4.3: What is metabolism?

This is the dictionary definition of the word metabolism (from Dictionary.com):
"the sum of the physical and chemical processes in an organism by which its material substance is produced, maintained, and destroyed, and by which energy is made available."

I like to think of it as life, because without metabolism we wouldn't be alive. Our bodies are wonderful automated machines. We put material in and our bodies break it down to repair cells and supply energy. We're just a bundle of billions and billions of simultaneous chemical reactions being guided by little biological Oompah-Loompahs. And, for the most part we're completely unaware of it. Good times.

Sitting around watching the tube our bodies burn about the same amount of energy as a 65 to 100 watt lightbulb. When we're exercising vigorously, we burn about the same amount of energy as a computer - approximately 150 - 250 watts on top of the 65-100 watts.

We're burning calories 24/7. On a typical day I burn 1,500 - 1,700 calorieswhile I'm going about my business. That's called my basal metabolic rate. Exercise typically adds another 300 - 400 calories.

Weight is simple math. If I consistently eat more calories than I burn, I'll gain weight. To control my weight I need to balance the 1,500 - 2,200 calories I burn each day with the calories going in my mouth.

Metabolism can be tricky. Your body likes new calories coming down the hatch every 3 - 5 hours while you're awake. If you do this, your metabolism is happy and stays fired up. Regularly go longer than this and you risk two things that can work against your weight goals. First, your metabolism will slow down in order to conserve the energy expenditure to help you make it through those long periods without food. Second, your body will be more likely to store fat because it's putting some fuel in the tank to draw upon when you skipping meals.

Going so long without eating is a common mistake. I hear of people skipping breakfast or not eating after 7 pm. I hear people say they're going to skip lunch so they can eat more at dinner. Simple advice - Don't do it.

I had such a weakness in my routine. I ate lunch and usually didn't eat anyting until dinner. Needless to say, I was usually famished. Simply eating a 100 - 200 calorie snack at 4:30 stoked my metabolism and kept me satiated until dinner.

The Ellen Show

Martina Navratilova recently appeared on the Ellen show promoting her new book, "Shape Yourself". Her and I share one secret to weight control - moderation. We also share a love of chocolate and have identical approaches to enjoying it without wrecking our waistlines. I eat a few Hershey's dark chocolate kisses each day. Since I know I'll enjoy more chocolate the next day, I don't feel compelled to eat a lot at one time. In fact, by eating it every day, it's even lost some appeal.

I don't believe in giving up the foods you like best to control your weight. That leads to binging and negative feelings about your diet, neither of which are helpful. Find ways to enjoy your favorite foods in moderation and often. You're not trying to become a nun. You're just trying to lose some weight.

Ellen's personal trainer, who is a Biggest Loser trainer, was also on her show recently. He finds that people have a hard time getting back on their exercise routine after falling off. I agree. His advice: Remember how you felt after the exercise, not before it. Good advice. I never noticed it before, but I do that. A few nights ago, I was dragging and not wanting to jog. But I remembered that in the past when I felt the same way, a jog made feel a lot better. I was right.

The Body Religion

I'm thankful for having the chance to live this life through my body and my mind. It seems proper to do my best to take care of both. I don't worship my body, but I do respect it. It's a wonderful gift. It's the least I can do.

More evidence supporting my moderation advice...

If you haven't figured out yet, I like to bike. One of my favorite cycling websites is PezCyclingNews.com. This piece on Pez suggests that over exertion in exercise can weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible to contracting minor ailments like a cold.

Remember that as you start your New Year exercise routines and be sure to read my "forget about no pain, no gain" from last year.

If you're out of shape and you start an exercise routine for the New Year, be careful no to over exert yourself. Catching a cold will then be your first excuse to skip workouts. Instead of approaching your exercise program like you have two months to get ready for the Olympics, start slow and strive for consistency. Patience. Patience. Patience. You have the rest of your life. Consistency is MUCH, MUCH more important that intensity. If you are consistent then you will eventually get in shape.

