Jul
23
2010
I received an email yesterday titled “A Contradiction?”
Curious, I opened it, worried that I had somehow contradicted myself in a recent email or a blog post.
Luckily, it wasn’t me, but rather a fitness celebrity who had written a newsletter that the writer thought contradicted the Eat Stop Eat philosophy.
Apparently, this particular newsletter was using data from a new research trial to suggest some things that go against the Eat Stop Eat philosophy.
Specifically, it was stating that dieting for weight loss was “bad” and that exercising for weight loss is “good”. (I love definitive statements like these – talk about over-dramatization!)
And since I love nothing more than sharing my thoughts on research with you, I figured it would be fun to take a look at this study.
The paper was titled “Weight regain is related to decreases in physical activity during weight loss”.
In this study a group of women who were obese and in their late fifties were asked to lose weight by reducing their calories by 400 per day for 20 weeks. Then, 6 months and 1 year after the trial the women were reassessed to see how much of the weight they had gained back.
—–
Here is the first claim that the fitness celeb made:
CLAIM 1: When you diet your level of non-exercise physical activity (NEAT) drops spontaneously, even if you don’t realize it’s happening.
FACT: In the 20 week study there were actually 3 groups of women,
- The first group cut their calories by 400 Calories per day.
- The Second group cut their calories by only 350 Calories per day, and increased the amount they exercised to make up the 50 calories by doing low intensity exercise
- The Third group only cut their calories by 350 Calories per day, and increased the amount they exercised to make up the 50 calories by doing High intensity exercise
What the study found was that a CALORIE DEFICIT (whether by diet or exercise) was associated with a slight decrease in non exercise physical activity.
Total weight loss
Lean mass loss
Fat mass loss
V02 Max (surprisingly)
Resting metabolic rate
In this study this was defined as the energy you expend above your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) but does not include the energy you expend during your exercise periods. So this could be anything from bouncing your leg, to walking the dog or emptying the dishwasher. Basically, it was ANYTHING that caused you to expend energy other than your assigned workouts periods.
To give you an idea it was calculated as:
Total Energy Expenditure – RMR – the calories expended during exercise (as calculated by the read out on the treadmill.
The average reduction was about 160 calories worth of activity per day, about the amount of calories expended in a 20 minute brisk walk for these woman).
More importantly, the study found that there was NO DIFFERENCE between the group who was dieting and the groups that were exercising in ANY MEASURE.
This includes:
and
So when it comes to weight loss, it is the CALORIE DEFICIT that matters, not the way the deficit was created. However it is true that a being in a calorie deficit for 20 weeks seemed to cause these woman to reduce their non-exercise activity levels (But again, there was no evidence to suggest that this was caused by dieting)
CLAIM 2: The drop in physical activity during the diet was DIRECTLY RELATED to the weight regain 1 year after the diet.
FACT: In this study people lost an average of 27 pounds during the 20-week weight loss period. 1 year later the average weight regain was 11.5 pounds. Not bad, but not great either.
It is very important to remember that the purpose of this trial was to investigate whether or not things that occurred DURING a weight loss protocol could be ASSOCIATED with results 1 year later.
So they weren’t looking for the absolute, definitive, you-bet-your-house-on-it cause for weight regain, they were just searching to see if they could find any associations.
In other words, they did not measure things like diet or exercise during that one-year time between the weight loss and the last weigh in one year later.
So while there was a slight relationship between the reduction in non exercise physical activity during the study period and weight regain one year later, this does not indicate a direct relationship.
Now, it gets a little tricky here because we start looking for correlations in data that isn’t non-normally distributed. What was found was that while a significant finding, the strength of the correlation may not actually be that meaningful (for my fellow stats geeks we are only talking about a p of -0.4 for the pooled groups.)
So this tells us that what found was simply an association, suggesting that the people who tended to move around the least while they were dieting also were the ones who tended to put the most weight back on a year later.
CLAIM 3: There is a difference between losing weight from dieting, versus losing fat with dieting and exercise.
FACT: Not according to this study. The three groups saw almost IDENTICAL weight loss results. And, they saw almost identical weight REGAIN results.
CLAIM 4: if you want to maximize your fat loss and keep fat off permanently it is best to follow a reduced calorie diet and make a conscious effort to make sure your activity level does not drop as you lose weight.
FACT: I could not agree more. Exercise and staying active is still an important part of ANY weight loss program. However when it comes to weight loss, I think the benefits of resistance training FAR OUTWEIGH the benefits of cardio or endurance style training (as I’m sure the author of the newsletter in question would agree).
—–
So, there really wasn’t that much of a contradiction. Our interpretations of the research are drastically different but our conclusions are the same.
The bottom line is (and always will be) that the best way to lose weight is to find a the easiest and simplest way to reduce the amount of calories you consume, and to follow a weight training routine.
