Drink milk lose fat

Is there a link between calcium and weight loss? Numerous studies have been done to determine if consuming a diet high in low-fat dairy products will aid in the loss of weight.  Although experts have not come to a conclusive result as of yet, many of these studies have shown when compared to a diet of low dairy intake, (2 or less servings) people who consumed a diet with high dairy intake (3 or 4 servings a day) burned more fat and lost more weight.  Research from Purdue University claims that “a higher calcium intake from dairy products decreases levels of parathyroid hormone in the body, which in turn appears to increase the body’s ability to burn off fat.”¹

Although consuming a diet high in low-fat dairy products is said to aid in the loss of fat, and help you burn fat more efficiently, you still need to burn more calories than you consume to see results on the scale.  If your plan is to maintain your current weight studies show that adding dairy to your diet will make maintaining your current weight much easier. For people trying to lose weight studies show if you consume a low calorie diet high in low-fat dairy products you will see the pounds come off faster, and more pounds will come from fat.

Calcium is the number one mineral most likely to be deficient in the average diet, resulting in many people missing out on the many benefits that calcium has to offer, such as building strong bones, maintaining healthy teeth, protecting your heart, and aiding in weight loss.  

So, how much calcium should you be consuming on a daily basis?  The general recommendation for children over age two and for adults is 1,000 milligrams a day, or three to four servings.  For more specific calcium intake based on age and other factors see the chart bellow.  This is not a hard task to accomplish.  Replace your juice in the morning with a glass of skim milk,  kill your afternoon hunger with a low-fat yogurt or slice of cheese, or add skim milk to your coffee. However you chose to get your daily intake the benefits speak for themselves, and your body will thank you later!

Here’s a calcium guide to help you get what you need:

1. Study Backs Dairy Weight Loss Claims, http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Study-backs-dairy-weight-loss-claims. Extracted on October 10, 2008.

Every movement you make requires energy: every step, every jump, every word you say, every heartbeat every nerve impulse, and by processing cold water!

For every gallon of ice cold water (40 degrees F) you drink, you burn 123 calories¹. You can put this calculator on your website by visiting my calculators page.

You can figure the calories burned by taking the liters of water you consume times the temperature difference between your core body temperature (37° C) and the temperature of the water in Celsius.

Remember to drink 2.0 liters of water per day as discussed in a previous post.

1. Darden, Ellington (2004). The New High Intensity Training, pg. 196. Rodale.

Calories

In my Top 10 Reasons Why You’re Fat post, I talked about the importance of regulating your calories. A calorie is often referred to a kilocalorie (kcal) in the academic world. I will use the word “calorie” so I don’t cause confusion.¹

One calorie is the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water 1 degree Celsius¹ (4.23 cups of water 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit²). A calorie is the potential energy in carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram, proteins contain 4 calories per gram, and fats contain 9 calories per gram.¹

How many calories do I have to burn to lose 1 lbs or 1 kg?

You must burn 3,500 more calories than you consume to lose 1 lbs of fat (7,700 calories to lose 1 kg).³  This means that if you consumed 2,000 calories and burned 2,500 every day, you would lose 1 lbs in a week ( (2,000 - 2,500) x 7 = 3,500).

To lose weight you can either eat less calories, burn more calories, or both.

1. Insel, Paul, & Turner, R. Elaine, & Ross, Don (2004). Nutrition –2nd ed, pg. 14. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

2. 1 US gallon weighs 8.34 lbs or 3.78 kg. 0.26455 gallons weighs 1 kg (1 / 3.78). There are 16 cups in a gallon, so 4.23 cups weigh 1 kg (0.26455 * 16).

3. Corbin, Charles B. & Lindsey, Ruth (2005). Fitness for Life –5th ed, pg. 230. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Why You're Fat

The top 10 reasons why you’re fat might be surprising to you.  They might sound familiar.  You might not agree with them, but they will give you a better understanding how to lose weight.  You might be genetically built to be large or big boned, but you can look good for you.  And that’s what it’s all about.  As always, seek the advice of your physician for personal recommendations. Here we go with the top 10!

#10.  You don’t eat breakfast.  They say it’s the most important meal of the day, and they’re right.  You have to break yourself of the notion that food = fat.  In reality, only lots of food will make you fat.  When you skip breakfast, you slow your metabolism down.  This makes you burn less calories and have less energy.  Eat your breakfast, please.

#9.  You don’t sleep enough.  You need 8 hours of sleep.  If you don’t sleep enough, you disrupt your body’s natural process of controlling blood sugar levels and hormones.  The regulation of cortisol, a weight-related hormone, and various thyroid hormones can be disrupted if you don’t make sleep a priority.¹ You and I both know you feel better when you sleep, mentally and physically.

