How to Really Lose Weight by George Best - HTML preview

Table Of Contents

Introduction page 3

 

How To Use This Book page 6

 

Chapter 1 Understanding Weight Gain And Loss page 7

 

Chapter 2 Dietary Recommendations page 16

 

Chapter 3 Supplements To Assist With Weight Loss page 35

 

Chapter 4 Weight Loss Drugs And Surgery page 39

 

Chapter 5 Exercise Recommendations page 41

 

Chapter 6 Interfering Factors page 47

 

Conclusion page 50

 

INTRODUCTION

There are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of weight loss programs in existence today. Some of them are quite good, some of them are ridiculously bad, but even those programs that are safe and effective do not fully address the entirety of the weight loss challenge for those who are “weight loss impaired”. Who are the weight loss impaired? Someone who is weight loss impaired has tried numerous diets, a variety of exercises, perhaps has hired a personal trainer, maybe has used supplements or drugs, and maybe has even tried acupuncture or hypnosis at one time or another. The weight loss impaired are those people who have tried “everything” to lose weight and either were unable to lose weight at all, or who did lose some weight and then gained it all back – and sometimes more. The weight loss impaired are frustrated, desperate, and usually more than a little depressed about their weight problems.

The fact is for most people to lose weight and keep it off, it requires a combination of approaches. There is no single “magic” diet, exercise program, or pill that can do it all. This program takes the synergistic approach of combining diet, exercise (with a program that can be tailored to almost any fitness level), and weight loss supplements (healthy ones, not dangerous stimulants), PLUS takes into consideration hormonal and physiological barriers to weight loss. It is intended to be used with the mental/emotional conditioning approaches contained in my E-Book, “Training Your Brain For Weight Loss”.

All that may sound pretty complicated, and it certainly could be made to be complicated, but it really doesn’t need to be. All of those factors will be discussed piece by piece and by the end of this book you’ll finally have a complete understanding of why it’s been so hard to lose weight and what you need to do (and perhaps more importantly how to get yourself to do it) to finally be successful at getting rid of the excess weight and keeping it off for good.

Now, this is not to say that this program is effortless. It requires some effort on your part. You will need to make some changes not only in what you eat and how you exercise, but also in how you think, and possibly in how you interact with others. It is quite possible that you may even need to rethink some of your personal relationships. You may even need to rethink your career. Some of these things you may not be ready to do immediately. That’s OK. Even if you only follow the diet and exercise recommendations, the vast majority of people, even the weight loss impaired, will lose weight and develop habits that will keep the weight off for life. But that’s a very big “if” isn’t it? In fact, it’s that “if” that has probably been your downfall on other weight loss programs you may have tried.

The fact of the matter is that there are actually a number of very good weight loss programs out there that really do work, but they don’t work if you don’t actually follow the recommendations. And therein lies what makes this program different.

When combined with the materials in
“Training Your Brain For Weight Loss”, the focus of this program is on first getting control of your thoughts and emotions that in the past have sabotaged your attempts to do a weight loss program. This is done through a variety of techniques, from simply getting clear on your priorities and finding the appropriate motivation, to methods as diverse as Neuro-Linguistic Programming, self-hypnosis, Emotional Freedom Technique, and the Sedona Method. Different people will do better with one approach versus another, so the best of human performance technologies are presented so that there’s a high probability of finding things that work for you.
The resources for your transformation are all included, with the exception of certain professional services that may be needed by a small number of people.

So if you’re ready to finally make a lasting change in your weight and your life, let’s get started.

 

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

The first part of the book goes into detail on the biochemical and hormonal factors that cause weight gain or loss. This information is provided for the benefit of the analytical types for whom it is important to have a good understanding of how things work.

On the other hand, if you just want to “cut to the chase” and find out what to do and what not to do, you can skip over the second section and go straight into the instructions for the diet and exercise parts of the program, beginning with Chapter 2 (beginning on page 16).

