Make Your Body Burn More Calories

Metabolic Rate is the rate at which the body burns up calories. If your body consumes 2500 calories a day, and burns 2500 calories a day you will stay at the same weight. Whereas, if you consuming 2500 calories daily but burning only 2000 you will gain weight.

In today's busy world, it's hard to get in all the exercise we need so it is important to make our bodies work for us. We can influence our metabolic rates

Try these three suggestions to speed up your caloric burning rate:

1) Build Muscle
Increase the amount of muscle in your body. For every extra pound of muscle you put on, your body uses around 50 extra calories a day. Muscle is metabolically active and burns more calories than other body tissue even when you are not moving. Training with weights just 3 times a week for around 20 minutes is enough to build muscle. Not only will you be burning more calories, you will look and feel better.

2) Aerobic Exercise
As well as the actual amount of calories burned during aerobic exercise, studies have shown that sustained, high-intensity exercise makes you burn more calories for several hours afterwards.

3) Eat Low Calorie Snacks Often
There is evidence to suggest that eating small, regular meals will keep your metabolism going faster. (This is why when you're starting a diet you may find yourself eating more than usual). There are two reasons why meal frequency increases your metabolism. Firstly, levels of thyroid hormones begin to drop within hours of eating a meal, and metabolism slows. Secondly, it may be that the thermogenic effect of eating several small meals is slightly higher than eating the same amount of calories all at once.

Weight Gain....Confronting a Difficult Week

First, I hope your 4th was a very happy and relaxing day for you and your loved ones.

Oftentimes, we have patients at our weight loss centers who cancel their followup appointments when they have a difficult week previously in losing weight. Whether it be a holiday, a birthday week, a vacation, etc., if the person knows they have gained some weight, there is frequently a compulsion to cancel his/her appointment. Why? It would seem that this would be the exact time to follow-up , get "refocused" and start moving the scales down again.

I believe this phenomenon has to do with a psychological issue of not wanting to "disappoint" the doctor or be looked at as some sort of "failure". Additionally, perhaps there is also some fear of being "admonished" for "bad behavior".

In reality, the team and I NEVER are disappointed, judgemental or in any other way upset with any of our patients for gaining weight. We are here to support your efforts in losing weight and realize there will always be weeks much more challenging than others. NO ONE goes through our program and does not have several weeks in which some weight gain occurs.

Okay, let's bring up some gender/style differences that may play a psychological role in the perceived response on our part to a week in which a patient gains weight. I, being the gray haired white coat stethoscope bearing doctor, am probably more apt to be looked at as a "father" figure (no jokes about grandfather figure) and perhaps I will be more intimidating to see than Linda and Elizabeth, or may be perceived as more nurturing and supportive in their roles. When a patient has a weight gaining week and I walk into the room, I often hear a sigh from the patient, nervous laugh and perhaps a joke such as "oops....I was hoping it wouldn't be you".

I truly never get upset, disappointed or in any other way, look at a person who has gained weight that week as some sort of "failure". I am THRILLED they have come back to allow us to get them refocused, back on course and into the "zone" again. I certainly see it as my role to find out what factors may have caused the weight gain, help them analyze the situation(s) in order to futuristically navigate around difficult weeks without gaining weight. I realize that in the big picture, a patient's time with us is miniscule, and for the majority of their lives, they will be in the position of monitoring and reacting to their weight issues on their own. We need to help the person be successful by helping them learn new patterns of eating and self-accountability.

On the "In case you are wondering note but you probably are not" note: Played real well on the clay courts yesterday!!!

What are Empty Calories?

With BBQ's, vacations and beach trips around every corner of your summer, you may have read the term "empty calories," or heard it used by nutritionists or even talk show hosts on TV. But what exactly are empty calories? Why are they so bad for you, and how can you avoid them?

Empty Calories = High Calories but Low Nutrition

These empty calories can also be known as "junk food," because they lack health-promoting nutrients.

Examples of foods containing mostly Empty Calories:

• French fries, fried chicken, chips and all other deep-fried foods
  
  A large order of fries from a fast food chain can contain up to 570 calories with 30 g of total fat and 8 g of trans fat!
• Candy, soda and other sweetened packaged foods
  
  A can of soda contains about 130 calories as well as additives and colorings.
  
• Beer, wine and all other alcoholic beverages
  
  A can of beer contains about 150 calories from carbohydrates and not much of anything else. In addition, calories from alcohol tend to be stored as fat in the abdomen = "beer belly"

• Refined grains such as crackers, cookies, white rice and white bread
  
  Refined grains do provide some B vitamins, but that's it.

How to Avoid Empty Calories?

· Avoid deep-friend foods. Instead of frying, try baking or broiling foods.

· Avoid the high calorie/sugar drinks. Instead try Crystal Light flavored water, or diet juices/teas.

· Try whole grains instead of refined grains (white bread).

· Snack on fruits or vegetables instead of the bag of potato chips

Fireworks, Beer and Carbs

Happy 4th! Truly a great Amercian holiday celebrating the birth of our nation! This week I was asking many of my patients what they are going to do on the 4th and almost 100% told me they would be attending a barbeque at either a family member's, friend's or neighbor's house. The menu at these events will most certainly include lots of protein choices: hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, steak, etc. Bowls of salads will be put out as well. But watch out, here are the other items that will be in front of you: chips, potato salad, buns, watermelon, high-caloric desserts, etc. Additionally, beer, wine and other alcohol drinks will be readily available.