Consistency and moderate intensity also burns more calories than a high intensity regimen punctuated with lost workouts due to illness.

New Year Resolutions

Happy New Year! I think anytime is a good time to make a resolution to change your life for the better, but the New Year seems to be the most popular time.

Here are my "10 Tips to Stick to Your New Year Resolution" from last year (click on the links to read more on each one):

1. Forget "No Pain, No Gain" mantra. Instead, strive for consistency and patience.
2. Give up potatoes and rice for one month. Instead eat fruits and vegetables as side dishes.
3. Introduce fruits and vegetables for each meal.
4. Try new fruits and vegetables to find some you may like.
5. Invest in a good pair of running or walking shoes. Hold off on the gym membership for now.
6. Set a goal to compete in and complete an organized recreational event like a 5k or bike ride in the March - June time frame.
7. Re-prioritize your schedule so that exercise doesn't get pushed off the list.
8. Try one or two new activities to discover something you may not have known that you'd enjoy.
9. Join groups that meet for recreational activities.
10. Keep a food diary for 2 weeks and then use my book to figure out how to calculate your food needs.

4.2: Education: What are macronutrients?

Macronutrients are three basic building blocks our bodies need for maintenace and energy. Feeding my body the right mix of macronutrients has been one of my most helpful techniques for gaining control of my weight.

The three macronutrients are carbohydrates (or carbs), protein and fat. Each of these macronutrients have calories that can wind up on your waistline if you eat too much.

Fat has 9 calories per gram.
Carbs and Protein 4 calories per gram.
By the way, Alchohol, has 7 calories per gram in case you were wondering.

Our bodies break down these macronutrients to supply energy and to build and repair cells. Wouldn't it be nice if we could just shovel three basic building blocks into our front door and our homes automatically took those to make repairs and keep the house warm or cool? That's what our bodies do.

I grew up in the 80s, with low fat diets. I lived through the 90s and it's low carb diets. Both of those trends did damage to my waistline, because neither worked for me. Dr. Barry Sears, convinced me one evening that my body actually needs a fairly steady mix of all three macronutrients. That evening was the night that my wife bought his short, grocery counter checkout book, "A Week in the Zone". It's a very short book - just like mine - but to me made a compelling case for me to get 40% of my calories from carbs, 30% from protein and 30% from healthy fats every time I eat.

Since then I've seen other diets recommend a similar formula as the long-term eating solution - most notably, the South Beach Diet. Incidentally, diabetics are taught to control their insulin levels with the same mix of carbs, protein and fat.

Before, I use to feel like I needed to visit confessional for eating any fat. I tried to cut as much fat out of my diet as possible. I figured that was the way to stay thin. So, how did I gain weight? Turns out, the body does need fat. It's designed that way. Starving it of fat ended up causing me to eat more calories than I needed.

And that is the reason I got fat. I ate more calories than I needed. For weight loss, mathematically it doesn't really matter where the calories come from - carbs, fat, protein - if you eat too many, you will gain weight.

But, physiologically, where the calories come from can make a world of difference. When I changed my mix of calorie intake to include more fats and to balance out the mix I noticed a difference immediately. It took me longer to feel hungry after eating.

So, AND THIS IS IMPORTANT: with the right mix of macronutrients, I'm able to eat the right amount of calories to control my weight without feeling like my stomach is trying to digest itself 30-90 minutes after eating.

I don't follow the 40/30/30 advice to the gram. It's more of a guideline. And, now, I know (or my stomach knows) well when I stray too far away from that guideline.

4.1: Education: What are calories?

I'm now getting back on my roadmap to success with the second installment on education.

Have you ever look at a word that you've been using all of your life and it suddenly seems odd? Calorie was such a word for me. What exactly is a calorie?

Have you ever visited the website HowStuffWorks.com? I love it. It contains informative articles on most subjects. Click on the following link to read a "HowStuffWorks" article by Julia Layton and learn how calories work.

