- The menu for your weight loss program must be identical to the menu that you will use after you reach your desirable weight. The only differences for weight loss are increase in exercise combined with a reduction in the amount of higher calorie types of foods. Do not eliminate any foods from your menu during weight loss.
- Eat a good breakfast, including a complete protein.
- Do not skip meals, and eat them at about the same time every day.
- Eat moderate portions, and never take seconds.
- Eat larger portions of vegetables, and smaller portions of high calorie foods.
- Snacks (2 or 3) at regular intervals between meals are O.K., but they must be nutritious items such as fruits, vegetables, or dry cereals.
- Chew your food well, and eat slowly. You will feel more satisfied without getting overly full. Never fill your stomach.
- Have specific places at home, work, and school where you do nothing but eat. Do not eat while doing something else, such as watching TV. Break associations between eating and doing other things, especially recreating.
- Never eat because of depression, loneliness, anxiety, or for escape. Turn to non food or drink activities such as social relationships, sports or games, creative activity, work, academic activity, or some other non food or drink activity which you enjoy.
- Keep clearly in mind the way you want to look and feel.
- If no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.
- If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, they cancel each other out.
- When eating with someone else, calories don't count if you both eat the same amount.
- Foods used for medicinal purposes NEVER count; such as, Hot Chocolate, Brandy, Toast, and Sara Lee Cheesecake.
- If you fatten up everyone else around you, then you look thinner.
- Movie related foods don't count because they are simply part of the entire entertainment experience and not a part of one's personal fuel; such as Milk Duds, Popcorn and Butter, and Junior Mints.
- Whatever your favorite food is, it’s a Negative Food (chewing it burns up more calories than it contains).
Carl Bourhenne's Fitness and Long Life Manual |
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Youthful and Attractive |
Permanent weight control can only be accomplished by permanent lifestyle changes. That is why DIETS DON'T WORK. If the things that you are doing to lose weight are not permanent lifestyle changes, the results are not likely to be permanent, either.
As many of us who have used several diets for weight loss have found out but perhaps not realized, diets do not work.
To those who have never really thought about it, this will come as a startling statement that may be a little hard to accept, but if you are overweight you are living proof that diets do not work, because you have probably used several of them yourself. People in the United States alone spent $33 billion on diets in 1996, and 95% of them failed. The other 5% must have made permanent lifestyle changes, or they also would have regained the weight.
Jean Mayer, the renowned nutritionist, refers to these up and down weight loss methods as the "rhythm method of girth control". The fact is that a temporary diet is not a lasting solution to an overweight condition. An overweight condition is the result of a combination of factors including, but perhaps not limited to heredity, and psychological, sociological, and biological conditions. These conditions may include such factors as metabolism, hypo-activity (insufficient exercise), escapism, frustration, insecurity, and others.
The long term solution to weight management is a permanent behavior modification program that includes addressing the reasons and the occasions of eating more than is required for the maintenance of one's desirable weight.
Few of us have inherited the genetic predisposition to meet the ideals portrayed in TV commercials and billboard advertisements. It is important that we accept the body style which we inherited, and appreciate ourselves for who and what we are. Nevertheless, we all do have some control over how we look as regards our weight. There are two main reasons for controlling our weight. We all want to have a pleasing appearance, and to be healthy.
While contemporary society may be overly infatuated with a slender appearance, overweight is nevertheless associated with several major diseases and causes of death, such as the following. Hypertension (high blood pressure): It is known to be a significant cause of stroke, heart disease, and kidney disease. Heart Disease: Overweight is responsible for one-fourth of deaths from heart disease in the United States, especially for people who are 30% or more overweight. Diabetes: Overweight contributes significantly to the development of diabetes, which may lead to heart attack, stroke, blindness, and atherosclerosis. Cancer: Some research shows that women who are overweight have a higher incidence of cancers of the uterus, breast, gall bladder, and pancreas; and if overweight since adolescence, incidences of endometrial (uterine lining) cancer is 75% greater.
Problems associated with overweight are many because most every facet of life is affected. Disadvantages are felt in one's self-esteem, emotional, social, as well as one's vocational life.
Some of the major considerations in weight management are:
Speed of eating: When we eat rapidly our appetite regulating mechanism does not have time to signal satiety. Indeed, When so abused, this mechanism may switch off, in time.
Heavy eating late in the day: In most people, this can be a major factor in weight gain.
Junk food habits: High calorie, low nutrient foods are habituating, and more is required to satisfy hunger.
