The Road to Good Health, Normal Weight, and Long Vigorous Life
Join the Fight Fat with Fat Marathon, and you can expect to lose two to five pounds a week, you will not feel hungry, and you should not suffer cravings. If you do, I will tell you what to do about them too. As I have said before, the human body is amazingly adaptable, and just as it adapted to an eating pattern that packed on the pounds and threatened your health, give a chance, your body can heal itself. All you have to do is cooperate a bit. The marathon will reintroduce complex carbohydrates in a stepwise fashion. After your week or two in the full-fat fast detox, your body is now ready for the long haul. Whether you need to lose twenty pounds or two hundred, this Marathon will get you there. I promised you would not have to count calories or worry about fat ever again, but you do need to be aware of carbohydrates and reintroduce complex carbohydrates in an orderly way so that you do not undo the good work you have done in the detox period. Keep in mind that complex carbohydrates are whole vegetables, fruits, and grains. Simple carbohydrates, such as sugars, flours, and processed foods, are not on your food list. And actually, they should never be except for very special occasions. OK. You can have a piece of cake on your birthday.
Be patient with yourself. This change takes time. Some people are more addicted than others to chips, cookies, soda, and all of the zillion and one bad-for-you food. But the more you nourish your body with whole, organic foods, the less your body will be screaming for the bad stuff.
Remember, This is a Tri-Part System:
-
Diet
-
Exercise
-
Attitude
The more you experience success on the Fight Fat with Fat Diet, the more success you will continue to have. You have already succeeded at the detox phase. I hope you have ramped up your exercise to the point that you are walking every day, and I am sure your attitude is improving because you are making positive changes in your body. Aim for ten thousand steps a day. Buy a pedometer. This is not as hard as it sounds. You will have plenty of energy, you will feel good, you will look good, and you will achieve your dietary goals. Add a simple weight lifting regimen to your week. Two to three times a week, lift five-pound weights in a program to increase your upper body strength. Go to a gym, hire a personal trainer, or buy an appropriate video to guide you. If you are a beginner, start here: http://www.ehow.com/how_5199034_start-weight-training-women.html.
The Fight Fat with Fat Marathon
The Fight Fat with Fat Marathon is a progression into a broad and varied diet of organic whole foods for health, weight loss, and long life. It has simple, easy-to-follow steps.
-
Eat five meals a day. Pay attention to everything you eat. Control the portions.
-
Drink plenty of water, at least sixty four ounces, including tea and coffee.
-
Exercise for at least fifteen minutes every day.
-
Sleep eight hours every night.
-
Reduce stress in your life.
Eat Five Meals a Day
At first, you may notice that paying attention to everything you eat seems like a chore, but soon it will become second nature. Make a point of sitting down to eat, away from your desk, away from the telephone, away from the television. Be mindful of the food you put in your mouth. This diet is made up of the finest, purest foods there are. It is a luxury to eat this way. You deserve the very best, and this diet gives that to you. Make a conscious choice not to eat junk food. Eliminate white flour and sugar from your diet in all combinations.
Portion control is perhaps the biggest challenge for those of us who have been living on the so-called Western diet in which the super-sized portions have created a nation of overfed, undernourished people. If you learn to manage your portions, you will not have to count calories. Buy yourself a food scale and weigh meats and cheeses to get accustomed to serving sizes. This will help you when you go out to eat where most portions are at least twice and sometimes three times the amount of food needed for nourishment.
-
3 ounces of meat is about the size of a deck of cards
-
1 ounce of cheese is about the size of a domino
Making your metabolism work better and regulating your glucose depends on regular, small servings of high-protein, high-fat meals. This will stop your cravings in their tracks. You will not get those desperate urges for junk food from the machine or the deli down on the corner. Every day:
-
Eat five meals
-
For breakfast, eat two eggs.
-
Twice a day, have four to five ounces of fish or meat.
-
Morning and evening, enjoy small snacks of nutrient-dense cheese. nuts olives, jerky ham, or turkey.
