WEIGHT LOSS EDUCATION
SECRETS TO WEIGHT LOSS AND WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
By David R. Seaman, DC, MS, DABCN, DACBN
Millions and millions of people suffer from being overweight or
obese. The number of people grows each year and is expected to
continue this way for years to come. This trend is occurring despite
the advent of surgeries, medications, and supplements for weight
control.
Overweight/obese individuals mostly feel helpless – they continue
to put on weight. You are likely reading this because you want to
lose weight and manage your weight properly in the future.
SHOULD YOU TAKE A SUPPLEMENT TO
FACILITATE WEIGHT LOSS?
Studies have shown that certain supplements can be helpful by
increasing thermogenesis, which in practical terms, translates into
increased calorie burning. The problem encountered by individuals when they take a supplement is that many believe the supplement, by itself, will lead to weight loss, a lean appearance, and
better health. No supplement or medication alone can deliver this
outcome.
The purpose of taking a supplement is to increase calorie burning,
which is further increased by diet modification and exercise. These
lifestyle changes must be maintained, otherwise weight will be
regained.
What complicates the apparent simplicity of the weight loss
process is the existence of multiple non-food related barriers that
powerfully prevent weight loss and proper weight management.
Without knowledge of these barriers, long-term weight management is nearly impossible. In other words, if you know the barriers,
you have a much better chance of overcoming them and being
successful in maintaining proper weight throughout your lifetime,
which translates into a better chance to experience health and
vitality during your entire lifespan.
THE DIET TRAP FOR WEIGHT LOSS
People actually believe that there is a secret diet for weight loss
and even worse that there are special “weight loss” foods. To avoid
this diet trap for weight loss, my suggestion is to watch two movies
about weight loss. Both are available online
One is called Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. The writer/producer, Joe Cross,
is also the subject of the movie. He goes on a 60-day juice fast.
No food, just freshly made vegetable juice and water. He dropped
close to 100 pounds and discontinued all medications. This approach would be characterized as extreme.
On the other end of diet extremism scale is the movie Fat Head.
Tom Naughton, the writer/producer, is also the subject. He believes that Super Size Me is severely inaccurate and demonstrates
this by losing weight while eating only fast food and mostly at
McDonalds for 1 month, another version of dietary extremism.
Each movie has some errors in terms of science. However, both
accurately demonstrate that weight loss is possible whether one
drinks only juice or eats fast food. The key for both Joe and Tom is
that they both had specific goals and stuck with them. The problem is that neither approach is practical for the long term, so unless one has a long-term plan, weight regain is inevitable. In other
words, the “diet trap” for weight loss is not having a long-term plan.
Almost any diet that is restricted in calories will achieve weight loss
and the rebound weight gain has nothing to do with the diet of
choice; it has to do with lacking a long term plan.
AVOIDING THE “DIET TRAP” WHILE EMBRACING
THE FAT HEAD APPROACH
The Fat Head approach is one that most people can embrace –
they can still eat fast food if they wish, but they must do it in overall context of reasonable calorie restriction. In Tom Naughton’s case
in Fat Head, he averaged no more than 100 grams of carbohydrates
per day, which add up to only 400 calories. In my opinion, this is a
reasonable goal for all. Tracking carbohydrate intake is very simple.
Tom also ate no more than 2000 calories per day and increased his
walking. If you wish to look at Tom’s food log, the internet search
terms to use are: “Fat Head the movie food log”
It is also quite safe to eat less than 100 grams of carbohydrates per
day as well. If one eats no more than 50 grams of carbohydrates
per day and increases their fat calorie intake, as with coconut oil,
the person will enter ketosis, which is the most effective weight
loss/management state we can achieve. The proper approach to
carbohydrate restriction is outlined in The New Atkins by Jeff Volek,
PhD, RD and Stephen Phinney, MD, PhD. This is an excellent book
and is written by doctors that have been researching carbohydrate
restriction since the 1980s.
My Fitness Pal is an example of an app that can be used on a computer or smart phone to track calories and carbohydrate intake.
When it comes to carbohydrates, it is important to understand that
sugar and flour are the most problematic and should be avoided.
