Be Informed

· You can not burn or utilize more food than you have the ability to eat, unless you are a world class athlete, and I mean “world class”.

· Most overweight people eat more food than their body needs to function, repair itself, and exist in a healthy, energetic manner.

· If you eat or consume fewer calories than your body burns, you will ALWAYS LOSE WEIGHT. There are no exceptions to this rule unless your hormones are way out of balance, or unless you are on specific medication that inhibits weight loss.

· If you do not consume enough protein to satisfy the demand you are putting on your muscles, you will not gain the level of muscularity that you are already demanding your muscles to attain through your current fitness program. You need to either increase your protein intake to the amount your body requires, or cut your exercise program back. There is no point in wasting your time, is there?

· If you do not eat before and after a strenuous workout, you will lose muscle mass.

· To determine how many calories your body requires to function per day, which will allow you to determine how many calories you need to subtract to lose FAT, you must know your RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate). If you have been Hydrostatically Tested by Body Fat Test, your RMR is at the bottom of the third page of your report. If you have not been tested by us, you need to be tested to move forward in this process. Go to the “nutritional” link on the Body Fat Test website that shows the locations where Body Fat Test is going to be testing. Contact the facility closest to you and make an appointment. Once you have been tested, and have your Resting Metabolic Rate in hand, read on. Without your RMR, the rest of this program will not work for you.

· Now that you know your RMR, you need to add the number of additional calories that you burn doing various activities. This number is on the last page of your report. The combination of these two numbers will yield the total number of calories per day that you expend, or the total number of calories per day that you need to maintain your current weight. Therefore, to maintain your weight, you need to consume that amount of calories.

· One pound of fat contains 3,500 calories. 3,500 calories divided by 7 days in a week, is 500 calories per day that you need to subtract from your total daily caloric requirement, to lose one pound of fat per week. You may be tempted to double the 500 per day caloric reduction so you can lose 2 pounds per week. However, most research indicates that if you lose more than 1.5 pounds of body weight per week, you will lose lean mass as well as fat. We need all the lean mass that we can get. So, take it slow. This formula is simple math.

· Here is the rub. We presume all your hormones are in balance. As an example, the formula used to determine your RMR assumes you fall right in the middle of the normal thyroid range, which is between .35 and 5.5. The thyroid is the gland that drives our metabolism. The normal range is a HUGE range. However, most in the medical profession considers you “normal” if you fall anywhere within that range. If you are lower, your RMR will be higher. If you are higher, your RMR will be lower. Strange, but a lower thyroid number means your metabolism is faster than were you normal. If you have a concern about your hormones, get all of your levels tested. If you are male, get your thyroid, T3 and T4, plus testosterone levels checked. If you are female, add estrogen and progesterone to the list of tests you will need. Once you get the tests back (be sure and ask the doctor to give you a copy, you can get educated as to your numbers and where you fall. If you fall on either side of the “right in the middle” normal range, you will have to “guesstimate” how that may affect your RMR. Later, we will talk about Hormone Modulation, and you will then better understand how the whole thing comes together. If you think you fall within the category of needing hormone balancing, that section deals a lot more with the specific blood tests necessary for male and female hormone modulation.

· Muscle can not turn to fat and vice versa. However, muscle can atrophy and automatically adjust to a reduced load you put on them while you are overeating and getting fatter. Muscle can also expand and become denser if you increase the load that you put on them, while your fat is being metabolized as a result of diminished caloric intake, and metabolism increases when you add lean mass. You pick, either way is your choice, but fat does not magically change into the muscle, and neither does atrophied muscle magically change its molecular structure into fat.

· Does exercise solve the obesity problem? It greatly helps, but think about this. If you consume 6 ounces of chocolate cake that contains approximately 1,050 calories. With a typical RMR of around 1,500 and if you walk at a moderate pace (3.0 miles per hour), you will burn 228 calories per hour. Therefore, you will have to walk 4.6 hours, or 13.8 miles to burn up that slice of cake. Hello!!! Exercise is not the solution to weight loss. It is a major factor, but not the solution. Doesn’t it make more sense to forgo the 4.6 hours of walking the 13.8 miles, and just don’t eat the darn piece of cake in the first place (or whatever your obsessive choice may be). Are you catching on???? Restraint, education, and proper choices are the answer. God designed us to eat for fuel and the replenishment of vitamins, minerals and protein. That is why the excess stuff you are consuming is stored all over your body. Yet, since there will probably never be a major famine in your lifetime (which the reason we store excess calories), the storage tanks keep getting larger and larger. Our goal is to reverse the process.