How Calories Work

A calorie is a unit of measure for energy. A mile measures distance. A fluid ounce measures volume. Calories measure energy. It's easy to visualize a mile or a fluid ounce, but not so easy to visualize a calorie. Energy is abstract. We see the results of energy expenditure - motion, light, boiling water, for example. But we usually don't actually see the energy. Wow, I better stop, now 'energy' is starting to look weird.

I'll spare you anymore physics. The easiest way to view a calorie is to think that it takes about one to two calories to "keep your lights on" in your body each minute. If your in motion or exercising it can consume 5-10 calories per minute.

I'm thankful for the calorie. A lot of diet plans try to invent their own system of monitoring food intake, but why? We already have a pretty darn good system. Calorie information is readily available for almost every food we eat. Once you know how many calories you need to consume it's 2nd grade math to figure out if you're consuming the right amount.

Calorie and macronutrient (i.e. fat, protein and carb) content are the only two pieces of information I really need to monitor my food intake for weight control. I'll write more about the macronutrients down the road.

A friend of mine says that weight loss is simple - just burn more calories than you consume. I agree, that's the essence of weight loss.

Alcohol is good for you - in moderation

People always ask me what I eat. I tell them anything I want, just not a lot of it. Moderation is bliss. Add alcohol to the list of things that are beneficial in moderate amounts. According to this article up to four alcoholic beverages per day for men and two for women are linked with longer lives. More than those amounts is linked with shortened lives (hmm - car wrecks, liver disease, etc. - shocker).

I've been around statistics enough in my profession to understand that statistical studies are far from proof of cause and effect, but I can believe this. My guess is that it has something to do with the the disinfectant and blood thinning capabilities of alcohol. But who cares?

The key here is moderation and responsibility. Too much of a good thing, especially in this case, can kill you.

"Mindless Eating"

I'm taking a little break from my roadmap to success. A friend sent me some information on Professor Wansink's book, "Mindless Eating" because he said that some of the stuff Wansink said reminded me of some of things I said.

Wansink writes that in a typical day we make 200 food-related decisions and that many subtle things impact how much food we eat. For example, according to his latest blog post we tend to consume 28% more calories when eating low fat snacks because we think they're healthier.

Very interesting. I agree. Most people are unaware of the little things that drive their eating habits. For example, I notice that if I don't watch myself, I tend to eat at about the same pace and volume as those I'm with which is dangerous since I'm shorter than almost everyone and I don't need as many calories to maintain my weight.

Food intake awareness is a great skill to develop. It took practice to develop mine but quickly becomes second nature. Now it's like a little computer program that runs in the background. So, while I'm carrying on a conversation with a friend on the way to a restaurant I'm thinking of my options and try to settle on one before I get there to avoid being tempted by the bad stuff. When I get my food, I visualize the portion I want to limit myself to. As I'm eating, I stop and ask my self if I'm full. Sometime in a future post, I'll make a checklist to get you started if you're interested.

I know some are thinking, "that doesn't sound like fun, I want to enjoy my food." Believe it or not, I do that too. When I say it eventually becomes second nature, I mean it's sort of like driving a car. Most of us can drive and do something else at the same time like think about other things, carry on conversations, listen to the radio, and talk on the phone (not recommended). But, all the while you're steering, controlling speed, keeping tabs on nearby vehicles and pedestrians and navigating.

In driving, if you turn off the driving subroutine that's running in the background of your gray matter in order to focus on a phone conversation you might end up around a tree. If I turn off my eating subroutine, I'll end up in a food coma.

4. Education: What is body fat?

I once thought that my body fat was nothing more than the fat I ingested in my diet deposited to my belly and love handles. As little as six years ago I thought that by limiting my fat intake, I would control body fat. But, lo and behold I was gaining weight even without a great deal of fat intake. I didn't understand what was happening.

Now I feel silly for ever thinking that. But, as I talk to more and more people I'm finding that it's myths like that that are prevent many people from losing weight. The purpose of this educational series is to review the things that I know now that make it much easier for me to understand how to control my weight, that I didn't know six years ago.

