The Petite Advantage Diet (5 page)

Stop and think for a moment. Why have you not succeeded at weight loss in the past? No, don’t think. I have the answer. You were not a success at weight loss because virtually all the diets you have been on in the past totally destroyed your metabolism.

Quick. Go turn your blender, fan, or hair dryer on high. Think of that as many, many calories being spent (which is good) at the highest possible speed. Now turn it on medium. Ah, not quite the energy (calories) that was blasting before. It’s slower. Finally, turn it on low. Now it’s humming along in comparison to the two other settings. That is the metabolic consequence of 99.99 percent of all diets you have followed in the past. You turned your motor from high to low–and, in the process, you gained all the weight back and then some, and wondered why. You may even have berated yourself and called yourself a failure. I refer to “failure” as the “F word”; I prefer to call it “non-success,” or just NS. I am here to tell you that you have destroyed your metabolism by decreasing your precious metabolism-boosting tissue–
muscle
. But before you panic, rest assured that I will show you how to fix that.

Here is the reason you and virtually every other woman who has gone on a diet has failed:

Diet for Weight Loss = Diminished Lean Muscle

When you lose weight on virtually all diets, you lose approximately 60 to 70 percent fat and 30 to 40 percent muscle. That’s a disaster because:

Diminished Lean Muscle = Diminished Metabolism

Another way to put that is:

Lean Muscle Down = Metabolism Down

That’s the NS formula.

In this program, the success equation for Petites is:

Lean Muscle Up = Metabolism Up

Without a high-performing metabolism, you are doomed to fail at weight loss because your body will burn very few calories on a daily basis. And that means you need to eat even
fewer
calories in order to lose weight, which is all but impossible. You’re living on “low.”

Come on, you’ve tried the NS formula in the past. Why not do it the right way this time, since you already know that it didn’t work the other way.

When I say this to 99.9 percent of dieters, who admit to me that they are NS at losing weight, they say, “but I loved that diet.” Can you believe it? They love something that brought them failure and then they defend it! Talk about a deeply, painfully flawed belief system.

Isn’t Einstein’s definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result? Why would anyone embrace the same
results-free
strategy over and over and expect a different outcome? They do so because their
belief
system is so very out of whack.

So let’s get to the heart of that often misunderstood word, “metabolism.”

Each of us possesses a basal metabolic rate, or BMR, defined as:

The amount of energy expended while at rest in a neutrally temperate environment, in the post-absorptive state (meaning that the digestive system is inactive, which requires about twelve hours of fasting in humans). The release of energy in this state is sufficient only for the functioning of the vital organs, such as the heart, lungs, brain and the rest of the nervous system, liver, kidneys, sex organs, muscles and skin. BMR decreases with age and with the loss of lean body mass. Increasing muscle mass increases BMR
.
¹

Please note the last two sentences of this definition: BMR decreases with age and with the loss of lean body mass. Increasing lean muscle mass increases BMR. My eating and exercise plan will keep your BMR from going down, even as you age. I know for a fact that the metabolic rate of some senior Petites I’ve worked with went up, because they started saying to me things like: “Jim, you know I have to have my hair colored every three weeks instead of every four. The roots seem to be showing faster as my stylist tells me my hair is growing faster.” That alone, along with nail growth (another easy indicator), can prove that your metabolism is accelerating.

As a Petite, your goal is to do
everything
in your power to maintain and increase your metabolism,
especially
when you diet or restrict calories. When restricting calories, your body senses that there is not a readily available source of food. So the very smart human body slows down its need for food or calories. How does your body go about slowing itself down? It atrophies one of the body’s most metabolically active tissues–muscle. Muscle burns between twenty-two and thirty-six calories per pound per day. That is why it is so very important to your metabolism. If you diminish your muscle tissue, which is what happens when you diet without exercise or skip breakfast, your metabolism will go down. Again, less muscle will lead to a slower metabolism. You
never
want that to happen. By following my eating and exercise plan, you can prevent that from happening.

For years, I have heard countless excuses concerning metabolism. I must be perfectly clear that the majority of them are unfounded, because virtually 99 percent of the time, the problem is not your metabolism. The problem is your behavior. No, actually it’s your belief system (like believing that cardio is the key to weight loss, which it is not) that led to your behavior (like performing cardio, a great weight-gain program). Sorry to be blunt, but it’s the truth. Stop for a moment and think:

• Were you always this weight?

• Was there a time when you were at a lower weight?

• Did this weight just creep up one pound at a time?

• Did you weigh yourself often to stop the increase?

• Did you count calories?

• Did you exercise the right way or did you perform cardio?

• Are you getting enough sleep?

• Are you stressed to the max?

How, then, can you blame your metabolism? I bet your metabolism rocks. Or at least it used to rock before you annihilated it with a diet. But I can help you fix that! Don’t beat yourself up about the past. It’s over. Let’s move forward, with me as your guide, and shed that fat once and for all.