This is not to say you can never eat them, the point is to consume
them in much smaller quantities.
LONG-TERM DIETARY GOALS
People make the mistake of having short-term weight loss goals –
lots of people lose weight, but they usually gain it back and more.
There are physiological reasons for this that must be understood
and will be described below. However, people need to make proper weight management their lifetime goal after weight loss.
Unfortunately, the goal setting and achieving process are not
understood by most people. Earl Nightingale does a great job
of describing the importance of goals in his famous audio – The
Strangest Secret. Search the internet for Earl Nightingale’s The
Strangest Secret. The audio is approximately 30 minutes in length
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SECRETS TO WEIGHT LOSS AND WEIGHT MANAGEMEN
and should be listened to many times. One of the best statements
in the audio is that, “a man/woman without goals is lost.” When it
comes to not having long-term weight management goals, being
lost equates with gaining weight.
Zig Ziglar also has an excellent audio on goals: Ziglar’s style is
loved by millions. His goal audio is about 50 minutes and is readily
findable by searching for: “Zig Ziglar Goals”. Ziglar’s style is humorous yet direct.
Both audios are about goals in general; they apply to all aspects of
life and are excellent for applying to weight loss. In short, the concept of goal setting must be embraced and applied to maintain
lost weight because the weight-gain card “deck” is substantially
stacked in the favor of weight re-gain. If one happens to be fortunate to have always maintained proper body weight, he/she has
much less trouble maintaining proper weight versus those who
have been overweight or obese. In other words, the weight-gain
card “deck” is much more heavily stacked against overweight and
obese individuals. This is because the primordial and physiological
drives to overeat are much more pronounced in the overweight
and obese population.
THE PRIMORDIAL DRIVE / INSTINCT TO GAIN WEIGHT
The primordial drive to gain weight is so strong that it enables
even people with lap band surgery to gain weight after weight
loss. So, if weight gain is possible after lap band surgery, the same
holds true regarding all other weight loss treatments, such as medications and supplements.
The BIG primordial issue is that the “eating brain” or limbic system
does not know that food is plentiful. Historically, humans would
gorge themselves whenever possible, however, this was the rare
occasion. What modern humans need to understand is that we are
wired to pig out and pig out and pig out. The reason is that during
times of food scarcity, accumulated body fat would allow us to survive. But now there is no food scarcity, so this primal drive works
against us. AND this primal drive NEVER turns off.
We now, unfortunately, live in what has been referred to as an
“obesogenic” environment. This means we have to consciously
override powerful primordial eating drives in an environment
that promotes obesity. Without performing this override successfully on a daily basis, weight gain and re-gain is guaranteed and
nothing external, in the form of supplements, drugs, or surgery
can stop it.
THE DIETARY CRACKHEAD
Only the very few and lucky do not have a sweet tooth. We all love
the combination of sugar, flour and fat. We love the taste. We get
pleasure from the taste, which is known as “reward” from a neurological perspective and refers to the activation of the addiction
pathway in the brain. The addiction response from sugar and flour
is less intense than crack cocaine, but it is very similar neurologically. This is why I refer to sugar/flour calorie sources as dietary crack.
And notice please that I refer to “dietary crack” as a calorie source
and NOT as food. Dietary crack contains absolutely no nutritional
value and so should not be viewed as food.
The mesolimbic dopamine reward system is the name given to the
brain’s pleasure/reward circuitry involved in addiction. For more
information on this reward system, use a Google search to find
additional information.
In 2014, researchers at Connecticut College demonstrated that
rats eat the middle of the Oreo cookie first, in the same fashion as
humans. They further demonstrated that the addiction pathway
activated by sugar/flour is the same as cocaine. In this context,
many people believe they are overweight/obese because they are
food addicts. The term “food addict” should never be used because no one has a broccoli addiction that gets them into trouble.
Dietary crack (sugar and flour) is the problem and as stated above,
these are calorie sources and NOT food.
In order to conquer a weight control problem, you must claim
back your brain and a dominion over your own personal dietary
crackhead. If you do not control your dietary crackhead problem,
weight gain is unstoppable. This holds true for everyone reading
this document.