*The number of fat cells in your body is pretty much constant after puberty.
*Fat cells are your like your fuel tank. You body stores extra energy there to be used later when your body runs out of the energy supplied directly from your food intake.
*Your fat cells grow in size as they store more energy - that's called gaining weight.
*A gram of fat contains 9 calories. No wonder our bodies like to store energy in fat. Protein only stores 4 calories per gram. On a normal day, you burn 9 calories in about 20 minutes.
*If you continually feed your body more calories than it needs, it will eventually store some of those calories in your fat.
*Your wonderful body does covert fat in your diet more readily to fat in your belly, but extra calories from protein and carbohydrates can and will be converted body fat.
*One pound of body fat can supply your body's energy needs for about a day and a half. If you're 10 pounds overweight, you have enough energy to go without eating for 18 days (although your body would need other vital nutrients to stay alive).
*Fat was our ancestors' insurance policy against famine. They ate well when food was ample and then subsisted on their stored calories in times when external calories weren't as readily available.
*Liposuction can remove fat from one part of your body, but if you keep taking in more calories than your burn, your body will just store the extra calories in the remaining fat cells in your body leading to some weird features (e.g. trim belly, fat arms).
*The distribution of fat differs from person to person. Men tend to have fat cells in the midsection, while women have them in the breasts, buttocks and legs.
*Our body's tend to prioritize where it stores fat. For example, my body tends to store energy on my midsection and under chin first. When I reach maximum capacity in those places it tends to distribut to other parts of my body like my fingers and face. It comes off in the reverse order. For me, it drops off my face and fingers, then my mid-section and chin.

Click here for a GREAT article about fat cells in the body.

4. Education

When I was overweight, I really couldn't tell you why I was overweight. Generally I knew that I was eating too much and/or not exercising enough. But, I didn't know how to go about figuring out how much I should eat or how much I should exercise.

But, my lack of knowledge was even more basic than that. Before I educated myself, I had only a vague notion on what fat was and how it worked. I didn't know where that cut-off was between fat and thin. I didn't know exactly what a calorie was or how fat, protein and carbs worked. At one time, I actually thought that you got fat by eating fattening foods. I didn't know how body fat differed from fat in your diet. I didn't know how my body takes the food I eat everyday and breaks it down into the pieces that keep us humming.

After talking with many people, I realized that most people don't know these things either. It's a complicated subject matter, which pushes some to try to simplify it into an easily understandable system.

For me it was important to learn the fundamentals of how the body worked in order to be successful at controlling my weight. I didn't want to follow a dumbed-down system, but not understand why I was doing what I was doing.

As the answers came, I realized weight control touches on many different traditional subject matters. It spans physics, biology, chemistry, economics, psychology, statistics, finance, medicine, health with a heavy dose of math mixed in.

For the next several posts I'm going to deep dive into weight loss education. I'm going to step you through the process of how I came to understand weight - at it's base level - which helps me successfully control my weight.

Cost of calories

I'm taking a short break from my road map to weight loss. Calories have become cheaper, easier to acquire and to consume over the last several thousand years. Twenty-five thousand years ago, most humans spent much of their time finding, preparing and chewing food just to meet their basic caloric needs.

Now, we can buy our daily caloric needs with income that takes minutes to earn and we can take in those calories in a few bites. I thought it might be helpful to put some numbers to this thought for illustrative purposes. I found a site to help me.

According to that link, in 1929 we spent 22.7% of our income on food in total (at home and away from home). In 2005 this figure dropped to 11.5%. WOW!!!! I know, numbers probably bore you, but for the anlytically minded (like myself) this is huge. Just 77 years ago we spent $22.70 of every $100 of income on food. Now we spend $11.50. That's a drop of $11.20. Furthermore, the percentage of income spent on food at restaurants has increased from 15% of our food budget in 1929 to 43% of our food budget in 2005.