The first step in a good weight control program is to develop a Behavior Modification program to make permanent changes in eating and drinking habits. The starting move is to observe when, what, where, with whom, why (if possible), and how we eat. Make notes for a week on each of these issues. At the end of the week, look at your notes and draw some conclusions that can help you to make some decisions for changing your eating, exercise, and social habits. It could be helpful to get some professional help.
While eating less calories than we burn up is one perspective on weight control, the flip side is burning up more calories than we eat by increasing our activity level. The best way to do this is to increase our level of daily exercise.
Some considerations in developing an exercise program are:
In order to lose weight you must exercise. The reason is that the body will first give up weight in water, then in perceived unused muscle. If you use your muscles each day then the body will give up fat.
The type of exercise you select should be one you enjoy, and that fits into your lifestyle. Exercising at the same time every day creates a routine which becomes a regular part of your schedule, making the exercise somewhat easier to get into.
The kind of exercise is less important than consistency and frequency. Aerobic exercises, that is continuous, rhythmic exercise lasting thirty minutes or longer, are the most beneficial. Walking, swimming, jogging, bicycling, and rowing are among the best. Avoid shots, pills, miracle diets, and other super-quick weight loss fads.
Always consult your doctor before beginning any new strenuous programs.
The most valuable guidelines for successful weight control include these:
To attain and maintain your desirable weight then, first decide exactly what your desirable weight is, and then plan your permanent lifetime weight control program. Get some help if needed, and follow your plan enthusiastically, passionately and consistently.
Remember, after you reach your desirable weight, the only difference between the losing phase and the maintaining phase should be a slight increase in the amount of each type of food that you eat, with no change in the types of food eaten. Your body needs the same kinds of nutrition in both phases, just less calories and perhaps more exercise. Eat some of everything that you want to include in your permanent menu, both for weight loss and, as importantly, to form new eating and drinking habits. Practicing the permanent eating and drinking habits while losing weight is the key to making the weight loss permanent. The main reason that "diets" don't work is because they don't let you practice and form your new eating and drinking habits.
The following "diet" offers insight into some common sub-conscious notions about eating and dieting.
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Breakfast 1/2 Grapefruit 1 Slice Whole Wheat Toast 8 oz. Skim Milk Lunch 4 OZ. Lean Broiled Chicken Breast 1 Cup Steamed Zucchini 1 Oreo Cookie Herb Tea
Mid-Afternoon Snack |  |
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Dinner | |
Diet Tips
We have all seen how overweight people tend to look 10 to 20 years older than they are. And we have also seen people lose weight, and appear ten years younger. Excess weight not only makes people look older, but it can cause bagging under the eyes, wrinkled and sagging skin, and other unhealthy and unattractive features. These features become more and more permanent the longer we remain overweight. Also, fat people may die younger than they would if they were to stay in a slim condition, as a result of the extreme physical and sometimes emotional stress of being overweight.
An important factor in weight control is a high motivation in daily living. Being excited about the things that we are involved in daily, and being excited about the people we deal with every day can cause us to keep ourselves in the healthy and attractive condition necessary to coordinate with our own interests. Anyone who is less than excited about what they do in their daily life, or with whom they associate might make whatever changes are needed to allow them to begin doing something they enjoy doing for a living, for recreation, and for a social life. There are never any valid reasons for not pursuing the life that we want. There are no barriers that large, or hurdles that high. And anyone who is having difficulty coming up with the ideas to do this should speak with a friend, or a counselor. This is your real life. It is not a dress rehearsal. If the way that you are living your life isn't exciting, interesting, and fun, you might have difficulty changing your weight. The change is in your hands only.
Exercise by itself is not a long term method of weight control or weight loss. Moderate exercise when combined with eating control causes faster weight loss, but exercising too strenuously while dieting can be dangerous.
The only cause of weight loss is burning up more calories than we take in, pure and simple. Ever notice the overweight pro football player? Do you know how murderously strenuous their daily exercise routine is? Some of them are overweight. Those who are overweight are simply eating more than they burn up.
Depending on frame, level of activity, and age (we burn up less calories as we grow older). The "average" man requires about 20 calories per day for each pound of body weight; and the "average" woman requires about 17 calories per day for each pound of body weight. The difference between the heaviest and the lightest frame are negligible, when considered with other off-setting personal factors.
A woman who weighs 100 lb. requires about 1700 calories per day to maintain her weight: (100 x 17 = 1700 calories).
Recent research shows that life expectancy can be dramatically improved by reducing that number.
A man who weighs 170 lb. requires about 3400 calories per day to maintain his body weight: (170 x 20 = 3400).
Recent research shows that life expectancy can be dramatically improved by reducing that number.
