The Science of Weight Loss Part 1 - Amazing Breakthroughs in Nutrition and Exercise Science

You strain and sweat in cardio class, but the belly flab won't budge. Maybe you stepped on the scale today and were shocked to find that you're heavier than you were two days ago despite a week of eating every conceivable variation of soy and celery.

What gives? My guess is you've been going about weight loss the wrong way. But don't beat yourself up: it's not your fault. You've been conditioned to fight your body's natural fat burners through diets of denial that leave you coveting your co-workers meatball sandwich. You've been disappointed by the workout-of-the-stars du jour, which leaves you feeling sore and frustrated. You've been misled into thinking that there's some magic bullet out there that's going to finally give you the body you want, if only you could put up with the sacrifice and torture for a few weeks.

I have an option for you that's not so painful: takes your cues from people who make it their life's work to study nutrition, weight loss, and fitness. My approach is based on the latest scientific studies at research hospitals and human performance labs. New research is coming out every day that further supports the core principles that I live by and suggests ways to make my fitness goals more effective.

In the coming articles, I am going to review some of the amazing breakthroughs in nutrition and exercise science that, as you will see, dovetail very nicely with the core tenets of my weight-loss philosophy. I guarantee they will open your eyes and motivate you to start living a new lifestyle today.

What You Eat Now Has a Profound Effect on What You'll Eat Later

• Scientists at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University found that eating foods that elevate your blood sugar trigger intense cravings for carbohydrates later on. In other words, eating a cookie leads to eating more cookies and so on. Eating carbohydrates like baked goods and pasta or sugary foods, they say, promotes greater calorie consumption, not just now, but during the rest of the day.


• In 2008, the British Journal of Nutrition reported that consuming high-quality protein early in the day results in more sustained fullness compared with eating similar meals in the evening.


• A similar study at Perdue University found that men on a calorie-restricted diet had their hunger satisfied the longest when they were given extra protein at breakfast.

Certain Foods May Boost Metabolism and Target Belly Fat

• A study in the International Journal of Obesity determined that eating two eggs in the morning promotes weight loss. In the experiment, overweight subjects ate a 340-calorie breakfast of either two eggs or a single bagel 5 days a week for 8 weeks. Those who ate the eggs, the study found, lost 65 percent more weight than the bagel eaters, with no effect on their cholesterol or triglyceride levels.


• Whole grains work, too. A 2009 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that a calorie-controlled diet rich in whole grains trimmed extra fat from the waistline of obese subjects. Study participants who ate all whole grains (in addition to 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, three servings of low-fat dairy, and two servings of lean meat, fish, or poultry) lost more weight from the abdominal area than another group that ate the same diet, but with all refined grains.


• Another new study in the journal Obesity finds that people who eat nuts just twice a week are about 30 percent less likely to gain weight than people who rarely eat nuts. Similar research from the City of Home National Medical Center in Duarte, California, determined that study participants who ate a few ounces of almonds everyday lost six and one half inches from their waists in 24 weeks, 50 percent more than dieters who ate the same number of calories without the fiber-rich nuts.

Protein Is My Friend

• Recently, British researchers measured the effect of eating a protein-rich snack after a workout versus a high-carbohydrate snack: Those who consumed 43 grams of protein in a low-carb snack burned 21 percent more fat than the subjects who chugged a sugary post-workout drink. Not only do you expend more energy processing protein than carbs, but the amino acids in protein may lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in your blood, which could boost your metabolic rate, say scientists at Syracuse University.

As you can see, I greatly encourage you to eat protein with every meal and snack. Protein is recommended for several reasons. It fills you up, it digests more slowly than fast-absorbing carbs do, it spurs lean muscle growth, and it even elevates fat burn, as research continues to prove.

If you would like more information on how to lose weight the right way, including a step by step action plan on how to get your weight loss journey started, complete with meal plans, recipes, and exercise routines, be sure to check out http://www.thecommonsensediet.org. And remember, nothing tastes as good as healthy feels.

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