Translating this another way, $1 today can buy about 150 calories of food, on average. That same dollar (adjusted for inflation) could only buy about 75 calories in 1929. Of course there are wide variations on the cost of calories for specific foods, but I'm talking averages here. So, today you can get your caloric needs on about $10-$15/day, whereas in 1929 it would cost you $20-$30 in today's dollars.

So...what's my point? This seems to be one of the reasons why, as a nation, we are fat. In less than 8 decades, a mere blink of the eye in human history, we've substantially improved our ability to get the calories we need to survive. Just think how much we've improved over the last several thousand years. Thousands of years ago, it's likely that calorie gathering, prep and chewing took 6-8 hours per day, whereas now it can take less than an hour. What are we doing with all that extra time?

Also, consider that we've made food more tasty and appealing. Mix cheap and easy calories, delectability and lots of free time that can be spent shoveling delectable treats into our mouths and what do you get? Fat America.

I think we've solved the problem of hunger - for the most part - in our country. Now, we need to do a better job of educating people about how to control their weight.

3. Commitment to goal

If you've read this far then you might have recognized that you have a weight problem (#1) and you might have a desire to do something about it (#2). The next step on my roadmap to weight loss success is committing to your goal.

What's preventing you from comitting today? What's preventing you from committing right now? Nike says, Just Do It. If you aren't committing right now, make a list of all the reasons why not. Do you have any valid reasons? The only real valid excuse is that you're pregnant. Are you pregnant?

Some may want to enjoy the holidays without the guilt of straying from a diet plan. But, you'll feel the guilt when you wake up January 2 with 15 extra pounds hanging from your gut. Take this opportunity to learn how to enjoy the holidays without haivng eat large volumes of food. Savor the taste with smaller portions. Rediscover activities such as board games that you can use to connect with your family members. Get out and play a T-Day or Christmas day game of touch football. Several in my family enjoy a 5k run on T-Day morning. It has become a standing tradition that is now in its 14th year.

There are tons of other excuses to put off shedding the pounds. Let me know if you have any others and I'll give you some ideas on why it's not valid.

Ultimately delaying commitment is a sure sign that you likely won't have the follow-through when it counts.

Commit. Today.

Read my previous post on commitment.

2. Desire to do something about it (Part II)

I left this one dangling on my previous post. Desire is a tough one. Some people have the desire, some don't. Some try to convince themselves that they have the desire, but they really don't.

How do you get the desire to lose weight? I had a couple of shocking moments that woke me up from a self-denial daze. I jumped on a scale and it showed a number I never thought I'd see. And, I noticed that people who were 5-6 inches taller than me weighed less than I did.

That was enough to light my fire of desire. And, it's stayed lit ever since. Some type of veil-lifting experience seems to be how many get the desire to lose weight.

Do any of these sound familiar?
"Life's too short to worry or obsess about what I eat."
"I enjoy my food more than I enjoy being skinny."
"I have no willpower."
"Food gives me the escape I need."

These are self-defeating statements and they become irrelevant when you have a heart attack or get diagnosed with type II diabetes or some other life altering and life threatening issue.

And, perhaps that's it. It's easy to say when your 25, 35 or even 45 that life's too short to worry about what you eat. And, while controlling your weight does improve your chances of avoiding ailments, it's not a sure thing. So, the payoff of good health simply isn't worth the immediate cost for many people.

However, I'm only 35 and I already know at least a half dozen people who were shocked into becoming very interested in their diet because of some medical treatment. A few of them were close to dying. They had their chest spread open, people were inside them working on them like they were a broken car. They had long and painful recoveries and plenty of time to think about all the damage they did to their bodies for all of those years.

You probably know someone like that too. If you do, have a chat with them. Ask them what it was like when they thought it was about to be over. The one's I know told me that they were scared like nothing before. They weren't ready to go. They felt foolish for being so pig-headed for years and not being smart enough to know that the day would come when it would all catch up to them. They weren't ready to go. They had grandkids that they wanted to watch grow up. They hadn't made it to the Grand Canyon yet. They had just retired and hadn't had the opportunity to find their new lives. They just wanted to feel like they still had some control over how long they're going to live.

