Move more –bad food + good food = Dieting success

Let’s break down this equation into its component parts:

Move More – if you burn more calories than you currently do, you will lose weight, plain and simple.

If you don’t walk around the block, take a walk around the block

If you currently walk around the block then, add intervals of sprints

If you currently walk and do intervals then, weight train

If you currently walk, do intervals and weight train then, decrease the rest periods between sets

Do you see where this is going?  Take what you currently do and add more movement / decrease rest and you will burn more calories which will cause you to lose weight.

Get off the couch and move!!!

Subtract bad food – I am always fascinated when someone is given a diet and you see what is prescribed.  Eat these carbs but not these carbs, eat these fats but not these, avoid red meat and eat lean protein.  All of these may be sensible recommendations, but have you looked at what the person is currently doing?  If someone currently drinks a 4 cans of soda per day, why not move them down to 3 cans and then slowly reduce from there?  If someone eats a bowl of ice cream every night before bed, have them do it every other night and slowly reduce from there.  Dieting occurs in stages when it is successful and if you have someone who eats like crap and you try to get them to eat like a World Class Athlete, you will fail every time.  Let’s face it, we don’t like change.  Considering that fact, implementing MASSIVE change is not going to work.  Small changes do work and they add up to a big change over time.

He didn't get that way by eating spinach!!!

Add good food – if you ask any doctor worth their salt about diet, they will tell you to eat more fruits and vegetables, we have heard this forever and guess what?  IT IS CORRECT!  Increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables will increase the amount of vitamins and minerals you get which will help your body function better and more efficiently.  Also, fruits and vegetables contain fiber which helps jettison fat out of the body.  Unlike most processed foods, fruits and vegetables are NOT calorically dense and they are vitamin RICH so, they will fill you up without adding to your waistline.  I always love when someone with a crummy diet hears the words fruits and vegetables as if it is some horrific thing.  If I have the choice of a lollipop or a ripe peach, I will take the peach all day long.  All goodness aside, it tastes BETTER!!!

Eat good food that is natural not processed, like a peach

Don’t overcomplicate things, keep it simple!!!

I have noticed a recurring theme with women who want to lose weight.  Women will come to me asking about losing weight, body fat in particular, and the first question I ask is, “What do you eat?”  The typical response is, “I don’t eat that much so, I don’t understand why I don’t lose weight!”  If someone is morbidly obese because they eat thousands of calories per day then, they need to REDUCE the number of calories they consume in order to lose weight.  On the flip side, if someone is moderately overweight and they have drastically reduced their calories for a prolonged period of time, they actually need to INCREASE the amount of food they eat in order to lose weight.

You have to eat in order to lose weight!!!

In a normal example, these equations hold true:
If calories consumed < calories burned = lose weight
If calories consumed > calories burned = gain weight

The only problem with those equations is that our body tries to maintain homeostasis as a protective mechanism so, each situation depends on where you are right now.  Your body screws up the equation by changing the calories burned based on the calories consumed.  So, if the calories your body burns changes, you also need to change your calorie consumption to have any effect.

Body temperature is a great example of homeostasis

A great example of homeostasis at work is with body temperature.  Our body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you walk outside and it is very hot, you sweat which acts as a cooling mechanism so that your body temperature will remain at 98.6 degrees.  If you walk outside and it is very cold, you shiver which creates movement to make you warm which is also in an effort to keep your body temperature at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you are a little overweight and eat “barely anything” and you want to lose weight, here’s what to do:

1)      Multiply your current weight by 10 and that is the number of calories you will eat (For example, let’s say you are 200LBS, you would eat 2000 calories)

2)      Increase your protein intake, eat more vegetables and drink more water

3)      Weigh yourself then, consume the amount of calories for one week from step 1 (2000 cals) and re-weigh yourself.  If you weigh more or the same then, reduce your calories by 300 per day (i.e. eat 1700 cals per day instead of 2,000).  If you weigh less then, stay at that level of calories until you stop losing weight and start all over again

There you have it, simple yet effective!!!

Problem: Want to Lose Weight
Instant Gratification Solution:  Get Bariatric Surgery or Liposuction

Problem:  Want to Feel Great
Instant Gratification Solution:  Go to Doctor and ask about the numerous “options” (pills) you see advertised on TV.

Problem:  Want a new car or other material object
Instant Gratification Solution:  Put it on a Credit Card or get “no money down” financing.

