Personal Training - for living!
Dieting, Weight Loss AND MAINTENANCE. Losing weight is EASY! Keeping the weight off is the hard part. This is the point where most personal trainers, diet gurus, and the like would try to sell you their SURE FIRE WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM. Even if you never lost the weight before, this is new, better, and improved!!! How about a "genuine" before and after picture to convince you?
Unfortunately, the weight loss industry thrives on false promises and repeat customers. The truth is that the overwhelming majority of people “dieting” will fail to achieve any long term weight loss. In addition, because of a rebound effect, the best predictor of a higher weight in one year is to be dieting today. Is it really that hopeless? Yes and no.
YES, if the diet is of a temporary, artificial nature and you commit any one of several errors.
NO, if you commit to a lifelong plan of eating and living a healthier lifestyle. With 1/3 of the US population overweight and another 1/3 clinically obese its clear there are cultural barriers to achieving a healthy weight. We are immersed in food and lifestyle habits that are designed to get you to overeat and remain inactive.
Most fast foods, snacks, restaurant and prepared supermarket meals are highly processed foods. Processed foods add substantial amounts of high fructose corn syrup and sugar, cheap high glycemic carbohydrates, salt, unhealthy fats, and other additives that were rare in the diet just 100 year ago. They sabotage any efforts at achieving a proper weight AND general health. The very nature of these foods will assault your gastrointestinal defenses and natural weight control mechanisms. Even if a high metabolism keeps you thin, the cumulative toxicity will raise your risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
What path do you want to follow? The standard American diet and lifestyle leads to increasing obesity and/or morbidity with each passing year. A healthy diet and lifestyle will add quality years to your "health span." See the tips and references below.
One additional critical point first. The “best” approach to a healthy diet and lifestyle has to be highly individualized. Genetic predisposition, body composition (fat distribution, muscle fiber type), physical status, unhealthy food cravings and metabolic functioning must be evaluated and addressed. For food, in general, the now famous Mediterranean Diet is a good starting point. However, palatable substitutions or additions must be made in accordance with individual tastes for a LIFELONG eating plan.
> Includes exercise and lifestyle changes to lessen the obesity supporting characteristics of American life.
> Does not require you to be hungry because it is based upon highly satisfying foods.
> Is built around whole foods prepared at home. You could find the ingredients at any farmers market, no chemistry degree is required to understand.
> Does not consist of counting calories, carbs, or fat grams etc. Does focus on picking the right variety and amount of natural whole foods.
> Does require a basic understanding of healthy vs. unhealthy fats, the most beneficial vegetables and fruits, and preferred protein/carbohydrate food sources.
> Is a gentle transition from what you eat now, identifying the worst foods first, progressively replacing and substituting bad food with healthy alternatives.
> Borrows or mimics many aspects of the Mediterranean Diet, but is not a set diet of X number of recipes.
> Incorporates cooking “strategies” so that healthy food can be prepared in minimum time.
> Does require careful reading of food labels and ingredient lists, and waiter interrogations when eating processed or prepared food. When out you have a “plan” on what you will eat before you open the menu.
> Includes portion control techniques that become internalized.
> Identifies and remedies unhealthy food cravings based upon physiological, psychological and/or emotional linkages.
> Consists of foods you look forward to eating. Gets easier and becomes an integral part of a healthy lifestyle over time.
> Allows occasional deviations when eating out with friends or at their house. You learn to ignore “why you haven’t eaten much at all” type comments.
No shortage of promises, coupled with a real shortage of data makes for a dangerous combination with the supplement industry. The truth lies somewhere between miraculous claims and the mainstream medicine's reflex dismissal of anything not blessed by the pharmaceutical companies.
For starters, dismiss any weight loss supplement that uses stimulants to achieve short term results. Cocaine, nicotine and meth are great weight reducers as well - with obvious downsides. Ephedra is a herbal stimulant and weight loss product that was banned in 2004 after being linked to several deaths and other adverse reactions.