I know several others that didn't get to experience the shock. They're gone.

Desire is a funny thing. I was lucky enough to get a major jolt to my desire long before I had an ailment do it for me. I know that I'm not 100% protected from from weight-related diseases and there are trade-offs and risks to my activities as well (e.g. just two weeks ago a woman was run over and killed on her bicycle 2 miles from my house), but I still find that it's worth it to try to stay healthy.

Of course, health isn't the only benefit that I receive. I enjoy the activities that I'm involved with. There's something about rising in the wee hourse of the morning a few times a year to get to an event that I like. When the alarms goes off, I often question what the heck I'm doing, but by the end of the day I'm satisfied. Eating well helps me enjoy those days even more.

I hope you'll find something about being healthy that'll inspire you as well and I certainly hope that you don't wait for the schock of fear to inspire you.

2. Desire to do something about it.

I've been stuck on this awhile trying to figure out how to write something that might motivate you to have a desire to do something about losing weight, but this is a tough one. This is probably the most important of all the steps, but it's also the least formulaic.

I watched Wynona Judd on Oprah make a pledge to America to kick her weight problem about two years ago. I could read it in her eyes on national TV that she really didn't have the desire to do it. I'm sure she thought that she had the desire. I'm sure she thought making the pledge to a national audience would be the cement that desire in her brain, but it didn't come through in her body language.

Oprah herself has battled weight loss and weight gain, as we all know (I do watch Oprah on the DVR often with my wife in case you're wondering). But, it seems apparent in her body language when she has the desire to keep the weight off and when she doesn't.

Desires come in all shapes and sizes. Some people desire riches, some desire fame, to be loved, to belong, to have a lake house, prestige, to hear from a friend and so forth.

Desire is strange. How much control do we have over our desires? It seems almost primal. You can see desire in the eyes of animals. One of my friends is a super-triathlete. He's a fast runner, a fast cyclist and fast swimmer. He runs marathons and has completed an Ironman distance triathlon. After knowing him for several years, he confided in me that he sometimes desires a cigarette. That surprised me.

His theory was that he smoked when he was 13-14 years old and he thought that perhaps that was a life long desire forming age. Interesting. I started thinking about it. I was riding a bicycle competitively at that age and now I really desire to ride a bike. I love running, which I didn't do a lot of when I was that age, but I don't love it as much as cycling. I'll have to research that to see if I can find anything to lend credence to his theory.

"By the pricking of my thumb, something wicked this way comes." I didn't read the book, but I've watched the movie many times. The dark carnival sweeps into town and grants people their deepest desires, for a price of course (their souls).

Last week a TV magazine show was featured three people who had strong desires to become amputees. Two of them actually froze their legs and damaging them to the extent where their legs had to be removed. One asked, "What the hell was I thinking?" Obviously these people are extreme cases. Even they admitted that their desire was not rational or normal. But, they mentioned that their obsession started in childhood. Hmmmmm.....I'll have to give some more thought to this. This is starting to intrigue me.

1. Recognition of Problem

It took me two years from the time I first calculated my BMI that showed I was overweight until I finally admitted or realized that I was overweight. I wasn't severely overweight, but according to the BMI, I was overweight nonetheless.

I tried to rationalize my BMI score as being an outlier. Since the BMI (Body Mass Index) is a statistical model based on a sample of humans, I figured all statistical models have outliers and I must be one of those outliers. Thinking that, though, didn't get rid of my love handles and stomach pudge.

Part of my problem was that I simply didn't want to admit that I was overweight and the other part of my problem was that I simply didn't understand the BMI. Admitting that I was overweight meant that I might have to do something about it. That meant that I might have to change my habits. That was scary.

