Marcia Zimmerman

Seven Keys to Unlock Secrets of Long Term Weight Management

O.K., so you know that it takes burning 3500 calories to lose a pound of fat. That drives most of us to look for the perfect pill or weight loss diet that will solve our problem. Or we head to the gym to sweat off the pounds. Discouraged by the lack of lasting success, most of us will abandon the effort and just go buy a larger size.

But wait. Is this really the way to lasting weight management, better health and longevity? There are seven keys to unlock long term weight management, which is the cornerstone of good health and long life.

1. Assess your genes and take your measure
2. Manage stress
3. Targeted fat loss around the thighs and belly
4. Don’t eat it if it’s white
5. Eat a rainbow
6. Fats that burn fat
7. Move it

Assessment:

Genes: What body shape do your same gender relatives have? Fat is distributed in two different patterns – “gynoid” and “android.” The major cosmetic concern for women with a gynoid fat distribution is the size of their thighs. Men and women with an android fat distribution carry fat around the middle of their bodies.[1] You just plain don’t like the way you look and feel. So, let’s begin by assessing your particular situation.

a) Go to the Internet and locate a body mass index (BMI) calculator and find out what your body mass index is: www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/.  BMI is a ratio that is determined by your weight and height. If the calculator indicates your BMI is 18.4 or less, you are underweight. If you BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, you are normal weight. Twenty-five to 29.9 is overweight and 30 or above is classified as obese.

b) Next use a tape measure to find out your waist and hip circumference.  For men, measuring more than 40.16 inches is bad news. For women, it’s 34.65 inches. Now determine your waist to hip ratio. Divide your waist measurement in inches by your hip measurement in inches. The ratio should be less than one (0.87). Anything higher than this indicates android belly fat accumulation.

What’s so Bad About Belly Fat? Belly fat is considered a risk factor for insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. In fact, most chronic diseases have obesity as a major risk factor.

Manage Stress:

Belly fat may signal a life in overdrive with unresolved chronic stress. Constant stress amps up cortisol your fight or flight hormone. Insulin levels spiral leading to blood sugar problems and disordered fat metabolism. Fat accumulates to the abdominal area – a shift from accumulation in the extremities. There is a drop in muscle mass, caused in part by a drop in the muscle maintaining hormones testosterone and human growth hormone.

Levels of the anti-aging hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) plummet and this affects your other hormones, your energy level, and your sex life. (see my blog DHEA May Boost Your Sex Life). DHEA, like cortisol, is an adrenal gland hormone.

While you may be familiar with the statistics, chronic conditions may not be your greatest concern right now. You want to have a better body contour.

Targeted Fat Loss:

Aminophylline cream (0.5%) offers a safe and effective method for cosmetic local fat reduction from the waist and thighs. Fat is a metabolically active tissue and a dynamic storage organ. Aminophylline cream applied to areas of accumulated fat around the hips and belly alters the fat cell chemistry so that it burns instead of stores fat.

The gynoid fat around women’s thighs is more difficult to mobilize due to action on the fat cells by estrogen.  A series of clinical trials was done at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) to see if applying aminophylline cream was effective. In the series of trials which spanned 4 to 6 weeks, the women applied aminophylline cream alone or with the herbal agents yohimbine and forskolin. The study authors concluded that topical fat reduction of thigh fat can be achieved without diet or exercise.[2] Even greater gains could be achieved if dietary change and exercise were part of the fat reduction plan.

Android fat can be reduced by the topical application of aminophylline (0.5%) cream. A scientific team from New Orleans and Baton Rough, Louisiana, and UCLA conducted a study to assess the effectiveness of topical aminophylline cream. The 50 study subjects (BMI > 27, aged 21 – 65) were assigned to one of two groups. All were put on a 1200 calorie a day diet and a walking program.

Group one applied aminophylline cream around their bellies. Group two applied a cream that did not contain the active ingredient (placebo). While a low calorie diet and exercise did reduce belly fat in the placebo group, twice the amount of fat was lost among those who used the topical cream as well.[3]

You should note that while the aminophylline cream reduced the fat layer under the skin that is so hard to get rid of, it did not affect the deeper visceral fat layers. Diet and exercise are needed to do that. Once you stop using the cream, the fat may come back. Beware of Internet companies selling the cream. It may be lower potency than what was used in the studies or claims are made that can’t be substantiated. The safest thing is to get a prescription for 0.5% aminophylline cream and have a pharmacist compound if for you.[4]

Eating Plan:

I hate the word diet because it has such a negative connotation. I prefer to talk about eating for longevity, or simply put – Eat Your Colors. You can get the step-by-step shopping guide, 7-Color Plan with menu planning and recipes in my book 7-Color Cuisine. The link to Amazon for this book is on my blog site. There is a video course that explains all the steps needed to have greater eating satisfaction and health: www.now-university.com. You can access course information by pulling down the “education” tab on my blog site.

Basically, you do not want to put anything white in your mouth. That includes anything made with white flour or sugar. Whole grains and products made from them are tan color. Next include as many organic and locally grown foods as possible. Cut your portions in half. Use only healthy oils such as olive, walnut, coconut and macadamia. Canola oil is good too as long as it is organic. Non-organic canola oil is usually produced from genetically modified seeds.

Exercise:

Sweating it out in the gym is not the only way to exercise. A consistent walking plan is the easiest and best way to achieve lasting weight loss. You can walk at a leisurely pace so that you enjoy your surroundings as you walk. This helps reduce stress, sharpen your mind and improve your your outlook on life. All of these things help reduce belly & thigh fat and optimize sugar and fat metabolism.