WEB EXTRA
Stubborn Weight Loss
Q&A with Doc Wilson, Ph.D.
The majority of us have experienced the aggravating situation of losing excess weight down to a certain point, but with little or no success for further weight reduction after reaching a weight plateau. What we need then is a rational strategy to achieve our desired success for a healthier, more slender body. Doc Wilson’s suggestions may be just what you need to (finally) reach your body weight and health goals.
Q: I have lost 45 pounds so far, but my attempts to get the last 70 pounds off are going nowhere fast. Help!!!
A: I commiserate with you, and wish you full success! As you certainly know, you are not anywhere close to being a lone wolf on this issue! The following five steps should help you get you back on track. Basically, the strategy amounts to going through the checklist of the most important actions required for an optimum weight loss program.
Step 1 First, are you getting a sufficient amount of deep sleep each night? Although the generic recommendation is seven to eight hours a night, you may be genetically different. Each sleep cycles last about one and a half hours. Calculate the total number of hours of sleep that your body needs each night by multiplying the number of sleep cycles your body needs by one and a half, and then add 15 to 20 minutes or so to represent the time it takes you to get to sleep. Thus, if you need five sleep cycles to feel fully refreshed in the morning, multiply five by one and a half (which gives you seven and a half hours), and then add 15 minutes for “getting to sleep,” which gives you a total of about seven hours and 45 minutes. Keep in mind that some individuals need only two or three sleep cycles each night [and I know one person who needs only one! (very rare)], and others will need at least six sleep cycles.
Many studies show that weight loss is much more effective when sufficient deep sleep is obtained virtually every night. Your overall health will likely improve also because your immune system will be functioning at a higher level, and your risks for developing cardiovascular diseases, Type 2 diabetes, etc. will be lessened significantly. A corollary of this is that, generally, your risk for developing cancers will also be lessened.
Step 2 Second, is your nutrition optimally configured and executed? You can determine that by answering the following questions. The more “yes” answers, the better your nutrition is.
Q1: Are you eating at least five servings of fruits each day? One serving = ½ cup of fresh or frozen fruit and ¼ cup for dried fruit.
Q2: Are you eating at least five servings of vegetables each day? One serving = ½ cup of raw or cooked veggies, except greens (lettuce, spinach, etc.): one serving = one cup raw and ½ cup cooked.
Q3: In those five or more servings of vegetables each day, on three or more days a week are you getting a serving or so of dark leafy greens (kale, spinach, collards, green or Swiss chard, dandelion greens, etc.)?
Q4: In those five or more servings of vegetables each day, are you often including bean or lentil dishes?
Q5: Are you including nuts or seeds in most of your meals? Note: Serving sizes are smaller: ? cup for nuts and 1/16 cup for seeds.
Q6: Are you greatly limiting, or totally avoiding, sugary foods and foods that amount to “sugar equivalents” (that is, certain junk foods), such as all foods made of flour (whether made from “whole grain” or white flour), including pastas, bread, crackers, oatmeal, cold cereals, pie crusts, grits, etc., and other processed foods. Much healthier are the intact “true whole grains” (see the February issue of CA Monthly for some tasty recipes).
Q7: Are you eating enough protein, especially for breakfast? Your daily minimum protein intake should be at least 0.35 grams per pound of weight. You get extra health benefits if you get more of your protein from beans and lentils. However, don’t overdo your intake of protein.
Q8: Are you getting enough Vitamin D3—whether from direct sunlight on your skin (15 minutes a day times three or four days a week if you are light-skinned and two or three times that if you are dark-skinned), from foods (Shiitaki mushrooms and oily marine fish such as tuna, mackerel and salmon are good examples), or supplements (800 to 1,000 International Units per day for an adult)? Note: The results of some studies suggest that the Vitamin D in milk and other dairy products may not be absorbed in the gut, so it would be prudent to not rely on these foods for your Vitamin D.
