Lean and Hard

I'll begin by saying that not all sleep apnea is caused by obesity. But since mine was, it only makes sense that I could cure it by reversing the cause.

As I steadily gained weight over the years, I started to snore, and snore worse and worse, to the point where I was waking myself up and even stopped breathing for short periods of time. (I guess if it had been for long periods I wouldn't be here to write this.)I woke up with headaches almost every morning.

Eventually I went and did a sleep study, which is a miserable experience, I assure you. They set me up with a CPAP machine (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure), which made breathing easier during sleep but was a pain to use. The thing looked ridiculous, but at least I wasn't snoring or taking breaks from breathing during the night.

I used that thing for years and years, taking it with me on trips and wearing it without fail every night. Until a week ago , when I finally packed it up and put it away deep in my closet. And guess what. I'm sleeping better than ever.

As I was losing weight over the last several months, I was also dialing down the pressure setting on the CPAP, and I eventually reached a point where I could do without it completely. It feels so good to be free of my tether! Just another benefit of becoming lean and hard.

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The word "diet" is not bad, per se, but its typical meaning relates to something bad: That is, when it refers to an eating plan that, by its very nature, is doomed to failure. Anyone who has struggled with weight issues knows that most diets fail. Like me, they have dieted over and over again and, while they did lose weight at first, they inevitably gave up and gained it all back and then some. Why is this such a common pattern? I'll offer 5 simple reasons in this post.

1. They are overly restrictive.

Any eating plan that results in weight loss must cause you to run a negative energy balance. In other words, you have to be taking in less than you are using up. No way around it. But many diets make that negative balance too large. They bring some very impressive results, but always lead to intense feelings of deprivation and inevitable binging. A sustainable weight-loss plan should run a small negative balance that, over time, brings huge results. Beware of any diet that promises to cut 30 pounds in 30 days. Even if it worked, you'd probably put on 45 pounds in 45 days after that.

2. They include bad carbs.

For a diet to be sustainable over the long haul, it can't leave you feeling like you're starving to death, or have you dreaming about consuming an entire bag of chips or box of donuts. Diets that include simple and highly processed carbs will cause sugar spikes that leave you craving more of the same. When I tried these I'd end up eating 4 lo-cal meals in a single sitting just because I'd be so hungry. What works is an eating plan that is nutrient dense and calorie poor, not tiny amounts of calorie dense and nutrient poor foods.

3. They don't include exercise.

As I've written before, research has consistently shown that both diet and exercise are essential to any successful attempt to become lean and hard. Exercise transforms our bodies at a cellular level and makes us feel more energetic and less prone to regaining the weight we've lost by dieting alone.

4. They don't seem doable.

It's been shown that successful changes are the ones we can see ourselves making. The single change that got the ball rolling for me was switching out complex carbs for simple ones, which my oldest son happened to mention he was trying almost one year ago. It sounded doable to me. If you'd asked me then how confident I felt that I could make that change on a 1 - 10 scale I would have given you a solid 9. I could see myself doing it. Later one, once I began to feel stronger and less hungry, I could see myself cutting my caloric intake. Later still, after I'd lost about 20 pounds, I could see myself joining a gym and working out regularly. It's important that you make changes you can actually see yourself making successfully, even if you don't make them all at once.

5. They don't taste good.

This is one reason I failed at diets that had a specific menu. If I don't enjoy what I'm eating, how can I I keep eating it? I've tried diets before that told me exactly what I could have for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I hated them, and I can promise you I got off them as soon as I got within shouting distance of my goal. And then I went back to eating what I liked and gained all the weight back. What I do now is sustainable because I enjoy the recipes I've come up with. There's been lots of trial and error and there will be more, but it's got to taste good if you're going to keep doing it.

Ultimately, most diets fail because they are unsustainable, and if you can't do it for at least a year, it's pretty much a waste of time. I like this quote from an interview with Dr. John Berardi, a very successful fitness coach. When asked about some of the most important lessons he's learned about helping people over the years, he said this:

I also learned that all the technical, scientific recommendations in the world are meaningless...if you can't actually follow them for at least one year. Because that's how long it takes to make a sustainable, jaw-dropping transformation.

 In other words, if you can't sustain it for at least a year, it won't produce awesome results.

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The key to weight loss is not as simple as eating less. If it were that simple, no one would ever be overweight.

