How I gained 30 lbs: 

I wanted to gain weight to wrestle these monsters so I stopped doing all the things that I knew would keep me from gaining weight. 

Unsurprisingly, I started gaining weight. I figured, “I’ll probably have to lose this at some point, but we’ll worry about that later…”

Bacon egg and cheese sandwiches, doughnuts, bagels, croissants, pan au chocolate, beer, wine, platanos, white rice, commuting in a seated position, studying and other sedentary lifestyle choices. It was pretty easy. I didn't have to out-eat any particularly intense workout routines. I wasn't training for the olympic swim team or judo team. I wasn't even training more than once a week.

It was just an experiment.

My questions: 

Q: If I’m heavier, am I harder to throw? A: Sorta sometimes but not really…

Q: Why are all my judo friends shaped this way? A: Genetics, doritos and suburban life

Q: What happens if I’m shaped this way? A: I feel fatter, marginally harder to throw, and you can eat whatever you want cause you’re already fat - but it comes at a cost…

How I lost it…Long Slow Distance and less sugar. That’s it.

Long Slow Distance (LSD) - Carbs + Time and Repetition = Weight loss 

If you want to lose 50 lbs, lose a pound a week. That’s plenty. It feels slow, it looks slow, it adds up. 

I gained 30 lbs because I was wrestling giant suburban men at Judo who were 60% of my age and twice my strength, and 10+ years beyond my ability…

 and…

I lost 25 lbs, because I gained 30 lbs. 

How I lost 25 lbs:

LSD, and avoiding carbs. No, not Lysergic acid diethylamide the drug, but “Long Slow Distance” the exercise ratio. 

I asked my runner patients “how do i not hate running… I need to lose weight?”

They responded… “you’re running too fast”

Go slow. Super slow. 

Uncle Dr. Jim’s recipe for distance: 

Run slowly during the week, and run for longer one day on the weekend. 

That’s all he said… man of few words. There’s a bit more to it I’m sure… I’ll get it out of him one day ;) 

So this is what I did: 30 by 30. 

30 days, 30 minutes of running, so slowly that you don’t even get out of breath. Slowly enough to have a conversation without panting. So, incredibly, slow. So I did that in about 45-50 days. 

After that, they told me to increase it to at least 45 min, and just keep it up. So I did. 2-3 runs per week, 45+ min, longer runs occasionally - ohh - and  stop eating sugar.

Yeah… sugar. Carbs and sugar. My old roommate, the personal trainer told me “you cant out-exercise a bad diet”

It’s much easier to lose weight when there isn’t abundant sugar in the system, giving the body a chance to catch up with the sugar stored in the body already.

According to the book Natural Born Killers by Christopher McDougall, it’s possible to retrain your body to burn fat instead of sugar.

 What you have to do is: 

1). Keep your heart rate below the target heart rate zone, staying in aerobic respiration, not entering anaerobic respiration. 

2). Avoid all grains and sugar, including rice

3). No pork (no idea why, that's just the recipe)

(Paraphrased from McDougall)

Stick to this for 2 weeks, and Bob's your uncle. Time and Repetition is a necessary piece of the puzzle.

LSD.

Slow Distance - Carbs + time = weight loss 

If you want to lose 50 lbs, lose a pound a week. That’s plenty. It feels slow, it looks slow, it adds up. 

I lost probably an average of .5 lbs/week this year, and that was a great start for me. 

Patience. Persistence. This is the key. Keep it simple, don't give up. 

Thanks for reading, share with someone who you think will benefit from this! 

-Dr.S