Americans are winning something not worth winning. They’re getting fatter than any other developed nation over the past 30 years. Over the same time period, obesity rates have doubled, to over 20 percent. And that’s just those who are obese. The overweight crowd is now at 68%! Wow. One-third of those overweight are obese. Breaking that down – take 100 Americans – 23 of them are obese and 45 are overweight, just not fat enough to be considered obese. How about the other 32? I think it’s safe to say that most of them don’t fit into a healthy category, but they’re just not in the overweight category either.
Being overweight means you’re at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, joint problems, immune system problems, and pretty much every disease and ailment out there. Can you think of just one disease whose risk factor would be lower in the overweight category? I can’t. (anorexia?) Aside from the increased rates of all the stuff you don’t want, don’t forget the everyday, functional problems associated with being overfat – low energy, sleep problems, little to no sex drive, difficulty moving, poor mental concentration – just to name a few.
So what can you do about it? You don’t need to be on the Biggest Loser to lose weight and you don’t need to find some crazy grapefruit or liquid diet. But you’re also not going to lose weight by eating whatever you want when you want or by exercising once a week, or not at all. Feeling bad about yourself isn’t going to help either. And no, despite what some bestseller book says, taking cold showers and packing certain areas of your body in ice is only going to provide minimal fat-loss results, if any.
How about this: Three steps you can start right now with minimal effort to lose fat – whether you’re trying to get down from 350lbs to 250lbs or you want to lean-up your 15% bodyfat frame to 10% for the upcoming race season. Just these 3 simple steps will get you going in the right direction. They are all necessary, and although there are often other steps that need to be implemented, these are a must for everybody. Plus, why give you a list of 10 things if most can’t handle more than a few.
1) Buy a heart rate monitor and exercise at your target heart rate. You can get a heart rate monitor from most fitness stores, including those like REI, for around $75. It’s a must. No need to spend more than that. They all do the same function of registering your heart rate regardless of the cost. The more expensive ones just have more functions such as lap counters, GPS, and computer capability. Polar, Timex, Garmin, and Suunto are some of the major brands out there. Make sure your heart rate monitor has a wireless transmitter strap that goes around your lower chest and transmits to the watch you’ll wear on your wrist. Do not buy the cheaper monitors that are just on the wrist and check your pulse. Pedometers? Who cares how many steps you walked. Remember, your body cares about time and heart rate, as I discussed in the “Top 10 of 2010” newsletter. Once you get your monitor, follow the heart rate training zone formula specific for you as first described by Dr. Phil Maffetone (www.philmaffetone.com)
1) | Subtract your age from 180 | ||||||||
2) | Modify this number by choosing below: | ||||||||
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So if you’re 40 years old and are taking a medication (2a) then your max aerobic heart rate would be 130. (180-40-10). Your exercise zone is between this number and 10 less. So in this example, the zone would be a 120-130 heart rate.
Now that you have your heart rate zone, it is important that you exercise accordingly with a proper warm up and cool down. Your goal is 40 minutes, 5 times a week. That is the minimum. If you can increase to 45-60 minutes 6 days a week, even better. But if you’re just starting out, make your first couple weeks just 30 minutes, 4 times a week and then slowly build up to the 40 minutes, 5 times a week over one month. Any exercise will do as long as you enjoy it and you can keep your heart rate within your training zone.
- Warm-Up for 10 minutes, slowly building your heart rate up to your exercise zone
- Exercise at an intensity within your heart rate zone – for 20 minutes or more
- Cool-Down for 10 minutes at a HR similar to the warm-up, but now with decreasing intensity
That’s all there is to it. Get your monitor. Figure out your exercise zone. Walk, ride a bike, use the elliptical, whatever you like to do. But be consistent, and stay in the zone.
2) Stop eating all white sugar, white flour, and any sugar replacement substitute, natural or fake. There’s plenty of information on this throughout the website, and you can use the search engine here too for more specifics. No sugar means absolutely zero, even turbinado, raw sugar, brown sugar, rapadura, etc. No white flour means just that – nothing made with flour whether it is bleached or unbleached, and this includes wheat flour too. No Splenda (sucralose). No Nutrasweet (aspartame). No saccharin. No agave. No xylitol, maltitol, sorbitol, erythritol. No stevia either. No fructose, and no fruit juice, 100% or not. No corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup. The one and only sweetener you can use – honey. Try to get it local and pesticide/herbicide free if you can. But that’s it, just honey.
3) Increase your protein content. Shoot for 1.5grams of protein for every kilogram of bodyweight. To get your bodyweight in kgs, divide your weight in pounds by 2.2. So if you’re 200 pounds, you’re 91kg and you’re striving for around 135grams of protein a day. Each protein serving should be around 20-30grams so figure around 5 meals within that range. Good protein sources include eggs (organic or free range), beef/lamb (grass fed), poultry (free range, antibiotic & hormone free), fish (no more than 1-2 times a month) and dairy – particularly whey protein. I use Whey Cool from Designs for Health because I know it’s MSG free. Remember, most whey protein out there has MSG in it, as I’ve discussed previously. Words like hydrolyzed whey protein, whey protein isolates, calcium caseinate all signify that MSG was created during processing. Eggs, depending on their size, have 6-9g of protein (eat the whole egg!). Most meat, fish, and poultry have approximately 25g of protein for every 3.5oz. Easy on the soy as most soy (especially the unfermented soy products out there that make up the vegetarian products) has estrogen mimicking effects. Soy milk and products with soy protein isolates and hydrolyzed soy protein are not healthy for any body.