However, had I understood the BMI, I might have had an easier time admitting I had a problem. I think the BMI turns off a lot of people because it has three basic ranges: "normal", "overweight" and "obese". Leading with those blunt categories creates a barrier for people, like myself, from understanding what it says.

I think it's because of our typical reaction to the "you are" vs. "I" communication techniques. People automatically become defensive when you tell them "you are not doing something right", in the BMI's case it's telling them that "you are fat". When we become defensive we tend to put up a barrier that protects our feelings from becoming mangled.

The "I" technique is supposed to be better. Leading constructive criticism with the "I feel bad when you react this way" softens the blow to our egos enough for us to consider our actions without putting up the barriers. If the BMI had an "I" communication, I think it would have caught my attention earlier.

The BMI's "I" communication could be: "As researchers we discovered that people with a BMI range of 25-30 have a higher risk of suffering from a weight-related illness such as Type II diabetes." That sounds better than "you are overweight (ie fat)."

Furthermore, "our studies show that the risk of suffering from a weight related illness substantially increases with a BMI score of 30 or above." That sounds much better than "you are obese (ie really fat)."

So, do you want to know your risk of suffering from a weight related illness? Then calculate your BMI. Here's how to do it (it's simple, but grab a calculator):

1. Start with your weight in pounds. Mine is 134 pounds (this morning).
2. Divide by your height in inches. Mine is 64 inches (yes, I'm short!).
3. Divide by your height in inches, again. Mine is 64 inches, again.
4. Now muliply by 703.

My BMI calculation looks like this: 134 pounds / 64 inches / 64 inches x 703 = 23.

My BMI this morning was 23.0. At my peak I was approaching 30 and for years before that I was hovering in the 25-28 range. Just for laughs, the difference between a BMI of 23 and 24 for my height is 6 pounds. So, if I weighed 139 pounds, my BMI would move up one point to 24.

What's your's?

If it is under 25, you're doing well. You have a low risk (but still some risk) of suffering from a weight related illness).

If your BMI is higher than 25 and less than 30, you have an elevated risk of suffering from a weight related illness at some point in your life (moreso while you are above 25).

If your BMI is 30 or higher, then you have an even higher risk of suffering from a weight related illness at some point in your life.

There. I made it through without saying that you are fat or really fat.

So, now you know your risk of suffering from a weight related illness. The next question is whether you have the desire to do anything about it.

Road Map to Weight Loss Success

1. Recognition of problem.
2. Desire to do something about it.
3. Commitment to goal.
4. Education.
5. Learning the tricks of the trade.
6. Change habits and mindset.
7. Measure progress.
8. Deal with setbacks.
9. Continue learning.
10. Keep goal as high priority.

As I've discussed weight loss with others, I've noticed that failure tends to come when people try to do some parts of the process I outlined above, but fail to consider other parts. Over the next few posts I'm going to explore why each step is important and how it links in with the other steps.

Bicycling magazine letter follow-up

Below is a reprint of the letter I wrote to Bicycling magazine (it's a year old) along with my annotations where I think it's necessary to provide some additional context for you since you don't have the benefit of the original articles that prompted my letter (though you could read those articles by picking up a copy of the September 2005 Bicycling issue).

July 28, 2005

Steve Madden, Editor
Bicycling Magazine
135 North Sixth Street
Emmaus, PA 18098

Steve Madden:

As a long-time avid cyclist and Lemond-inspired junior racer, I so look forward to reading your rag each month. But, “Who You Calling Fat?” (9/2005) missed the mark on the BMI and propagated poor advice supporting that our body types are preprogrammed.

It’s important to understand BMI in order to use it effectively. It is not, as Conrad Ernest suggests, a “predictor of fitness.” Rather it indicates the risk level of suffering from weight-related illnesses such as type II diabetes, based on the results of studying a sizeable population. An “overweight” BMI score of 25 – 29 simply indicates an elevated risk of suffering from a weight-related illness. The risk goes higher at the “obese” score of 30. Also, BMI formulators fudge these limits for bulky weightlifters, but not endurance athletes.

