American Fitness Professionals & Associates

By Mark J. Occhipinti, Ph.D., NDc.

In the past 25 years of dieting, America has become fat. There has been a blitz of media attention lately on television celeb-rities who have lost large amounts of weight.
The plethora of powdered protein drinks presently available is end-less, with Optifast, Slim Fast and Medifast following on the heels of Herbal Life, The Cambridge Diet, etc.

To date there are over 16,000 diets, books and diet aids in print. Almost 100 million Americans are classified as obese (more than 40 pounds overweight). These indi-viduals fall prey to anyone who claims “immediate or overnight weight loss.”

Research has demonstrated that a pound of fat contains 3,500 calories and to lose two pounds in one week an individual would have to create a deficit of 7,000 calories! This would have to be accomplished by decreas-ing the caloric intake and adding ex-ercise. As you can see, it is a long process that takes determination and stick-to-itiveness.

Crash Diets Revealed

The problems with crash weight loss are varied and cause health problems. During these low calorie, low carbohydrate, high protein diets, the major cause of weight loss comes from water and muscle tissue. It has been found that for every pound of weight lost, only ¼ pound is fat! Very little fat is utilized for ener-gy, and the individual’s percentage of body-fat actually goes up; When the diet is finally ended the indi-vidual almost always gains back all the weight they lost plus 10-15 per-cent more.

Ideally, you should exercise and make dietary modifications, these are not as difficult as it may seem.

First:

Find the type of activity that allows continuous movement for a minimum of 30 minutes, three times per week. Your choices: walking, riding a bike, swimming, cross-country skiing (in season). Low impact aerobics. Running is also a good fat burning activity, but is harder on the joints and should not be attemp-ted until a good portion of weight loss has occurred.

Weight training is an excellent activity for developing strength and muscular tone in the skeletal mus-cles. Contrary to popular belief however, it is not a good fat burning activity and does not develop cardio-vascular fitness.
It is prudent to consult your physi-cian before embarking in an exercise program if you are over 35 or have a known condition that would put you at risk.

Second:

Become an educated shop-per. Look for foods that do not re-quire a chemist’s degree to under-stand, and are lower in fat and sodium. Foods that are fresh frozen or fresh are superior to canned or processed foods (microwave TV. dinners).
This occurs in part because the Basal Metabolic Rate which controls our internal calorie burning abilities has been lowered to conserve energy (stored fat). This happens because the body interprets this un-natural diet as semi-starvation.

This extreme and un-healthy form of weight loss leads to placing additional burden in the form of ex-cess protein, ketones and accumu-lated waste products. The kidneys, liver, heart and immune system are taxed and the individual is encour-aged to drink copious amounts of water to help carry away these poisons.
After 24 hours on these high proteins, low calorie diets the body tries to protect itself by producing other emergency sources of energy.
Ketones, which are made from fat, enter the blood stream to be utilized by the body for food. In an effort to rid the blood stream the body over-compensates and the following symptoms can occur; dehydration, and the depletion of critically impor-tant electrolytes, most importantly potassium. A deficiency in potassium can be life-threatening due to it’s role in the contraction of muscle (skeletal, smooth and cardiac). Other side effects: dizziness, dry skin, blood pressure irregularities, heart palpitations, and very bad breath.

Making Modifications is the Secret

Making modifications in caloric intake by simply changing to less sugar in your ketchup, jelly, peanut butter, and using breads that have reduced calories. These saved calor-ies add up at the end of the week, month and year and can mean the difference in as much as seven pounds weight loss without being on a “diet!”

The following should not under-take these high protein diets for even short term: Children, teenagers, pregnant and nursing women, and also individuals with heart disease, in-sulin-dependent diabetes, kidney or liver damage.

The average weight loss that clients have been able to keep off using a program of behavior mod-ification, exercise and education has varied between 11-120 pounds. It’ these highly touted diets worked over the long term, the first diet would have negated the need for the last 15,999!

In Short

Do:

1. Eat regularly balanced meals that include vegetable source proteins and if you need something more concentrated salt water-oily fish [cod, salmon, tuna, haddock, char, sardines, anchovies], carbohy-drates [sweet potato’s, yams, brown rice] and some vegetable fats [olive oil, canola oil, flaxseed oil, pumpkin seeds.
2. Reduce caloric intake and in-crease activity level enough to cause a weekly loss of one pound.
3. Eat whole grains and fresh fruits and a variety of veget-ables, as they are filling and low in calories.

Do Not:

1. Do not starve yourself with extreme calorie restrictions. This only encourages increased fat storage when the dieting is through.
2. Do not use low carbohydrate diets as they impair mental ability, and destroy lean body mass [muscle].
3. Restrict water intake, as this causes dehydration and a loss of lean body mass as well as places great stress on the kidneys.