I used to interview elite bodybuilders on their training and eating for a
living and did this for years and years. One reoccurring theme that
kept popping up when talk turned to diet/nutrition was how much food top
bodybuilders packed away on a daily basis. These men taught their
bodies how to handle continually greater amounts of calories without
becoming fat. Contrast this with the typical obese person who eats one
meal a day and adds body fat at the drop of a hat. I am working with a
crew of obese folks and having great success using modified bodybuilder
eating tactics to help the obese lose body fat.
The first order of business for the obese is to establish a multiple
meal schedule. The obvious advantage to this strategy is it divides the
daily calories in smaller chunks. I require the obese person to eat
every three hours and this usually works out to five feedings a day.
Secondly we insist they clean up the food selections. Some foods are
easily converted into body fat (sugar foods, manmade foods and saturated
fat) and some foods are near impossible for the body to convert into
fat (lean protein, fibrous carbohydrates). The body's metabolism kicks
into high gear to digest protein and fiber - creates what is called the
thermogenic effect of food. Body temperature actually increases when the
digestive system is faced with the daunting task of breaking down hard
to digest protein and fiber.
Multiple meals allow the body to deal with fewer calories at any one
sitting and the repeated practice of eating 5-6 meals a day teaches the
body to become adept at digesting and distributing food. Better to eat
3,000 "clean" calories a day divided into six five hundred-calorie daily
meals than one 1,500 calorie mega-dirty fast-food meal.
The results are astounding when the obese buy into the approach. I have
one male who has lost 40-pounds of bodyweight in 40 days while
simultaneously adding 12-pounds of muscle. He started at 240 and
yesterday he weighed 200. This is far more impressive because didn't
lose muscle in the process, he added muscle in the process. This was no
ex-jock loaded with muscle memory; this is a 48-year old man with zero
weight training experience.
Obese folks who slash calories end up losing as much fat as muscle and
end up as miniaturized versions of the old fat selves. This modified
bodybuilder approach melts fat while simultaneously adding muscle: the
obese person eats more and as a direct result feels energized and
vibrant during the process. Contrast this with the calorie-slasher who
feels deprived, denied and continually on the verge of a binge. A person
who eats wholesome foods every three hours is far less likely to binge
and blow their diet than some poor obese person subsisting on 1200
calories a day. The calorie starved obese individual has set their
caloric ceiling set so low that eating a candy bar or a bowl of ice
cream causes them to add five pounds in 24-hours.
Adding functional muscle and building strength allows the obese person
to become mobile and adept at climbing steps, getting out of a low chair
and powering their bulk around. Compare this to the calorie-slasher who
actually weakens their already weak body. Those who depend on
deprivation to trigger bodyweight loss weaken the immune system and
continually contract colds and sickness.
Those who live on 1000 to 1500 calories a day live in a stressful
psychological world of denial. A person who has elevated their
metabolism and consumes 3,000 calories a day can absorb an occasional
binge far, far better than a person starving; I allow my folks a cheat
meal once a week: this allows them to feel psychologically free. The
interesting thing about the cheat meal (not cheat day - cheat meal) is
that by "being good" the other 6 7/8's of the time the sweets, fat and
junk they crave and might eat are rejected by the body and classically
results in diarrhea
