Matt Metzgar

Diets: Just Say No

And just in case anyone's New Year resolution involves dieting, here's a study that should convince you otherwise.  This article discusses the results of a landmark study comparing four diets: Atkins, Zone, Weight Watchers, and Ornish.  The participants were tracked for one year to determine the effectiveness of each diet. 

The first alarming statistic is the dropout rates.  Over a third of those on the Zone and Weight Watchers diets dropped out, while roughly half of those on the Atkins and Ornish diets dropped out.

Participants did lose a bit of weight, roughly 5 pounds.  But the report doesn't say how much of this lost weight was fat or muscle mass.  Hence, the total fat loss may be even less than 5 pounds.

Diets produce weight loss in a yo-yo fashion.  Participants lose weight and then after a few months or so, the body's metabolism slows and the weight starts to return.  This process can continue for quite a long time.  I bet if they had extended this study out to 2 years, the weight loss would be even less or perhaps even zero.

Diets just are not an effective way to alter body composition - exercise is the only true way to lose fat.  Why struggle through a year of deprivation and discomfort on a diet only to lose 5 pounds (or less)?  Instead, an overweight person could lose 5 pounds in roughly 5 weeks by exercising 60 minutes a day, most of which can be walking.

My Current Workout III

Here is the routine that I am utilizing to tighten up my waist in 2007.  It is very similar to my previous routines.  The key for me is to keep a low volume of intense exercise.  Everyone is different genetically, and some people can handle a higher volume of intense exercise than others.  I have more of an ectomorph body frame, and I do well with only 2 days of intense activity per week. 

For anyone taking a New Year's resolution to lose weight, I would encourage you to lean more towards lots of walking rather than lots of vigorous exercise.  If a person bites off more than they can chew and burns out, it's easy to lose hope.  It's better to underestimate the amount of intense exercise you can handle (you can always add more later).  You only need a bit of intense exercise along with lots of walking to lose weight.  Here's the routine:

Day 1 - "The Chase" - 20 minutes of intermittent running (stop-and-start); walk 40 minutes.         

Days 2 and 3 -  Walk 60 minutes.

Day 4 - "The Hunt" - intermittent running followed by weightlifting followed by immediate eating of meat; walk 30 minutes.

Days 5, 6, and 7 - Walk 60 minutes.

The Carrot or the Stick

With the New Year just around the corner, many people will be setting resolutions having to do with losing weight.  History shows that many of these people won't be successful.  The first reason for this is choosing a routine that is too ambitious.  You shouldn't go from being sedentary to working out intensely 5 or 6 days a week and not expect to burn out.  A better plan is needed than that.

The second reason could be how a person motivates themself.  Many people use negative motivation as a reason to get into shape: "I look terrible", "I'm unattractive"," etc.

But is this kind of self-flagellation necessary?  There's no doubt it can be effective, at least in the short-term.  But in the long run, I think chasing positives rather than trying to avoid negatives is the way to go.  I believe it's better to set goals in a positive frame, remembering all the benefits that come with the achieving them.  Better to say, "I can see myself looking trim and fit", rather than saying "I need to lose this gut".

Arnold  Schwarzenegger has talked about visualization and a positive attittude quite extensively over the years.  In his book, "The Education of a Bodybuilder", he discusses his motivational strategies during his bodybuilding days:

"Next you have to decide what you want to look like. Again, be explicit. My own image was Reg Park. I built it so clearly in my mind I could actually see myself standing in Reg Park's body. This second step, forming an image in the mind, creates what I call the want power. You have an image of what you want to look like, which in turn creates the willpower to go into the gym and work out. Now you have a goal. Without it you'd be like a ship without a destination. You must know why you are training in order to give it your best and be productive."

Visualization and a positive attitude are powerful tools for motivating oneself.  In psychology, they talk about motivating rabbits with either the carrot or the stick.  I encourage you to chase the carrot and then enjoy the rewards of your labor.

The Best in Your Tribe

I think overpopulation is an often ignored factor in mental health.  For example, many smaller schools across the country have been consolidated into larger ones.  Logical reasons are given for this, such as reduced costs and the centralization of resources.  But are larger schools better for children?  I don't think so.

Let's say a high school has 500 students and the normal assortment of extra-curricular activities: sports, music, theater, etc.  In this smaller school, many more students would have a chance to participate and excel in these activities.  Now transform this to a school with 2,000 students.  The person who was the star of the basketball team may now be a second-stringer.  The lead in the musical now plays a supporting role.  Four high schools of 500 leads to many more students being recognized than one high school of 2,000.