Try to reconcile the ability to have a great time with food/beverage choices that will not completely blow your hard work in trying to lose weight. Separating a great social event from the foods accompaning that event is very difficult at times. When everyone around you is smiling lots from that third glass of wine or telling you how great that double chocolate cake tastes, it is hard not to feel compelled to join the crowd. Always ask yourself the question as to whether you feel "hunger" before getting a second helping or reaching for a dessert. Many of my patients tell me that if they get a small taste of a dessert this will be enough to satisfy their mental urge for something sweet.

Switching gears: I had a patient yesterday who came in after being on vacation for two weeks at Disney World and he lost 12.5 pounds while gone. Yes, LOST weight on vacation. I always tell my patients that staying even on vacation is a complete victory. I asked him his secret and he told me that the extra walking at the theme parks helped alot and also not eating any of the fried foods or snacks at those parks. I asked him whether "toeing the line" detracted from the fun of his vacation and he said absolutely not and he was very proud of himself for the weight loss.

Your doctor is going to play a tennis match on clay today (I despise that surface...like hard courts better), then write some more in his upcoming weight loss book, then to a barbeque with fireworks. I hope your day is wonderful.

Weight Loss and Self-Esteem/Ego

I had a patient come into the office yesterday and she was beaming from ear to ear. I commented about her very positive mood and she then told me that since her weight loss of over 20 pounds, "I have been asked out about 150% more times for dates." This patient has lost over 20 pounds, but her goal is to lose about 50 more. Along the way to her goal, however, she has noted already a marked ancillary benefit of her weight loss...being noticed in a very positive manner. This, in turn, has resulted in a tremendous improvement of her self-esteenm and ego.

Losing weight is clearly important from a health standpoint to reduce the risks of heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, certain cancers, etc. We all know this and certainly, weight loss for the purpose of improving overall global health is a primary motivation for most people. There are a number of people who come into our program who do not have any known medical problems, take no medications, and yes, they are concerned about the medical ramifications of their weight problem. But, their main motivation in coming to us is to recover a higher level of confidence, self-esteem and improved ego that result from the aesthetic improvement that occurs with weight loss.

I also must add that this is not age-dependent, meaning that when someone is over 50 (an age that I certainly can identify with!), there still is a very strong motivation to lose weight because of the improved "look" that occurs at a more optimal weight. It is amazing to see how much younger our patients look after their weight loss. Concerning "antiaging" procedures, I can think of nothing more powerful than aggressive weight loss.

Weight Loss and Having Support

I know we have touched on this before but the entry of two women into our program made me think that this is a good topic to be broguth up again: Support with another person in your weight loss efforts. When embarking on a weight loss initiative, having someone join you in these efforts can be invaluable in reaching your goals. Often, friends and family are well-meaning sabotours who will try to push food and alocohol on you during your efforts. Having a friend or family member join you allows you to mutually feed off each other's energy to make the right choices and not be distracted from your goals.

I saw how the ladies yesterday had already set up supportive walks with each other, exchanging recipes, scheduled talks with each other daily to encourage each other, etc.

It is difficult to approach an overweight friend or coworker about weight issues because of the sensitivity of such a topis. However, think of it as actually helping prolong the life and quality of life for someone who is important to you. Having support in your efforts can be very helpful.

Stress Eating Part Deux

Okay, before I begin my second day thoughts on stress eating, let's discuss sequels of movies that were pretty good. Sorry for the flight of ideas, but I am hoping that today's discussion of stress eating will be on par with yesterdays...kind of a sequel thing. Now of course, if you thought yesterday's blog was boring and not worthwhile then I guess I don't need to worry about Part 2.

Most often, when a blockbuster movie comes out the sequel usually is horrible...some examples of the horrible ones: The Exorcist Part 2, The Omen Part 2, Major League 2, Analyze That, Basic Instinct 2. Good ones: City Slickers Part 2, The Godfather Part 2, Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. Feel free to post your thoughts.

Okay, back to stress eating: Almost instinctually, when we get under stress, we feel compelled to reach for high caloric food sources as a way of somehow mitigating the stress. Such foods tend to be repetitive sources, such as popcorn, chips, nuts etc. Chemically, it may be the case that under stressful periods, we deplete some neurochemicals, including serotonin, and our brain is making us seek the food sources that contain the building blocks of some of the neurotransmitters. In the case of serotonin, the amino acid tryptophan, which is present in high amounts in sweets and carbs, is the building block.

The recognition of stress eating is not enough to block the almost reflex-like response of reaching for high caloric food sources. A few hints: 1- ensure that around your office or home there are NOT these food sources that you would tend to reach for when you feel stressed. 2-Try to convert "negative" stress to "positive" stress. What I mean by this is that there are certain "stresses" that are positive, such as lifting weights, which "stress" the muscles but yet do not stress our psyches. During times of mental stress, it would be beneficial to try to convert this to perhaps a physical activity that allows you to dissipate the stress. In this scenario, not only are you not consuming the calories from the "comfort food" source, but you are also burning up calories with your activity of choice.

This is not easy because the compunction to eat under periods of stress is often very strong. Try to figure out how you can place some type of "delay" mechanism into this behavior pattern, because when you can put off the immediate eating activity, your brain will have more time to think it out and realize that eating in response to stress only INCREASES your overall stress levels because now you will have to deal with the weight gain sequelae.