Part Three of Fat Loss Through Diet & Exercise - When D.I.E.T. means; "Did I Eat That?!"

How does diet fit into all of this?  Lets’ start with our old friend the BMR.  Lets’ say you put yourself on a diet to lose weight.  What happens?  Well...lets say you put yourself on a semi?starvation diet (in my opinion anything less than 1200 calories unless you are a very petite person).  

        Lets’ suppose that you went on a broccoli diet.  For three weeks you ate nothing but broccoli.  After three weeks you couldn't take it anymore (and neither can the people walking behind you) and you were ready to kill anything that even resembled the color green.   The weight loss came to a crashing halt…you went back to your old eating pattern of lets say 2000?3000 calories.  What happened???

        When you went on this starvation diet your BMR went down to conserve fuel.  Your protein, carbohydrate, and fat need went down as well.  You started to lose weight (usually mostly muscle on this type of weight loss regimen-, which also lowers the BMR) and your body let this continue for three weeks or so and then it said no more!  So your body struck back by lowering its fuel needs (lower BMR) hence slowing or stopping your weight loss efforts. 

        You went back to your old eating pattern and wound up gaining back all of the weight you lost and a little extra to boot (or hip)!  What happened???

        Okay, okay, I'll tell you what happened.  You went on this semi-starvation diet.  You lost some fat but mostly muscle weight.  Your BMR went down and halted your progress.  You went back to your old eating pattern but your body did not know it was going to be fed regularly again.  With this type of situation the BMR will typically stay in this lowered state in anticipation of a future semi?starvation state.  You went back to your old eating pattern of 2000?3000 calories per day but your BMR is still lowered; that means that your protein, fat, and carbohydrate needs are still lowered.  Any excess protein, carbohydrate, or fat will be converted to and deposited as body fat.  Therefore, for the next two weeks or so, your body will be depositing fat at an accelerated rate with a little extra fat deposited in case there is another semi?starvation state.

        The result...another failed weight loss attempt with some spare damage hanging on you to remind you of your failed attempt at weight loss.  If you do this type of semi?starvation diet on again and off again many times (yo?yo dieting); it can cause you to develop an "erratic" BMR.  Eventually after so many diet attempts, the BMR may stay down and not come back up for a month or even a year; making future weight loss seem impossible.

        Next, I'd like to discuss the three meals a day eating pattern we were all brought up on. 

        Do you ever have trouble with binge eating?  Some days you're ready to clean out the refrigerator and then go to the supermarket and help them take inventory.  Or do you ever feel in the middle of the afternoon that you'd...just...like...to...take...a...nap...zzzzzzZZZZZ?  There are very definite reasons for this binge eating and/or decrease in energy levels and the three meals a day eating pattern is one of them.

        The human brain runs primarily on glucose (blood sugar).  When you eat three meals or less a day; you are going to have huge gaps between meals (six or more hours).  Your brain will send out a hunger response in accordance with how big a gap you had between meals or how big a drop in your blood glucose level has occurred.  The bigger the gap, the hungrier you become thus triggering a binge episode or the tendency to overeat.  This decrease in your blood sugar level can also zap your energy levels.  So for a quick fix to satisfy your hunger or give you an energy boost you may reach for that candy bar or maybe you're health conscious and reach for fruit instead because you are on a "diet."   What happened here? 

        Did he say fruit was bad?  No, fruit is healthy but as a snack by itself it is not a wise choice for those who are trying not to over eat or are having trouble with their energy levels.  Fruit much like that candy bar is mostly a simple carbohydrate.  Simple carbohydrates are sugars.   Whether this sugar comes from fruit or a candy bar; it is still sugar.  This simple carbohydrate will go into your system fast.  It will cause a rapid rise in your blood sugar level (ah energy).  The pancreas will put out a large amount of insulin in response to this rapid rise in the blood sugar level.  This insulin will then cause the blood sugar level to drop just as quickly as it rose.  The result? fatigue and/or hunger occur once again and much sooner than you would like - the brain is saying feed me!!!

        The body at any given time has only so much of a need for protein, fat, or carbohydrate.  Any calories consumed in excess of need will be either excreted or deposited as fat.  Yes, protein does turn into fat when in excess of need!  When you eat three meals a day; there is a large spacing of time between meals.  By the time you sit down to eat you are ravenous. You are usually so hungry the food can't arrive fast enough nor does it ever seem to be enough food for the amount of hunger you are feeling.  What happens is that you wind up eating more food than the body needed?  Excess calories equals’ excess you.

