.
2.
If youre serious about losing weight, exercise for 60 minutes at
least 4 to 5 times a week.
The first 30 minutes of exercise
only burn up your bodys glycogen stores. Glycogen is a form of sugar that is stored
in your muscles and liver. Most people are thrilled that they have exercised 30 minutes,
but you have not even begun to burn off fat stores. Thirty minutes is fine for aerobic
conditioning and cardiovascular health, but it will not burn fat and in most cases, will
not lead to significant weight loss.
Between
30 and 45 minutes of exercise, your body transitions from burning glycogen to burning fat.
Then, from 45 to 60 minutes, your body is burning pure fat stores. This is when your body
really burns off the fat, resulting in the greatest weight loss. Many patients complain
that they exercise 30 to 45 minutes and still cant lose any weight. Now you know
why. The most important 15 minutes of exercise comes during the 45 to 60 minute time
period.
I like to tell
my patients that theres this great exercise room where if they only exercise 15
minutes five times a week, they will burn off lots of fat. The bad news is you have to
walk 45 minutes to get there! The good news is you dont have to walk back!
You do not need
to exercise at full intensity the first 45 minutes. In fact, it is best to exercise
moderately (at about 60% to 70% of your maximum heart rate). At this rate, you should be
able to carry on a conversation with someone without huffing and puffing. Then increase
your intensity for the last 15 minutes of the hours exercise.
You can calculate
your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. For example, if you are 40
years old, your maximum heart rate is 220 40 = 180. So a moderate rate of 60 % of
maximum would be 60% times 180 = 108 beats per minute. If you are 60 years old, 60% max
heart rate would be: 60% times (220 - 60) which is 60% times 160 = 96 beats per minute.
Dont worry about exact calculations, these are rough estimates. The important thing
is that at a moderate intensity (60 to 70% max heart rate) you should be able to exercise
and comfortably carry on a conversation. If you cant converse, decrease your
intensity a bit.
Patients often
ask, "Do I need to exercise all 60 minutes at one time, or can I break it up into
smaller sessions?" You can break it up into two 30-minute sessions, but you cannot
eat any food in between sessions. Drinking water is okay, but no juices. You could get up
and take the dog for a 30 minute walk, then sit down and read the paper or do some chores
and then hop on the treadmill for another 30 minutes, but you cannot eat any calories in
between those 30 minute segments. Only drink water.
Once you have
achieved your desired weight loss, you do not need to exercise 60 minutes to maintain.
Then you can cut back to 30 or 45 minutes 3 to 4 times a week.
3.
Lift weights at least 3 times a week.
You do not
have to become a muscle man or a body-builder, but lifting light weights for 20 to 30
minutes 3 times a week will improve your muscle tone, increase your muscle mass, increase
your metabolic rate and improve your sense of well-being. The best way to increase your
metabolic rate is to increase your muscle mass. Lifting weights increases your muscle
mass.
Aerobic
exercise is great for building a healthy heart, but it will not increase your metabolism
significantly. Start a weight training regimen for building muscle mass. When you increase
your muscle mass, you increase your metabolism, which means your body burns more calories
even when you are not exercising, resulting in greater weight loss. This is called
"after-burn." Aerobic exercise does not dramatically increase
"after-burn," that is, it only burns calories while you are exercising, but does
not increase your bodys burning of calories after you stop exercising.
A great book to help you get
started is The 12 Minute Total Workout by Joyce Vedral Ph.D. Using just light
hand weights and home furnishings, you can develop an effective plan for building muscle.
4.
Calculate your ideal body weight (IBW) by the following formula:
If you are a
man, you get 106 pounds for the first 5 feet in height and 6 pounds for each inch over 5
feet. So a man 5 10" tall should have an ideal body weight (IBW) of 106 + (6
times 10") = 106 + 60 = 166 pounds. Now you can adjust plus or minus 10% depending on
body frame, i.e. if you have a small frame decrease by 10% i.e. your IBW is 166- 16 = 150;
if you have a large frame, increase by 10%, so your IBW is 166 + 16 = 182.
If you are a woman, you get
100 pounds for the first 5 feet and 5 pounds for each inch above 5 feet. So a woman who is
average frame and 54" tall would have an IBW of 100 + (5 times 5) = 100 + 25 =
125 pounds.