While most people think of Eat Stop Eat as only flexible intermittent fasting, the truth is that the Eat Stop Eat lifestyle is the COMBINATION of flexible intermittent fasting and weight training. And, the weight training is very important!
You don’t have to be a gym addict to get great weight loss results, but resistance training does have to be a part of your lifestyle for best results.
Now, lets take a closer look at this trial, as there were some ‘gems’ hidden in all of its data:
GEM #1- the people in this study were women in their late 50’s and who were obese (almost 200 pounds) at the start of the study. By the end of the study they lost 27 pounds in 20 weeks, proving that no matter your age…weight loss IS possible!
GEM #2- Even one year later, with no diet counseling, they were able to keep more than half of their weight loss. Like I said earlier – not great, but not bad either.
GEM #3, There was no difference in weight loss between the woman who only dieted and those who dieted and exercised. Another example of classic “cardio” style exercise not being any better than simply dieting.
GEM #4, all groups lost Lean Body Mass, pointing to the importance of resistance training in a proper weight loss program (which they didn’t do in this study).
GEM #5, RESTING METABOLIC RATE RELATIVE TO LEAN MASS REMAINED UNCHANGED! Again, so much for starvation mode!
So in my opinion this was a great study showing that creating a CALORIE DEFECIT will help you lose weight, and that it really does not matter whether or not you get that deficit from a combination of diet and exercise, or from diet alone.
BP
Jun
01
2008
There are many personalities in the fitness industry who are promoting the combination of ‘fat burning workouts’ with ‘muscle building’ nutrition.
When it comes to improving the way your body looks, I think this a completely backwards approach. Not only do I think it is backwards, but I believe it is highly ineffective.
Here’s why:
It is very difficult to lose weight with exercise alone. It doesn’t seem to matter if you using long distance running, interval training, high-intensity weight training or any combination of the three.
Despite what people tell you when they are pushing their “ultra fat burning workouts”, the simple fact is exercise alone is a very poor stimulus for weight loss. Even if the workouts are metabolically demanding, the effect they have on calorie burning is actually pretty small.
Even the calorie burning that happens after hard workouts is only an extra 8-10 extra Calories per hour, and typically does not last the 24-36 hours that some authors say it does. The research on the benefit of this type of after-exercise metabolism boost is inconclusive at best.
There is also very little proof that any sort of eating style can actually build muscle. Again, I know lots of companies and people who promote certain methods of eating to gain massive amounts of muscle mass, but this just isn’t backed by science.
I’ve been in full research mode now for the last 6 months working on my new book “How much protein?” and let me tell you, I am very disappointed with the lack of evidence that is available for any muscle building diet advice – This even includes ideas as simple as “eat an extra 500 Calories a day to gain muscle”. Diet seems to have very little to do with muscle building.
Now, when you put these two concepts together you are in a real messy situation.
You are eating to gain muscle…eating multiple times a day, high protein, a little more calories than ‘maintenance’ and you are working out to burn fat, doing fancy weight training circuits, combined with cardio intervals, and lots and lots of ab exercises.
Since neither approach is effective, you end up spending a lot of time in the gym, and even more time planning your nutrition and worrying about macro-nutrient ratios and when to take your supplements. despite all of this hard work you still end up seeing very little results.
A much better approach would be to eat for weight loss, and workout to build or maintain muscle.
Research does support the rather simple concept that eating less will cause you lose weight. And that muscle building workouts will preserve muscle mass, even when on very extreme diets, thus ensuring that the weight you lose is from body fat.
This is why Eat Stop Eat involves a combination of fasting and resistance training. It is the combination of the two that leads to optimal fat loss with the least amount of physical or mental work.
So simply, the most ideal way to improve the way your body looks is to-
Eat for weight loss and exercise to build muscle.
It sounds ridiculously simple, but in reality it is very difficult to do. We are constantly bombarded with the latest and greatest new way to burn fat in the gym and it is very easy to get roped into this way of thinking.
The best advice I can give you if you are looking to change the way your body looks is: Keep your workouts simple and geared towards building muscle. Let your diet take care of your fat loss.
To accomplish this you have to follow a couple simple rules:
- Switch from high reps to lower reps (if you have been doing 15-20 rep exercises try increasing the weight and moving to sets of 5-8 reps)
- Remove most isolation exercises from your workout and use total-body multi-muscle movements.
- Get rid of crunches and sit-ups from your workout and spend that time on larger multi-muscle movements.
- Change your workouts frequently
And for your diet:
- Find the easiest possible method that allows you to eat less than it takes to maintain your current body weight, and use that method. (I know there are many other diet tips for improving your health, but for weight loss, I feel this is the only one that is truly important)
If you are someone who is stuck in the rut of spending hours in the gym every day and trying to eat in a way that supposedly maintains or builds muscle, try switching your approach and see what kind of an amazing difference it can make.