Of course, the actual exact number of calories that you require must be determined by you, by trial and by observing the results. This is, however, an ideal starting number, and we're sure you'll like the results.
Perhaps the one factor that determines our weight more than any other, is when we eat. What we eat early in the day our faster metabolism tends to burn up, then we begin burning up fat. What we eat later in the day we tend to store as fat; especially if we go to sleep without having burned it all up.
So, the first thing that must be done to set up a weight maintenance program, or a weight loss program is to determine the number of calories you burn up each day:
Women multiply your ideal body weight by 17.
Men multiply your ideal body weight by 20.
If you are already at your ideal weight, then this is the approximate number of calories you need to eat each day. Remember, though, this will probably not be exact for you, and you'll have to adjust this number as you watch the results over a few month's time.
Never eat until your stomach is completely full. The entire system becomes congested and clogged, putting stress on the system, and causing damage to the body. Eat slowly enough to foresee the point of satisfaction, and thus avoid over-eating. Remember, the stomach continues to fill up for some time after we stop eating, because the system must continue to add digestive juices to process the food just eaten. So we must leave a little room in our stomachs for the addition of these digestive juices. If we pack the food into our stomach too much, the digestive juices cannot penetrate into the food at a normal rate, and we are left with both a digesting, and a comfort problem.
You can see from your figures that you can realistically expect to lose about 1½ to 2 pounds per week. Remember, if you start out knowing that you are actually only losing about 1½ to 2 pounds per week of fat, you shouldn't become discouraged after that first week or two of losing 5 to 8 pounds per week of water. If you are exercising, you will be adding muscle, which weighs about twice as much as fat, so allow for that exchange when you weigh yourself. Don’t weigh yourself more than twice per week.
To figure out how long it will take you to reach your ideal weight, then, determine how many pounds you must lose, subtract 5 to 10 (for the initial quick water weight loss), then multiply by 3 (about a third of a pound per day). This will tell you about haw many days it will take you to be your ideal weight. For example: If you want to weigh 120 lb., but you weigh 140, then you want to lose 20 lb.
20 minus 5 = 15 lb., so multiply that by 3 (3 x 15 = 45), and you can see that you should allow yourself about 45 days to lose the 20 lb. of excess weight that you carry.
Now, look at your calendar and mark the day you will be at your ideal weight. It is important to remember, if you do have excess fat on your body, that you didn't accumulate it in a week and you won't lose it in a week, either.
For every 3500 calories that you eat in excess of your need, you gain one pound. And you must burn up 3500 calories more than you eat, to lose one pound.
Everyone who starts a weight loss program immediately loses five to eight pounds, usually in the first one to three days. Obviously, this cannot possibly be all fat, since you would have to burn up 17,500 calories to lose 5 lb. (3500 x 5 = 17,500). If you normally burn 2,000 calories per day, and your weight loss program is 1,200 calories, you will be reducing by 2,400 calories in three days - less than 1 pound. Even if you fasted for five days, you'd burn up 4,000 calories; not even near the 17,500 needed to burn up 5 pounds.
So as you've probably already figured out, the largest part of your first three to five days of weight loss is water. Don't be discouraged when your loss of pounds slows down dramatically after the first three to five days.
Begin now to look at yourself, and to think of yourself as being your ideal weight, and it can soon be true. By the way, along with good motivation you should try to arrange freedom from major frustrations. Major frustrations are those which arise from neglecting to pursue the things in life that are really important to you; such as a particular kind of work; a certain kind of lifestyle; certain social activities; or a port or hobby that you have always wanted to participate in; etc. So in order to be slim, you may have to change jobs, start your own business, change your domestic situation, take some lessons or classes to facilitate the changes; or simply adopt new attitudes toward your present situations.
Gaining Weight
There are some important factors to consider when gaining weight. Three of the factors are involved in an underweight condition: heredity, eating habits, and exercise habits. Some often controllable habits which contribute to underweight include undereating, nervous tension, lack of muscle developing exercise, nervous tension, and hyperactivity. Gaining weight must involve planned, consistent program which deals with the observance of new habits.
The successful weight gain program will include increased calorie intake (mostly carbohydrates), moderate exercise, and stress control.
It is important to note that high protein and high fat diets can be dangerous. Also, while muscle can be added to specific body areas by exercising those muscles, it is not possible to add fat to designated areas.
To gain weight, maintain top nutritional standards, and do not smoke or drink coffee with caffeine. In addition, eat all of the whole grain products, fruits, baked potatoes, honey, and nuts that you wish.
Strenuous exercise can help, if you feed yourself accordingly.
Carl Bourhenne, MA
