Guidelines for Weight Management

If you want to make a long-term change to your body, 

you have a make a long-term change in your lifestyle.

1.    The body is comprised of water, bone, lean cells, and fat cells. The objective of a weight management program should be to reduce fat content without destroying lean tissue.

2.    Nutrition is critical.

·        The body requires adequate nutrition to function properly.

·        If it does not get adequate nutrition from the foods you eat, it will scavenge it from lean tissue in the body.

·        People who “go on a diet” may lose weight, but more than half of that weight is typically lean tissue. And when they resume a normal eating pattern, the body will rebuild its store of fat cells first, leading to higher body fat than before starting the diet.

3.    Calories are important.

·        Your long-term body weight can be approximated by your daily caloric intake divided by 15. For example, if you eat an average of 3000 calories per day, your body weight will tend to be 200 pounds. If you eat an average of 1500 calories per day, your body weight will tend to be 100 pounds.

·        If you are an active athlete, you will need to consume more calories to reach a similar weight.

·        If you are inactive, you will need to consume fewer calories.

4.    Cravings are a sign that the body is missing one or more nutrients.

·        Cravingsfor sweets and chips are typically signs of a deficiency of polysaccharides.

5.    Everything you consume has a caloric content and a nutritional content.

·        A goal should be to eat foods that have a higher nutritional content and a lower caloric content.

·        Eating foods that have been sweetened with zero or low calorie artificial sweeteners is not recommended.

·        A good surrogate for caloric content is glycemic load. An alternative is glycemic index.  

6.    Eat nutritionally-rich foods that have a low glycemic index.

·        These tend to be complex carbohydrates—typically green vegetables

·        Take phytonutrient supplements

·        Eat raw vegetables. Cooking reduces the nutritional content and destroys the enzymes within the vegetables.

·        Not all vegetables are low glycemic.

·        Stay away from foods labelled “low fat.” They are high in sugar content or salt content.

7.    Exercise

·        To burn fat, you must get a minimum of 20 continuous minutes a day of aerobic/cardiovascular exercise in your target heart rate five days a week.

·        Wear a heart rate monitor to keep your heart rate within your target range

·        Your target heart rate is 50-75% of your maximum heart rate, which is 220 minus your age.

8.    Keep the pH of your body within a range of 6.5 to 7.5. A urine pH of 6.4 or lower will inhibit the ability to lose weight.

9.    Do not snack between meals.

10. Do not eat anything between the evening meal and bedtime.

11. If you must snack, eat only high protein snacks.