Yes, it's true that IF you eat fewer calories than you are burning, you WILL lose weight. The problem is with the IF. It's not easy, and virtually impossible for many people to eat fewer calories that they're burning. It was for me. I knew I was ruining my life by becoming morbidly obese, but even the threat of death couldn't help me to eat less. Quite simply, I was as addicted to fast carbs as someone else might be to alcohol or cocaine.

The problem was I didn't know it.

The good news was, it wasn't that hard to break my addiction.

All I had to do was replace fast carbs with slow carbs. A complete substitution.

What are fast carbs? While there is no absolute line between fast and slow, some are clearly fast and some are clearly slow. Fast carbs are simple carbs, carbs that break down into sugar very rapidly when eaten. Things like white potatoes, refined flour products like bread and pasta, sugary drinks like soda or even orange juice, cakes and pies, candy, ice cream, white rice, are all fast carbs. And almost all low calorie recipes still include them. Just try looking for a so-called lo-cal frozen meal at the supermarket that doesn't have these ingredients. It's not possible.

So you have to simply stop eating those things. No more donuts or bagels. No more pizza. No more linguini. No more white bread sandwiches.

But lets talk about what you can replace these things with.

All kinds of beans, vegetables, whole grain breads like Ezekiel bread, corn flour products like tacos or tortillas, yucca and yams, sweet potatoes and fruits, other whole grains like quinoa and flax. There's a pretty long list and thousands of great recipes.

What are some typical meals for me? (Keep in mind that I'm only eating 1200 to 1500 calories a day in order to get my weight to an ideal level, while at the same time getting exercise 6 days a week in order to build muscle, so the amount you eat may need to be different.)

Breakfast is usually a scoop of cooked beans and half a cup of liquid eggs. I make a big crock pot of beans and mushrooms, cooked in chicken broth and with my favorite seasonings, and just get a scoop of them in a frying pan with some cooking spray (I like to add some jerk seasoning too because I am Jamaican after all), then I add the liquid eggs and stir. Delicious.

My mid-morning snack is usually a cup of soup, which I cook on weekends and take to work in a Tupperware container. I like to cook boneless/skinless chicken thighs, which I pull apart when they've been boiling long enough to be tender, then add vegetables like squash, carrots, etc., and some split peas or lentils that I've pre-soaked. Sometimes I'll include chicken broth, chopped spinach, onions, celery and the like. It makes a very healthy, thick, delicious soup that keeps me going till the afternoon.

My mid-afternoon meal is typically a piece of chicken with a slice of Ezekiel bread, or sometimes a salad.

Dinner might be 3 tacos, made with seasoned ground beef in whole grain corn taco shells, diced tomatoes, a bit of shredded cheese and some chopped jalapenos. For dessert I might have a few apple slices.

Of course these are only a few ideas. You can find thousands more online, but you only have to avoid the fast carbs listed above and replace them with slow ones.

I hope this helps!

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I hate those stupid web adds that promise to do everything from get rid of belly fat to save you thousands on car insurance if you will follow "this one simple rule." Doing those things is rarely accomplished with a simple rule. If they were then no one would have belly fat or pay with their left arm for car insurance. But I can tell you how I was able to cure myself of morbid obesity, chronic fatigue and type 2 diabetes by substituting slow carbs for fast carbs.

Chronic Fatigue and Morbid Obesity

I suffered from chronic fatigue, at first sporadically, then eventually continuously, for about 30 years. I can tell you that it is very real and can drastically impair your life. It hurts those you love, hinders your career, and can end marriages. And almost worst of all, it gets no respect.

Since medical science has been unable to pin down a cause, many people will assume that you're a malingerer, faking illness to avoid things you don't want to do. Loved ones will question whether it's all in your head. People will ask you over and over to explain what it feels like. I can assure you that it's not like normal fatigue. I've experienced both and they are nothing alike. The double whammy for me was feeling too sick to do anything but lay in bed while at the same time maintaining an enormous appetite. So, guess what happened? I got very, very fat.

I tried everything under the sun to find a cure. I traveled to foreign countries, submitted to batteries of tests, visited with real doctors and quacks, all to no avail. But I have now found a cure that has worked for me going on almost a full year. I've regained my strength, diminished my addiction to huge amounts of food, and so far have lost 121 pounds, going from a high of 303 to my latest weigh-in of 182.

Type-2 Diabetes

With the morbid obesity came type-2 diabetes. I was having to spend thousands of dollars on insulin and other medications just to control my blood sugar. Over the past year I have been able, under my endocrinologist's supervision, to get completely off all diabetes meds while maintaining healthy sugar levels.