#8.  You don’t drink enough water. You may be afraid of water weight. This is probably due to the knowledge that salt and MSG increase water retention.² While this is true, you should also know how important water is for virtually every process in the body. Also, there is very little water in fat (5%-13%), and muscle is 70% water.³ Water in your muscles will keep your metabolism high, causing you to burn more calories. Water stored in your muscles will give you the energy you need during your workouts. You’ll be able to burn more calories for a longer period of time.² You need to drink about 2.0 liters of water per day depending on certain conditions. See my post about drinking water for more info.

Soda Pop

#7.  You drink pop.  One 12 ounce soda contains 150 calories of the wrong kind of sugar (processed sugar). Pure water contains virtually no calories. More calories equals more fat. Don’t drink pop. Drink water instead. Besides, if you drink lots of soda pop, you are less likely to drink milk, which means you are more likely to break bones and have other osteo problems.⁴  

#6.  You eat big meals 3 times a day instead of small meals 5 times a day.  If you go for more than 3 hours between meals, your body switches from burning calories to saving calories.⁵ In the United States, the meals are breakfast, lunch, and dinner (dinner being the largest). Dinner can be anytime from 4:00 - 11:00 p.m., depending on the household. In Brazil, the biggest meal of the day is traditionally lunch. That is a little better than the U.S. because the later you eat, the worse for you it is if you are trying to lose weight.

Instead of eating the 3 meals per day, we need to change our culture so we eat 5 meals a day: breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner. Eat the same calories you do now in 3 meals, but break it up into 5 meals. Pick a favorite vegetable, and learn to eat it at 3:00 p.m. at work or at home. Eating 5 meals a day will super charge your metabolism and make you burn more calories.

#5.  You carry emotional baggage that keeps you from losing weight.The mental affects the physical. The physical affects the mental. During stressful or emotional times, your body produces more cortisol than normal. Also, levels of serotonin (a neurotransmitter in the brain) decrease under stress. The combination of more cortisol and less serotonin sends a message to your body to eat more carbohydrates.⁶ Fix your emotional state of mind and you’ll be in a better position to lose weight and avoid other sicknesses.

#4.  You chose “fad diets” instead of changing your lifestyle.  You “yo-yo” diet.  You lose 5 pounds on a fad diet then gain 7 pounds when you stop dieting. This will not help you.  You don’t want a get-skinny-quick scheme. You want a long-term, steady approach. You want to look good for a long time not a short time, right?  It’s going to be hard. It’s going to take effort, but isn’t it worth your health?

#3.  You don’t have a balanced diet. The modern person eats much different than 100 years ago. Our diet today typically consists of 28% carbohydrates, 12% protein, 40% fat, and 20% processed sugars. Ideally, it should be 65% carbohydrates (this includes natural sugars found in a variety of fruits), 20% fat (with a large portion unsaturated fat), 15% protein, and 0% processed sugars.⁷ Plan out your meals for the week and stick to it.

#2.  You’re exercise program is all wrong.   Maybe you don’t exercise at all.  Perhaps you exercise, but it’s not enough. Perhaps you exercise but do the same thing every time. You need warm-up, training, and cool-down sessions in your workout program. You need cardio and strength training to keep your body in optimal training mode and to keep your workouts fun and enjoyable.⁸

#1.  You consume more calories than you burn. This is the silver bullet that will make you thin. You need to burn more calories than you take into your body. Apart from a fat reducing surgery or water loss, this is the only way you can lose weight. You lose calories by a combination of:

1. Eating the right foods
2. Burning calories through exercise and high metabolism

It sounds so simple, but that’s all you have to do. You need to make a food plan each week. You need to track your calories. You need to plan your workouts and track how many calories you lost. You need to track your weight, BMI, and water percentage. Through discipline you can accomplish your goals.

If you are overweight, you may do any of the above to lose weight. Do all 10 and you will be making a lifestyle change that will set you on a course to wellness and quality of life.  Best of luck to you.  Let me know how it goes.

1. Harrar, Sari Harrar & VanTine, Julia (2004). Prevention’s the Sugar Solution, pg. 25. Rodale Publishing.

2. Greene, Bob (2006). The Best Life Diet, pg. 17. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

3. Schlosberg, Suzanne & Neporent, Liz & Drenth, Tere Stouffer (2005). Fitness For Dummies — 3rd ed, pg. 24. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing.