CHAPTER 1 UNDERSTANDING WEIGHT GAIN AND LOSS

Before I go the various aspects of how to lose weight, I think it is helpful to have an understanding of the factors involved when someone becomes overweight. Weight gain typically occurs from a combination of interacting physical, emotional / psychological, and sometimes “energetic” factors. The vast majority of these factors exert their effects on weight gain or loss through their stimulation or inhibition of certain hormones, so let’s begin there.

First, what is a hormone? A hormone is often described as a “chemical messenger”. A hormone is a chemical released by a gland that is typically released into the bloodstream to tell certain cells and tissues to take some action that the body needs to have performed. The release of hormones is controlled by the central nervous system (specifically the brain), as well as by feedback systems that are triggered by certain sensors in the body that monitor the hormone levels in the blood, or monitor the effects of the hormones.

Under normal circumstances, diet, exercise, sleep, stress levels, and exposure to certain chemicals will determine hormone levels and function and the function of certain hormones in turn determines whether the body burns sugar, burns fat, breaks down muscle, or stores sugar, stores fat, or builds muscle. There are three primary hormones that promote fat storage: insulin, cortisol, and estrogen. There are six hormones that promote fat burning: thyroid hormone, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor, glucagon, testosterone, and adrenaline. Even though there are more fat-burning hormones, the fat storing hormones are stronger in their effects. First let’s look at the fat storing hormones and what stimulates them.

Insulin is the strongest of the fat storing hormones. Insulin is released by the pancreas for the purpose of regulating blood sugar levels. When you eat a meal that is high in carbohydrates, the carbohydrates are digested and absorbed into the blood as glucose (blood sugar). When there is a large amount of blood sugar present, large amounts of insulin are released. So, here’s the first clue on how to lose weight: if insulin is the strongest of the fat storing hormones and carbohydrates cause the release of insulin, what type of food should you limit your intake of if you want to get rid of fat? (Hint: It’s carbs!) Insulin will first store excess sugar (more than what is necessary for immediate use by the brain and other tissues) as a compound called glycogen. Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscles and can be quickly converted to blood sugar for fuel when needed, such as during brief periods of heavy exertion. There is pretty limited space for glycogen storage, so if there’s more blood sugar that needs to be stored, the remaining amount will be converted and stored as fat.

There are many fat cells in the body and each fat cell can enlarge over 100 times its original size to accommodate more fat (which is why it is quite possible to get fat again after liposuction), so there is a large potential for fat storage. Again, the primary factor that stimulates insulin release is consuming carbohydrates, particularly refined sugars and grains. Vegetables (here we are talking about fresh or frozen whole, raw vegetables without any added ingredients such as sugar) also contain a high percentage of carbohydrates, but they do not stimulate insulin release as strongly as refined sugars and grains. Fruits (fresh, whole fruits) tend to increase blood sugar somewhat more than vegetables, but usually not nearly as much as grains. This is because vegetables and fruits are high in fiber and nutrients like beta-carotene that slow the absorption of their carbohydrates into the bloodstream when you eat them. Whole grains, because of their fiber content, stimulate less insulin response than refined grains. Whole grains are a much more concentrated source of carbohydrates than most vegetables and fruits (fruits and vegetables have a much higher water content than whole grains) and it is easier to consume more grams of carbohydrate from grain sources than from vegetables and fruits, so even whole grains tend to be problematic for causing fat storage. As mentioned earlier, insulin is the strongest of the fat storing hormones. It is such a powerful stimulator of fat storage that it can literally shut off fat burning for 24 to 48 hours when it is released in large quantities. In fact, a single slice of white bread will be enough in most people to dramatically inhibit all fat burning for one to two days, regardless of how a person eats or exercises during that time period. This is why limiting carbohydrate consumption is critical to fat burning. This is not to say that you cannot lose weight if you are eating refined carbs, because you can definitely still lose water weight (which is usually necessary in an overall weight loss program), but it becomes very difficult to lose actual fat. Excess refined carbohydrate consumption with its accompanying insulin release is a key problem in the failure of many people’s weight loss attempts. In fact, some diet plans actually recommend that people “cheat” or “reward” themselves with carbohydrates periodically in order to keep them motivated. That “reward” may seem like a good idea at the time, but it sabotages your progress and may contribute to frustration and eventual failure of the diet in the long run. Refined carbs need to be kept out of your diet if you are going to have sustainable weight loss. This point will be emphasized repeatedly as we go along.