        It takes about twenty minutes for a feeling of fullness to register in the brain.  Think how much food you can eat in twenty minutes, especially with fast food.  Fast food, fast service, fast eating.  You're still hungry because your blood sugar level hasn't risen yet and so you order a nice big dessert (to match your still hungry body).  Somewhere in the middle of this dessert you feel full.  You altruistically offer the rest of your dessert to your friend.  She too feels full and politely refuses. Hmm???  But to our dismay comes yet another learned behavior to our supposed rescue.  We learned to finish our plate and so we continue to eat, lest we let ourselves be perceived as wasteful.  The results? excess; calories, weight, and a new one? guilt!

        How can we avoid these pitfalls?  The healthiest way to eat in my opinion would be to have four to six meals per day; breakfast, lunch, and dinner with snack meals spaced in between.  By having smaller meals spread throughout the day, you will be stabilizing your blood sugar level.  By stabilizing the blood sugar level you will be able to control hunger and hence your weight and also increase your energy levels dramatically! 

        Your blood glucose level for the most part will regulate when you are hungry.  If you maintain a steadier state of blood glucose, you won't be as hungry at each meal and a smaller amount of food will fill you up faster.  Eating less will make your body more efficient in the processing of that food for need.  There will be less left over as far as nutrient needs are concerned therefore; less will be left over to be deposited as fat.

        For example; remember that time you ate so much it hurt to breathe.  Someone then offers you your favorite dessert.  You eat it but not as ravenously as if you hadn’t eaten in the last 5 hours.  This is exactly what eating smaller meals spread throughout the day will do for you.  You will simply not be as hungry and will not have the tendency to overeat.  A smaller amount of food will also fill you up faster and again; prevent you from eating too many calories.

        What to eat???  Let’s start with breakfast.  Breakfast is the first meal of the day.  So for all of you who are going to say, "I don't eat breakfast," my answer to you is; yes you do because you do eat sometime, don't you?  Breakfast or your first meal of the day; is simply when you eat it.

Breakfast would consist of: some type of complex carbohydrate (i.e. hot/cold cereal, crackers, bread, muffins, pancakes, bagels, etc.), some fruit or fruit juice, and some type of low?fat milk product (i.e. 2% fat milk or less, low?fat yogurt, low?fat cheese, etc.).

        Next up would be a mid?morning snack, which is optional depending upon your appetite and diet if applicable.  For a mid?morning snack we would like some type of complex carbohydrate with perhaps a fruit.  Mid?morning snacks would consist of muffins, crackers (graham, whole wheat, etc.), bagel with jam, vegetables (if you like), and so on.

        What's for lunch?  Lunch would be the biggest meal of the day calorically.  We would make lunch the meat meal of the day (if meat is desired).  Whether it is fish, chicken, or red meat; these meats are the main fat contributors in the diet.  With the meat comes the fat.  With the fat come the calories.  We would want our highest calorie, highest fat meal of the day in the afternoon.  That way we'll be burning those calories throughout the day; as opposed to the evening meal and then going to bed shortly thereafter and having all those calories with no place to go but to your hips, thighs, and buttocks.

        Making lunch your meat meal of the day will also help to increase your energy levels. By having what we call a "mixed meal," that is a meal with protein, carbohydrate, and fat; digestion will be slower and hence give a slow rise in the blood glucose level and maintain it for a longer period of time with a slower decline in blood glucose level.  The result is more energy!  Those of you who just eat a frozen yogurt, salad, fruit, or just pasta for lunch can suffer in not only your weight loss efforts but in energy levels as well.  The weight loss I'll explain shortly. 

        The energy levels may suffer for the aforementioned meals not being mixed meals.  Not only can these meals adversely affect your blood glucose level but also being mostly carbohydrate meals (and if large) they can cause the brain to make too much serotonin.  The neurotransmitter serotonin is just like taking a big sleeping pill; only it's more potent.  Zap...there goes the energy level and here comes a big case of the afternoon sleepies.  Lunch could be: a slice of pizza; a ham, turkey, or roast-beef sandwich; a pint of shrimp and vegetable lo mein; tuna on rye; etc.  These are all mixed meals and healthy ones to boot!