Some say that larger schools provide more competition and therefore spur more development.  Perhaps, but even if this is true is it worth it?  Won't students eventually find out how they stack up in the world as adults?  Why not let as many students bask in the glow of recognition while they have the chance?

Here's another example.  For a time, I was the best saxophone player in my high school.  Then one year I tried out for "all-state band" for the saxophone slot.  I didn't win it, I think I came in third or fourth.  Did this help me in any way?  No, if anything it was the opposite.  I would've rather not known how I compared to the rest of the state.  I was happy being number one in my town.

I think all this has roots in our hunter-gatherer mentality.  Hunter-gatherers existed in small tribes, and if one person exceled at something, they were probably the best in the tribe.  Their unique talents would be recognized and valued.

In modern times, we have to compete against an ever-growing mass of people.  And with the internet and global economy, the competition is now worldwide.  This "overpopulation" contributes greatly to mental health issues in my opinion.  I don't think anyone truly wants to be anonymous.  Everyone would like to feel special, like to feel valued for what they have to offer.  Yet society can take this feeling away from people by sticking them in giant, anonymous cities, where each person is a tiny cog in the wheel.

What's the answer to this?  I'm not sure.  From what I've seen, this trend doesn't appear to be slowing.  For example, Los Angeles is predicted to add another 3 million people over the next twenty years (where they will fit these people in LA is a mystery to me).  Perhaps telecommuting will take off and then people will be able to move back to smaller, less dense areas.

For further reading on this, I would recommend Robert Wright's excellent essay, "The Evolution of Despair".

McGuff Interview

This month's issue of "Iron Man" magazine had an interview with Doug McGuff from Ultimate Exercise.  I met Doug many years ago and thought he was a very sharp thinker.

The interview in Ironman was a very nice piece (actually it is part 2 of a 3 part interview), and I wanted to comment on some things he said.

"Within reason, all the hair splitting over training theories is probably unnnecessary because, from the organism's standpoint, if the stimulus had to be that perfect for muscle growth to occur, it wouldn't have any survival benefit.  The problem is we want our bodies to respond like the body of someone who has a completely different genetic makeup."

From an evolutionary standpoint, this makes perfect sense.  Why would the body need an exact number of sets or reps to build muscle?  Muscular activities in the wild are "rough" and not nicely organzied.  But the promise of finding a new system that will suddenly deliver muscle is what keeps supplement companies (and many muscle magazines) in business.

You've been working out yet your muscles aren't blowing up like balloons?  Then try Supplement A or Supplement B.  Or a new number of sets and reps, that's the ticket.  This point is highlighted in another quote from McGuff:

"Someone asked Ray Mentzer (a bodybuilder), "What are you doing for your legs?" And he said, "Well, I did one set of squats 30 days ago."  Clearly, genetics are a huge factor in determining the extent of muscle growth.

I think McGuff's biggest contribution is his Dose-Response model (you can find the original article on his website).  The basic premise is that, just like medicine, if you subject the body to a strong dose of exercise, it takes a good while to respond.  McGuff believes that working out intensely with weights should be done once every 7 days (and in some cases 10-12 days).  This is solid advice in my opinion.

Where There's A Will, There's A Way

I'm back from some holiday travel and tried my best to get a lot of exercise in.  I walked on treadmills at hotels, treadmills in basements, wherever I could.

My favorite part was walking in the airport.  I had a long layover in Atlanta and managed to get in an hour of walking through various long corriders.  I also had a neat experience with a stranger.  I was walking down a corrider with one of those "people-movers" - a moving electronic platform.  I was walking next to the people-mover on the floor.  An older lady saw me walking, got off the people-mover and started walking too.  She said, "I guess I should do some walking."

Maybe walking is contagious...

Goodbye Trans Fat

New York City has recently passed a ban on trans fat in all restaurant food in the city.  This is a great move as trans fat has zero nutritional value and serious health repercussions.  It appears that Boston is moving in this direction as well.  Also, here's an editorial from a research nutrition journal calling for a ban on trans fat.

A good clearinghouse of all news related to banning trans fat can be found here.

Breakfast

My normal breakfast, a homemade smoothie containing: pomengranate juice, egg protein powder, banana, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries. (Some cashews and dark chocolate are in the background.)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

The Protein Debate

Here's a nice scientific debate between Loren Cordain, author of "The Paleo Diet," and Colin Campbell, author of "The China Study."

Cordian advocates a higher protein intake based on the diet of hunter-gatherers.  Campbell promotes a low-protein diet of whole foods.  The two squared off in this written debate.