The above formula gives you
your ideal body weight. Sometimes, as we get older, that weight is really unachievable for
many reasons, and it is perfectly okay to have a goal weight that is higher than
your ideal body weight. Calculate your goal weight based on the weight at which you feel
most comfortable and happy with the way you feel, look and fit into your clothes. The goal
is not to become anorexically thin like Madison Avenue represents to us in million dollar
ads and TV shows. This is not healthy. The goal is to be strong physically, to honor our
body as the beautiful gift that it is -- allowing us to achieve our goals and carry out
our responsibilities in life. One rule of thumb is that if your goal weight is more than
20 pounds above your ideal body weight, be careful you arent being an underachiever.
5.
Aim for losing 1 to 2 pounds a week.
Dont be a weekend warrior. The
best way to lose weight is to develop a long-term commitment to losing 1 to 2 pounds a
week. Progress, not perfection is the key goal. Trying too hard, too fast and having
unrealistic expectations only leads to frustration and failure. 1 to 2 pounds of weight
loss per week is ideal.
6.
Here is a quick lesson on calories.
One pound
of fat has about 3500 calories in it. That is, to lose one pound of fat, you need to
decrease your calorie intake by 3500 calories. So if you want to lose one pound a week,
you need to eat 3500 fewer calories that week, or 500 fewer calories each day for seven
days.
Your basal metabolic rate
(BMR) is the number of calories your body burns in 24 hours, assuming you are
completely at rest, i.e. totally inactive. Your BMR can be calculated by multiplying your
body weight (in pounds) by 10. So if you weigh 120 pounds, your basal metabolic rate (BMR)
is about 1200 calories a day (i.e. 120 times 10).
So, if you weigh 120 pounds
(i.e. your BMR is 1200 calories a day), but your ideal body weight (IBW) is 110 pounds,
then you need to lose 10 pounds. If you do no exercise and continue to eat 1200 calories a
day, you will maintain your present weight. Remember thats what BMR is, the number
of calories your body needs to maintain its present weight. So a BMR of 1200 means
you get to eat 1200 calories a day to maintain your present weight. If you want to lose
weight, you need to eat fewer than 1200 calories a day. If you want to lose 1 pound a
week, you need to eat 3500 fewer calories that week, that is, 500 fewer calories a day. So
to lose 1 pound a week, instead of eating 1200 calories a day, you can only eat 700
calories a day (1200 500 = 700). If you remain inactive, and only eat 700 calories
a day, you will lose 1 pound a week
By exercising, you
increase your total daily caloric burn, that is the number of calories you burn each
day. This allows you to add a "fudge-factor" to your basal metabolic rate (BMR)
in the following way. If you are mildly active (walk a little at work, go up and down the
stairs 5 to 10 times a day, or do light work around the house): add 15% to your BMR. If
you are moderately active (walk at least 30 to 45 minutes total throughout the course of
the day, lift light objects and go up and down the stairs a good bit): add 30%. If you are
extremely active (in a formal exercise program with 45 to 60 minutes of dedicated exercise
4 to 5 days a week, in addition to whatever walking around, up and down stairs, etc. that
you do all day): add 50%.
You can see how increasing
your activity increases your caloric burn by adding to your BMR, allowing you to eat
more and still lose weight. Lets go back to the example of our 120-pound individual
with a BMR of 1200 calories a day. If our patient is mildly active, the total daily
caloric burn increases from 1200 calories a day to 1380 calories a day. So to lose a pound
a week, we now subtract 500 calories from 1380 calories for a result of 880 calories per
day! Thats better than 700 calories a day! If our patient is moderately active, the
total daily caloric burn increases to 1200 + (30% times 1200) = 1200 + 360 = 1560 calories
a day. Now, to lose a pound a week, we subtract 500 calories from 1560 calories for a
result of 1060 calories a day! So now, by increasing our activity alone, we can eat 1060
calories a day and still lose a pound a week. If we increase our activity level to
extremely active, our total daily caloric burn increases to 1200 + (50% times 1200) = 1200
+ 600 = 1800 calories a day. Now, to lose a pound a week, we subtract 500 calories from
1800 for a result of 1300 calories a day. Fantastic, eh! Just by increasing our activity, we
can now eat 100 more calories per day and still lose 1 pound a week.
