Breaking through the Weight Barrier
By Donna Marlor, RD
"I wish I could run a faster 10K." Did you ever say that to yourself? Well, maybe you can.
One of the most overlooked
barriers to paring down a 10K time is right under your nose. Or maybe not your nose – it's around your waist.  Extra body fat. Dead weight. Those unnecessary five or 10 pounds that somehow appeared after age 35 – and stuck. If you need some motivation to go after a mere five
pounds, try this: strap a five–pound weight belt around your waist, and run up a 40 percent grade for 1000 meters. Then take it off and do it again. Need I say more? Experience is the greatest teacher. It is OK to feel good about yourself at any weight. But if you want to fun faster, or make that Boundary Waters canoe portage a little easier this season, then dumping those extra five pounds makes sense.
The problem is, it's hard to do.
Obstacles are part of life, and silent sporters are accustomed to working hard in the pursuit of pleasure. Just think of weight management as simply another challenge. Don't give up. Get smart. Here's a list of five strategies that can help you whittle your waist back to its younger days. A sub–40 10K? You can do it.
Strategy #1: Manage Your Stress
"I missed running three days in a row and now I feel like I gained five pounds!" I hear that complaint frequently from my female friends. Did they gain five pounds of body fat? Probably not – not in just three days. Is it because they didn't exercise? Indirectly, yes. Without the regular
stress reduction and down time that exercise provides, many people succumb to calorie splurges and sodium binges. M&M's, pizza, chips and cookies are used to temporarily zone out from stress. And it works – for a couple of hours. Then the blood sugar high crashes, and the sodium bloat sets in. You feel worse than ever.
If weight loss is your goal, the first step in controlling appetite is to ask yourself how you're handling stress. If you're not, then just watch the
family dog or cat for some tips on how to relax. They're probably snoozing on the couch right now.
Action Step #1: Write down at least three nonfood related stress reduction activities that you consider fun. Practice them before you get stressed out.
Strategy #2: Eat More Fiber
Personally, I like nutrition hints that start with the phrase "eat more." Crunching seems to be good for our waistlines. Research studies have shown that when lean individuals simply increase their fiber intake from the typical 14 grams per day to the recommended 30 grams per day, they will experience a weight loss of about two pounds per month over a four–month period. What's intriguing about the studies on fiber and weight loss is that this effect occurs whether the extra 15 grams of fiber
comes from food or supplements. So if you can't give up your morning sweet roll fix, then at least chase it down with some Metamucil in your orange juice.
Action Step #2: Boost your fiber intake on a daily basis. Switch to whole fruit instead of juice and boycott white bread products.
Strategy #3: Get Out of the Clean Plate Club
A recent health survey done in Cincinnati, Ohio showed that 80% of the women polled wanted to lose some weight. Ironically more than 60 percent of those same women stated they preferred large portion sizes when eating at a restaurant. And 50 percent stated they usually finished everything on their plate at lunch and dinner. To compensate for eating large portion sizes, nearly one–half of the women said they skipped meals.
Eating meals away from home has become a way of life for many of us. Unfortunately, we are being served larger and larger portion sizes. Being aware of how many calories you are being served and backing off from the buffet table is critical to weight control.
Action Step #3: Give up your membership in the "Clean Plate Club."
Strategy #4: Up the Vegetables
Perhaps membership in the "Clean Plate Club" wouldn't be so fattening if restaurants served more vegetables. My recommendation is that half of your dinner plate should consist of vegetables. Load up on low calorie greens, tomatoes, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, green beans – and you'll find the scale will probably move in the right direction.
Action Step #4: This summer, forget eating sandwiches at noon. Make lunchtime your big veggie meal. Try a bowl of mixed greens and vegetables, topped with your favorite lean protein and a dash of salad dressing.
Strategy #5: Tune Up Your Metabolism
Short of liposuction, losing body fat can only be done by oxidizing, or "burning" fat stores for fuel. Forcing the body to tap into existing fat stores can be approached two ways: first, by severely limiting carbohydrate intake and total calories, which speeds up the rate of fat oxidation. This is the basis for popular diets such as Atkin's high protein diet. Unfortunately, when carbohydrate intake is no longer curtailed, weight tends to be regained primarily as body fat. This phenomenon is
known as "post–starvation obesity."
The second and smarter approach to losing body fat is to plan exercise sessions in such a way that favor fat oxidation. Here are two ways you can go about it.
One approach is to exercise for an hour first thing in the morning, before you eat breakfast. This forces the body to tap into fat stores because glycogen levels are depleted after an overnight fast. To avoid "bonking,"
take along a sports drink or gel, but wait at least a half an hour before using it.
Another way to boost the fat burning mechanism is to lengthen the amount of time spent in your daily routine where fat oxidation is relatively rapid because glycogen levels are low. This can be achieved by performing a workout of high intensity exercise, which depletes glycogen stores, and follow it with at least 30 minutes of very low
intensity exercise. This routine is typical of a race day, where a high intensity event is followed by a post–race cool down. It's a good excuse to put a series of races on your calendar if you're not one to do interval work on your own.
Action Step #5: Take advantage of the extra daylight hours. Roll out of bed an hour earlier than usual twice a week, and go for a jog or a bike ride.
Putting It All Together
Reaching your optimal body weight can be far more difficult than losing 20 pounds when you're already 50 pounds overweight. The last five or 10 are the hardest to get off – and keep off. But now you're smarter, and with these five strategies to guide you to your goal, success can be yours.
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