"I can only afford a Hyundai, but this Lamborghini will make me feel important!!!"

As you can see, these “Solutions” are very typical, though they are not SUSTAINABLE and they are far from OPTIMAL, they are quick fixes.  Neither Bariatric Surgery nor Liposuction address how or why a person became obese.  It addresses the symptom (obesity) of a greater problem (overeating, addiction to refined carbs, etc.).  Not feeling great usually has more to do with dissatisfaction with one’s situation (job, spouse, home life, etc.) not a chemical imbalance.  Buying something that you can’t afford may feel good in the short-term, but saving up for something, and sacrificing other purchases in order to get it, is more gratifying and it is SUSTAINABLE.  Think of the things that you have saved up for in order to purchase.  Whether it was your first car, a bicycle or a baseball card, you always think fondly about what you did to get it and you treat it with care and pride. 

The vast majority of things we want to change in our lives did not get to their current state overnight (e.g. poor physical health, bad relationships, unsatisfying job, etc.) so, we cannot solve problems overnight if they took weeks, months or years to develop.  Quick fixes are not sustainable so, we need to figure out what we can change right now that is sustainable.  So, how do we achieve the body we desire?  The answer lies in 3 areas:  1) Diet, 2) Exercise and 3) Lifestyle.  For those of us who are visual learners, I think of this as a Triangle.  If you think of a Triangle, you need at least 2 sturdy sides for it to remain a Triangle, if 1 side is weak, it can remain a Triangle if the other 2 are strong, but if 2 or all sides are weak, the Triangle will break so, if your Diet is suspect then, you need to utilize Exercise and Lifestyle to make up for it and vice versa.  Most people that I come across are missing all 3 so, it is no wonder why they do not have the Body they Desire.  Let’s dig a little deeper…

1) DIET – cut out the fake food / eat clean

I love the standard diet recommendation…find out your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), make a goal to lose a pound a week.  There are 3500 calories in a pound so, subtract 500 calories from your daily RMR and there you have it, the number of calories you should consume per day to lose weight!  Make the macronutrients even so 1/3^rd carbs, 1/3^rd fat and 1/3^rd protein.  Sometimes, a dietician might “spice it up” and do 40% carbs, 30% fat and 30% protein.  Sorry, but I disagree. 

Let’s start with something very simple.  Most people don’t know what their macronutrient breakdown is on a daily basis, let alone the number of calories they consume and they certainly don’t know how many calories they are burning.  Regardless of whether you are dealing with the Average Joe or an Elite Athlete, removing the bad is as important as introducing the good.  Start out by eating clean foods and stay away from foods which are artificial and processed.  A simple recommendation I have is, “If it was never alive, don’t consume it.”  The further away from being alive something is, the worse it is for you.  If you look at a food label and you can’t pronounce the ingredients, let alone know what they are then, you are probably consuming something artificial.  Do you eat a doughnut every day for breakfast?  Do you drink soda with every meal?  Do you have a bowl of ice cream every night before bed?  Cut out something bad and THEN replace it with something good!  Going back to what is “Sustainable”, is an obese person going to sustain a diet of salads and vegetables when they are used to pizza and ice cream?  NO!!!  Ask them to cut out eating ice cream before bed and you will have more success.  Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is the Body you desire.

2) EXERCISE – Do SOMETHING

If you are overweight and you currently do NOTHING, I have a great recommendation: DO SOMETHING!!!  Go for a 30 minute walk each day, park further away from store entrances, take the stairs rather than the escalator / elevator.  In making these SIMPLE changes, you will expend more energy, burn calories and lose weight.  Once the simple changes are implemented and results are achieved then, we can talk about implementing a more standard exercise regimen consisting of Strength Training.  Going from doing nothing to a 3 or 4 day a week total body strength training routine is drastic and not sustainable.  Sure, that is the long-term goal, but you need to take it one step at a time.

3) LIFESTYLE – Get enough sleep, minimize alcohol consumption, stop smoking and minimize stress 

Sleep – Assuming the body you desire is not a fat one then, get your sleep!  In a recent study in the Pediatrics Journal, researchers at the University of Chicago found that obesity in children increases as needed sleep decreases⁽¹⁾.  But Kenny, I’m not a kid, I’m an adult!!!  Alright, calm down!!!  Research has also shown that if you get less than 5 hours of sleep, you are more likely to gain weight even if you eat less⁽²⁾.  The thought is that sleeping less alters your metabolism (slowing it down) which causes you to burn less calories.  Make sure you get solid restful sleep, keep the room dark and cool, make sure there is no noise and try to get 8 hours.

