Dieting: Success and Failure (Part 4)

New Years Resolutions

One of the most persistent complications of weight control is the distraction and spot-fire stamping about used with New Year’s Resolutions. It’s not uncommon for one of the top ten most popular resolutions to be one of the big three:
1. Lose weight
2. Eat better
3. Eat healthier
But then, we already knew that, because we’ve all been there. The problem with vague notions like lose weight (How does one reliably do it? Where is there any insightful information on the subject without a lot of pseudoscience and crap?) or eat healthier (Who has the ultimate analysis of healthy versus unhealthy food?) is picking the science out of the background noise and marketing. The amount of insight and basic nutrition knowledge it takes to carry any of the above resolutions out, goes far beyond Atkins for Life and in reality may require more remedial nutrition education than most of us are willing to take on. Picking up a formulaic diet manual is about as resolution defining as attempting to empty Lake Michigan with a paper cup. You may start dishing the water, but folks, the lake isn’t dropping.

Adding to the confusion is the big-box bookstore approach to selling us mainstream weight loss advice. Enter any of the big stores around the first week of January and what does the curious pre-dieter find? A front table packed with the latest and greatest weight loss manuals espousing the one true method to finally take it off and leave it off. Nothing on that table offers insight into the process; rather, it represents a stack of desperate manuals with insecure formulas to follow for a defined period of time. And indeed, in time the manual seems foolish. I’ve never been to the South Beach and I have no idea what they eat there, but on good old mainstreet USA, we eat good food. We eat Phad Thai and roasted Tom turkey with stuffing (not together though). We drink Chateau Neuf du Pape and nibble on smoked brie and crackers. We order a pizza with stuffed crust and wash it down with Becks. We love the texture and mouth appeal of Cheetos. Now please, who on the South Beach doesn’t like nachos? In total, the average dieter (and count me in) finds the dietary changes artificial and contrived, returning us instead to what we know—the great taste of 21st century foods and to hell with abstinence. An orange never tasted quite the same as Philly cheesesteak sandwich. And celery never quite gave me the solace of Doritos.

So what measure of success do we use for the New Years Resolutions? Stand patiently by our bathroom scales waiting for the abstinence to be metered out in lost pounds? Wait patiently by the journals hoping a pill will come down the marketing pipeline that might kill those modern food cravings? No, the answer is knowledge and education. When the next weight loss corporation claims you might lose 7 lbs. in 7 days, realize it may not be fat you’re losing and it may not offer a permanent solution.

So what is the formula for weight loss? In the most extreme case, starvation, the formula for weight loss is well known. Weight loss in the initial days of fasting and early in starvation represents primarily the loss of water from glycogen utilization and the resulting diuresis (loss of fluid associated with burning glycogen). As the fast continues, the weight loss diminishes until glycogen stores are exhausted (usually just a day or two) and adaptation to metabolizing protein and fat stores occurs. Usually by three weeks of starvation, protein is being spared and fat stores become the sole source of energy. Weight loss has stabilized and seems to slow to a crawl. At this point roughly 4 pounds is lost per week of starvation (not dieting, but absolute fasting). Doing the math we can tabulate the loss as follows with a typical 5 foot 5 inch tall,150 pound individual. The following is a ballpark figure and depends on calories burned during activity and many other assumptions:
1. Fat Energy: 9 kcal per gram of fat (the amount of energy derived from fat tissue)
2. Daily Energy Needs: 2000 kcal’s needed for energy per day of normal activity
3. Fat Used: Using #1 and #2 above, 222 grams of fat per day is needed to meet energy needs
4. Weekly Loss: 222 grams x 7 days = 1554 grams (3.4 lbs)

So next time the weight loss purveyors advertise that you can lose 7 lbs. in 7 days, return to this blog and do the math.