More to learn
Without knowledge, the program will not work for you. So, take notes and understand.
· One gram of fat contains 9 calories. Fat is more dense in calories than any of its counterparts, carbohydrates, or protein. Fat is primarily stored fuel. It is almost always stored and not immediately used by the body because the body prefers to fuel itself off of carbohydrates. Fat can only be accessed for use as fuel, if the carbohydrate intake is lower than what is needed to fuel the body at that particular time. Then, and only then, is the fat accessed and used as fuel. As you know, this condition (very few carbohydrates recently ingested) seldom exists in today’s culture. Fat has little value, other than the few essential fatty acids that our body needs to make hormones, cushion vital body organs, and it is stored as a long term fuel.

· One gram of a carbohydrate contains 4 calories. Carbohydrates are generally all foods that are not from an animal or comprised of fat. Carbohydrates range from simple table sugar, a slice of bread, a candy bar, to broccoli, carrots, fruit, etc. Carbohydrates vary greatly in their caloric content. You will need to select the low calorie, color rich vegetables as they contain the most vitamins, minerals, and anti-oxidants. Later,we will discuss the glycemic index that you need to consider when choosing carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are primarily used as instantaneous fuel once they are converted by the liver to glucose. Excess carbohydrates are also secondarily stored for use as long term fuel in the form of glycogen, which is stored in the muscles and liver. Even beyond that carbohydrates that are too excessive to be stored as glycogen, once the storage stores are full, are converted to triglycerides, which are stored as fat. Carbohydrates are the body’s primary source of vitamins and minerals. All of the organs in the body including the muscles receive fuel from glucose. Glucose is the basic chemical that ALL carbohydrates are broken down into. When there is a low glucose level in the blood, the body still needs fuel, so it turns to stored fat. If your carbohydrate intake is high, you will not burn fat because carbohydrate fuel (glucose) will be used instead. On the other hand, the brain is the only organ in the body that can not use fat for fuel. If there is a low blood glucose level, the brain will instruct your body to metabolize its fat so that the body can fuel itself off of the fat and the resulting ketones. This allows the last bit of glucose to be set aside for use by the brain. In an effort to avoid getting too technical, let’s just say that it is impossible to add lean muscle mass while on a caloric restricted diet. To gain lean mass, your body needs to be in a positive energy state, or high in calories. That means, your body needs all the calories necessary to function at the current activity level, plus enough additional calories needed to add lean mass. Therefore, it is impossible to have it both ways (lose fat while gaining muscle). So, our program is designed to help you retain as much muscle mass as possible while reducing the stored fat. You should focus on building lean mass once you are nearer your fat reduction goal.
· One gram of protein contains 4 calories. Protein, which is a combination of specific amino acids, is the only food which is used to repair, replace, and replenish, your muscle and organ tissue. Protein is very seldom used as fuel, but excess protein also, can be converted to fat and glucose. Protein is the primary building block of our Life. Hence, our nutritional intake should be based around an adequate protein intake which is dictated by our lean mass and activity level. Of the many amino acids that comprise protein, some are essential to be effective and others are not. As an example, legumes have certain amino acids, but do not comprise all of the essential 9 amino acids. To properly replenish your muscles and organs, you need 21 amino acids in combination. Amino acids are the foundation of all life. Of the 21 amino acids, nine of them, known as the essential amino acids, cannot be synthesized by the human body and must be supplied by the diet. Without these essential amino acids constantly entering the body, the rates of new protein formation will slow down, and in the extreme case, stop altogether. You can see why having adequate levels of protein on a daily basis is critical. You must constantly provide the foundation for new protein formation, and it must be high-quality, digestible protein. Therefore, the legumes will not do the job by themselves. Legumes are an incomplete protein. Although they do contain some of the essential 9 amino acids, they don’t contain all 9. Rice has the necessary “essential” amino acids that are lacking in the beans. On the other hand rice, by itself is an incomplete protein as well. Therefore, beans and rice separately are not complete proteins because they do not contain all of the essential amino acids. Combined, beans and rice contain all of the essential amino acids required by the body. They are considered to be a “complete protein” as do all meat and dairy products, independently, as well as the vegetable “soy”. Your Nutritional plan will be structured around obtaining the proper amount of protein based on your lean mass retention requirements and your exercise level. The balance of your daily caloric intake will