Cortisol is another hormone that stimulates fat storage, primarily around the lower abdomen. Cortisol is released by the adrenal glands and its release is associated with stress. It is speculated that the storage of fat around the abdomen during times of stress served a survival purpose for our ancestors who had to live under harsh conditions – basically storing fat to be used for energy when physical demands were high and/or food supplies were low. Stress can take more than one form though, and these days emotional stress has largely replaced physical stress. This means we store fat in response to cortisol but we do not have the events present that would allow us to burn off the fat as were present in earlier periods of human existence. As just stated, stress can take more than one form, all of which can stimulate cortisol release and cause fat storage. Emotional stress, illness or injury, heavy physical exertion, relationship problems, major life changes, etc. can all cause excess cortisol release and its resulting weight gain.
It is interesting to note that excessive or excessively intense exercise can stimulate cortisol release – which means for people who are already overstressed and their adrenal glands have been overworked, too much or the wrong kind of exercise can actually promote weight gain! And if you think you can overcome that effect by going on a starvation diet along with the heavy exercise, think again! Not only does inadequate food intake stimulate even more cortisol release, your body will still not burn fat in the presence of high cortisol even though you’re hardly eating anything. Instead, the high cortisol will cause your body will burn muscle tissue to convert to blood sugar. Although burning muscle will cause you to lose weight, you will actually be increasing your percentage of body fat, which again typically is deposited around the midsection. Furthermore, since muscle tissue has a high metabolic rate, the more of it you burn up, the slower your metabolism will get. If you’ve starved yourself and exercised like a maniac but still couldn’t lose that roll of belly fat, now you know why. Later in the book, we’ll discuss how to get off the cortisol “merry-go-round”.

Estrogen is another fat-storing hormone. You might think this only applies to women, but men produce estrogen in small quantities and can be exposed to chemicals in food, water, and the environment that act like estrogen in the body. Estrogen is produced by the ovaries and adrenal glands. The adrenal glands are the source of natural estrogen in men and in post-menopausal women. As we mentioned a moment ago, there are outside sources of estrogen. One of the most common sources of what are called “exogenous” (not to be confused with “erogenous”) estrogens is meats, particularly beef and pork, and dairy products. This is because commercially-raised cattle and hogs are often given extra estrogen to cause them to grow and fatten faster, and residuals of these hormones are in the meat and dairy products we consume. But meat is not the only source of estrogens in the diet. Various pesticides and chemical fertilizers used on produce can act as estrogens in the body. Because of the presence of these exogenous estrogens, it is recommended that you stick to naturally raised beef and pork, hormone-free dairy, and organically grown produce as much as possible. Estrogen tends to cause fat accumulation around the hips and buttocks and sometimes in and around the breasts (this is most noticeable when it occurs in men as a condition called gynecomastia – often referred to as “man-boobs”), presumably to provide close-by stores of energy for a developing fetus, and for breast milk production. But if you don’t happen to be pregnant, this fat deposition is not normal and is due to an imbalance in hormones. Later, we’ll discuss ways to balance estrogen levels through diet, exercise, and supplementation.

Before we discuss the fat burning hormones, there’s something very important to know. ALL of the fat burning hormones are activated / produced by the liver. Under normal circumstances, the liver is quite good at handling all of the chemical reactions it must process, including the processing of fat burning hormones. Unfortunately, the usual American lifestyle can get pretty overwhelming for the liver. We tend to eat too much fat and protein and drink too much alcohol and take too many medications, and sometimes the liver just can’t keep up. Since keeping levels of certain chemicals from reaching toxic levels in the blood is the liver’s first priority, if you overload the liver, it’s not going to be able to process the fat burning hormones as it should. This means that you will not produce adequate amounts of the activated forms of the fat burning hormones, and you will deposit fat. In addition, when the liver is overworked, fluid tends to accumulate in the upper abdominal area. The classic description of this is the “beer gut”.

For people with overworked livers, a large amount of their excess weight is actually water. Some people try to exercise away the protruding gut through sit-ups or crunches in an effort to “spot reduce”, but usually to no avail. Liver overload is also the primary reason many people don’t get good long-term results with the Atkin’s diet even though it often works great at first. The weight gain associated with an overworked liver must be addressed through changes in diet and by reducing the intake of alcohol and limiting the use of drugs and medications of all kinds as much as possible. As the liver recovers, the water weight will usually begin to recede pretty quickly (and you’ll be spending quite a bit of time in the bathroom as it does!). The specifics for helping the liver recover will be covered later in this book.

Now we come to the fat burning hormones. Thyroid hormone is probably the most powerful of these – under normal circumstances of course. The thyroid gland produces an inactive hormone, called T4 which is converted to the active form T3 by the liver. The active T3 hormone stimulates cells to produce structures within them called mitochondria, which are kind of like energy factories that burn fat to convert to usable energy for a variety of functions. When thyroid hormone is either not produced adequately, not converted to the active form by the liver, or is blocked from its receptor sites on the cells (most commonly by excess estrogen or estrogen-like compounds), not only do the cells not burn fat, they also fail to produce sufficient energy for normal functioning. This obviously leads to weight gain, but also can cause fatigue, hair loss, and brittle nails. The weight gain related to thyroid issues is all over the body – trunk, arms, and legs, as the failure of fat burning is wide-spread. As just mentioned, some thyroid problems are due to blockage of the receptor sites for thyroid hormone, rather than due to insufficient hormone levels. This is why it is possible for someone to have classic low-thyroid symptoms even with perfectly normal blood tests for thyroid hormone levels. Thyroid hormone production is stimulated by exercise – primarily anaerobic exercise – and specific recommendations for exercise will be presented later. As we mentioned a short time ago, thyroid hormone is converted to the active form by the liver, so it is important that the liver be kept healthy – which basically comes down to not overloading it with excessive intake of fat, protein, alcohol, and/or drugs and medications. Finally, to keep the cellular receptor sites working normally, it is necessary to keep natural estrogen levels normal and to limit as much as possible one’s exposure to exogenous estrogens by consuming natural meats and organic produce. Synthetic estrogens used in birth control and estrogen replacement therapy can also dramatically interfere with thyroid receptor sites and inhibit thyroid function, so you may wish to consider other options if you are using these medications and are having a lot of trouble losing weight.

Adrenaline (also called epinephrine) is a fat burning hormone that is produced by the adrenal glands. It accelerates the body’s breathing and heart rate to provide more blood flow and oxygenation to the tissues in times of stress, or during heavy exercise. When you accelerate in a car, you burn more fuel, and the same is true when you accelerate the body – but in this case the fuel is fat and sugar. Many diet drugs either stimulate or simulate the action of adrenaline. The problem is that stress and diet drugs stimulate the adrenals generally, and also wind up stimulating the production of cortisol – the fat storing hormone we discussed earlier. Adrenaline is fast-acting, and produced in limited amounts, whereas cortisol is long-acting and can be produced over a longer period of time. So, while doing short bursts of intense exercise will give you the fat-burning effects of adrenaline, excessive exercise or excessive stress will stimulate cortisol release and hinder fat burning. Likewise, diet drugs will stimulate adrenaline production for a limited time, but the cortisol production they stimulate will last much longer – this is why many diet drug users wind up gaining weight in the long-run.

Growth hormone is produced by the pituitary gland in the brain. It stimulates the growth of muscle and lean body tissue. Muscle cells have a proportionately high number of mitochondria, the “energy factories” we discussed in relation to thyroid hormone. Because of this, more muscle tissue means more fat burning, so growth hormone indirectly stimulates fat burning. In addition, growth hormone stimulates the liver to produce a hormone called insulin-like growth factor (IGF). IGF controls blood sugar levels during long periods between eating – primarily at night when you are asleep. Without adequate sleep (at least 7 hours of RESTFUL) sleep per night, IGF does not function properly. A few hours after eating, your blood sugar begins to fall, and IGF stimulates the burning of stored sugar and fat to keep normal energy supply to the brain. So growth hormone has a second indirect effect on fat burning. Growth hormone (and consequently IGF) is stimulated by anaerobic exercise – which is of relatively short duration but high intensity. I’ll discuss this in more detail when we get to exercise recommendations. I feel it bears mentioning that growth hormone injections are sometimes used to enhance muscle growth and reduce fat. This may be done illegally by athletes trying to artificially enhance muscle growth, or it may be prescribed by some doctors as an “antiaging” measure for their patients. While growth hormone definitely has its good points, I urge anyone who is considering growth hormone injections to be very careful. Excess amounts of any hormone can be extremely dangerous, and injecting large amounts of growth hormone could potentially have serious adverse health effects.

Glucagon is a hormone that can be thought of as the anti-insulin. Like IGF, glucagon stimulates the burning of stored sugar and fat when blood sugar drops too low, but it operates much closer to the time when you eat. It is a counter-balance for insulin. Basically, when you eat and your blood sugar rises, insulin is produced to store the excess, but if insulin takes too much sugar out of the bloodstream, glucagon is released to bring the blood sugar back up again by burning the stored sugar and fat. Glucagon production tends to be stimulated by meals that are relatively low in carbohydrate.

The last major fat-burning hormone is testosterone. Just as men produce some of the “female” hormone, estrogen, women produce some of the “male” hormone, testosterone. Testosterone is produced by the testicles (in men) and the adrenal glands (in men and women). Like growth hormone, testosterone stimulates fat burning indirectly by stimulating muscle growth. Also like growth hormone, testosterone production is stimulated by anaerobic exercise – short duration, high intensity. And again, like growth hormone, injecting testosterone is potentially dangerous, so think carefully about artificially raising your testosterone levels.
So, now that we’ve reviewed the action of the various fat storing and fat burning hormones, let’s summarize what causes fat storage and fat burning.

Fat storing is largely stimulated by:
1) Excess carbohydrate consumption
2) Excess stress (physical and/or emotional)
3) Excess estrogen and estrogen-like chemicals (such as chemical pesticides, fertilizers, etc.)

Fat burning is stimulated by:
1) Good liver function (avoiding the overconsumption of fat, protein, alcohol, and drugs/medications
2) Low carbohydrate consumption
3) Anaerobic exercise (relatively short duration, high intensity activity) 4) Adequate sleep (at least 7 hours of restful sleep per night)

CHAPTER 2 DIETARY RECOMMENDATIONS

Before I begin, an acknowledgement should be given to Dr. Eric Berg, author of “The 7 Principles Of Fat-Burning” (for more information, go to www.bergdiets.com), and Dr. Guy Schenker, developer of the NutriSpec nutritional analysis system, as the diet and exercise programs described in this book are derived from their work. Both of these doctors have made a huge contribution to the understanding of diet and exercise for health and weight loss. I have studied their work extensively, and have attempted to simplify their programs to make the principles of effective diet and exercise easier to understand and implement for the average person. For those wanting more detail on diet for specific body types, I highly recommend Dr. Berg’s book, “The 7 Principles Of Fat Burning”.

My simplified dietary recommendations are as follows:

1. Eliminate or greatly reduce refined carbohydrates such as bread, cereal, baked goods, pancakes, pizza, pasta, and anything else made with wheat, oats, or other grains – even whole grains. Bran crackers (preferably with no added sugar or salt) are alright because they are mostly fiber. In addition, eliminate or greatly reduce all sugar and other sweeteners. The main reason that refined carbohydrates MUST be kept low is because they trigger the release of the hormone insulin from the pancreas. ANY significant insulin release will shut down your body’s ability to burn fat for one to two days. To put it in eating terms, if you eat more than about 20 to 25 grams of refined carbohydrate (about the amount found in one slice of white bread) in a day (that’s in a DAY, not per MEAL), you CANNOT burn fat effectively for the next one to two days, no matter how well you eat and how much you exercise those days (you will burn calories, but not from fat – you will burn up whatever sugar is in your body and then your body will start “eating” your muscle tissue to convert it to sugar.). Now, there might be special occasions or some other reason why you want or need to eat refined carbohydrates for social reasons. If that comes up, it is not the end of the world, but try to minimize the carbohydrates you do eat. Just be aware that every time you “cheat” on the carbohydrate recommendation, you set yourself back one to two days on your weight loss.