7.
Be careful about cutting your calorie intake too low.
No one should eat less than 1000
calories a day without supervision. The body shuts down when the caloric intake is too
low. When caloric intake is below 1000 calories a day, your body goes into
"starvation mode" and tries to preserve all its bodily energy stores and
your BMR decreases significantly, impeding weight loss. So be careful!
The most
effective way to lose weight is to moderately decrease your caloric intake, while
dramatically increasing your exercise and activity level.
8.
Consider lowering your carbohydrate intake as a short-term aid for weight loss.
If you frequently crave
carbohydrates (sweets, desserts, white bread, pasta, potatoes, white rice, crackers,
cereal, etc.), then you may want to try a low carbohydrate diet. The short
explanation of why this helps is that high carbohydrate meals result in the oversecretion
of insulin by the pancreas. When blood insulin levels are high, the body is
"fooled" into believing there is an excess of energy around and it goes into
"fat-storage" mode. This causes the body to hold onto fat stores even when you
are restricting your caloric intake and should be losing weight.
The best way
to avoid high insulin levels in the blood (hypersinsulinemia) is to minimize the
consumption of simple sugars and carbohydrates. If you frequently snack on carbohydrates
like candy, cookies, breads, pastas, or fruit (especially if you "graze" all day
long), your insulin levels remain elevated in the blood. This prompts the body to hold on
to fat stores.
The good news is that
proteins and fatty foods do not dramatically increase your blood insulin levels. That is
why eating lean meat, low fat cheese, nuts, eggs, peanut butter and the like, in
moderation, will fill you up, without elevating your blood insulin levels. You still have
to be mindful of your total caloric intake, but in moderation, lean meat, fish and chicken
are excellent low fat sources of protein that will not dramatically increase your insulin
levels and will not cause your body to go into fat storage mode.
One very simple way to follow
a healthy low-carbohydrate plan is by limiting your carbohydrate intake to one meal a day.
This is discussed in detail in the excellent book, The Carbohydrate Addicts Diet by
Heller. Put simply, their plan says to choose one meal a day when you will eat all your
carbohydrates. At that meal, you can also eat protein and low-fat foods, but you must
complete your meal within a 60 minute time period. At all other meals, avoid any
carbohydrates at all, by eating lean meat, fish or chicken along with a salad, but skip
any bread, pasta, white rice, cereals, fruits and desserts. On this plan, it is critical
that you dont eat in between meals. This will eliminate the problems created by
carbohydrate craving.
A few other popular high
protein, low carbohydrate diets are The Zone Diet
by
Barry Sears, Dr.
Atkins New Diet Revolution by Robert C. Atkins, M.D. and Sugar Busters. I
dont recommend these diets long term, but they can be a useful aid in initiating
weight loss and decreasing cravings. Dont stay on any one of them longer than 2 to 3
months without advice from your doctor.
One simple low
carbohydrate diet that may be effective is circulating as the "New
Mayo Clinic" diet, although I am not at all certain that this is
actually from the Mayo Clinic. There have been other presumed Mayo Clinic
diets that the Mayo Clinic denies having any connection with. However, this
particular plan has been helpful to some of my patients and it may be okay in
the short term (less than 2 to 3 months) for you, UNLESS you are on
cholesterol lowering medicine or have heart disease. I have modified the
information I received to what makes scientific sense:
Breakfast: 1/2
grapefruit or 8 oz. grapefruit juice (Be careful if you are on Red Yeast Rice,
perhaps stop the Red Yeast Rice till you are off the extra amounts of
grapefruit juice); 2 eggs (any style); 2 slices of bacon
Lunch: 1/2
grapefruit or 8 oz. of grapefruit juice (unsweetened); Salad, any dressing,
any amount; Meat, any style, any amount. (But aim for low fat meats)
Dinner: 1/2
grapefruit or 8 oz. of grapefruit juice (unsweetened); Meat, any style, any
amount (fish may be substituted); Vegetable, any green or red (cooked in
butter or any seasoning)
Bedtime Snack:
Glass of tomato juice or skim milk
INSTRUCTIONS (For the
New Mayo Clinic Diet)
1) At any meal, you may
eat until you are full, until you cannot eat anymore.