4. Greenberg, Jerrold S. & Dintiman, George B. & Oakes, Barbee Myers (2004). Physical Fitness and Wellness — 3rd ed, pg. 246. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

5. Cruise, Jorge (2005). The 3-Hour Diet — 3rd ed, pg. 46. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

6. Mitchell, Susan & Christie, Catherine & Edge, Marianne Smith (2005). Fat Is Not Your Fate, pg. 175. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

7. Holford, Patrick (2004). The New Optimum Nutrition Bible, pg. 44-45. Berkeley, CA: The Crossing Press.

8. Bagchi, Debasis & Preuss, Harry G. (2007). Obesity, pg. 221. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Water Makes You Healthy

People often wonder, “How much water should I drink per day?” That is a good thing to wonder because water is so essential to weight loss, health, and nutrition. We learned in my Nutrition Basics post that water is one of the 6 basic nutrients for the body.

You commonly hear you should drink 8 cups or 8 glasses of water per day. The best way to gage how much you should be drinking is to look at your urine. The optimal color is mostly clear with a slight hue of yellow. Dark yellow means you aren’t drinking enough.

More accurately, scientists have found the body requires 1 mL water for every calorie burned. As the average person is said to consume 2,000 calories per day, the body would need 2,000 mL or 2 L (liters) of water per day. This equates to 67.6 US fluid ounces (oz) or 8.45 cups.¹

There are additional factors to be considered. You can lose water in four ways: sweat, urine, vapor when you breathe, and feces. Under normal conditions, you lose 500-700 mL per day through sweat. If you exercise, it will be more (up to 1 L per hour). You normally lose 1.0-1.5 L of water through urine each day. You lose 250-350 mL of water each day by exhaling water vapor when you breathe. Hotter air, increased humidity, and increased physical activity greatly increase water loss through sweat and breathing. Fecal mater is 70% water, and the human body will normally lose 100-200 mL water per day through this avenue. Vomiting or diarrhea can cause a loss of up to 5.0 L.²

My apologies if the images painted by the above paragraph were discomforting. However, this is all stuff you should know on your quest to becoming as fit as you can be.

You can also drink too much water. A condition called hyponatremia can occur when the sodium content of blood becomes diluted with water. However, this condition is more likely to happen when athletes lose too much sodium through perspiration.³

Also, you can also lose weight if you drink water at the right temperature.

Remember that you also get water through the foods you eat. If you are pregnant, you may want to drink more water depending on how you feel. The biggest concept here is that you want to listen to your body. If you are thirsty, take a drink. If your urine is too yellow, drink more. That rule should cover most any circumstance you come across. As always, consult your doctor for personal recommendations.

1. Fink, Heather Hedrick & Burgoon, Lisa A. & Mikesky, Alan E. (2005). Practical Applications in Sports Nutrition –1st ed, pg. 232. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

2. McArdle, William D. & Katch, Frank I. & Katch, Victor L. (2007). Exercise Physiology –6th ed, pg. 77-78. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

3. Benardot, Dan (2006). Advanced Sports Nutrition, pg. 90. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Your optimal weight is a function of your gender and height, and “frame size”. Your frame size is calculated by doing the following:

Now that you know your elbow measurement, refer to this chart for your “frame size”.   The chart lists all the measurements for medium frame size.  If your elbow measurement is smaller than the range on the chart for your height, you are considered small frame.   If your elbow measurement is bigger than the range on the chart for your height, you are considered large frame.  Note that I have the chart in Imperial (U.S.) and Metric units.  Switch between the two by toggling the link below the chart.

Now that you know your frame size, find your ideal weight in the chart below:

Now that you know your optimal weight, you can check out my post about how much weight you should lose per week.

Note that everyone is different. Your optimal weight is somewhere in the range I’ve provided for you. As you get in that range, you will get a feel for where your perfect weight is. Even when you are at your perfect weight, you will fluctuate up and down about 5 lbs. Don’t worry! This is normal.

Need to Lose Weight?

Most people who are serious about weight loss ask, “How much weight can I lose per week?”  It is possible to lose 10 lbs (4.5 kg) like on the Biggest Loser T.V. show.  However, the right question to ask is, “How much weight should I lose per week?”  The answer depends on how overweight you are. In my post, What is My Optimal Weight?, I help you find what you should weight.

Studies have shown that if you starve yourself but don’t work out, you will only lose 3 lbs (1.36 kg) per week because your metabolism will slow down, which causes you to burn less calories and lose less weight.¹ The way to go is to make healthier choices and improve your workouts.

The formula for how much weight you should lose per week is this: for every 10 lbs you are overweight, work on losing 1 lb per week (For every 5 kg overweight, 0.5 kg per week).  If you are 50 lbs overweight, lose 5 lbs per week.  When you get to where you are only 40 lbs overweight, lose 4 lbs per week.  When you get to 30 lbs overweight, lose 3 lbs, etc.  This, of course, has its limits.  Please don’t try to lose more than 10 lbs per week.  The goal here is to change your lifestyle not hurt yourself for temporary weight loss.  You want to be able to consistently lose weight. This is a life marathon, not a sprint.