2. One thing that I think needs special mention separate from the carbohydrate issue is that it is strongly recommended that you stop drinking sodas of all kinds (those with sugar and artificial sweeteners alike). This is for a couple reasons. Sodas containing sugar obviously create the problems of any refined carbohydrates, and your average 12 ounce soda has around 35 grams of sugar – more than enough to sufficiently activate insulin release that would stop fat-burning completely for 24 to 48 hours! Artificial sweeteners create their own problems, most notably that they tend to cause water retention. But sodas may cause yet another even bigger problem when it comes to weight loss. Preliminary studies indicate that sodium benzoate, an ingredient found in many sodas (as well as in other highly-processed foods), inhibits something called mitochondrial DNA. We talked about the mitochondria in relation to the effects of thyroid hormone. Well, when you inhibit mitochondrial DNA, the cells of the body don’t make as many mitochondria, and just like in cases where there are problems with thyroid hormone function, when there aren’t as many mitochondria, you can’t burn as much fat, and you tend to get fatigued. Over the years, several people have told me that they lost weight after the only change they made was that they stopped drinking sodas. Because of the combination of problems with soda, for some people simply eliminating their soda consumption can be the solution for their weight loss impairment.

3. Be careful not to eat excessive quantities of animal proteins (meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, etc.). The liver has to process the proteins you take in, and animal proteins (and the animal fats that accompany them) are hardest for it to process. So, the relatively low protein intake during the early stages of the diet is intended to give the liver a rest and allow it to recover. Low-fat yogurt or cottage cheese (provided you don’t suffer from lactose intolerance or dairy allergies), organic eggs, and fish (especially eaten raw as sashimi – without rice!) are the easiest animal proteins for your liver to handle, so I recommend eating these more frequently than beef, pork, or chicken.

When possible, it is best to stick to fresh meats and avoid processed meats like ham, salami, bologna, and processed turkey and ham, as processed meats are high in preserving agents and salt which promote water retention. There are some “natural” processed meats such as ham and turkey that do not contain nitrites or other preservatives that are acceptable, but fresh, unprocessed meats are preferable.

I recommend starting with about 30 to 50 grams of animal protein per day – preferably in the morning and early afternoon (avoid eating lots of animal protein late at night). If you feel fatigued or sensitive to cold after a day or so on this amount, continue to add an additional 10 grams of protein per day until you are feeling good, or until you reach a maximum of about 80 grams per day – remember, this is strictly for animal proteins. Proteins from nuts, seeds, and nut and seed butters can be eaten in unlimited quantities. On the following page are guidelines for the grams of proteins in certain foods.
1 egg = 7 grams
1 chicken leg = 10 grams
3 ounces of canned tuna (1/2 of a regular can) = 20 grams 4 ounces of hamburger (a quarter-pound patty) = 40 grams ½ cup of plain yogurt = 11 grams
½ cup cottage cheese = 15 grams
1 cup of milk = 9 grams of protein
1 ounce of cheese = 7 grams of protein

Before moving on, I wanted to take a moment and address a common concern regarding eggs: cholesterol. Eggs have been unfairly blamed for causing high cholesterol by those (including many doctors) who do not really know that much about diet. It is true that eggs are relatively high in cholesterol, but eating eggs does not significantly raise blood cholesterol (this has been shown by clinical studies). How can this be? Well, first of all, it is a well-documented fact of human physiology that about 70% of the cholesterol in your blood is actually produced by your own liver (for the purpose of