What about you?

I can't say whether or not you, reader, will find the same benefits from adopting my eating habits, since we are not the same. I am certain, however, that there are many, many people out there who will.

In my next post I'll go into more detail about the slow carb for fast carb swap.

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Here's an interesting question you might ask yourself: What percentage of people my age are physically fit? (I'm defining "fit" as being lean and hard from regular exercise and healthy eating.)

If you're in your 20s, you might think that number would be quite high. You might then be surprised to learn that:

Approximately one-third of boys and girls age 12 to 19 in the United States do not meet standards for physical fitness. (according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine)

But still, 66% is not bad. So if you're fit in your teens or early 20s, you would be among the 66%.

What about older people? Check this out:

During a 2006 study the National Center for Disease Control determined that the percentage of adult’s age 20 years and over who are overweight or obese was an astounding 67 percent.

 It would be intuitive to guess that the percentage drops off as the age range gets higher, but counting everyone over 20, we're talking about a complete reversal. Now you're among the 33%. And your cohort gets smaller and smaller the older you get. Are you over 50? You're in a very small club.

While not scientific, you only have to consider the people you know and see as you go through your life. Very few, if any, are physically fit at 50 and over.

So it's very inspirational (assuming you want to be fit over fifty) to read about women like Ruby Carter-Pikes, who recently placed second in a women''s body-building competition.

The 64-year-old Palmdale resident, known as “Miss Ruby” recently bested her 20-something competitors by scoring second place for Women’s Figure, a category judged by shoulders, lats, abs and quads, at the FitSciences Championships in Atlanta. Carter-Pikes was also a top finisher in the Fit Mom Class.

Women and men like this show us that we can be fit over 50, and that's a message we can afford to hear over and over again!

Have a great fitness story? Share it in the comments and inspire our readers!

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Is it ever advisable to take a break from my regular workout routine? Will I lose all my gains if I miss a day? How do I know if I need a break? And how long should a break be?

These are all great questions. I've actually taken short breaks by necessity rather than by choice, and I've found that they can actually be advantageous. But what do the experts say?

While exercising consistently is important for building endurance, conditioning your body and losing weight, you may reach a point where you're tired, bored and desperately need a break. Taking a break may be just what you need to rest, recover and rejuvenate, but how long before you start losing your fitness?

You may be surprised to learn that taking a few days or a full week off from training won't necessarily hurt the gains you've made. In fact, many serious exercisers and athletes regularly schedule a week off every 8-12.

So if you're serious about fitness you can be certain that breaks are not only not a bad thing, they're actually important for your long-term fitness goals.

Today's awesome workout song...



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File this under "Tell me something I don't already know."

Studies are confirming what advertisers have long since figured out and you already suspect. Looking at photos of unhealthy foods like sweets and fatty treats makes it harder to resist indulging. This article tells us that...

Looking at pictures of hamburgers, cupcakes and other high-calorie edibles can trigger cravings for fattening foods, especially if you're drinking something sweet at the time, according to a new study.

What would happen if you didn't know those things existed? What if you had no mental image of that food whatsoever to lure you into its slobbering maw? What if you had no memory of its smell or taste? Could it still entice you? I guess there's no unringing the bell on that score, but at least we can avoid adding to our mental library of bad foods.

So friends, flip the channel when that commercial comes on! And don't look at your friends Pinterest collection of chocolatey treats, either.

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Photo credit: The Holy Grail

The answer is a definite YES!

As long as you are on a weight reduction plan, you are going to face the temptation to cheat. The reason is simple: To lose weight you have to burn more calories than you're taking in, and this means you will sometimes feel deprived.

I've lost 115 pounds so far, and I've been losing weight since about September of last year, so you can believe that I've strayed from the strictures of my regime a few times along the way. Once in a while I've faces temptations that, for me, at the time, were irresistible. Here's how I've managed these diversions from the path...

1. I've tried to limit the damage. OK, so I simply have to have pizza. Nothing I can do about it when the desire is so strong and so persistent. I go ahead and have some, but I eat it slowly and stop when I'm satisfied (which, since my stomach has shrunk from eating less food, happens much sooner than it used to!). Then I throw away the rest and my splurge is over.