Recently, there was a picture in a magazine of Oak Street Beach in Chicago, my hometown. The picture was from the 1950s and everyone in it looked as if they had stepped out of a beach movie from exactly that era. Everyone was lean and I mean really lean. There was not an overweight or obese person in sight. Now, fast-forward to today. I am frequently on that beach with my kids, and the vast majority of men and women are much bigger, and I don’t mean by just a few pounds. Do you think our genes mutated in a few decades?
No
. It’s
impossible
. Our behavior mutated–big-time–so please don’t blame your genes. Instead, let’s get to work on optimizing your metabolism through new beliefs and behaviors.

What healthy factors do affect metabolism? Don’t get me started on diet pills and smoking, which, yes, do boost metabolism, but do it in a very dangerous way. Is smelling like an ashtray and/or dying really worth it? Can you really do anything to increase your metabolism? The answer to that question is a big
yes
. Here are some of the issues that you can address to optimize your metabolism.

Thyroid

If you are feeling low in energy, depressed or anxious, have thinning hair and brittle nails, or have issues with constipation, irregular menstrual cycle, infertility, or low sex drive, you may be suffering from hypothyroid (too little thyroid). Now, many women I know claim that the reason for their weight gain is a slow thyroid, but a very small percentage of these women actually have the dysfunction. Once again, it’s your behavior that is problematic, not your thyroid.

If you suffer from either hypothyroid (too slow) or hyperthyroid (too fast, which is also not good for your health), then properly balancing your thyroid through medication is essential to an optimized metabolism for weight loss. Have your levels checked regularly by your doctor and be vigilant about taking your medication. Also, don’t wait if you feel there is a problem. Get on the phone, make the appointment, and get in to see your doctor if necessary. If your primary care physician is not giving you the attention or answering all your questions, then go to a specialist. There is no reason to live even one day with thyroid dysfunction, especially if you’ve already been diagnosed. Take your medication, as the percentage of people who don’t take their medication or don’t take it properly is enormous.

Digestion

Skipping meals is a
killer
to your metabolism, especially breakfast. Those who regularly skip breakfast have a 450 percent greater chance of being overweight or obese.
²
Some research has shown that regular breakfast-skippers possess metabolisms that are diminished by as much as 5 to 10 percent. British researchers even found that “breakfast size was inversely related to waist size,” meaning the bigger the breakfast, the smaller the waist. Those are compelling reasons to eat breakfast.

I want you to eat immediately after you get up. I eat within fifteen minutes of getting up in the morning. It doesn’t have to be an entire breakfast. Many times, I eat a piece or serving of fruit first, then exercise, then eat the rest a little later. Also note that for anyone exercising first thing if the morning, you must eat first or you risk burning muscle. Eat approximately 100 calories before you exercise–such as a piece of fruit, a yogurt, or a piece of 100-calorie whole-wheat toast–then eat the rest of your breakfast right after. This should contain more protein.

Muscle

If you regularly skip breakfast to cut calories and lose weight, you’re in good company with the likes of Diane Sawyer. She used to do it before she worked with me, and so did other celebs and soccer moms I’ve helped in the past. Again, when you skip meals, your body believes there is not a readily available source of fuel. But you should never tell your body that there is a scarcity of food, as it will do everything in its power to slow your metabolism to prolong your life. This is a classic example of your beliefs affecting your behavior, which directly affects your metabolism. Don’t tell me that you have a bad metabolism before asking yourself: “What am I doing to slow my metabolism? Am I holding myself accountable for my beliefs and behaviors?”

The way your body slows your metabolism is to break down muscle. That’s right; your body goes right to the muscle because it is so metabolically active. It reduces your muscle mass in order to keep you alive. It’s exactly like whacking off one of the blades of a fan. Suddenly, even when turning at the same speed, the fan moves less air. But your body only breaks down muscle because you told it to. It was not the body’s desire to do that. Your
belief system
told you that you didn’t need or want to eat breakfast. This led to damaging
behavior–not
eating breakfast–which resulted in the outcome–you made your muscle and your metabolism go bye-bye.

Satiety

Satiety mechanisms are highest in the morning. Therefore, what you eat in the morning will actually determine how hungry you are later in the day. That’s the reason behind the research that showed an “inverse” relationship between breakfast and your waist. If your satiety mechanisms are firing at full throttle in the morning, then you will get more “bang for your buck” by eating more breakfast. It’s like fueling a fire. When it’s blazing and you throw on another log, that log quickly ignites and keeps the fire burning strong
and
long. That “ignition” is the response of your satiety mechanisms when you eat more breakfast. Later in the day, you are far less hungry. And be honest. Isn’t it later in the day and into the evening when you really get into trouble with your food choices? By the way, the latest class of diet drugs is tailored to increase a feeling of fullness (satiety), but they are known to have substantial side effects. Eat a substantial breakfast and skip the drugs
and
the side effects.

Think about it for a moment. Many of you have to get up early, around 6:00
A.M.
If you eat breakfast, you may not be hungry again until noon; that’s six hours later. Then, around 4:00, you get “the munchies” and are rooting around for a snack. That’s four hours from lunch. Then around 6:30, just two and a half hours later, you’re hungry for dinner, and by 8:00, just an hour and a half later, you’re back at the munchies.