I have been writing/editing/mulling over this "doc" for the last six months. I thought now might be the time to share it since many of us are reflecting on 2016 and making plans for 2017. I hope it's not too long for a message board post. Please provide feedback, I am open to new ideas and continued learning. I've already changed my mind on several things and try to keep it open to new ideas.
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The “ABC hypothesis” of losing weight and keeping it off
I am often asked how I went from 210 pounds in 2007 to “about” 160 pounds in 2016, how I lost the weight and how I keep it off. Here are the “quick and dirty” details that can get you started in the right direction.
The “ABC Hypothesis”
A- Most of us eat a diet that isn’t intentional. We eat too much sugar, simple carbs, processed foods, fast food and we drink too many sodas, juice, and alcohol while not eating enough fats, vegetables, and whole foods. This is “DIET A”. We avoid fat like it’s the plague and eat rice cakes, thinking this is healthy.
B- Once we get tired of being overweight and uncomfortable, we clean up our eating, we become intentional, we count calories, reduce junk food and alcohol and low and behold, we lose weight. This is “DIET B”. The problem is that after we drop the weight, we often revert back to “DIET A”, and the weight comes back. Instead, we need to develop a maintenance protocol that keeps us at our desired weight range (TIP: Use a weight range instead of one single number, set a goal of 180-188 pounds rather than “I have to weigh 185!”).
C- The protocol that keeps us in our desired range is “DIET C”. This is the way you HAVE to eat FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, with some modifications. For example, once you reach your weight range goal, you may have to eat a little more or less depending on your activity level (the more active you are, the more nutrition input you need to support that level of activity) or your age (we may need fewer calories as we age, depending on multiple factors). This is the challenge, finding what works long term and sticking to it, what is your “DIET C”?
Here are some tips that might help you develop your “DIET B and C”:
1. Weight loss and maintenance is NOT about exercise, it is 90 percent diet. You can’t outrun your ability to put food in your mouth! Exercise is great, the health benefits are many, but in my experience and opinion, it is not the best mechanism for weight loss!
2. A good diet should support your level of activity and exercise. Put another way, exercise is a celebration of what you can do, not punishment for what/how you eat.
3. Remove as much sugar as you can from your diet. If you don’t do anything else, do this one thing and you WILL lose weight. Read food labels, manufactures cram sugar into EVERYTHING. When comparing two similar items, pick the one with the least sugar whenever possible (even much of the “low carb” food that is out there is full of junk, read labels carefully, I’m looking at you “Atkins” crap food in a bar!).
4. Remove simple/white carbohydrates from your diet. Keep carbs as low as you can to support exercise. For example, consider whole wheat/whole grain bread that has low/no sugar, and only eat it to support your exercise/level of activity. If you are going for a run later in the day or tomorrow morning, have a sandwich with bread. If you don’t have much going on exercise wise or it’s a lazy Sunday situation, skip the carbs and fill up on vegetables, proteins, fats, and low carb options like a low carb tortilla. For the more advanced, cut the carbs as low as possible, wheat bread has a higher glycemic response than table sugar and it’s genetic modifications might be causing more harm than we realize. I have a ½ loaf of “healthy” 12 grain wheat bread that has been sitting on top of the fridge for two weeks and it has not gone bad yet, that worries me! If you reduce carbs, you’ll reduce insulin response and you’ll lose the cravings for more carbs/sugars.
5. Reduce/remove processed foods from your diet whenever possible. Skip the bagged snacks and fake “food” (nuts/salads/whole foods that come in a bag are ok!). Processed food just can’t compete with whole foods. Pass up “veggie chips” and have a REAL salad instead. Skip the peanut butter crackers and have a spoonful of REAL peanut butter and some fresh veggies (TIP: check the amount of sugar in the PB!). Pass up the fast food breakfast sandwich or bagel, instead eat eggs, bacon, and avocado, you’ll stay full longer (TIP: fry those eggs in REAL butter, not the processed crap full of vegetable oils).
6. Fat is not the enemy, it will keep you satisfied and should be part of your diet!
7. Experiment with the way you eat. Remove the sugar, carbs, processed foods and add vegetables, proteins, and fats, and track your response, your energy level etc. Calories are not as important as the quality of the food you eat. No one gets fat eating salads, eggs, and beef/fish/chicken in moderation. (TIP: chicken thighs!) Take notes on what you ate, when you ate it, and how you feel. Adjust, try other things. Your body is a walking laboratory and what works for you might not work for others and vice versa so play with variables and find out what works for YOU.