BP
PS- Once you have conquered the mindset of eating for weight loss and exercising for muscle building then adding in additional exercise like intervals or metabolically demanding body weight exercises may speed up the fat burning process, but only if you have the first two steps set into motion.
Mar
25
2008
I know for most of us this last weekend was probably one that involved a fair bit of food…especially chocolate.
For this reason I know you probably don’t want to read about anything to do with food or especially fasting right about now.
No problems.
I spent the Easter weekend helping my friend John Barban work on a new project. We took a break during a video shoot, and I decided to do my first ever video-blog entry.
Simple story. While we were shooting, I noticed a smith machine. This reminded me of how everyone always “rips” on the smith machine for being a totally useless piece of gym equipment.
I’ve always found this funny, because next to the squat rack and a bench, this is probably the one piece of equipment I use most often.
BP
Learn more about exercising while fasting
Jan
18
2008
John Barban did a similar experiment to mine, measuring his blood sugar while completing a workout.
You can read about his finding by visiting here==>
BP
You can learn more about the combined effects of exercise and fasting for weight loss by visiting www.eatstopeat.com
Jul
25
2007
I just read an amazing article titled “The Perils of Eating, American Style”, that was first published in Time Magazineback in December of 1972.
In this article written almost 35 years ago, the danger of inactivity and the merits of a low-fat diet versus low-sugar diet are argued. Various Doctors call for a sweeping reform of our nutrition programs, and a young doctor Atkins out of Manhattan is pushing his newly coined “Atkins Diet”.
High protein diets were the current trend for weight loss,while more conservative doctors were calling for people to use more “sensible systems of weight loss”.
Best of all, nutritional labeling was just STARTING to be discussed.
Fast forward 35 years. What has changed? We have nutritional labeling on everything. With one quick search onthe Internet I can tell you exactly how many calories I consumed yesterday and I have a pretty good idea of how much saturated fat was in my steak. Unfortunately, this newfound informational freedom doesn’t seem to be helping.
We are still arguing over low-fat versus low-carb, and high protein diets are still all the rage for weight-loss.
And we’re bigger than ever before. What gives?
Well for starters, we’re even more inactive then before. My favorite quote from the article is when a doctor from Harvard is being interviewed about activity levels and says:
“Look at those advertisements for extension telephones; all those steps you save probably add up to five pounds a year in fat.”
Extension telephones? Imagine what he must think of cellphones, TV remote controls and just about everything else we now have to aid in our sedentary lifestyles.
From what I can tell, 35 years later and we are still arguing about what to eat, how to eat and when to eat; but no one is arguing about our ever increasing need for exercise.
Here’s the kicker…our exercise is getting worse too. Thirty minutes on the elliptical two to three times a week just isn’t going to cut it. Either are arm curls for 25 reps with the pink dumbbells you find at the end of the weight rack.
This sounds harsh but its true. The single most effective tool you have in your arsenal for weight loss that you have complete control over is your workout program.
I find it amusing that in 2007 people are willing to shell out 50 bucks for a weight loss pill that is nothing more than caffeine mixed with some microscopic amounts of ineffective herbs, but don’t want to pay for a personal trainer or a properly planned workout program.
Following the right workout can make all the difference in theworld.
It is time to take control. Concentrate on your workouts. Find what works for you, then do more of it more often.
Try a professionally designed program like The 6 MinuteCircuits Workout, Shape Shift or Turbulence Training.
Try walking, biking, taking the stairs, martial arts or pole dancing classes,whatever it takes to find one more thing that you enjoy that will get your heartbeat up and your muscles working.
And when it comes to nutrition, eat less but enjoy the foodyou eat. Eat more fruits and vegetables and more herbs andspices. And most importantly stop stressing over your food.
After all, the idea of trying to find the right foods to eat sowe can lose weight has failed us miserably for the last 35 years.
BP
May
25
2007
If you’ve read the news in the last couple of days then you’ve probably read all the headlines about a new study that shows that the combination fish oils and exercise can help you lose fat.
To quickly summarize the study, researchers randomly assigned 75 overweight men and women to one of four groups:
- Group One took 6 grams of fish oil per day,
- Group Two took 6 grams of fish oil per day and exercised 3 days per week;
- Group Three took 6 grams of sunflower oil (the placebo), and
- Group Four took 6 grams of sunflower oil and exercised 3 days per week.
After 12 weeks, the results showed the subjects in Group Two (The people taking fish oil and exercising) lost body fat.
The subjects in this group lost a little over 3 pounds of fat in 12 weeks. Definitely not extraordinary, but significant nonetheless.
So people who exercised lost some fat. In my opinion this was expected. What was not expected was that the sunflower plus exercise group did not lose any fat.
