Beck hit a 211 pound bodyweight at the end week nine. When we started this process, the out-of-shape 59 year old weighed a portly 227. Our mutually agreed to goal was to whittle him down to a 199 bodyweight by the time his 60th birthday rolled around on December 30th 2008. The subtler specifics of this goal were positively daunting: he would lose 35 pounds of body fat while simultaneously adding 5 to 8 pounds of muscle. On the down side he was physically out of condition; on the upside, psychologically he was extremely motivated. He had a life situation conducive to success: he had the time and inclination to train and his wife was an excellent cook always urging him to eat healthy. I felt strongly that he had the moxy and determination and Beck could and would attain the goal. So off we went.
Anyone can lose bodyweight. Simply stop eating! The trick is to lose body fat while simultaneously adding muscle mass.
Bodyweight loss can be accomplished by starvation dieting. The problem with the calorie slashing approach to weight loss is that the human body has primordial hardwiring that dates back to caveman times and when the body senses it is starving (as it does when subjected to a sudden and precipitous drop in calories) it goes into "starvation mode" and seeks to preserve its precious body fat - body fat is the last line of defense against starvation. When starvation times hit, regardless if it is real or induced, the human body will actually cannibalize muscle tissue in order to preserve precious body fat. This is called metabolic shutdown.
Fad diets work (for losing bodyweight) because they are calorie restrictive. Cloaked in nutrient slogans, the reason the cabbage soup diet, the Hollywood diet, the ice cream diet or the avocado diet work is - not because there is something miraculous about eating cabbage or ice cream or avocado - but because you are eating far fewer calories than you did before taking up the fad diet. Ditto with the massively advertized prepackaged diet food plans wherein makers send you meals through the mail. On the glitzy commercials (using celebrities and sport stars) they glibly talk about being able to eat cheeseburgers, pizza and chocolate cake using their frozen foods because of the "breakthrough miracle of carbohydrate regulation" - Bullsh@t! These meal plans work (sort of) because they limit calories, pure and simple. Fat diets cause individuals to lose more muscle than fat.
This is why people who have lost massive amounts of bodyweight using a calories restrictive approach end up looking haggard, saggy, weak and still obese.
The optimal way to lose weight is to melt off body fat while preserving or adding muscle. This can only be accomplished by slowly and methodically peeling off the pounds over a protracted period. By keeping weight loss to a rate of 1-pound per hundred pounds of bodyweight per week, (a 150 pound person would look to shed 1.5 pounds per week) body composition can be favorably manipulated. This approach requires a multileveled and methodical approach...
*The trainee needs to engage in a progressive resistance program. Weight training is "underpinned" by consuming a goodly amount of lean protein. The combination of hypertrophy-inducing weight training and ample amino acid intake ensures the dieter retains or adds muscle during the weight loss regimen.
*Cardio exercise is critical. Aerobic activity amplifies the human metabolism, the rate at which the body consumes calories. Cardio improves digestion; cardio builds and strengthens the internal organs and burns calories. Sedentary obese people have inadvertently shut down their metabolism. Aerobic activity reawakens sluggish metabolisms.
*Nutrition is critical. All calories are not created equal: certain calories are preferentially partitioned towards fueling body movement and building new muscle tissue. Other calories are preferentially partitioned into the construction of body fat. Eight ounces of shrimp are virtually impossible to end up stored as body fat while eight ounces of pecan pie are virtually assured of ending up as stored body fat.
Our Purposefully Primitive body renovation approach is based on the subtle and studied interplay between resistance training, cardiovascular training and nutrition. We are continually monitoring and tweaking the protocols and procedures as the process unfolds. Always have a game plan and always set the game plan into a timeframe. Weight training combined with a steady intake of lean protein ensures muscle is added. Continual cardio and attention to nutrition ensures stored body fat is mobilized and oxidized. In Beck's case we lost a week to travel and then injury. Still, in eight "full weeks," Beck has lost approximately twenty pounds of fat and "added back" five pounds of muscle resulting in a 15-pound net/net bathroom scale loss.
This week starts a new phase. Individuals new to our three-pronged Purposefully Primitive philosophy obtain results easily for the first few months. When a person is initially subjected to our comprehensive exercise approach, the gains pile up remarkably fast. Decades of empirical experience have shown that the real work begins when the initial gains start to fade in around day 60. In some ways, for Beck everything leading up to this point has been a requisite preliminary. It has all been exercise foreplay needed to get Beck into basic shape to handle the "real work." After nine weeks he is no longer an old guy seeking to regain some degree of condition - now he is a middle-aged man ready, willing and able to take on some serious training invoking a much more disciplined and sophisticated approach towards nutrition. Let the real work commence!
Anyone interested in phone-training with Marty can contact him at MGSO@EMBARQMAIL.COM
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