Becoming mindful of one’s body is often a new thing for people who have been overweight for years. They have never experienced their body as being “empty” of food. Instead, they only thought they were feeling hunger when they were really confusing it with hypoglycemia- a state where the blood sugars have dropped precipitously, warning that the body is about to go into shock. A body that is well nourished and receiving sufficient protein on a regular basis throughout the day will regulate itself. On the Fight Fat with Fat Diet, you will burn fat. You will never feel hungry. You can trust your body, which, given a chance, can regulate itself. You will soon cast long, loving looks at yourself in the mirror because you will look GREAT.
Drink Plenty of Water
Start your day with a hot cup of tea or coffee. This stimulates the digestive system and will help you to feel full faster. If you have trouble drinking the amount of water you need, buy yourself a six to four-ounce sports bottle and fill it up. By the end of the day, make sure you have drunk every drop. Because drinking water before a meal helps you feel fuller, when you sit down at a restaurant, ask for water and drink the whole glass before the food arrives. At home, add a squeeze of lemon juice and a shot of cayenne for a full detox effect.
Exercise at Least Fifteen Minutes a Day
Now that many of us are planted in front of a computer for eight hours or more a day, the notion of exercise may seem impossible. But, if you stop and think of your normal day’s activities, you may see how you can tuck in some exercise without too much effort. If you are at a computer terminal, get up and walk for five minutes every hour. Try running up and down a flight of stairs just for the fun of it. Aim to set aside at least fifteen minutes every day for vigorous walking. Add exercise time and increase the rigor as you’re able. You do not have to go crazy here with an exercise program. Walk your dogs, walk on your lunch hour—Park in the spot farthest from the mall. If you have an exercise bike in the basement, jump on it for fifteen minutes. Whatever you do, try to get your heart rate up and pounding. Try to walk ten thousand steps during your day. (Use a pedometer. I like the Omron.)
You may already be getting strength training in your daily life. Do you have a toddler you are carrying around? Are you hauling groceries in the house on a daily basis? Pushing a heavy vacuum cleaner? Gardening? All of these exercises build strength. But for a more focused exercise plan, give yourself fifteen minutes a day. OK, go ahead: multitask. Watch the news on TV while you are making yourself stronger. Use a couple of three-pound weights and do some lifts and pull-ups. Use an exercise rope and do some bicep curls or front raises. Start out doing ten and work up to twenty-five reps. Lie on the floor and do some old fashioned sit-ups. Start with ten and work up to twenty. Just feel the burn and keep at it. You will make yourself stronger. The quickest way to get started is to hire a personal trainer for a few sessions. Work with your trainer to establish a routine that works for you.
Sleep Eight Hours Every Night
Get a full eight hours of rest every night. No matter what. Feeling insomniac? Try drinking two tablespoons of cream.
Reduce Stress in Your Life
The exercise you do will contribute to reducing stress, as well as strengthen your muscles. In addition, and also to combat fatigue, try participating in activities you find fun, such as sports or hiking. Spending time in nature especially soothes the spirit. Join a class to learn meditation. Try yoga that emphasizes internal work rather than physical exercise. Signing up for a class helps keep you committed to the program.
Check Your Progress
Assess yourself. Have you lost five to fifteen pounds? Has your waist size dropped two to four inches? Check your BMI. Make sure it is on the downward run.
If you are a woman, is your waist measurement over thirty-five inches, or if a man, over forty inches? If so, you are still in the obese category and should stick with the Full Fat Fast, the Fight Fat with Fat Detox plan, which can be found in our book Fight Fat with Fat, another week or so until you are out of the danger zone. We have had patients who stayed in the detox phase for months. No harm done. Eating out for lunch after a two-egg breakfast is easy. Order a chop, a steak, a fish steak or fillet, or some shrimp. See? Not so hard.
Case Study
When Paul came to see me, he was 120 pounds overweight. His cardiologist had told him he was headed for myocardial infarction, a.k.a a heart attack. He began the Full Fat Fast program and ultimately stayed on it for a little over one month. In thirty-five days, Paul lost forty pounds and happily moved to the Marathon phase to continue his weight-loss programs.
To learn more about our marathon, including each of its phases and recipes that will make your journey tasteful and convenient, look for our Fight Fat with Fat book!