come from a balance of carbohydrates and fat. If you are, and intend to remain a couch potato with little or no exercise, protein is of little consequence because you are not putting a muscular demand on your body. However, if you follow our plan to make your body a fat burning, strong, lean machine, you will need adequate protein at each meal and snack to maximize the facilitation of this result. Protein is not used as fuel when caloric supply is adequate. The body’s primary fuel choices are carbohydrates and fats. If carbohydrates are not adequate, protein can be converted to fat and glucose via gluconeogenesis. The best sources of protein are eggs, milk, and meat. Certain vegetable proteins can be eaten together or with animal proteins to compliment proteins for proper amino-acid ratios. Some of these vegetables are beans. Soybeans are a complete protein all by themselves. Other complimentary proteins are: grains, kidney beans, white beans, lima beans, lentils, chick peas, green peas, black-eyed peas, bread, pasta, rice, bulgur, corn, almonds, sesame seed, and peanuts. Keep in mind, however, that many protein containing vegetables are also high in carbohydrates, and some are even high in fat, such as avocados. Therefore, the caloric content of a protein obtained from a combination of two or more carbohydrates may be much higher in calories than the same quantity of protein obtained from a dairy or meat source.
· One gram of fiber contains 0 calories. Fiber is primarily non-digestible and therefore has no calories. Fiber can attach itself to fat and keep the fat from being digested in the small intestine. The huge benefit of fiber is its ability to keep your bowels regular. Without regularity, you may accumulate in excess of 25 pounds of undigested feces which adheres to the intestinal walls and will ultimately make you sick. This putrid waste can add to the potential of colon cancer as well as keeping the digestive tract from being as efficient as it was designed to be. You should get most of your fiber from breakfast. Choose your first meal of the day with fiber in mind. Adults should have a minimum of 30 grams of fiber in their daily intake from all meals and snacks. With some cereals, you can get as much as 16 grams of fiber from that one meal. You can determine if you are getting enough fiber by the quality and number of bowel movements that you have daily. The goal should be two bowel movements daily. One is okay, but two is optimal.
“When I am on the go, I eat a bowl of “Go Lean” cereal. When I am at home, I cook my special concoction of oatmeal and other grains. I will supply the recipe later –Kip”.
· If you have a low glucose blood level, resulting from diminished carbohydrate intake, you will lose fat. This sounds contradictory, because earlier we said “eat more carbohydrates”. However, we mean high quality, low glycemic load carbohydrates, because they are generally lower in calories. Low caloric carbohydrates aid in the access of stored fat. High caloric carbohydrates, such as sugar, candy, rice, potatoes, will result in the storage of additional fat, not the metabolization of already stored fat.
· Insulin is the hormone that reduces the amount of sugar (glucose) that is free in the blood stream. The brain needs to operate within a certain envelope of blood sugar level. If the blood sugar gets too high as a result of being uncontrolled by insulin (Diabetes), you can go into shock. If your blood sugar gets too low as a result of too little carbohydrate intake, you will feel lethargic. When the glucose level is over abundant, the pancreas secretes insulin. Insulin decreases the level of glucose by converting the excess glucose into glycogen (glucose in a concentrated storage form), which is stored in the liver and muscles for future use.
· If the glucose level is too low, the pancreas secretes glucagon. Glucagon is the opposite of insulin. Glucagon is the chemical that increases the amount of glucose in the blood stream by freeing glycogen (concentrated glucose stored in the liver). Although, glycogen is stored in the muscle and in the liver, glycogen can only be freed from the liver by glucagon, which allows the glycogen to be metered back in the blood stream for use as fuel. The glycogen in the muscle is specifically restricted for use by the muscle as needed. However, when in a “fight or flight” situation, high amounts of glycogen is released from the muscles as a result of the hormone adrenalin, which is secreted by the pituitary gland. Adrenalin causes the increased volume release of fuel directly into the muscle, which is why we have such intensified strength and speed when we are frightened or startled.
· Vitamins and Minerals are primarily obtained in their natural form from carbohydrates that were once grown, i.e. vegetables and fruit. Some minerals do come from meat but mostly from carbohydrates.
Jack LaLane once said, “I eat for fuel and rejuvenation. That is the way God designed us”. If that be the case, why else should we eat? Because you are hungry, bored, lonely, angry, anxious, etc.? NO! We are killing ourselves prematurely, one mouthful at a time, and you feel awful most of the time. You are now being offered all of the information necessary that will extend your life by an average of 13 years, during which time, you will feel more energetic, look better, and have a sense of well being that you haven’t experienced in years.