Many people actually feel guilty and mentally weak or inferior because they like desserts, bread, etc. No one should feel guilty about
liking dietary crack – everyone does, the pleasurable response to
dietary crack is hardwired into our brains. The only way not to be a
dietary crackhead is to have never tasted the stuff in the first place,
which is basically impossible in our modern era.
So, we have to accept that we are dietary crackheads and keep
dietary crack out of the house. If you want some dietary crack, go
out and get a serving and then go home without bringing any of it
back to the house with you. If one keeps dietary crack in the house,
odds are he/she will gain weight and eventually become obese.
WEIGHT GAIN PROMOTES MORE WEIGHT GAIN
There is a point during the weight gain process wherein turning
back becomes substantially difficult unless massive will power
is engaged. The turning point is likely to be associated with the
expression of systemic inflammation. How do you know if you
are moving towards systemic inflammation? You will have several
abnormal values in the inflammation tracker that can be found at
the end of this document.
Once the body becomes systemically inflamed, the inflammatory
state will also affect the hypothalamus in the brain, which functions to regulate food intake. Both insulin and leptin stimulate
satiety, which stops us from eating because the feeling of fullness
in the gut is associated with no longer feeling hungry. When the
hypothalamus is inflamed, the sensation of satiety is not generated
because the hypothalamus becomes resistant to insulin and leptin.
This allows for a very unique and somewhat unbearable situation people can feel very hungry even though their gut feels full.
Some individuals actually feel as if they are starving even though
their guts are full. This sensation is new to modern man and did
not exist when we lived as hunter-gatherers. Accordingly, we
struggle with how to deal with this paradoxical situation that is
odds with our genes. Unfortunately, when the hypothalamus is
inflamed, the primordial instinct of eating dominates the person’s
mind and they continue to eat.
Anyone who has an inflamed hypothalamus will initially have
more difficulty losing weight than others because they always feel
hungry. This passes quickly for most if they eat no more than 100
gram of carbohydrate per day and fill up on vegetation and ensure
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SECRETS TO WEIGHT LOSS AND WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
adequate fat intake – again watch Fat Head and read The New
Atkins by Volek and Phinney.
Until the hypothalamus deflames, people with an inflamed hypothalamus need to recognize the sensation of fullness in the gut
and respect it even if they still feel hungry. Ignore this sensation
of hunger as if it is an illusion. Because the sensation of hunger is
strong and a primal instinct, you must be psychologically prepared
to resist eating during this deflaming period.
STRESS AND WEIGHT GAIN
It is well documented that the stress response promotes eating.
In short, the hunger hormone, ghrelin, is released during stress,
which makes us feel hungry for dietary crack even though we
otherwise would not feel hungry. This is an illusion and must be
battled against. Exercise is an excellent antidote to stress response.
Even if you may not feel like exercising, do it just the same and
make this a habit.
LACK OF SLEEP AND WEIGHT GAIN
It is known that a lack of sleep promotes weight gain for two reasons. First, one is awake longer, which means more time for eating.
Second, the perceived lack of sleep as a stressor, and as stated
above, stress promotes overeating due to an overproduction of
ghrelin.
Furthermore, both stress and inadequate sleep create two additional promoters of overeating, insulin resistance and chronic
systemic inflammation.
EATING TOO QUICKLY
Almost everyone has had the experience of eating an appetizer
at a restaurant, while drinking water and perhaps a glass of wine.
The main course is slow to get to the table, so you wait about 30
minutes before you actually start the main course. And by the time
this happens you feel full.
Research has shown that at the 30-minute mark the brain accurately reflects the sensation of fullness. This means we should eat
slowly or eat a modest portion quickly, if we must, and wait till the
30-minute mark for fullness to kick in, and then respect the fullness
feeling by not eating more.
Exercise appears to be the only way to reset the body weight
set point. This is likely because the brain/body determines that
in order to maintain a certain activity level, a lower set point is
preferable.
