I got an interesting comment ouf of the blue yesterday and I thought I'd share the information: Here was the comment:

hey, Im (basically) an obese person (180 pounds, 5'5) and I was interested in your blog because of your interest in getting fit. I swim competivly (sorry, spelling is not my forte) 10 months of the year, and I HATE running, so dont even suggest it.

What I would like, however, is to change my diet, because thats where my faults lie. Can you suggest some healthier receipes for still good food? (not some tofu stuff or anything, yuech) And maybe some tips on how you were so successful about losing wieght? (I want to lose around 60 pounds, but I know just swimming six hours a week..maybe more..will not do it) Will you please send me an email? I would very greatly appreciate it.

Thank you

bebefly [faerie_princezz@hotmail.com] • 23/08/2002, 20:47 #



My response:

Hey there, you commented on my blog just the other day. I'm glad to help. Back in January, I used to be 180lbs 5'8". With at least 25% body fat. Now I'm 165 with about 17% body fat. Still losing. I hope to one day be below 10% in body fat.



There is so much I want to tell you, but I think I should just make some main points clear.



Before you change your diet, you must understand the basic fundamentals. Most of it is common sense if you just sit down and think about it.



The reason people gain weight.

Say your body burns 2200 calories for all your daily activities, walking, swimming, talking, breathing. When you eat more than 2200 calories a day, your body will store the extra calories you consume, by storing it into fat. This is why your weight goes up. Same thing for weight loss. The reason people lose weight is that they consume less calories than they are burning off that day. Simple right? For future references 3500 fat calories is about a pound of fat. A normal person burns about 2200 calories a day. A person working at a desk job with no physical activities during the day burns about 1800 calories, and a active person burns about 2600 calories a day.



The reason crash diets don't keep weight off.

In my opinion, crash diets are one of the worst things you can do to your bodies. A crash diet consists of eating maybe 500-700 calories a day, while you go on with your normal life. You might that you will lose weight a lot quicker, but your body has a defense mechanism. It will put itself in a survival mode, and you probably will end up only burning a fraction of what your body normally burns because it's trying at the best of it's ability to burn the least amount of calories as possible. This is why you feel weak. So after you're done doing serious damage to your body, you could have lost a lot of weight, but you probably don't look any healthier. Just a slimmer version of you. You probably lost a lot of muscle too. Your body fat is up. Your metabolism is way down. So after you can't take this crash diet any longer, you try to eat normally. Your metabolism being way down, you are still storing just about everything you eat as fat. You start eating 2200 calories a day while your body is burning 1400 calories, you will gain some serious fat really fast. With less muscle than what you initially started with, you are now unhealthier and fatter than ever before. Then after you balloon up, you might do this crash diet again after you feel like you can bare it again, and the cycle repeats itself.



What metabolism means.

So above I described a person with low metabolism. The body is conserving calories. So you don't have much energy doing normal things, and when you ask it to do some manual labor, you'll run out of juice really quickly. A person with high metabolism on the other hand is constantly burning calories, even at rest, because the body is operating efficiently. They will feel energetic, and when you want to do something physical, you have a lot of energy for long periods of time.



How your body burns fat.

There are 2 ways your body burns fat. More muscles you have, more fat you'll burn while you are resting. Doing cardio (running, biking, swimming) will only burn fat while you do it. But it is important that you do cardio effectively. Too low intensity, or too high, you won't be burning fat at all. Just making your self tired. And that's when the cramps set in. For me, if I do cardio below 135bpm or above 168bpm, I won't be burning any fat. You should find your target heart rate for maximum fat burning. It's a little sad to see people who are just getting started at the gym and overly motivated. They take their heart rate up too high. They just put themselves through some excruciating pain for about a month, see no results, and don't come back. Also, when you do cardio, you gotta do it for at least 20 minutes. Within first 12 minutes, you are burning through your carb stores (which need to be burned off first), and it takes this long for you to produce fat burning enzymes. Another thing about cardio is that you should change your cardio routine every 2-3 weeks. You said that you liked to swim. After about 2-3 weeks of intensive swimming, your body adjusts, and your rate of burning fat is almost zero after 2-3 weeks of swimming. Why not try this. Swim for 3 weeks, do the elliptical at the gym for 3 weeks, do the bike for 3 weeks, and then you can rotate with these 3 exercises. One more thing about cardio. You should not do it every day, and not longer for 45 minutes. If you do it too frequently or too much, your body releases cortisol in your bloodstream. This stops your body from burning fat and building muscle. Everyone releases cortisol, but if you release lot of it every day, the gland that secretes cortisol will expand, and you will be releasing cortisol way too much, that you'll never see any fat loss. For the quickest results for fat loss, you should build muscle and do cardio. make sure your body has time to recover. If you are thinking of hitting the gym to do some muscle building, email me back and I'll explain what you need to build muscle or tone what you have. And give you more information on the importance of rest, form, stretching.