The FDA approved "Alli" weight loss pill is the reduced-strength version of the prescription orlistat. It achieves modest benefits by limiting fat absorption but blocks the uptake of vital nutrients as well. It has other unpleasant, below the belt side-effects if you are unable to stick to an extremely low fat diet. Like most products, it will only work long-term if you adopt permanent diet and lifestyle changes.
The OTC weight loss supplements I would recommend are the natural formulations* that work as appetite suppressants. Temporary use of an appetite suppressant can help you internalize portion control techniques. It is a means to get your stomach used to smaller portion sizes while incorporating the other components of successful weight loss and maintenance listed above. A weight loss supplement can also help you transition to some degree of Caloric Restriction.
Hoodia gordonii and Irvingia gabonensis show the most promise. Irvingia gabonensis, sold as Enhanced Irvingia has many beneficial side effects besides being an appetite suppressant, making it my first recommendation. If you choose to buy any of these products through me, you will get the extra benefit of sound weight loss advice via the phone or other materials I can email to you.
* the appetite suppressent, "Hydroxycut" based upon the herb Garcinia cambogia, was recalled under pressure from the FDA in May 2009. The reported adverse events, 23 over 7 years, are miniscule in comparison to the tens of millions of users. Given that a hundred thousand people a year die from FDA approved prescription drugs, I reserve judgement if this recall was valid.
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REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:
Mize John. “Processed Food”. New Horizon Fitness, 2009.
Mize John. “What Is the BEST Diet”. New Horizon Fitness, 2009.
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See notes on these references below.
Cordain Loren. The Paleo Diet: Lose Weight and Get Healthy by Eating the Food You Were Designed to Eat. Hoboken NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2002.
Cordain Loren and T Colin Campbell. "The Protein Debate". Performance Menu 2006.
Fallon Sally. Nourishing Traditions. Washington DC: NewTrends Publishing, 2001
Lambert C. “The Way We Eat Now” Harvard Magazine, May June, 2004.
Pollan Michael. “Unhappy Meals”. New York Times, January 28, 2007.
Roizen Michael and Mehmet Oz. You: On a Diet: The Owner’s Manual for Waist Management. New York: Free Press, 2006.
Schiosser E. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.
University of California - Los Angeles. "Dieting Does Not Work, Researchers Report." ScienceDaily 5 April 2007. 19 April 2009
Notes on references – while all the references agree the standard American diet is a disaster, there are still unsettled debates regarding the right amounts of certain foods and the related macronutrients; fat, protein and carbohydrate. The debate between Cordain, author of the Paleo Diet, and Campbell, author of the China Diet is typical.
What do I advise? Without being evasive, it does depend upon the individual, recognizing that populations have thrived on numerous food groups yielding various amounts of the macronutrients. The most common denominator to a healthy diet has been varied and high plant consumption. I also believe in practical solutions, an 80% good diet that one can enjoy and adhere to is better than the 100% perfect diet with zero compliance.
My Weight Loss Promise to You
None, nada, zip. Anybody that believes such a promise has made the first fatal mistake - putting responsibility outside of themselves. I have no idea of your commitment to the necessary lifestyle changes. As a personal trainer, I only take on the real "losers"; persons I believe capable of achieving success.
On the flip side, I understand the complexity and difficulty of making the necessary changes. I will help you set realistic goals and do my best to help you make the transition to a healthy lifestyle.
There are numerous points where our natural weight control mechanisms can go astray. Many processed foods negatively affect satiety signals, receptor sensitivity and brain chemicals such as serotonin; with addictive results. You may have a metabolic disorder or other medical condition undercutting your ability to lose weight. These have to be eliminated as well, so a trip to your physician and a prescription drug therapy may be a required adjunct to the diet and lifestyle changes.
Workouts will be designed to maximize round the clock fat burning and to increase critical muscle mass. I will help you eat better with information and cooking strategies designed to reduce processed food consumption.
Unless you are in the St. Louis area I can't offer you the full range of personal trainer exercise design and coaching services. However, I can help you with the strategic cooking strategies, supplements, education and other wellness issues. See SERVICES page.