Q9: Is your total calorie intake at the right level each day? There are hundreds of web sites that can help you estimate how many calories you should be consuming each day; just do a Google search and test a number of the sites. Your daily calorie intake should be 200 to 600 or so less than the calories you burn each day; however, if you are an adult female, your daily calorie intake should never be less than 1,200 a day; and if you are an adult male, your daily calorie intake should never be less than 1,500. Note: Many of the formulas used to estimate your daily calorie intake for the purpose of weight loss make major, and often unwarranted and inaccurate, assumptions about your metabolic rate. If your weight loss regimen is based on one of these formulas, you might have to further modify your calorie intake. Also, it would be wise to seek a checkup with your doctor to make certain that the function of your thyroid, pituitary and adrenal glands are in the normal range.
Q10: Have you tracked your daily calorie intake with a good online software program to be absolutely certain that your intake is where you need? Again, there are hundreds of free sites that allow you to track your daily calorie intake. One among the many is fitday.com.
Step 3 Third, is your weekly cardio exercise program ramped up to the sufficiently demanding, optimum level? Ideally, you have a regimen with which you have gradually worked up to an 11 to 15-minute cardio workout that features interval training with four to six interval cycles. This is one area in which the majority of those who experience stubborn weight loss are highly deficient; that is, the cardio workouts are not at a sufficiently demanding level for optimum weight loss (and not sufficient for optimum health also). You should work up to short exercise bursts to elevate your heart rate and your breathing rate. Once you are in “good condition,” your cardio program should put you in “heavy breathing” mode at the end of each demanding part of each interval cycle. With a great cardio program, combined with a great strength-training program, your metabolic rate will be elevated for at least ten to 20 minutes following completion of your workout; and that is the exercise part of the key to overcoming stubborn weight loss! Note: It would be highly effective to hire a knowledgeable personal trainer if you need help in the exercise area!
Step 4 Fourth, is your weekly strength-building exercise program sufficiently demanding? This is another area in which there is much misinformation that contributes to stubborn weight loss. Use the following formula for your strength-building exercise program, which ideally should be practiced three days a week on an every-other-day basis—but at least two times during a non-ideal week. For each exercise, do as many repetitions as your body will permit, wherein you have to struggle on your last one or two repetitions (“to the point of muscle failure”); then, over the course of two or three workouts, adjust the weight/resistance level for each exercise so that you can do only eight to ten reps for upper body exercises (chest, arm and upper back muscles), 12 to 15 reps for leg exercises and eight to 20 reps for core exercises (abdominal, lower back and oblique (sides of the torso).
Step 5 Fifth, is the level of stress in your life reduced to the lowest practical level? If you are routinely experiencing high levels of stress, dangerous fat likely will accumulate not only on the front of your abdomen (e.g., the “beer belly”), but also on the inside of your abdomen. This is dangerous because it greatly increases the risks for Type 2 diabetes, and all of the cardiovascular diseases (heart attacks, strokes, dementia, deep vein thrombosis, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, Alzheimer’s, peripheral artery disease, etc.). The culprits are the stress hormones cortisol and adrenalin.
Always check with your physician before starting any exercise regimen or change in diet.
This column is intended to provide only general information that may be of interest to the public and is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for specific medical advice. Any questions regarding your personal health and medical issues should be directed to your physician.
About Doc Wilson
 Doc Wilson is a physiologist, biochemist, nutritionist and personal trainer who does personal training and nutritional counseling at Columbia Association. He earned a Ph.D. in physiology and biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also holds a Master of Arts in physiology from SUNY at Buffalo, and he conducted a post-doctoral fellowship in biochemistry and physical chemistry at Duke University. He is a past faculty member of the University of Maryland Schools of Medicine (Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology) and Dentistry (Department of Physiology).
Wilson’s areas of specialization include weight loss and weight control, preventing and reversing type 2 diabetes, preventing and reversing high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases, and exercise and nutrition for optimum overall health. His first book, "Total Health in a Nutshell," is slated for publication in the near future.
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