Nutrition

So finally what you've been asking for....There are 3 things your body needs. Carbs, protein, fat. Carbs you need for quick energy. Protein you need for building muscle. Fat you need for various health reasons like secretion of hormones, blood circulation, etc. 1g of carbs = 4 calories 1g of protein = 4 calories 1g of fat = 9 calories 1g of alcohol = 3 calories remember I mentioned that you should be eating slightly less than what you are burning? So if you an active person, you should eat 2000 - 2100 calories. You should divide this up to 7 meals. Every 2 hours eat ~300 calories. The calories consisting of 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat. If at all possible, the fat you consume should be mono unsaturated fat (olive oil, avocados, oils found in nuts). The simpler form of fat that is the easiest to break down and burn. The most complex fat that is the hardest to burn off is saturated fat. There is some evidence that your body can't burn saturated fat at all, and all it does is clog up your arteries. Since it will take you too much time to count calories of all the meals you eat, I suggest you design a good number of 300 calorie meals, and just choose from the list to eat ever 2 hours.



Health

Vitamins - You need vitamins for your body to function properly. That includes things like your brain's ability to think to your body's ability to burn fat. Fiber - a lot of truth to the old phrase "an apple a day, keeps the doctors away". I take a multivitamin (Centrum). They don't have enough calcium in them, so I take calcium separately. I also take Glucosamine Sulfate (so I don't sprain my wrist or joints when I'm working out). Vitamin C will keep your immune system in check, and helps your body released stored fat into the blood stream to be burned off for energy. And I take fish oil (omega-3 fatty acid) which has been proven to help your body's blood circulation.



Tips

Here's a tip I give to everybody. I make it to the gym 5-6 times a week, because I don't plan on going to the gym. It's just a part of my day, like going to work, eating, etc. I go at the same time every day. The mistake of some people is that they plan to go to the gym on a day by day basis. Works when you're motivated, but motivation will only get you started. just set a time to work out every day at the same time, and you plan your schedule around that.



So I guess I just basically talked about everything except what you asked for (recipies). The truth is my meals are very boring. I've been eating like a machine. I have convenience and nutrition facts at a higher priority than taste and how much I enjoy the food. But I'm starting to dread it now, and I am starting to design more creative, tasty meals even though it means my meals take much longer to prepare than a few minutes. And you must have stumbled onto my blog just when I'm getting creative. So keep reading my blog if you want http://lucidmike.blogspot.com. And I'll have recipes there from time to time (I just posted one today, the "almost fried chicken"). Feel free to design your own meals with everything I said in mind. The more you do it, you see the bigger picture of how your body works, and when you understand what your body is doing.



So the way to lose weight and be able to keep it off relies on a few things.

-You should work on losing fat, building muscle, and keeping your metabolism up.

-Making a life style change on how you eat, what you eat and how active you are.



If you're really interested on what I've been eating the past 5 months, here's a list. All of these should be about 300 calorie meals with 40% of the calories being carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat.

Meal 1

Protein shake

1 slice of whole wheat bread

teaspoon of penut butter



meal 2

lots of lettuce

1 small bag of tuna in fresh water

2 servings of wishbone Italian dressing

4 servings of wishbone fat free Italian dressing

1 piece of whole wheat bread or 1 serving of fat free crutons



meal 3

lots of lettuce

1 small bag of tuna in sunflower oil

6 serverings of wishbone fat free Italian dressing

1 piece of whole wheat bread or 1 serving of fat free crutons



meal 4

half a protein bar

banana or a large apple



meal 5

lots of turkey

one slice of whole wheat bread

1 slice of fat free cheese

1 serving of mustard

(optional) lettuce

1 teaspoon of peanut butter

half an medium apple, or a small apple



meal 6

bowl of "protein plus" cereal

1 cup of skim milk (non fat)

1 teaspoon of peanut butter



noting to brag about, but that's what I ate for a few months. But now I'm willing to spend more time in the kitchen for more than 2 minutes because I've become so bored with the stuff I'm used to eating. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.