Keeping Your Calories In Check

All of us at one point or another agonize over food choices especially if it is hard to manage our weight. For example, if you work hard to control your weight, you may get pleasure from your appearance, but you may also feel sorry for yourself each time you forego a favorite food. There is a balance to be struck between the immediate gratification of indulgent foods and the long-term pleasure of maintaining a desirable weight and good health.

Yes, a donut looks good and it will taste good but we have to think about the effect on our bodies. Is it worth the 500 calories it contains? That becomes a personal decision. Then, we have to ask, if I eat that can I burn that off with my exercise? Then, we have to determine, “well if I don’t exercise what will that do to me?” When we are watching our calories, we have to prioritize our foods so we get what we want in our diet without overdoing it, if our appearance and health are important to us.

As most of you know, I don’t ever suggest that any foods are going to be off-limits for the rest of your life. Throughout your life you will again eat ice cream, potato chips, cookies, cake, donuts, etc. It is portion control and moderation that is the key. Successful weight management involves 3 steps: 1)Knowing that you can give yourself a treat that you want 2) Engaging in more activity to burn off those calories associated 3) Giving up something else in the diet that wasn’t important to balance out the calories. When you have that balance worked out, you have identified your own personal dietary pleasure "point of preference." This is where you want to stay.

How Much Exercise Do We Need?

I have many patients that ask me, “How much exercise is necessary?” Well it depends upon what you want to accomplish. If you are in a weight loss mode then you want to burn more calories than you take in. If you are in a weight management mode then you want to burn off exactly what you take in to maintain your weight.

The American Institute for Cancer Research’s (AICR) expert report, "Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective," recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity a day to protect against cancer. This is exercise will also help you burn calories. Moderate physical activity is defined as activity that causes the heart rate to increase and breathing to deepen, such as brisk walking. A brisk walk, swim or bike ride will work well, as will some household chores, provided they get the heart pumping. It doesn't matter what activities are chosen and the exercise does not have to be done all at one time. It can be broken up in 10 or 15 minute intervals. The question becomes will 30 minutes per day be enough for weight loss? It will of course depend upon your metabolism and your food intake. The AICR recommends that 60 minutes per day of exercise is associated with the prevention of weight gain. It is also recommended that for maximum calorie burn, a blend of cardio and weight resistance training is necessary.

So, what if you don’t have 60 minutes per day to exercise? Do some sort of formal exercise for as long as you can. Then keep your body moving, the more you move, the more calories you burn. Cleaning and normal chores around the house can burn calories. Incorporate more walking into your daily life. Make yourself walk up stairs instead of taking an elevator or an escalator or park farther away from the store or your work place so you have to walk more.

How to Accelerate Weight Loss

For those of you in the Serotonin-Plus program, you know we use our Serotonin supplement and safe prescription appetite supressants (e.g. phentermine, Bontril) to jumpstart the metabolism and reduce appetite and cravings. Although we have a comprehensive program that incorporates diet and exercise, the appetite suppressants do play an important role. But just what does phentermine and Bontril do and why are they important that we use them? Our program is based on a process of increasing the metabolism and reducing intake so you lose weight. However, we do not want to lower intake to the point of starvation because that will lower metabolism. So we use the appetite suppressants to help. They speed up the metabolism and help you burn more calories while taking the edge off appetite. They will also increase metabolism so that when you get to your goal weight, you are able to live on a higher calorie count to maintain your weight. This is a very significant point!!! So is it important to get those “2 halves” of the phentermine in or take the 3 Bontril tablets in everyday? Yes, if you can! The full dosage will help you burn more calories! They are great diet aids and many people tolerate them well. Phentermine and Bontril do accelerate weight loss and if you have the opportunity to be on them, use them as a jumpstart. If your goal is to lose weight, don't feel you have to do it on your own. We are proud that our average weight loss is in 12 weeks has consistently remained at 35 pounds.

I’m always looking at research to see how we can improve our program and I came across a study that really validates our success in our weight loss program. A recent study at Stanford University showed the effect of diet alone on weight loss. They compared 4 different diets (Zone, LEARN, Ornish and Atkins) and followed 311 overweight ( BMI > 25 but less than 30) premenopausal women for one year. Study participants either followed the Zone Diet( 40:30:30 ratio of carbs:protein:fat; the LEARN diet (Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationships and Nutrition) which follows the U.S. Dept of Agricultures Food Pyramid guide of low in fat and high in carbs; The Ornish Diet which suggests high carbs, high vegetarian and low fat; and the Atkins Diet which recommends high protein, high fat and very low carb. All study participants attended diet classes weekly for the first 8 weeks and then were monitored by phone for the next 10 months as they continued on their respective diet plans.

In one year, the results were as follows:
Zone Diet: Average lost in 1 year was 3.5 pounds
Ornish Diet: Average lost in 1 year was 4.8 pounds
LEARN Diet: Average lost in 1 year was 5.7 pounds
Atkins Diet: Average lost in 1 year was 10.4 pounds

So what does this data suggest? Weight loss needs to be a comprehensive effort of increasing metabolism, intake (diet), and calorie expenditure (exercise). Our experience with the Serotonin-Plus program shows that we have improved upon these study averages in a much shorter period of time.

weight loss and exercise

As I was running this morning listening to my IPOD (okay...i know you are curious as to what the 52 year old doctor listens to on his IPOD....here goes: show music, James Taylor, Carol King, Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond...yeah, I said it..Neil Diamond....stop laughing!!!) I started thinking about a conversation I had with a patient yesterday when I asked her about exercise. The patient told me that she "walks alot at work".

W alking is great of course, BUT, a "good" exercise is getting your heart rate to about 75-80% of the maximum heart rate for age (220-yourage=maximum heart rate) and keeping it there for about 20-30 minutes. Unfortunately, for most people, walking at work maybe brings your heart rate to no greater than 90.

PLEASE try to find dedicated time for real exercise...setting aside 30-45 minutes 3-4 times a week to do dedicated exercise. Make it like a business appointment, meaning that you will keep your scheduled time/date as important as you would keep a business meeting. Find activities that are considered "fun" for you as opposed to a burden. Some people HATE treadmills....they will find every reason in the world then not to exercise if the treadmill is their only recouse.

Sorry for the late entry today..storms messsed up schedule..but..I did find the time to run and listen to Forever In Blue Jeans on my IPOD!