        The most powerful energy booster and appetite controller would be to have a mid-afternoon snack each day; at least 3 hours before dinner.

        The mid?afternoon snack we make mandatory.  By having a mid?afternoon snack you will further enhance the stabilization of your blood glucose level.  This means better energy levels in the late afternoon and not coming home ready to eat the house down.  The mid?afternoon snack would be a milk snack (it may also include a fruit and bread exchange as well; depending on your diet).  Mid?afternoon snacks would include: low?fat frozen yogurt (no toppings); 8 oz. of skim milk with 7 strawberries, add ice and blend? strawberry shake; 120 calories of low?fat cheese, three graham crackers, and a small stalk of grapes; 1 cup of low?fat yogurt (with fruit if desired and not to exceed 120 calories); etc. 

        If you need to have a fix; be it a candy bar, chocolate, cake, cookies, etc., this is where I'd like you to have it.  I usually advise my patients/clients that once a week and only once a week can they have this "bad choice."  By having this bad choice in the middle of the day, you can at least burn some if not all of the calories throughout the day and also with your aerobic exercise session later that evening; burn the rest.  A once a week bad snack will not make you fat and will help you to feel less deprived.  If you have this bad snack then you can't also have the good snack.  Did you think you could have your cake and eat it too?

        Dinner we would want to make a meatless meal.  What I usually advise is to make four of the dinner meals meatless meals.  I not only consider this a healthier way to eat but it will also make weight loss easier.  When I say meat I mean red meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, or cheese.  With the meat comes the fat.  With the fat come the calories.  We want our dinner meal to be the lowest?calorie and hence lowest?fat meal of the day. 

       One ounce of medium?fat meat supplies roughly 75 calories and 5 grams of fat.  Look at your pinky.  That's about one ounce of meat.  Hold up both of your hands and wiggle your fingers.  How many of those fingers do you think the average American eats?  Roughly eight to nine of those fingers or 8?9 ounces.  That's 8 or 9 times 75 calories or 8 or 9 times 5 grams of fat!  Don't forget whatever else you may have with the meal and dessert later on.  You may have just eaten 1000 calories or more! 

        If you were going to have a meat meal, it would be best to use meat as a condiment.  That is a small amount of meat (3?4oz.) and a lot of grains and vegetables; not a big piece of meat and a little grains and vegetables.  By having a meatless meal, you would be making dinner primarily a complex carbohydrate meal; low in fat and low in calories yet high in volume and nutrients.  Also being primarily a complex carbohydrate meal, it will cause a release of the brain neurotransmitter serotonin. The serotonin will help you to sleep better at night!

        Meatless dinners would include: pasta with a marinara sauce, Italian bread, a small salad with a vinegar and herb dressing, and some grapes; a rice and vegetable dish and 1/3 cantaloupe; one pint of vegetable lo mein; a huge bowl of vegetable, lentil, or minestrone soup, crackers or bread, a large spinach salad with a vinegar and herb dressing, and one orange; etc.  Remember that the body only needs so much protein, carbohydrate, or fat at any one feeding.  So we definitely want to make sure that we do not consume too many calories at this evening meal.  Even if it’s still a healthy meal it can contribute to excess fat development if you are consuming too much in the way of; protein, carbohydrate, or fat!

        The evening snack is optional.  It is again a complex carbohydrate snack consisting of: unbuttered popcorn; crackers; muffins; baked tortilla chips with salsa; raisin bread; angel food cake; vegetables (if you desire); etc.  Fruit is not listed because it is mostly a simple carbohydrate and may cause a binge episode as described earlier but if you don’t have a problem with fruit- enjoy.

        Smaller meals spread throughout the day will also help to elevate the BMR.  It takes calories to burn calories.  By having four to six meals spread throughout the day, you will constantly be revving up the BMR, as opposed to three meals or less which cause the BMR to slow down.  Add aerobic exercise to this and perhaps anaerobic exercise (weight training) as I described earlier and the BMR won't have a chance to come down.  You'll be able to eat more calories than most people will on other weight-loss "diets" and achieve success!

I am hopeful that you found the three part series on "Fat Loss Through Diet & Exercise" helpful.  Should you wish to reach me for business related to my talents then please feel free to contact me at: [email protected].