2. I've gotten right back on the horse. Guilt and discouragement are the enemy when you've broken faith with your plan. Put your straying behind you and come right back to the righteous path. Here's how WebMD puts in in this article:

Don't let a little slip become a backslide.  It is almost impossible to be an "A" student when it comes to dieting. "Everyone slips up, and that is fine as long as you don't let one slip turn into a backslide," says Wansink. Whenever you slip up, take note of it, try to learn from it so you can anticipate it in the future, and get right back into your diet plan to avoid the temptation to throw in the towel.

If you have a lot of weight to lose, it's going to take some time, and you are going to cheat. But cheating cannot stop you if you limit the damage and stick with your plan.

Please comment below if you found this helpful or have additional tips to share!

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Believe it or not, there are still people who think the Atkins diet (and its numerous imitators) are worth trying. The no-carb fad is over, my friends. Consider these insights from Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, writing for Shape:

Many of my clients send me their food diaries every day, in which they record not just what and how much they eat, but also their hunger and fullness ratings and how they feel before, during, and after meals. Over the years I’ve noticed a trend. Drastic carb cutting (despite my recommendation to include specific portions of “good” carbs), results in some not so pleasant side effects. I see journal notes like, cranky, irritable, shaky, lethargic, moody, and reports of intense cravings for forbidden foods. Now, a new study also indicates that low carb diets aren’t optimal health wise.

I will admit to trying it myself way back when. After a few days on the no-carb regimen I recall feeling like I would be willing to kill my best friend for a piece of bread. Those intense cravings for so-called forbidden foods can lead you to only one place... binge eating.

What about low carb diets? Keeping in mind that any fat loss plan must necessarily involve cutting calories, and that a healthy diet should have a good balance of proteins, carbs and fats, low carb diets may have the same effect. You may find yourself fantasizing about eating your way through a mountain of muffins, or a sea of ice cream. And you'll eventually attempt, albeit unsuccessfully, to accomplish one of these feats.

So what's the optimal plan? It's about quality as well as quantity. Instead of treating carbs as all the same, try slow carbs.

Slow carbs are also known as good carbs, complex carbs or low-glycemic carbs. Here's a helpful definition:

...any carbohydrate that is broken down and absorbed by the body slowly.

Simple carbs, by contrast, are usually highly processed and so are broken down and absorbed very quickly. This rapid absorption causes spikes in blood sugar, which in turn causes more insulin to be pumped into the bloodstream, which causes an increase in fat storage.

Simple carbs can do other strange things. Since they cause a kind of chemical high, they are somewhat addictive, meaning they cause intense cravings for more of the same. Your body tells you you must have that slice of cake or you'll die, that large pizza or you'll writhe in agony forever. It's irresistible.

Another awful side effect of simple carbs is fatigue. With every sugar high comes the inevitable crash. And although this may not be proven science, it's possible that an overgrowth of candida and other bad micro-organisms can poison the system with toxins that mimic the feeling of having the flu.

The way to break the addiction is to substitute slow carbs for fast carbs. Whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables, seeds and nuts, sweet potatoes instead of white, etc.

Thoughts and comments are welcome!

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How old are you? It's a simple question, right? Not really.

It's not as simple as you might think to answer this question. Most of us just count the number of years that have passed since the date on our birth certificates. By that measure I am 52. But there are other ways to measure age. Sometimes people say you're only as old as you feel. But what about your biological age?

Here's an interesting definition of biological age:

Your BIOLOGICAL AGE is the age that most normal people would be when they have a body and mind similar to yours.

Your chronological age can't be manipulated, but your biological age can be. You can, in fact, turn back the clock. You can even accomplish this at a genetic level. Consider the results of this study:

The researchers identified 596 differentially expressed genes (meaning atypical to other genes being analyzed). Of these, after 26 weeks of resistance training the researchers identified 179 genes associated with age and exercise showing a reversal of their gene expression. This means quite literally that the resistance training was not only slowing, but also reversing the aging process at the gene level. The gene expressions of the resistance trained older subjects demonstrated characteristics similar to those of the younger group. The researchers also noted that mitochondrial impairment, normally seen with inactivity, was reversing with the 6 months of resistance training.

What does all this mean? As mind-blowing as it is, it means you can actually reverse the aging process and increase your lifespan!

A related term that's more useful than "lifespan" is "healthspan." Healthspan is defined as:

...the period of a person's life during which they are generally healthy and free from serious or chronic illness.

I'm not as interested in increasing the length of time I would be considered clinically "alive" as much as the length of time I am healthy and able to enjoy living. And this I can definitely affect by the way I live right now.

Are you ready to get started with your age reversal?

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