The Petite Advantage Diet (8 page)

655 + (4.35 x 130
[her new weight after losing 40 pounds])
+
(4.7 x 63
[clearly, her height had to stay the same])
-
(4.7 x 42
[her age stayed the same])
= 655 + 565.5 + 296.1 -
197.4 = 1319.2

1319.2 x 1.375 (the same activity multiplier as before) =
1813.9

If you recall, the calories originally required to maintain her weight at 170 pounds was 2053.
15
. Now, she only needs 1813.9 to maintain her weight at 130 pounds. While approximately 240 calories a day may not seem like a big deal, it could add up to a weight gain of twenty-five pounds a year–of fat! Not understanding this math is why such a huge percentage of people fail at weight loss. By doing the math, you can understand the adjustments that have to be made. Think about it this way. The smaller “baby” pool requires less water to fill up than the big pool. The same applies to you when you lose weight. After your weight loss, you will require fewer calories (although I will teach you some tricks that will enable you to eat more).

If the former client I am using throughout this example had been 5’9” instead of 5’3”, she could have consumed 4.7 x 6 (the difference between being 5’9” and 5’3”) and that would have given her an additional 28.2 calories each day. Take a look back at the equation and you will see what I am talking about if you are confused. Sounds like a small amount of calories, doesn’t it? But what happens each year if this client eats like a woman who is 5’9”? She will gain approximately three pounds each and every year. That’s thirty pounds a decade! That’s ninety pounds after three decades! Does that sound at all like you and the way your weight has slowly crept up? I bet it does. The majority of Petites I have worked with say the same thing: “My weight just keeps slowly going up.” Stick with me and believe in the power of The Math and you will quickly see the scale heading down.

But, you say, I don’t want to have to count calories; it’s just too hard. This is an excuse that totally piggybacks on the previous paragraphs. I don’t hear this from Petites who are successfully managing their weight. I hear it from Petites who are struggling with their weight. I have to be honest and tell you, it’s really not that hard at all. You simply have to improve upon what I call your “caloric awareness.”

You know the drill; you have to read labels. I bet there are truly only about thirty or forty food products that you buy all the time. I know that’s about it for me, and I’m feeding myself and my two children half the time. If you read the label–once–you are done, and you have given yourself the tools to drop the weight.

There are two parts of the label that you should read:

1
. Calories per serving.

2
. Servings per container, which is just as important.

The servings per container are so important because many of you may be eating far more than one serving. The classic example is frozen yogurt or ice cream. There are four servings in the classic pint-size package, and that serving is generally one-half cup. Ladies, that’s not a lot of yogurt or ice cream. You may be eating as many as two, three, or four servings and not even realizing that it equals 500 to 600 calories, or half your total calories for the day! Once you have a true understanding of your portions, your new belief system will translate to more successful behaviors.

This is only for the foods that you are purchasing and consuming at home. In chapter 6, I will give you all the tools you need to eat out successfully, enjoy yourself, and stay on plan.

Right now, I want you to fill out your own equation. If you don’t want to get out your calculator, then please go to the Internet. It should take less than one minute for you to see your results. These numbers are going to make weight loss a whole lot easier, as you now have what I call “The Data.”

You may be wondering how you are going to lose three to five pounds a week for the first twenty-one days if the math tells you that you are probably going to lose closer to two. That actually brings us back to the math again, as I am positive you are carrying pounds of water bloat. I said earlier that I didn’t want you to lose water and muscle, but instead want you to lose only fat. That is true, but water “bloat” is a different story.

Where does water bloat come from? There are two culprits: sodium and excessive intake of processed carbohydrates. With regard to sodium (or salt), you may never even pick up a saltshaker. I bet the majority of you don’t do that. But, unfortunately, there is sodium in so many foods that it’s staggering. If, with any regularity, you are consuming fast food, processed foods, or fat-free carbohydrates, you are consuming a staggering amount of sodium. When they take the fat out of cookies, cakes, or muffins (which are really a form of cake), they pump them up with sodium to make them taste better. This is also true of many soups, unless they are the low-sodium version–and the list goes on. That sodium causes you to bloat, or appear puffy, since excessive salt intake causes you to retain water.

You know what I am talking about; you may feel it in your fingers (your rings are tight), in your shoes, and even see it around your eyes. You may be shocked to realize that, even as a Petite, you are carrying between three and seven pounds of water bloat, depending on your present body weight. You have been unknowingly carrying this extra weight in bloat for years. Water bloat is that much more prevalent in Petites, because the whiplash of sodium hits you harder than it does taller girls. With my eating and drinking plan in this book, you will immediately see that bloat disappear and, as long as you keep following my eating rules going forward, you will keep that water bloat off.

