The Life Plan (13 page)

So there you have it, gentlemen: More water translates into more fat burned. Over the course of a year, if you can increase your water consumption to 1.5 liters a day, you will burn an extra 17,400 calories, for a weight loss of approximately five pounds.

In his book
The Blood Thinner Cure,
Dr. Kenneth R. Kensey wrote that most of us go through life in a dehydrated state because we rely on our sensation of thirst as our guide for water consumption. He states that by the time we are thirsty, we are already dehydrated and our blood is too thick, which may be one primary cause of hardening of the arteries, heart attacks, and strokes. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but I do know that a lack of water is the major reason for daytime fatigue. Even mild dehydration will slow your metabolism by as much as 3 percent. A mere 2 percent drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.

Packaged foods that are minimally processed with the most natural ingredients.

Whole grains over whole wheat.

Natural peanut butter: It’s a great source of essential fatty acids, while processed peanut butter is loaded with sugar and hydrogenated oil.

Low-fat dairy instead of fat-free: You need some of dairy’s good fat, and fat-free products are usually supplemented with sugar to make them tastier.

Brown rice and natural oatmeal over “instant” varieties: They have lower glycemic indexes.

Your ability to exercise at full capacity is directly dependent on adequate hydration. If you are as little as 1 percent dehydrated (1.5 pounds in a 150-pound person), all body functions suffer, and you will have a 10 percent decrease in your aerobic capacity. To make sure you’re adequately hydrated, you should try to drink half an ounce of fluid per pound of body weight daily.

You’ll be able to accomplish this by drinking small amounts of water throughout the day. For example, drink 1 tall glassful before you have your first cup of coffee in the morning and drink 1 to 2 cups of water 30 minutes before you exercise. Drink a half cup every 15 minutes during exercise and 1.5 cups to 3 cups over a one- to two-hour period after you finish exercising. Some people find it easier to keep a refillable bottle of water with them throughout the day. When I really focus on dropping body fat and training hard, I have a one-gallon jug of water that I carry around, and I try to consume most of it every day. Most people have no idea how much consuming adequate amounts of water can help them drop body fat and improve their performance. If you want to get really lean and improve your mental and physical performance, I challenge you to drink close to a gallon of water every day. You will be amazed at how much it helps. The best way to tell that you are getting enough fluids is that you should have to make frequent trips to the bathroom, and your urine will be clear, except for when you first go in the morning.

To mix things up, you can take your water in the form of sparkling water, tea, or coffee. A few squirts of lemon juice really help make water easier to drink.

Alcohol is a very concentrated source of calories (7 calories per gram) and, when it enters your bloodstream, your liver must reduce or stop its metabolism of fats and carbohydrates and many of its other vital functions in order to process it. This dramatically interferes with your successful exercise program by causing a buildup of fat in your liver, a decrease in glycogen (master fuel) formation in your liver and muscles, and an interference with niacin, thiamine, and B vitamins use—all essential for energy production and good health.

In addition, alcohol will stimulate your appetite (carbohydrate-sensitive people very often crave sweets when they drink), make it much harder to exercise, and act as a diuretic, causing you to lose precious water—all of which will sabotage your efforts to get lean, muscular, and healthy. My advice—use very little or none at all. If you want to see your six-pack abs, then you really need to give up alcohol.

The late coach John Wooden’s adage, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, “holds very true in basketball and in other sports, but it is also very true when it comes to acheiving success with your exercise and nutrition program. When you wake up in the morning and are ready to start your day, think through where you are going to be eating, and how you will be able to access the food you need for five to six healthy meals. This might mean preparing meals in advance and taking them with you so that you don’t find yourself hungry and trapped, pulling into a fast-food restaurant and eating a high-calorie, high-fat, low-nutrition meal.

Here are some of my best planning tips:

Cook enough protein and veggies to have meals ready in the fridge for several days. This is a huge time saver!

Always pack lunches and snacks to take with you.

Always have meal replacement bars and/or shakes on hand.

Plan according to your day’s activities—bigger, higher-carb meals before a workout, smaller meals before a nap or watching TV.

Always carry water with you—a no-calorie way to fill yourself up between meals.

In the next chapter, you will decide which level of diet you want to enter, based on your current health and your weight loss goals. All three levels of diet are based on the rules and lessons presented in this chapter. In addition, here are some key rules I try to follow daily that really help me stay on track. Try them out and I think you will agree that they can play an essential role in helping you achieve your ultimate goals of leanness, energy, muscularity, and great health.

Make a list of the reasons you want to lose body fat and keep it off forever. Laminate it, carry it with you, and refer to it frequently.

Avoid buffets and other places where there are many food choices—the more food choices you have the more you will eat too much of the wrong foods.

No finger foods—ever.

Don’t eat unless you are sitting at a table.

Avoid eating fast. Savor every bite. Try to spend 15 to 20 minutes eating each and every meal.

Avoid high-glycemic fruits (bananas, kiwis, pineapples, papayas, mangoes, honeydew melons, watermelons, cantaloupes, raisins) and all fruit juices.

Don’t eat for at least two hours before you go to bed.

If you get a craving, avoid eating for at least 15 minutes—cravings invariably disappear by that time.

If you must have dairy, then go for low-fat or soy cheeses.

For snacks, have a protein shake, apple with low-fat cheese, orange with handful of almonds, or celery or carrots with low-fat cheese.

I
have devised three simple nutritional plans that create a stepped dieting approach toward a goal of completely clean eating. Each diet promotes health and youthful aging. Depending on your current health and fitness level, you can enter into any one of these plans at any point, and upgrade from one to the next. Obviously, the more limiting diets will achieve the best and fastest results.

Everyone should start with the Basic Health Diet and stick with it for at least three weeks. You will know if the diet is working by two important measurements: the scale, and your abdominal girth. By the end of three weeks, you should have lost at least five pounds and dropped at least half an inch from your abdomen, as measured in Chapter 2.

If you enjoy the diet, you can stay on this level forever. However, if you want faster results, move to the next level: the Fat-Burning Diet. The Fat-Burning Diet is more rigorous, but it is absolutely the best way I know to get rid of body fat. Like Basic Health, you can stay on this diet forever or until you are under 15 percent body fat.

If you still want to increase your weight loss to below 10 percent body fat or if you have already been diagnosed with a heart condition, have a stent, or have had bypass surgery, high blood pressure, or other vasculature problems, move to the final level: Heart Health. Your goal should be to follow the Heart Health Diet as closely as possible forever. This is a completely vegan diet that combines low-glycemic eating with a low-fat diet so that you can start reversing blood vessel disease. Moreover, if you are having problems with your sexual health, this is the diet to follow.