What is considered a good rate of weight loss?

This is a really important question that I hear from just about every client that I work with. Having reasonable and realistic expectations of your weight loss effort can be the difference between hitting your goal, and giving up prematurely because the program “Isn’t working fast enough!”

Ideal weight loss is ¾ of a pound per week for the ladies and 1 pound a week for the men. I know this doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up to 3 pounds in a month, 18 pounds in 6 months, and 36 pounds in a year. This is the rate of weight loss for those that are successful at losing weight and keeping it off long term.

Why is this the case?

1) A pound of fat is 3500 calories. This means that there are 500 calories per day that you have to eliminate by either eating less or exercising more. Even this is not easy to do with consistency.

2) Resistance training will add small amounts of muscle to your body. This is pivotal to maintaining metabolic rate and ensuring that you’re losing body fat and not muscle mass. This additional muscle weight will show up on the scale and will slow down the overall rate of weight loss. Trust me when I say this is a very good trade-off. Maintaining muscle mass throughout the weight loss process is the only way to permanently change your body.

3) The human body has a number of defense mechanisms to weight loss that are recruited when body fat starts to drop. This will naturally slow down the rate of weight loss as time goes on.

4) It is far better to make smaller changes to your diet and exercise program that are sustainable long term, than major changes that you can only keep up for a short time.

Popular TV shows and fad diets will promise that you can lose 5, 10, or 15 pounds in a week. Don’t believe the hype. Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to weight loss. Keep your eye on the goal long term and take it nice and slow!

 

 

 

Research Update

Is your breakfast making you hungry?

The Study

48 subjects consumed Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal and Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast on 2 separate occasions in a randomized crossover trial. Both meals contained 363 calories; 250 for the cereal and 113 for the fat free milk. Visual analogue scales measuring hunger and satiety were completed throughout the morning of each test. When the subjects consumed the oatmeal, they reported significantly higher levels of fullness and significantly lower levels of hunger, desire to eat, and prospective food intake than when eating the Honey Nut Cheerios. The oatmeal breakfast was lower in sugar, had a lower glycemic index, and had higher amounts of protein, total fiber, soluble fiber, and beta glucan than the Cheerios. These are all potential mechanisms for the increased satiety. Journal of the American College of Nutrition 2013; 32:272-79.

Take Home Message

When it comes to weight loss, a calorie is not a calorie! Some foods increase hunger and subsequent energy intake, and some don’t. The glycemic load is a powerful concept that must be understood if you want to lose weight and keep it off.

What’s more important, the number of fruits and vegetables consumed or the variety?

The Study

71,141 women from the Nurses’ Health Study and 42,135 men from the Health Professional Follow-up Study had their quantity and variety of fruit and vegetable consumption measured for a period of 22 years. Subjects consuming 8 or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day had a 17% lower risk of heart disease compared to those consuming 2 or fewer servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Variety, which was measured as the total number of unique fruits and vegetables consumed at least once per week, was not associated with risk of coronary heart disease. The authors believed the reduction in risk of heart disease was due to the presence of carotenoids, vitamin C, fiber, magnesium, potassium, and/or antioxidants in the fruits and vegetables. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2013; 98:1514-23.

Take Home Message

While it is always good advice to include a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet, it may not be as important as the number of servings, at least when it comes to risk of heart disease. One last note: white potatoes and fruit juices were not considered as servings of fruits and vegetables by the researchers, most likely due to their higher glycemic load.

Groundbreaking New Research On Blood Sugar And Dementia

Glucose levels and risk of dementia. New England Journal of Medicine 2013; 369:540-48

Objective

Previous research has shown that diabetics have an increased risk of dementia.  This study examines the association between high blood glucose levels and risk of dementia in those without diabetes.

Methods

2,067 older men and women free of dementia and diabetes, were recruited from Group Health Cooperative, which is a health care system in Washington State. Over 7 years of follow up, blood glucose was measured repeatedly with a fasting blood glucose test.  Risk of dementia was measured by means of the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument. By the end of follow up, researchers had collected 35,264 measures of blood glucose in these subjects. The association between glucose levels and incidence of dementia were calculated.

Results

By the end of follow-up, there were 524 new cases of dementia in this cohort.  Blood glucose levels were linearly and significantly associated with an increased risk of dementia, starting at fasting concentrations of 105 mg/dl. Following are the increases in risk of dementia with the corresponding average blood glucose readings:

105 mg/dl: 10% increased risk of dementia

110 mg/dl: 15% increased risk of dementia

115 mg/dl: 18% increased risk of dementia

 
It is also important to note that those with an average glucose reading of 95 had a 14% reduced risk of dementia.

