Under the guise of a workplace conversation, fitness professional Bruce Kelley gives the skinny on losing weight the safe and healthy way.
Did you know that even churches are sponsoring diet plans now? I suppose it makes sense, the body is the soul's temple or something like that. I discovered this fact when my work buddy TJ thrust his church's diet plan in my face. I'm used to this, being the resident fitness guru at my day job, fitness training being my sideline.
At the time he shoved those sheets under my nose I was busy at my keyboard, hunting and pecking my way through a spreadsheet. I distractedly glanced through the meal plans, saw it had fruits, veggies, not much saturated fat; in fact, it looked like a pretty healthy diet. “Looks fine.” I said as I turned back to my computer screen.
“But, what about the calories?” TJ asked anxiously. I grabbed the sheets back and saw the daily calorie count at 1112 calories Monday, 1224 Tuesday, 1179 calories Wednesday, and so on. I was appalled, TJ is a big guy.
“You're going to starve on this diet!”
“Well, that's the point isn't it?” he says.
“Wrong!” I responded.
I pushed away from my desk and began to explain to my buddy how the human body is hardwired when it comes to storing and burning fat. I told him that our bodies are not significantly different from our mastodon eating ancestors. In those early human days, feast or famine was the rule: Your clan kills and feasts on a mastodon - feast, and then maybe your tribe goes a month without - famine. That is why your body takes every opportunity to store fat because it never knows when the next famine is. Fat, for the body, is money in the bank, in a savings account to be exact, not to be used for everyday expenses. When your body encounters a chronic food shortage, like my buddy's diet the body goes into famine mode. The first thing it does is slow way down. Resting metabolism, the speed your body runs at just sitting around, slows way down trying to adjust to an inadequate intake of calories. If the famine persists, the body starts getting rid of overhead, i.e. muscle. Your muscle is what burns most of the calories we consume and as far as your starving body is concerned, any excess muscle above what is required to drag your sorry carcass around is considered to be excessive. So what's a body to do? It starts breaking down muscle into fuel and burns it! And to make matters worse, body fat is for the most part hoarded in that savings account until things get really bad.
So let's summarize what happens when it's been a month without a mastodon kill or you're on TJ's diet. Your body slows down to conserve energy, it starts burning muscle for fuel and to get rid of unnecessary overhead, and it burns fat as a last resort. The result is a weaker, skinnier, still fat you. That's not a happy ending.
“Well how the heck am I "spose to lose weight, then?” TJ whines.
“You"ve got to fake your body out.” I said. I explained that eating often does to the metabolism just the opposite of not eating enough. It raises it. Eating 5 -6 mini meals a day will make the body think times are good, food is aplenty and there's work to be done! The resting metabolism jacks right up to supply the energy the body thinks you need, so you're burning more calories, even at rest. The next thing you know you're not sluggish and have energy to burn. So of course, you want to burn it!
Everyone knows cardio burns calories and fat, but what many do not know is that resistance training is just as important for accomplishing this deed. That's right, baby, pumping iron! For one thing you don't want your body regarding muscle as unnecessary overhead, and it won't if you use it. And for another thing, for every pound of muscle you gain, you will burn roughly 50 more calories per day without doing a thing, and you'll look good doing it. Pretty cool, huh.
Of course, you do have to eat less than you burn if you want to lose weight and depending on your size an average daily deficit of no more than 500 to 1000 calories is recommended. But you know, if you study up on the healthy foods and forgo the processed ones, it might not even feel like you're eating less. And to really fake your body out, have a “cheat day” once or twice a week. Even on your new healthy foods diet, after several days your body might start to sense a famine. That's when a cheat day will straighten it right out.
“You got all this, TJ?” I asked.
“Yea sure, and you'll guarantee I'll lose 40 lbs in time for my reunion next month, right?” TJ said.
“And that's another thing,” I said, “All the experts say only 1 - 2 lbs shed per week for safe and healthy weight loss.”
TJ sighed, “I guess I'll still be "Two Ton TJ" at the reunion.”
Please remember, we don't get overweight in a month. Let us be patient and realistic in our weight loss goals. 'Til next time, eat well and exercise!
Bruce Kelley is an ISSA Certified Fitness Trainer and Fitness Writer