Exercise also has the ability to reduce body hunger, which seems
to be particularly profound during daytime hours. This is likely
because in the hunter-gatherer days, one could not load up on
food and maintain a semi-vigorous activity level. So the biggest
meal was reserved for the end of the day. After learning about this
several years ago, I applied it to myself and I found that it is very
easy to eat very modest amounts of food during the day. Staying
adequately hydrated seems to help.
DE-LEARNING THE MYTH OF FOOD AND PLEASURE
Food and meal consumption is promoted in the context of enjoying and embracing life. Who tells us this stuff? People who are selling cook books, food products, or vacations. We should embrace
eating from a physiological perspective. Eating is about survival
and maintaining vitality throughout one’s life. It is not about enjoying desserts and getting obese. With this in mind, properly spiced
anti-inflammatory meals are delicious, so taste does not need to
be sacrificed to achieve profound health benefits.
A proper mindset is needed when it comes to feeding our
bodies. We should feed our bodies as we feed our automobiles.
We would not put regular gas into a diesel engine and expect
things to go well. The same holds true for our bodies.
TRACKING THE MARKERS OF CHRONIC INFLAMMATION
Since we are all dietary crackheads, most of us want to know about
cheating. How strict does one need to be? The fact is that no one
knows the answer to this question. So, rather than becoming enveloped by despair, we need to apply rational thinking and science
to this issue.
We now know that we can readily track markers of inflammation
that are associated with obesity and the development of chronic
disease such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, as well as
chronic pain. The goal should be to achieve normal values/levels
for each marker. And then if you wish to cheat, do so in a modest
and reasonable fashion and make sure your markers stay normal.
THE BODY WEIGHT SET POINT
The “set point” may be the most annoying barrier of all. No matter
what our body weight may be, the brain defends that body weight
and actually tries to increase it for the survival needs associated
with food scarcity. This physiologic mechanism is never going
away.
Once the brain registers an elevated body weight, it has a new set
point to vigorously defend for survival purposes. There is a very
good reason for this. If I weigh 200 pounds versus 175, my chance
of survival without food is much greater at the higher weight. So
my brain wants me to stay at 200. And if I get down to 170, my
brain wants me back to 200.
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SECRETS TO WEIGHT LOSS AND WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
Markers of chronic inflammation and pain.
Date
Markers
Metabolic syndrome
Date
Date
Date
Abnormal value
1. Fasting blood glucose
≥100 mg/dL
2. Fasting triglycerides
≥150 mg/dL
3. Fasting HDL cholesterol
< 50 for women; < 40 men
4. Blood pressure
≥130/85
5. Waist circumference
> 35” women; > 40” men
Pro-inflammatory markers
Parameters
2-hour postprandial glucose
<140 mg/dl = normal
140-199 = prediabetes
200+ = diabetes
Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c)
<5.7% = normal
5.7-6.4% = prediabetes
≥ 6.5% = type 2 diabetes
Fasting triglycerides
<90 mg/dl predicts controlled postprandial
response
hsCRP in mg/L
(marker of chronic inflammation)
<1.0= normal
1.0-3.0= moderate
>3.0 = high
25(OH)D (vitamin D)
32-100 ng/ml (goal >40 ng)
Body mass index (BMI)
18.5-24.9 = normal
25-29.9 = overweight
≥ 30 = obese
Waist/hip ratio women
(risk factor for diabetes)
<0.80 = low risk
0.81-.85 = moderate risk
>0.85 = high risk
Waist/hip ratio men
(risk factor for diabetes)
<0.95 = low risk
0.96-1.0= moderate risk
>1.0 = high risk
Lack of sleep
Less than 6 hrs
Sedentary living
Associated with systemic inflammation
Stress
Associated with systemic inflammation
Depression (use HSQ-12 initially)
Associated with systemic inflammation
Poor self-rated health (use HSQ-12)
Associated with systemic inflammation
If NSAIDs relieve pain
Suggests need for dietary balance of
omega-6 : omega 3 fatty acids
Created by David R. Seaman and modified version first published in:
Seaman DR. Body mass index and musculoskeletal pain: is there a connection? Chiropractic Man Ther. 2013;21:15.
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3632-0003-LL
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