Comment

Previous research has shown that diabetics have an increased risk of dementia.  Therefore, it is known that very high levels of blood glucose have a negative impact on the aging brain. This is the first study to show significant increases in risk of dementia with blood glucose levels well below that of diabetics.  

A fasting blood glucose reading below 100 is considered normal.  A fasting blood glucose above 125 is considered definitive for a diagnosis of diabetes.  If you fall in between (101-125) you are considered pre-diabetic.  This study showed that even a tiny increase in fasting blood glucose above normal will increase risk of dementia.  This is frightening because a huge number of American fall into this prediabetic category.  The authors felt that the increased risk of dementia was due to acute and chronic hyperglycemia, insulin resistance, and microvascular disease of the central nervous system.

Take Home Message

This is a really well designed study published in the #1 journal that will initiate more research in this area.  In the meantime, do your best to keep your fasting blood glucose levels in the normal range (even a bit lower as those with a reading of 95 mg/dl had a reduced risk of dementia). The best way to do this is to exercise daily, keep your weight in a healthy range, and eat a low glycemic load diet.

Product Review: Gazelle Edge

If you work with me or have read any of my books, you already know that cardio is essential to weight loss, fitness, and chronic disease prevention. Research is now telling us that we need to do a lot more of it than any of us originally thought. If weight loss in particular is your goal, cardio simply has to be a daily part of your routine. 

Going to the gym sounds great, but I can’t say that I have seen it work long term. In fact, in 15 years of working with weight loss clients, I can name one client who consistently got to the gym every single day to hit her cardio goal. Life just seems to get in the way. The only answer is to have a piece of cardio equipment in your home.

Enter the Gazelle Edge. This is a glider, which is very similar to an elliptical trainer, and is sold on amazon.com. I can’t say enough about it. Here are some of the great features:

1) It is low impact and very easy on the joints. 

2) It is light and folds up for easy storage against a wall or even under a bed. This makes it perfect for those in apartments or for those that don’t want a piece of gym equipment prominently displayed in their home.

3) It is inexpensive. Amazon sells it for about $120 with free shipping.

4) Having the Gazelle at home makes getting your cardio minutes a snap. Put it in front of your flat screen, and TV time becomes exercise time. You can talk on the phone while on the Gazelle. When your balance gets really good, you can even read on the Gazelle. 

5) It works! The majority of my clients use it as their primary source of cardio (as do I) with amazing weight loss results.

*Always remember that whenever you are starting or changing your exercise program, it is important to talk to your doctor first to get medical clearance.

Over the years I have gotten a lot of questions from my clients on how to best use the Gazelle Edge. In this next section, I’ll answer them for you.

Should I use the arms?

No! In fact, I recommend taking the arms off altogether. I want you to focus on the larger muscles of the lower body and not your arms. Also, with the arms off, you will be free to hold the TV remote, a book, or your tablet. If you need to hold on for balance in the beginning, you can keep your hands on the side of the machine.

How can I prevent the Gazelle from sliding around while I’m working out?

If you place the Gazelle on a hardwood floor, it can move around a bit during your workout. To prevent this, use the Gazelle in a carpeted room. If this isn’t an option, a thin yoga mat underneath it will help a lot. I actually use a yoga mat on top of the carpet to keep the machine from leaving indentations on the carpet.  This combination reduces movement 100%.

Initially, I feel like I’m not working out hard enough, am I doing something wrong?

When you first start using the Gazelle, you will not be entirely balanced and comfortable. This tends to slow down your pace. It is common to feel like you are not getting a great workout at this time. After a couple of weeks, your balance will improve and you will be able to greatly pick up the pace. The key is to take long, fluid strides, kind of like cross country skiing on one of those Nordic Track’s from years ago. Also, swing your arms as if you were running quickly.

Can I do anything else to pick up the intensity?

For most people, following the above recommendations will get their intensity to the proper level to improve fitness and lose weight. However, if I have a client that is a bit younger and healthy, I’ll recommend interval training to ramp up the intensity. 

I’ll have them start out their cardio at the normal intensity for 4½ minutes, and then sprint for 30 seconds. I’ll have them repeat this 4 or 5 times during their workout. This is a great way to increase intensity and burn more calories. The sprint does not have to be maximal, just a clear increase in speed for 30 seconds. If a client is overweight or has cardio-metabolic risk factors, such as hypertension or high cholesterol, I don’t recommend interval training, since the increased intensity can spike heart rate and blood pressure.

So there you have it. If attaining your cardio goals has been a problem for you, the Gazelle Edge is a low cost and effective solution.

To learn more about the Gazelle or to pick one up: click here.