Friday, April 22, 2011

Daily Weight Fluctuation

According to Jayson Hunter, creator of the Carb Rotation Diet, our body weight fluctuates between 3 to 4% on a daily basis (woman more than men, due to hormonal variations). Therefore someone like myself, at approximately 125 kilo, may have a daily variable between 3 to 5 kilo (7 to 11 pounds). This is good to keep in mind, when checking your body weight frequently. That said, you can get a feel for your own fluctuation patterns, if you can bare the emotional ups and downs of daily weight checks.

Is Exercise Relevant to Weight Loss?

Listening to Dr. Larry McCleary in an interview on The Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show With Jimmy Moore I am reminded of the two correct answers to the question... "Is Exercise Relevant to Weight Loss?" Yes and No.
If we are talking about attempting to burn calories to neutralize caloric intake, then the answer is 'Get real...No way!... It would take every bit of your spare time to counterbalance the body mass of the average over weight person with exercise... Hours on a treadmill to match a single coke and burger. "

Yet conversely, Yes... exercise truly does compliment dieting. Let's face it, dieting can be pretty damn depressing, and it has been clinically proven exercise fights depression. In fact, one such study has exercise as effective, as the major anti-depressant medications. It is no secret some of us over, and under, eat for emotional reasons. Bringing exercise into our daily routine makes sense.

But also, according to Dr. Larry McCleary, exercise brings body awareness. We can sensitize our feeling of fullness, our awareness of how our eating is impacting our body, helping us to intercede in our habitual eating patterns. Exercise wakes our body up. And for some of us, like in the experience of Low-Carb podcaster Jimmy Moore, exercise can re-channel the exhilaration and increased energy that major weight loss can bring. It is true, many of us obese are couch potatoes, or the computer-age equivalent of online junkies, and we need to be coaxed out of our rooms. But in the end (literally)... Yes we need to exercise.

Cultural Patterns verses Scientific Truths

If you join the minority cult of Low-Carb eating, you are obliged to take the minority view against massive cultural assumptions about 'calories as a measurement for weight loss', 'fat in the diet as something bad,' 'the necessities of grain,' 'the innocence of fructose,' et al. It is exhausting to defend against cultural assumptions, like fat makes you fat and high carb is the way to go. Yet for the individual in need of solutions, there isn't an alternative to taking the road less traveled.

This parallels the skeptical intellect's tendency to be atheistic, in a world dominated by fundamentalists. To buck the world preference for theological non-logic, faith in what our tribe believes, what we were taught in our youthful innocence, is also quite exhausting. Answering those who have always assumed the existence of a benevolent force called Jesus/Mohammed/Shakyamuni, with a doubting Thomas persistence, is an energy draining responsibility.

Yet, if you are someone who actually enjoys having their assumptions rocked to the core, read The Vegetarian Myth, food, justice, and sustainability by Lierre Keith. Here is a scientific, philosophical, and experiential blend of volatile notions. An ex-Vegan's journey from hell and back to basics. The kind of book you will either reluctantly embrace or holistically pooh-pooh.