2) Don't skip bacon at
breakfast or omit salads, it is the combination of foods that burn fat. (I've
never seen any scientific evidence for this, but it's okay to try it)
3) The grapefruit is
important because it acts as a catalyst that starts the burning process.
(Grapefruit juice does activate some of the liver enzymes that help the body's
metabolism.)
4) Cut down on coffee,
it affects the insulin balance that hinders the burning process. Try to limit
to 1 cup at mealtime (3 cups a day) (I'm not sure of the scientific evidence
for the effect of caffeine on the insulin release in the body, but cutting
down on caffeine is a good idea anyway.)
5) Don't eat between
meals, if you eat the combination of foods suggested you will not get hungry.
6) Note: the diet
completely eliminates sugars and starches. You can use butter on your
vegetables.
7) Do not eat desserts,
breads, white vegetables or sweet potatoes. You may double or triple helpings
of meat, salad, or vegetables. Eat until you are satisfied.
8) You may lose up to 10
pounds in 10 days; there will be no loss for the first four days. After that,
aim for weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week.
9) All soft drinks need
to be diet and caffeine free.
10) You may not have:
white onions, potatoes or celery. You may have: red onions, broccoli, lettuce,
tomatoes, bell pepper, green onions, cabbage, radishes, spinach leaf and
carrots.
Stay on the diet for 12
days and then stop for 2 days.
9.
Always drink plenty of water, especially when losing weight.
Your body stores many toxins in fat
cells and when you lose weight, your fat stores are metabolized and these toxins are
released into your body. Drinking plenty of water safely flushes out these toxins. Drink
enough water so that your urine is almost always clear like water.
10. Take a
good multivitamin.
When losing
weight, you should always take a good multivitamin for building healthy new cells, keeping
your immune system strong and detoxifying the toxins released from the breakdown of fat
cells. My favorite vitamins are Twin Labs Daily One Caps or NOW Special Two Tablets (not
capsules). You can get these at most health food stores, like Mothers Market or
Apple-A-Day. GNC also makes a great vitamin called Ultra Mega Gold. These vitamins are far
superior to Centrum or One-A-Day and offer your body much more protection for a minimal
increase in cost.
11. In
general, avoid most weight loss supplements.
They tend to
include stimulants that are unhealthy and can create problems with heart palpitations or
blood pressure. Always check with your doctor before using any supplements. If you do
decide to use them, limit their use to 2 or 3 months maximum.
Three
supplements that have some benefit in weight loss and are very safe are chromium
picolinate, L-carnitine and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). You can take up to 800 micrograms of chromium daily. I would
recommend dividing it into two doses, 400 micrograms in the morning and 400 micrograms in
the evening. If you are diabetic, do not take chromium without checking with your doctor
first. It can lower your blood sugar, potentially causing hypoglycemia. L-carnitine
should be taken in a dosage of 500 milligrams once a day. The data on
conjugated linoleic acids are relatively new, so check the dosage at the
health food store.
12. Monitor
what you eat by keeping a food journal.
Years of
research in effective methods for changing behaviors show that the simple act of
monitoring what you eat (by writing it down in a journal) results in eating healthier,
eating less and losing weight. I know it sounds too simple to be true, but it is. Just
reap the benefits of it by purchasing a pocket size notebook to record every little thing
you eat, as you eat it. I promise you it will make your weight loss efforts more
productive and yield powerful results. Commit to keeping a food journal.
Reward
your efforts, celebrate your success!
Every single meal that
you choose wisely, every day you exercise well, every time you do a set of curls should be
a cause for celebration. Part of being successful at achieving any new goal is to fully
celebrate the victories. We all tend to focus on what we dont have, the clothes we
dont yet fit into, what we wish we looked like. Change your focus to an appreciation
of the positive steps you are taking towards your goal. We all have ups, downs and
diversions on our path toward greater health. Reward your efforts by doing something you
really enjoy (other than eating!) like buying a new CD, taking a warm bath or whirlpool or
getting a massage. Celebrate your new body as it is changing into the body you want it to
become. Dont wait until you reach your end goal to celebrate. Honor your movement
towards your goal. There is reward in the effort. God bless.
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