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LenDentonThrive Letter #25

Winning The Weight Loss Battle

Welcome to the LenDentonThrive Letter! My mission is to help Over-50 Guys lose weight, get fit, and build their own version of the ThriveLife!

Beginning with this edition of the Letter, I’m making some changes to shorten your reading time and increase the impact of the information. Please let me know what you think of the new, slimmed-down format by emailing me at [email protected].

The Big Idea - Winning The Weight Loss Battle

There is a lot of debate around the topic of the most effective way for guys to lose weight and get into shape. A quick Google search or survey of social media reveals a wide range of opinions on how to win this Weight Loss Battle. Many of those opinions come packaged with products or subscriptions.

In this edition of the newsletter, I will share with you what I believe is the best and fastest way for a busy Over-50 Guy to lose weight and burn fat. And, just for the record, it doesn’t involve any crazy diets, killer workouts, or expensive supplements.

It is, however, based on 10 years of real-life experience and success. So, if you’re an Over-50 Guy who wants to lose at least 20 pounds or more, and keep it off, then this is specifically for you.

My Weight Loss Story

Ten years ago, I was 70 pounds overweight, with high cholesterol and an ugly family history of heart disease. I was working 50+ hours a week, but logging no exercise.

Sadly, most American guys fall into this same category!

Fortunately for me, my doctor told me the brutal truth about my situation. He told me that I was a poster child for a heart attack or stroke!

That really got my attention. That’s because both my dad and my little brother had suffered fatal heart attacks… in their 30s!

I realized that I was living on borrowed time.

So, I knew it was time to make some changes. I decided to take ownership of my health situation and move in a new direction.

Seven months later, I was 70 pounds lighter and my cholesterol was under control. And now, 10 years later, I’m lighter and leaner than I was then. I’m actually healthier now at 65 than I was at 45!

I was able to accomplish this change because I discovered two powerful, science-backed principles that worked for me then and are still working for me now.

And, I believe that they are the key for YOU to win your weight loss battle as well!

Principle #1: Eat Smarter!

The Weight Loss Battle is won in the kitchen, not the gym!

There… I said it (with all due respect to my more muscular gym-bro friends and the online fitness influencers)!!

Here are four key points to consider:

First, you can’t outwork a bad diet! (Note 1) Your current weight situation is 80-85% a result of your diet, not your exercise routine. That’s because of the way your body stores and uses energy. Voluntary exercise (like going to the gym or doing high-intensity interval training) only accounts for around 15-20% of your total calorie burn. This means that working extra hard at exercise so you can eat whatever you want is a waste of your time and energy!

Second, avoid unnecessary calories instead of working them off. Five minutes of good meal planning every morning could help you avoid more calories than you would burn off in an hour or two of hard work at the gym. This is a Master Move that I learned early in my journey that many guys never figure out!

Third, dump the SAD! We need to break our dependence on the Standard American Diet (known as SAD)! This is the “boxes and brands” approach to packaged and highly processed foods that we all grew up with. These foods are highly engineered to include hidden sugars and fillers that are added by industrial food manufacturers to make food tastier, less expensive, and more addictive. The SAD is the #1 reason for the epidemic of obesity being experienced today by American men! Read more about the SAD here.

Fourth, Eat Smarter! Eating Smarter is the way you win the Weight Loss Battle. Eating smarter doesn’t mean eating less! It means avoiding those SAD foods that contain high levels of sugar or that overdrive your blood glucose levels after you eat them. It means replacing bad calories with good calories. While it can take time to completely recalibrate your daily nutrition practices (aka diet) to Eat Smarter, here’s a Cheat Sheet to get you started with quick results:

Principle # 2: Move!

In order to lose weight, you have to establish and maintain a calorie deficit. This simply means that you consume fewer calories than you burn in your daily activities.

As noted above, the primary way to develop the deficit is through making smart changes to your diet that eliminate excess calories through good planning and replace bad calories with more nutritious ones.

The next step in the calorie deficit process is to increase your daily calorie burn rate in a sustainable way. This is done through exercise. The two important points here are daily and sustainable. Choosing the right exercise is critical!

Both research and my personal experience show that the most effective fat-burning exercise is brisk walking. (Note 2) That may sound surprising, but here’s a quick summary of the science behind it:

• Walking at a pace of 50-65% of your maximum heart rate causes your body to burn fat directly from its fat stores.

• Moving at faster paces, such as jogging, requires more energy, causing the body to burn both fat and muscle tissue. (Note, this is not a good plan for Over-50 Guys!)

• Walking in a fasting state (before consuming food) amplifies the fat-burning effect. This is also your maximum mode for fat burning.

I’ve written extensively about the benefits of brisk walking here.

In Closing

This simple two-pronged approach helped me to lose 70 pounds in only 7 months in early 2014. Now, almost 10 years later, it’s still working for me. And, it can work for you too!

If you’re a busy Over-50 Guy who needs a simple and reliable way to lose weight, I encourage you to give this a try!

I write this newsletter hoping to make a positive impact on the lives of Over-50 Guys and the families they are caring for. If you found this information useful, please consider subscribing to receive new editions each week.

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Thanks for your time and attention. Have a great weekend. See you next Saturday!

Thrive & Prosper,

Len

Notes:

1. I say “diet” to keep things simple, but I mean “ your daily nutritional practices.”

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MZb__YYjKs