Brooklyn Decker gets 8 hours of sleep, no surprise there!

Drinking – Sorry folks, 12 ounce curls do not count as exercise!!!  Everyone knows that alcohol is not “good”, but what does it have to do with achieving the body we desire?  That answer lies in the impact that alcohol has on fat loss and it’s not pretty.  Alcohol gets metabolized by the body first, hence, while the liver is busy metabolizing alcohol, fat oxidation has ceased.  The more you drink, the longer it takes the liver to metabolize the alcohol and the longer you are waiting to burn fat.  “Because alcohol diverts fat from oxidation to storage, body weight is directly correlated with the level of alcohol consumption”⁽³⁾.  I understand that having a few drinks when you are with friends or at a party is going to happen, but keep the times that you drink to a minimum.  When you do drink, stick to clear liquors, avoid sugary drinks and try to make sure that the alcohol is out of your system before going to sleep so, you won’t mess up your body’s recovery and you will have a restful & restoring night’s sleep.

Tobacco – I don’t think that I need to beat a dead horse.  Smoking kills, end of story.  Carcinogens, deadly chemicals, addiction to nicotine; just some of the fun things that smoking cigarettes has to offer.  If you check out the CDC website, it mentions that tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death.  If that is not convincing enough for you then, how about the fact that national data collected by the CDC suggests that, on average, adult smokers die about 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.  Smoking is not one I would recommend cutting back on because any amount is bad.  Smoking is binary, it is all or none and none is your best option.

Stress – We all know stress is not good.  If we go back many many years ago to the time of our ancestors, I’m not talking about Grandma and Grandpa, I’m talking tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago, stress was acute NOT chronic.  Stress occurred very infrequently.  Some examples of caveman stress included running away from a predator or avoiding falling objects (trees, boulders, etc.).  Today, stress is nearly constant.  We have stress at home, stress at work, we are trying to make ends meet, etc., it is enough to drive a person off the deep end!!!  Stress has all sorts of deleterious effects on your body, especially when trying to achieve the body you desire.  Let’s look at the stress hormone cortisol.  Cortisol is a hormone secreted by the adrenal gland and it is an anti-inflammatory.  It is secreted when our “fight or flight” response gets activated and it is key in returning the body to homeostasis.  The concentration of cortisol in our body is highest when we wake up in the morning and lowest at night before we go to bed.  This is the “normal” situation, but when you experience prolonged stress throughout the day, your cortisol levels remain elevated into the evening.  Elevated cortisol levels have a strong link to obesity, heart disease and elevated LDL cholesterol levels⁽⁴⁾.  Stress is a bit trickier than sleep, alcohol and tobacco because stress is inherently based on the individual.  We all know people in our lives that stress about everything, the weather, their clothes, what people think about them, etc.  While it is easier said than done, relax and chill out.  Seriously, think about what gets you stressed out and address it.  One thing that I like to do when I have something that is stressing me is to ask myself, “Will this matter 3 days from now?  Will this matter 3 weeks from now?  Will this matter 3 months from now?  Will this matter 3 years from now?”  The vast majority of stressors probably won’t even matter 3 days from now.  Techniques that you can employ to reduce stress include yoga, taking slow deep breaths (10 secs in, 10 secs out) and simply removing yourself from the stress for awhile.  Leave work and take a walk, get some fresh air or go blow off steam at the gym.

Ah, life without stress...let's go kill something!

To review, Diet, Exercise and Lifestyle are the Keys to achieving the body you desire.  Remove bad foods from your Diet and replace them with good foods.  From an Exercise perspective, do more than you currently do.  Don’t get caught up with doing some fancy routine, be realistic and get started by increasing your activity level.  In terms of Lifestyle, get plenty of sleep, minimize alcohol consumption, do not smoke and reduce your stress through breathing techniques or yoga.  Focus on things which are SUSTAINABLE and OPTIMAL, this is not a “quick fix”.