Here is a table of what I mean:

Truthfully, even if you lose 1-2 lbs a week, you will be doing better than most people, and you’ll get to your goal sooner than you think. Also, you’ll be more likely to keep the weight off permanently.

The reason you should plan on losing less weight the closer you get to your goal is because it becomes increasingly more difficult the closer you get. Your body has limits to how thin it can be. If you were 30 lbs overweight and you planned to lose 5 lbs a week for 6 weeks, you would do great the first 2 weeks. However, on week 3 forward you’d see yourself losing less and less weight. Don’t be discouraged by this, but know it’s how weight loss works. Pick a realistic number to lose each week, and you’ll get there.

Best of luck. Let me know how it goes.

1. Greene, Bob (2006). The Best Life Diet, pg. 18. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

White Bread - A Carbohydrate

As explained in Nutrition Basics, carbohydrates are one of the six types of nutrients used to fuel the human body.  They are plentiful in fruits, vegetables, and grains. They are also found in low amounts in dairy products. There are practically no carbohydrates found in meat; thus, the strategy of the Atkins Diet.¹

When we consume carbohydrates, they are eventually broken down into glucose, which is burned for energy.

If you break down the word, carbohydrate means hydrated carbon or water with carbon. A water molecule (H₂O) looks like this:

H2O Molecule

The subscript “2″ after the “H” means there are two hydrogen atoms. So, we have two hydrogen atoms joined with one oxygen atom to make H₂0 or water.

A carbohydrate would be a combination of carbon and H₂0.

Let’s now take a look at the most basic carbohydrate, glucose:

Glucose Molecule

Glucose (C₆H₁₂0₆) has six carbon atoms, twelve hydrogen atoms, and six oxygen atoms. Note that if you divided C₆H₁₂0₆ by six, you would get CH₂0, which is carbon plus water.

The simple and complex carbohydrates we eat get broken down by the body’s digestive system into glucose. Through a process called cellular respiration, glucose is converted into energy. The formula for this process is:

C₆H₁₂0₆ + 6O₂ = 6CO₂ + 6H₂0 + Energy.

In other words, Glucose + Oxygen = Carbon Dioxide + Water + Energy. The “energy” is the cool part because now we have energy to move around and do the things we want to do. We now know how we get energy from carbohydrates. Also, this shows the importance of breathing oxygen.²

What’s even more crazy is that cellular respiration is the exact opposite of photosynthesis, which equation is:

6CO₂ + 6H₂0 + Light Energy = C₆H₁₂0₆ + 6O₂

Plants take the carbon dioxide from the air, water from the ground and air, and sun light to make glucose and oxygen.³ We, in turn, use glucose and oxygen to produce our own energy. It’s a wonderfully designed world we live in.

1. Insel, Paul, & Turner, R. Elaine, & Ross, Don (2004). Nutrition –2nd ed, pg. 14. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

2. Ross, Frederic C. (2000). Cell Biology And Chemistry for Allied Health Science, pg. 54. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

3. Pack, Phillip E. (2007). CliffsAP Biology –3rd ed., pg. 57. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

Nutrients for our Body

Nutrition is the study of nutrients. There is nutrition for plants and nutrition for animals, but generally when we speak of nutrition it is human nutrition.

We like to do things. We like to move around, speak, run, jump, walk, and think. To do that requires energy. We get our energy from the nutrients we take into our body.

The six types of nutrientsare: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water.  Lipids are more commonly known as fats and oils.¹

Let’s explore each one briefly so you’ll know how each affects the human body.

Carbohydrates

Wheat - A Carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are plentiful in fruits, vegetables, and grains.  They are also found in low amounts in dairy products.  There are practically no carbohydrates found in meat; thus, the strategy of the Atkins Diet.²

Carbohydrates are broken down into energy for our body. (See the post What are Carbohydrates for a more detailed explanation.)

They typical person, who doesn’t exercise and weighs 155 lbs (70 kg), eats 300 g of carbs per day.  The more active person can eat 400-600 g because that person needs more energy.  Beware, though, to get your carbs from good sources, such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.  Soda pop is also a big source of carbohydrates, but beware of drinking too much because it damages your pancreas and alters blood sugar levels.  In fact, just cut out soft drinks all together.³ 

Already I feel like this post is too long, so I’ll talk about lipids in an upcoming post.

1. Insel, Paul, & Turner, R. Elaine, & Ross, Don (2004). Nutrition –2nd ed, pg. 11. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

2. Insel, Paul, & Turner, R. Elaine, & Ross, Don (2004). Nutrition –2nd ed, pg. 14. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

3. McArdle, William D. & Katch, Frank I. & Katch, Victor L. (2007). Exercise Physiology –6th ed, pg. 14. Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins