Power Dieting

I started a diet on October 1st.  In about 40 days I have lost 27 lbs.  As of today I am officially no longer Obese according to the Body Mass Index.  Here is a BMI calculator.  I anticipate being to my goal weight some time around New Year's.   At that point I will begin eating more and lifting weights again.

I have a very effective diet that I have used in the past to shed weight rapidly.  It's a combination of fasting and Low Carb.  The thinking goes like this:  I can eat a negligible amount of food since I have plenty of body fat to burn that will provide energy for essential bodily functions.

There is an energy balance in the body.  Basically calories eaten minus calories burned = weight gain or loss.  What most people don't realize is that exercise doesn't affect this equation very much!  The largest part of the minus side of the equation is called BMR, or Basal Metabolic Rate.  Here is a BMR calculator.  My BMR is about 2100 calories a day, with no exercise at all.  If I were to add a mile of jogging at 5 mph, I would only burn an additional 100 calories.  That's all, an additional 100 calories!  So clearly controlling diet is FAR more important than exercising at this stage.

To be blunt, you need a lot of your body to be active muscle mass for exercise to be an effective way to burn calories.  At this point, I am mostly bones, organs and body fat, not muscle!  Here's another thing people don't realize.  It's not a good idea to try to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.  Building muscle requires an excess of carbs and protien - the same things (combined with inactivity) that causes people to get fat in the first place!!!  So... first we lose the fat, then adopt a program of eating right and exercising.

Back to my aggressive diet though...  When I get hungry, I initially try to avoid taking in calories, either by drinking coffee, a low-carb energy drink, or a diet soda.  When the hunger gets too great or I get a splitting headache, I will either have a protien drink (160 calories), an ounce of cheese (110 calories), or a couple of hot dogs without the bun (200 calories).  Rinse and repeat.  I am burning off 4-5 lbs each week.  One caveat:  I am religious about eating a multivitamin and a fish oil pill whenever I am doing this, because I am certainly not incorporating all the essential nutrients in my diet.

Some folks would probably say that it's dangerous to diet this way.  I would like them to explain that scientifically.  The last time I was on this diet, I had a full set of blood work done.  My triglycerides were excellent, my cholesteral was normal, although a the LDP/HDP was a little high and the doctor recommended I eat some stuff containing good cholesterol.  I think he specifially mentioned adding nuts to my diet.

So there.  Actually I really enjoy the challenge of dropping weight, even if I don't feel very energetic or 100% mentally acute.  It's the enjoyment of tracking my progress and having clothes fit again that brings its own set of rewards.

Then too, I am also looking forward to eating like a horse and exercising like one!