The Game of Weight Loss has Rules

What are your odds of winning a challenging game that you don’t know the rules to? Not so great. Likewise, if you're trying to lose weight but don't understand how your body works, your odds of success aren't good.

You need accurate information about how your body works:

• How many calories do I need to eat?
• How many calories should I burn in activity each week?
• What changes can I expect during weight loss (in my energy needs)?
• How do I stabilize at my goal weight?

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Starvation Mode: Fact or Fiction?

Starvation-mode (or starvation-response) is the popular theory that the body “reacts” to dieting by lowering its metabolic rate in order to preserve itself. According to the theory a dieter could be following a reduced-calorie eating plan—to the letter—and still not lose an ounce. Furthermore, the purported solution is that one needs to eat more in order to lose weight.

The theory is an attempt to explain why people aren’t losing weight although they report (to their weight loss coach, or fellow dieters) that they are indeed following their diet and exercise program.

What are the problems with the theory?

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What might you learn from a successful loser?

The topic of weight management has been my passion since my personal struggle with weight gain in my late teens. When I was 17, after gaining 30-pounds over three or four months, I went to Physicians’ Weight Loss Centers for help getting that weight off.

Looking back, family stress due to my mother being ill, plus freedom (my drivers’ license, and my parents’ gift of a used Datsun 1200 for wheels) led me to making way too many regular stops at Seven-Eleven type places for a “snack!” These snacks were mostly brownies and different bags of various salty-crunchy things.

When I finally came up from the long binge—feeling like crap, and way past fitting in most of my clothes—I was ready to turn things around. Somehow I ended up at a Physicians’ Weight Loss Center “clinic” which may have been about the only choice in a small town (1977)!

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Why Portion Size Really Matters…

One day at lunch time I had gone into a grocery store to get a milk. This wasn't my usual routine; I usually packed leftovers for lunch and ate at my desk while reading. But there I was standing in front of maybe ten or 15-feet of “milk section,” scanning for an 8-ounce carton of milk. Remember those? The size they used to serve with school lunch? I wasn’t finding it, when a middle-aged gentleman asked, “what are you looking for?” I looked at him and said, “I wanted an 8-ounce milk, but they don’t seem to have it.” He looked at the shelves, pointed to the smallest carton, and said, “here it is.” The carton he pointed to however was a pint (16-ounces/2 cups). I said, “no, I want one cup, that’s two.” The gentleman got a confused look on his face, glanced back at the container then back at me, and said, “that’s a cup.”

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Is what you're drinking helping or hindering your weight loss efforts?

What you drink does impact your calorie intake. The average American currently derives 21% of their caloric intake from beverages, which adds up to a whopping 464 calories a day! The majority of those are empty-calories coming from sweetened beverages.[i]

For a little perspective, decades ago, the earliest soft drinks were sold in 6.5-oz bottles (78-calories) and were a very occasional treat. Today the average soft drink serving is 21-ounces (up from 13.6 oz. in 1977), and clocks in at a whopping 252-calories. Not only that, but over the same time frame servings per day increased from 1.96 to 2.39.

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