[Seth's Note: The following paragraph referenced a quote from an athlete named Tim Buese, who poo-poo'd BMI because he experienced lightheadedness at 184 pounds. I too experienced lightheadedness when I got down to a BMI of around 21-22. I solved it by adding a few pounds, but still remaining well within the normal BMI range for my height.]

Taking a closer look at Tim Buese’s numbers, at 6-foot-3 and 208 pounds he is only 8 pounds above the “normal” BMI range and 32 pounds shy of “obesity”. I imagine Tim could trim down to 195 – 200 pound range and improve his performance without the lightheadedness he had at 184 pounds (and a BMI of 23, which is on the low end of the normal range for men).

[Seth's Note: The following paragraph references a quote from Jim Glinn that perfectly embodied my attitude toward BMI before I understood and used it to my benefit.]

Also, I disagree with Jim Glinn’s notion that “body types are in many ways preprogrammed,” because it’s that exact thinking that kept me above normal on the BMI scale for years. However, once I understood BMI and a few other things I lowered my BMI below 25. I’ve maintained it at 23.5 for the past four years, without lightheadedness. Not bad, considering I once thought I was “preprogrammed” to be 10 pounds above the normal BMI range.

I wrote about my understanding of BMI and the other things I learned about healthy weight loss in a short book entitled, “A Few Bites a Day: My Weight Loss Success Story” (which is available on Amazon.com). I also write a blog at http://fewbites.blogspot.com . The unfortunate consequence of my book is that I’m not always the first up the hills on Saturday morning rides anymore.

I’ve enclosed two copies of my book, one for you and the other for Sam Wade (who was featured in the “XXXL Dreams” article). Hopefully, you’ll find it helpful. If you’d like more copies or would like for me to send directly to Sam, just drop me an e-mail at: smcmenemy@hotmail.com.

Sincerely,

Seth McMenemy
Author of “A Few Bites A Day: My Weight Loss Success Story”

20/20 on 6/23/2006

20/20 this evening featured the good doctors who wrote "You: The Owner's Manual". I'm still reading the book and learning new things daily. It's a great read. My only complaint is that it's too chock full of information. I hope somewhere near the end they summarize all of their recommendations into a 1-2 pager.

On 20/20 they discussed some of the myths that they dispel in their book, one of them being that exercising too much is not good on the body, which I wrote about in an early post. First Oprah, now 20/20 - the doctors are making their rounds. Hopefully people will listen.

Bicycling Magazine and the BMI

Last year Bicycling magazine dedicated one of it's issues to weight loss. In one short article, they discussed and "dissed" the BMI (body mass index). The author's take was that it wasn't realistic and he even quoted a physical therapist (if memory serves me) as saying that we all have "pre-programmed" weights.

This article was the perfect embodiment of how I use to think of the BMI - utter denial. For those of you who don't know, the BMI is a number that you can calculate from your height and weight to determine if your weight is normal for your height or not. I go into more detail on how I came to believe in the BMI in my book. Suffice it to say now, I think the BMI is a great tool for identifying your target weight.

I was digging through my files and I found the letter that I wrote to Bicycling's editor, Steve Madden. Unfortunately, it didn't get printed and I didn't get a response. That's too bad, because I expected a magazine that I've been reading off and on for over 20 years to be more responsible in its reporting.

I was hoping that even if my letter didn't get printed, that the argument I made for the BMI in it would at least prompt the editors to dig deeper on the BMI and retract the rubbish they printed. Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything of sort since.

But, that's not surprising. Now that I think of it, I got much of my diet advice from Bicycling as a teenage bike racer. Carbs, carbs & more carbs - which isn't very good advice for the waistline, unless you're a Tour de France rider.

In Steve Madden's letter from the editor column, he has complained about the few extra pounds that he carries around his waist and his desire to shed those. Perhaps he's just at his genetic preprogrammed weight.

In my next post, I'll recount the letter I wrote.