8. Eat one to three meals a day and stop the snacking. You most likely do NOT need 5-6 small meals a day. There is an insulin response to eating and there IS a benefit to going periods of time without eating (too much background info to cover here!). For example, eating your last meal at 6PM and not eating again until 8AM the next day (and not snacking in between meals) gives the body a chance to carry out some biological processes that might help with overall health and longevity. Think about two things, number one, what is body fat and how can you “access” it? Number two, how did your grandparents or great grandparents eat? Were they afraid of starving to death if they didn’t eat six meals a day spaced out over the entire day?
9. Lastly, question everything! Who am I to say this stuff works? It may not work for you! Only you can determine if it will. Read books on health and nutrition, skip the blogs (many of them are filled with junk), and fad diets (grapefruit diet…. REALLY?). Experiment while questioning everything and everyone to develop YOUR protocol, your “DIET B and C” and you CAN change your life.
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Short background:
In 2003 I was a fit and trim 185 pound (5’11”), able to do 100 pushups without stopping and could easily run 5-6 miles. After several big changes to our lives: a move, a new command, I made a big mess at work, two deployments, new position with TONS of stress etc. my weight climbed to 210 pounds.
After transferring again in 2008, I checked into a new command and I had to get “taped” for physical readiness tests since I was out of height weight limits. I vowed to make changes and never get taped again. I started running and making diet changes but it took years to get the weight down (because SO MUCH of the “knowledge” is just so bad/wrong/designed to sell food, not help us). Also, I believed exercise would help me drop the pounds, it did not.
I did not see major weight changes until I changed my diet, for example, I was down to 1,800 calories a day and STILL not losing weight. It was not until I dropped coke zero that I actually lost my first 15 pounds (people asked if I was sick, I was dropping so quickly). I now know I should have never taken my calories that low due to the impact on metabolism (why do all the biggest losers contestants regain their weight? the same reason, calories are too low and in the wrong ratio… metabolism drops, it’s a vicious cycle).
I stabilized/plateaued for a time until I went low carb and dropped to around 190. After that, I changed commands again and did my best to maintain weight and survive a new/difficult job. I didn’t gain weight and actually continued to drop pounds, reaching a new plateau of 180, which I maintained for two years.
In Feb of 2016 I began researching why my energy levels were so erratic. I actually considered adding MORE carbs to my “clean diet”, at one point I thought I might need to eat the second I got out of bed to have enough energy for exercise (what I now know is that I was over-doing the exercise and consuming too many carbs, I was experiencing a blood sugar/insulin “roller coaster”). I decided to try another direction and started to play with intermittent fasting, dropping another 20 pounds in four months, reaching my current range of 158 to 165.
Today I continue to study nutrition, diet, and exercise. I utilize intermittent fasting, long term fasting, low calorie and ketogenic eating habits and still exercise often but I realize it’s always been the diet that made the difference. Exercise can make us feel good, help us look good, and improves many body metrics but it’s NOT the panacea the exercise industry wants us to think it is.
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Books I have read over the years that helped me formalize my ideas on diet and weight loss:
These are in no particular order and not “properly referenced”, I don’t expect letter grades on this.
ACSM Complete Guide to Fitness and Health
ACSM Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription
ACSM’s Resources for the Personal Trainer
Program Design for Personal Trainers by Douglas Brooks
Exercise Prescription by Swain and Leutholtz
Strength Training Anatomy by Delavler (LOVE THIS BOOK!)
Keto Clarity by Jimmy Moore and Eric Westman
The Obesity Code by Jason Fung
The Complete Guide to Fasting by Jason Fung and Jimmy Moore
The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by Volek and Phinney
Ketogenic Diets: Treatments for Epilepsy and Other Disorders by Kossof and Freeman
Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes
Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes
Sweet Poison by David Gillespie
Challenging Beliefs: Memoirs of a Career by Tim Noakes
Wheat Belly by William Davis
Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson
Fat Chance by Robert Lustiq
The Blue Zones Solution by Dan Buettner
A Year of No Sugar by Eve Schaub
Pure, White, and Deadly by John Yudkin
Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss
Sapiens, A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Harari
The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferris
The Fast Diet by Mosley and Spencer
In addition, I’ve read at least 30 studies on nutrition/exercise/fasting/glucose etc., listened to several audiobooks (loved the Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz) and watched at least 50 hours of videos on these subjects, Dr. Rhonda Patrick started most of this for me!).