1-31-07
265/246/200
Day 31 of 100 Day Diet, 19 pounds gone

Got on my scale just now (wasn't pretty, I can tell you!) and found
out I had lost another pound, and so 19 pounds gone since I started
this diet and exercise program this month. I don't know how much of
the early loss was water, etc., but now it seems to me that real
weight is being lost.

Of the several times I have lost weight systematically, this is the
easiest course so far.

I was rereading Michael Fumento's book, "The fat of the land," last
night and marked up an early entry: "Most people probably know they
are cutting their lives short. They know their weight is damaging
their quality of life, by interfering with their ability to play
sports, play with their children, or just with getting the mail. Many
would be delighted if they were only twenty-five pounds overweight, as
I formerly was. But most people, as was the case with me, have no idea
what to do. They know they're on a conveyor belt straight to obesity,
but have no idea how to get off. We are deluged with so much wrong and
useless information that even when we hear or read something
scientifically based, we have no idea whether it's accurate or just
the same old nonsense." (page xix, underline mine)

The recent research from Pennington Biomedical Research Institute (in
which Erick Ravussin was a participant) again demonstrates how much
"common knowledge" is just wrong. As Will Rogers said, "It's not what
we don't know that's going to get us - it's what we know that just
ain't so!" The research showed that a calorie is a calorie, that
losing weight (at least in those conditions) resulted in a similar
loss of muscle and fat regardless of whether the people were
exercising, etc. The research also seemed to show that well-
conditioned people actually lost less weight than those who weren't
well-conditioned and showed that putting on muscle mass did not
actually speed up metabolism. (The authors still recommend exercise,
however.)

Interesting findings!

Have a great day and a great month ahead!

If you are thinking of being good for only one month this year, then
February might well be the month to choose! (It's the shortest month
of the year. It's close to the start of the year, and, as Franklin
said, "Well begun is half done!" etc.)

Yours,

Caleb