Tiny changes can mean big results if you actually take the steps, and time, to make them
Going after weight gain by going on a diet is like walking into a gunfight with a sharp stick. You might make a little dent, but in the end, you'll do yourself more harm than good.
Here's why: Typical diets restrict calories, and that means lowering your metabolism—the calorie furnace in your body that determines longterm weight loss. Going on a diet sends a signal to your body that says "I'm starving here!" And your body responds by slowing your metabolic rate in order to hold on to existing energy stores.
What's worse, if the food shortage (meaning your crash diet) continues, you'll begin burning muscle tissue, which just gives your enemy, visceral fat, a greater advantage. Your metabolism drops even more, and fat goes on to claim even more territory.
Want proof that you can lose substantial amounts of weight—and keep it off for good—without ever dieting? Cutting-edge research that I pulled together to write The Lean Belly Prescription points the way to quick and easy weight loss. For example:
Muscle is several times more metabolically active than fat. The more muscle you have, the hotter your fire burns. And if you activate those muscles through physical activity, the potential fat burn can last for up to 24 hours. Any light exercise that maintains muscle mass will attack fat at the same time.
One of the more fascinating pieces of obesity-related research I've read came out in the New England Journal of Medicine
in 2007. Researchers looked at data on 12,000 people—many of them
related to one another—who'd been tracked in the Framingham Heart Study.
Their conclusion: A person was at greater risk for being obese if
others in his or her social network were obese. The stats: If a friend
became obese, risk climbed by 57 percent; if a sibling became obese,
risk went up by 40 percent; a spouse, plus 37 percent.
The same study concluded that the benefits of weight loss may radiate through social networks as well. And think about how cool it will be around the Thanksgiving table next year, when you all look awesome! Pass the brussels sprouts!
A study from the University of Massachusetts
Medical School determined that people who skip breakfast are 4 1/2 times
more likely to be obese than people who make time for it. An expert
from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center estimated that going
without breakfast can slow your metabolism by up to 10 percent.
Build breakfast out of protein and healthy fat. Eggs. Greek yogurt. Peanut butter. Milk. The more protein you eat, the more satisfied you'll be: A 2008 study published in the British Journal of Nutrition noted that the protein can lead to feelings of fullness that last all day long.
The same study concluded that the benefits of weight loss may radiate through social networks as well. And think about how cool it will be around the Thanksgiving table next year, when you all look awesome! Pass the brussels sprouts!
Build breakfast out of protein and healthy fat. Eggs. Greek yogurt. Peanut butter. Milk. The more protein you eat, the more satisfied you'll be: A 2008 study published in the British Journal of Nutrition noted that the protein can lead to feelings of fullness that last all day long.
A study from Yale University's Rudd Center
for Food Policy and Obesity found that 50 percent of kids said the food
in a box with Shrek's green mug on it tasted better than the very same
food in a Shrekless box. And what kinds of food most often have cartoon
characters on them? Right: sugar-laden ones.
Adults fall prey to similar marketing techniques on their foods'
packaging as well. But guess what? An apple doesn't come with a label.
Beware packaged foods that present you with meaningless buzz-words like "natural," "fat free," "diet," and "a smart choice"—and ingredient lists longer than Al Capone's rap sheet. When you buy whole foods as they grew in nature—a salmon fillet, green beans, an orange—each has only one ingredient: the food itself. All of your grocery store transactions should be so simple.
I kid you not. Brian Wansink, Ph.D., a food
visionary who runs the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab, has
devoted extraordinary attention to the effects that the containers that
carry our food and drink have on how much we consume. His rule of thumb:
The larger the plate or bowl or glass, the more you will eat or slurp
or drink from it. The bad news: We're on the wrong side of a
century-long expansion in the sizes of our dinner plates and the volumes
of our drink- ing glasses. As go your portion sizes, so goes your
personal size.
Instead of 1 cup of chocolate ice cream, enjoy 1⁄2 cup of chocolate ice cream with 1⁄2 cup of sliced strawberries. The fruit tastes great, adds tons of antioxidants, and saves you 115 calories.
Beware packaged foods that present you with meaningless buzz-words like "natural," "fat free," "diet," and "a smart choice"—and ingredient lists longer than Al Capone's rap sheet. When you buy whole foods as they grew in nature—a salmon fillet, green beans, an orange—each has only one ingredient: the food itself. All of your grocery store transactions should be so simple.
Instead of 1 cup of chocolate ice cream, enjoy 1⁄2 cup of chocolate ice cream with 1⁄2 cup of sliced strawberries. The fruit tastes great, adds tons of antioxidants, and saves you 115 calories.