So there you have it. Three steps. Three simple steps. You’ll need about $75 and some commitment and discipline to get the process going. The first few weeks will be somewhat difficult as you come off your sugar addiction and get into the habit of eating more protein foods and exercising regularly. But the fat loss and health benefits will be more than rewarding, and the weight loss won’t be temporary like that obtained from crash diets and exercise gimmicks that never change your body into a healthy fat-burning machine.
When following the Maffetone method, can I still lift weights a couple of times a week? I have been doing aerobic workouts at my prescribed heart rate for the last month and I feel that I am losing my “guns”
Thanks.
According to Phil Maffetone’s method, if you’re building your aerobic base he advises that you stay away from weights entirely as they tend to push a person towards anaerobic. Weight lifting is more anaerobic due to the type of muscle fibers activated, regardless if your heart rate is in the aerobic zone (or typically much lower). However, you can actually make weight lifting more, or less anaerobic by the type of exercise you do and how you do it, and there really is no way to tell how aerobic, or anaerobic, you are. For example, you can do slow, controlled push-ups and be very aerobic. You could also pump out those push-ups very hard and to exhaustion and be very anaerobic. You could also put a 20-30 pound kid on your back (if you don’t have one then you can always borrow one) and do those push-ups and use a different type of anaerobic muscle fibers. So what do you do? My advice is often when someone has absolutely no aerobic base then they stick to the aerobic workouts 100% (no weights) at least for a month, maybe more. It depends on that person. Weights can often then be added 1-2 times a week while still doing the aerobic training, but no anaerobic training (as in high heart rate cardio activity). As long as you feel good and are progressing keep the routine going.
Not sure if you got my previous message. I couldn’t tell if the ‘submit’ button was pushed. Anyway, in case you didn’t – I’ve been on Phil’s heart rate program the last few months with mixed results. Now that the race season (10+ sprint/International) is just around the corner I really need to start my speed work and increase my biking intensity. That means I won’t be working within my target heart rate. So, is there any reason to keep using the hr monitor? I’m 48 and in very good condition, have been on whey protein for five months or so and basically am doing what I can to increase muscle and decrease body fat. I wear it while doing all my workouts and have several years of graphs for all kinds of conditions; running races, biking long distances, many triathlons, Mt. Mitchell, etc… what kind of information can I get from all this data? Is it all for naught and only good for staying within the target? Finally, I use a whey protein that does include some isolates. What brand/kind should I look be looking for (I’m in Raleigh). Thanks in advance. I enjoy your letters/website. HH
There is the misconception about speed workouts making someone faster. That will only happen and benefit you in those distance of races if you have a good aerobic base under your belt. Sure I definitely think one should be doing anaerobic workouts according to the type of race they’re preparing for, but that depends on the race. Many great coaches would argue that if you’re training for a race like Mt. Mitchell (as I am), there is absolutely no reason, or very little at best, to be doing anaerobic training. 6-9 hours, or however long that is going to take you, is aerobic.
And just like the pros riding in the Tour de France, you should always be using a HR monitor, with the exception of maybe shorter races and easy recovery days.
Whey protein with isolates is said to contain some MSG. Personally I would not use it. I use a product called Whey Cool from Designs For Health – it is pure undenatured whey from pasture fed, hormone, pesticide, antibiotic free cows.
Hey quick question – many times in the morning, I will eat oatmeal (slow cooking) and after it is cooked, I mix in protein powder and flaxseed oil.
I have read that one is not supposed to cook with flaxseed oil.
My question is this – since I add the flaxseed oil almost immediately after the oats cooked – by adding the flaxseed oil in at that point, is the heat doing any damage to the flaxseed oil?
Besides walnuts and occassionaly chia seeds, flaxseed oil is my only source of Omega 3’s – so I want to be sure I am getting the full benefit of the oil.
Two things you always want to limit with unrefined Omega 3 oils – heat and light. So always keep these oils in a dark package and away from heat (often in the refrigerator) and never cook with them. So, will you ruin some of the benefits of your omega 3 flax oil by adding it to a hot product? Possibly. How much, who really knows. You’d only know if you had it analyzed and that’s not practical. My suggestion is to leave the flax oil out and take it separately. It’s probably going to taste better anyway.
Is tofu good or bad? What about toasted soy spreads (peanut butter replacement for kids to take to school.) I thought I knew a thing or two about healthy eating until I started reading through your site – love all the good info here!
Thanks Michelle. Tofu should be very limited, as should all soy products. Some like renowned neurologist Russel Blaylock say all soy has some excitotoxin activity, and most agree that soy has estrogen mimicking effects in the body. Unfermented soy such as soy milk and all the soy isolates that make up the “fake meat” products should be eliminated – they’re the worst. Here’s the link on this site – https://drgangemi.com/2009/11/excitotoxins-hidden-dangers-in-the-food-youre-eating/.
For protein amounts you give 1.5 grams per pound of body weight. Is that for a male? Does a female need less? Thank you!
Both.