I will leave you with a profound quote which is relevant to achieving the body you desire:

“Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right.”
- Henry Ford

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References:

1) Spruyt, Karen; Molfese, Dennis L. and Gozal, David.”Sleep Duration, Sleep Regularity, Body Weight, and Metabolic Homeostasis in School-aged Children.” Pediatrics, Vol. 127, Number 2, February 2011.  Published online 24 January 2011

2) Presentation by Dr. Sanjay Patel, American Thoracic Society, International Conference, San Diego, California, May 19-24, 2006

3) Speroff, Leon and Fritz, Marc A., “Clinical gynecologic endocrinology and infertility”, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005, pg. 782

4) Rosmond, Roland; Dallman, Mary F. and Bjorntorp, Per, “Stress-related Cortisol Secretion in Men: Relationships with Abdominal Obesity and Endocrine, Metabolic and Hemodynamic Abnormalities”, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 1998; Vol. 83, No. 6, pgs. 1853-1859

Compared to our ancestors, we are out of shape, tired and weaker.  This is the result of having a bad diet, not getting enough sleep and not getting enough of, nor the right type of, exercise. 

Diet
In terms of human evolution, compared to our ancestors we are fatter and weaker NOT bigger and stronger.  This is due, in part, to the fact that the hunt has become too easy.  We don’t need to socialize and develop our brains to get food, we just go to the store.  When we get to the store, we choose to consume toxic foods that are fried or have artificial ingredients.  Right now, the 2-5 age demographic is the most dangerous from an overall health perspective.

We need to stick to natural wholesome foods.  We should not consume anything that is fried, artificial or labeled as “diet”.  For those who are unaware, Splenda was designed to kill ants and Aspartame kills rats.  Neither sound like something we should be putting in our bodies.

Sleep
Get 8 hours of sleep minimum and do not use an alarm clock.  Make sure the room is dark and about 65 degrees in temperature.  Every 15 minutes more of sleep we get, our IQ raises 5 points.  How do you know you are getting enough sleep?  If you need a coffee to get up then you are not getting enough sleep.  Without enough sleep, you increase your risk of obesity, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, to name a few. 

Exercise
Exercise is fundamental to longevity.  When it comes to exercise, people think that CRAZY = GOOD.  Our larger brain, as compared to our ancestors, has led to the interesting yet illogical development of conceived exercises.

Illogical 4 of exercise selection:
1) It should be new
2) It should be cool
3) It makes you sore
4) It makes you tired

A great exercise solution would be to run again.  Sprint 30-40 yards to get the nervous system going.  Run on the balls of your feet not your heels, which are to be used for braking.  It is better to use your muscles to run rather than bones & ligaments.

Importance of Sprinting (TENT)

T = Technical – it doesn’t need to be taught, it is a natural movement.

E = Energy System Development – it burns fat and fires up big muscles.  It gets your brain working; there is a cascade of chemicals secreted by your brain when you sprint.

N = Neural Stimulation – the less muscle mass you have, the sooner you die.  Your nervous system needs to fire and sprinting accomplishes that.

T = Tempering the Body – you have to temper steel to work with it and the body is no different.  Sprinting works your bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments.

Sprinting also involves leverage.  Changing the levers makes things faster.  When your legs are bent, they are a short lever (fast).  When your legs are stretched, they are a long lever (strong).  We have to push backwards to move forwards.  We are pulling our foot back into the ground, which activates our hamstrings and our glutes.

Coach Martin Rooney demonstrating proper sprint technique

The most important technical aspect to teach is arm action.  The faster your arms move, the faster your legs move because our legs move as fast as our arms.  If you learn to run faster, your nervous system will become activated quicker and you will perform better.

Two ways to get faster:
1) Stride Frequency – take more steps
2) Stride Length – have a longer stride

Paleontologists can’t agree how the dinosaurs went extinct, but all agree that they went extinct due to an inability to change.  Eating clean foods, getting at least 8 hours of sleep and engaging in exercise that develops strength will increase your longevity, improve your overall health and help you feel more energetic.  The solutions are simple, but it is up to us to make these changes in our lives.  As a species, if we do not change then, we will suffer the same fate as the dinosaurs.

Martin had several great recommendations throughout the day.  He focused on being very attentive to details.  You need to do the basics right in order to perform at the highest levels.  As a Coach, he said that you should be really good at something before asking someone else to do it,   Mastery is making complex things simple and you can’t do what you always did to get what you want.  Martin Rooney is very energetic and engaging and he was more than willing to answer any and all questions.  If you have not done so, please try to get out and hear him speak.  You can find out more about Martin here: click here

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