Now, these people also added exercise to their lifestyle, so you would expect them to also lose fat. So either the combination of fish oil and exercise somehow ‘created’ this extra fat loss, or, pardon the pun, something is fishy with this study.
On closer inspection of the data I noticed something that may account for these results.
While the fish oil plus exercise group reported that their daily calorie intake pretty much remained the same for the 12 weeks of the study, the sunflower plus exercise group saw their daily caloric intake increase by 327 Kcals per day by week 6 of the trial, and stay elevated by 230 Kcals at week 12.
While the researchers make no mention of this as being significant, it may help explain the lack of fat loss in the sunflower plus exercise group.
At the end of the day, caloric restriction and exercise are the only way to lose fat. The better your exercise program and the better your diet, the more fat you will lose. Plain and simple.
However, don’t rule out fish oils. Most fish oil research finds that they can benefit blood lipids and your cholesterol profile.
Bottom line, Fish oils are good for you, just don’t get your hopes up about them making you lose weight.
BP
May
15
2007
It’s true!
It’s finally getting nice outside up in Canada, so I decided to move my workouts outdoors.
I absolutely love this time of year, because in my opinion, training outside is about a thousand times more fun that training in a gym.
However, I forgot just how gruelling pulling sleds can be, and after only 3 trips of about 50 yards, my legs were burning and I was exhausted.
Lesson learned, nothing gets your conditioning up quite like pulling sleds.
BP
PS- I just finished writing a new nutrition report for grrlAthlete.com, this report will be FREE for anyone who signs up for the newsletter, so pop on over to www.grrlathlete.com and check it out.
Mar
20
2007
Every morning I go through the exact same routine.
I get up. I make some oatmeal. Clean the kitchen. Go up stairs. Brush my teeth. Turn on my computer. Check my email. Then I laugh (or sometimes cry) while reading all of the new stories about the latest and greatest “fat loss” ingredients.
It is an absolute mystery to me why, after over 20 years of failed promises, we still turn to magic ingredients and magic foods for fat loss.
What shocks me even more is that we are still hoping to find something we can eat that will cause us to lose fat. It is almost becoming an oxymoron.
We are looking for something to consume that will make us consume less!
Here are just some examples of magic foods and ingredients in the new today:
Recent research (performed in a test tube) suggests that extract from Chilli peppers may stop fat growth. According to this research Chilli extract may hold the key to preventing immature fat cells from developing into mature fat cells.
In a different study, it was suggested that spearmint tea can not only lower a man’s sex drive but can also decrease the amount of hair on a women’s body. (Admittedly, this isn’t fat loss research but if you think the body builders in your gym smell bad now, wait till they read this research and stop brushing their teeth for fear that they may be lowering their T levels!)
Finally, more research shows that dairy calcium (but not calcium supplements) can cause a decrease in the amount of fat in your blood after a meal.
I can’t really tell you too much about this study because I stopped reading after the first page that mentioned that the study was funded by the Danish Dairy Research Foundation and the Dutch Dairy Association!
A Dairy Foundation and a Dairy Association funded the study, and the study found that dairy calcium, but not calcium supplements had weight loss benefits? Please.
Now honestly, there is some merit to this research. Eating more spices on your food is definitely a good idea. Eating foods that contain calcium is also a good idea.
However, thinking that taking chilli extract pills or consuming 3 bowls of ice-cream per day will make you lose weight IS NOT what you should be taking away from this research. (Nor is skipping your morning tooth brushing!)
If you want to lose weight there are only three things you need to do, and you don’t need to read any research to do them.
Firstly, find a nutrition plan that works for you.
Secondly, get active. And I don’t mean walk on the elliptical for half an hour every other day, I mean get a real work-out program and challenge yourself.
The third and last thing you need to do is to stop (or don’t start) falling for the media’s version of the latest and greatest fat loss research. It will only lead to disappointment and is usually a very poor and hyped up version of what the research was really telling us.
These are the real 3 “magic” fat loss ingredients!
BP
Feb
19
2007
27 obese patients were subjected to a ten day fast consisting of 250 Calories per day. The Subjects were divided into two groups, a group that exercised and a group that did not.
After ten days:
- Both groups had similar weight loss.
- The exercise was well tolerated without problems.
- The loss of muscle was significantly less in the exercise group.
The authors concluded “This may indicate that muscular activity is useful in aiding adaptation to fasting and may orient weight loss preferentially towards fat mass.“
While certainly not earth shattering…the part that is very interesting to me is that this study was published in 1975!
So, we had a vague idea over 3o years ago that exercise was needed to maintain muscle mass while dieting. Yet, nowadays we still argue about protein ratios, carb cycling and meal frequency and supplementation. Seems like something was lost in the last 30 years!
Simple truth – Just like Schrub et al. hypothesised over 30 years ago, if you are dieting and you want to preserve muscle mass, lift weights.
BP