Processed carbohydrates also cause serious water bloat. When you consume too many processed carbohydrates–white bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, cookies, candy, sugar–your body holds more water, since certain carbs bind with water in the cells of your body. Think of a sponge filled with water. It’s heavy. That’s what happens when you are filled up with the wrong carbs. The minute you eliminate them, it’s like wringing out a wet sponge. It becomes light and airy. That, too, will be you. By bringing the “wrong” carbs down and replacing them with the “right” ones, you will lose that water bloat. I will give you all these details in chapter 4. Just know that with your smaller stature, that “bloat” shows on you more than on other women. Bloat must be abolished!

That is why, in the first twenty-one days of my plan, you will really see the scales drop fast. And as I said, by continuing with these behaviors, you will keep the bloat off for good.

The second reason why the scales will go down quickly is because I am going to give you an intelligent internal “cleansing.” Now, I want to be perfectly clear about this. I
strongly
dislike virtually every “cleansing” product sold. They place your body in “starvation” mode and that results in a diminished metabolism (and sheds your muscle, which is something you
never
want to do). That’s exactly the same thing that happens when you skip meals, especially breakfast. After this ridiculous “cleansing” is over, you will instantly gain all your weight back and it will all be fat. You probably will gain even more weight, since your metabolism is now severely diminished. I’ve seen women, many of them Petites, lose ten pounds in two weeks, and then regain fifteen pounds in the next three weeks. Why? Because they destroyed their metabolisms.

For years, Petites have told me about issues with irregularity. I theorize that their smaller size makes this more of an issue. I wonder if that applies to you and, quite frankly, I bet it does. Most Petites don’t even know what it feels like to be regular, which I describe as having at least one or two bowel movements each day.

My eating plan relies heavily on high-fiber foods in the form of fruits and vegetables, the right whole-wheat or whole-grain carbohydrates, and nuts. Fiber gives you the “natural” cleansing your body wants, not an artificial one that lasts just a few days. Fiber should be one of the cornerstones of your eating plan. That will get your body “moving” again in the right way.

That is also why I insist that you consume approximately three grams of fiber supplement about fifteen minutes before your dinner. You may mix the supplement with water or consume one of the tablet variety. It doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is that you make consuming fiber a priority in the future. I include it for you in the twenty-one-day eating plan, but I strongly urge you to continue the same behavior in the future. Fiber helps keep you regular, lean, and full–full in the good way, as in “not hungry.”

Fiber is a great tool for warding off hunger for two reasons. First, it helps fill your stomach. It’s heavy and big. Then, the magic of fiber is that most of the calories pass through your body without being absorbed. That makes it a miracle food. The second reason I love fiber is that it regulates blood sugar and keeps it at an even level. You don’t want your blood sugar to plummet or get too high. You want it to stay constant, and consuming adequate fiber enables that. The next chapter will really drive this issue home, but know for now that fiber plays a starring role in regulating blood sugar. Again, the issue of blood sugar is so important because it is directly linked to hunger, and I have established that hunger is Public Enemy
^#
1 for Petites.

Need another big plus to consuming more fiber? By getting everything moving more efficiently, you will almost instantly flatten out your stomach and feel leaner. Your clothes, especially the waistbands, will feel looser. Yes! That’s the direction we want to go. There can easily be four to five pounds of excess weight just hanging out in your intestines and digestive system. We are going to eliminate that, immediately. That’s how the scale will head south so quickly. When you continue to follow the principles of my eating plan, that weight will never come back.

Think back to the baby pool. What happens when leaves start to fall into the pool? They plug up the filter and slow the whole cleaning process. If the same number of leaves drop into the bigger, Olympic-size pool, it may not be such a big deal. But you are that little pool. Anything negative is going to impact you to a greater extent.

Throughout the rest of the book, I am going to keep coming back to this math. The numbers add up, so be sure to use them to your advantage! Understanding this math is a huge step toward weight-loss success for every Petite.

N
ow that you understand The Math of Petite weight loss, you can use your newfound math skills to learn the most effective way to eat–a way that satisfies you both physically and mentally. You can learn to manage your hunger.

Hunger is a feeling you should avoid at all costs and hunger is especially detrimental to Petites.

• Hunger and overeating go hand in hand. Going back to our pool analogy, your baby pool is going to experience more damage from the overfilling, or overeating, when you let hunger take over.

• The
wrong
foods–the foods that cause hunger–are more detrimental to your body because you are smaller. Once you are chemically “fired up” and starving (generally because your blood sugar has plummeted from a lack of food), you will not only reach for too much food, generally you will reach for too much of the
wrong
foods. That will be even more detrimental to you as a Petite. Think of it as medication; doctors prescribe medication according to your size. As a Petite, you can’t handle the same size dose that a taller person can. So a low-quality food is going to affect your hunger
and
your weight that much more.

The following eating rules represent the foundation of my eating plan for Petites that will keep satiety up and hunger down.