THE METABOLIC CONUNDRUM

Weight loss, two amazingly frustrating words for those who just can't seem to drop weight. Vanity aside, weight loss is crucial to durability. Every extra pound of bodyweight puts nine pounds of pressure on your joints; ten pounds puts ninety extra pounds of force. Next time you're doing cardio, strap a twenty five pound weight around your waist. Your heart will beat like it's being chased for stealing, your back will feel like it was kicked, and your knees will scream in agony for days afterward. It's safe to say there are few to no drawbacks to losing a few, and in my experience, taking it off isn't usually the issue, it's keeping it off. So this post will concern itself with what it takes for initial and sustainable weight loss.

Fat, in excess of the body's needs, is metabolically lazy, accounting for only three percent of total calories burned per day. But fat's complexity only begins there. It's directly linked to excess estrogen in the body and overweight people tend to have above average levels of this anti-muscle building hormone; which is also why women have such a hard time maintaining muscle mass, a critical element in weight loss. (Notice I said maintaining, not adding, which is even harder).

Let's look at two theories of weight loss: Calories in Versus Calories Out, and The Set Point Theory.

Calories in Versus Calories Out says burn more calories than you take in, and you'll lose weight. Take in more calories than you burn, and you'll gain. Fiendishly simple, no? It works, no arguing that. The question is whether or not the calorie deficit created is sustainable. This is where people are desperate for feedback that the diet is working, so any loss is good, right? No. The excitement and anxiety that surround the hard work and dedication it takes to follow a diet program tends to make dieters overanxious for instant results. Rapid weight loss is the antithesis of sustainable weight loss. The issue here is with what kind of weight is lost. You'll hear this repeatedly from me because I've been advocating it for decades.

Not all weight losses are successes.

Not all weight gains are failures.

Before embarking on a weight loss program, it's important to have as many metrics in place as possible. The scale should only alert you to go check all other metrics. A five pound loss on the scale needs to be accounted for to make sure there was no muscle loss, a diet killer. Bodyfat measurements, cardio testing, and recovery rates, are all valid methods of keeping a vigilant eye on what's being lost. Without adequate measuring, adjustments can't be made. Constant adjusting is what makes each weight loss program a continuation of the last. Course corrections can only be made if you're able to determine where you went off track.

In my experience, following Calories in Versus Calories Out in the first eight weeks of a weight loss program is a mistake. Initially, manipulating The Set Point Theory will garner the greatest results in the first few weeks. The Set Point Theory says that any increase or decrease in where you are now is a threat to homestasis, a term referring to the body's incessant need to keep things status quo. A cold knocks you out of homestasis, and until the immune system returns things to normal, your body's going to put you down by slowing your metabolism, ignoring what you have to get done, to fight the cold. Rapid weight loss is seen as a threat to homestasis. The body actually fights it. You fight back by doing more exercise. Your body answers by panicking and burning muscle as fuel. It also goes into starvation mode, storing the majority of what's eaten. Bodyfat checks, as often as needed, will get you out of the vicious cycle of ambivalent weight losses and gains.

I follow The Set Point Theory in the first eight weeks and manipulate the body's need for even keel. A gain of one ounce of muscle forces the body to balance things out by using an ounce of stored fat. Thinking bigger, a pound of muscle will force the body to burn a pound of fat. I have seen this my entire career, and it works every time. The reason it's such a hard sell to clients is that they think they're getting bigger or bulkier. What feels contradictory is actually a sign it's working. Muscle lives under fat. Any increase in lean tissue will obviously feel like you're getting bulky because the muscle is pushing the fat out. Be patient and keep measuring, because while your body is stubbornly holding onto it's set point, you're laying the groundwork for serious weight loss.

Consider this: If you were to get out of bed and roll right onto a couch and remain motionless all day, you'd burn calories. How many refers to your basal metabolic rate, or the number of calories you burn at rest. Increasing lean mass actively increases the number of calories you burn at rest. That extra ounce of muscle burns an extra hundred calories a day just sitting there. That's seven hundred a week. Considering it takes thirty five hundred calories to burn one pound of fat, that ounce is one hell of an earner.

It's absolutely necessary to understand this principal if you're ever going to take control of how you look and feel. There is no fitness goal that doesn't begin and end with strength. You're ability to achieve a goal is wholly dependent on how strong a body you bring to the table. If there are apparent weaknesses, then change your goal back to strength. I need this point driven hard because as a scientist, I KNOW this works, hands down, end of story.

Since exercise promotes an immune response, it forces the body into repair mode. Another way to increase the effectiveness of what we're eating is nutrient timing. Eating your most balanced meal directly after a workout offers your body fuel when it needs it most. This is your opportunity to pay your body back for doing what you asked of it, so make sure you return the favor. Breakfast does exactly that, breaks the fast. Your body worked all night to repair everything you exposed it to during the day, so the first thing on your mind upon waking should be eating, or peeing, if you're over 40.

Meal frequency is another way to rev up metabolism. Regular eating assures the body fuel is always available, so it stores less. To tell if increasing meal frequency is working, try skipping a regular meal, your stomach should scream at you. Please don't start cramming six meals a day in if you're only used to two. Start slow. Each new meal addition should be low calorie, like vegetable smoothies. They're a great way to control calorie intake, allowing your body to ease into it's new, more frequent eating schedule.

There is a way to achieve long term, sustainable, weight loss. It starts with knowledge. Every person brings a different set of circumstances to weight loss. Finding out what works for you takes trial, and error, and error, and more trial, and another error. Start by finding logic in whatever program you choose. Formulaic weight loss is closed minded. One size never fits all. I don't claim to have the answer. I'm simply presenting what the numbers have told me over the last twenty years.

It doesn't solve the problem, but we have another piece of the puzzle, and its a corner...