Throw Out Your Scale

	Body Rx

If you shudder at just the thought of being seen in public in a bathing suit-if you can't stand looking at yourself naked in the mirror-you're in good company. Recently, I received a frantic call from a well-known actress, who, for reasons that will soon be apparent, I am not going to name.

She was desperate to book as many training sessions as she could as soon as possible. While I scrolled through my calendar, trying to find dates when I could squeeze her in, I asked her my standard question:

"What are your goals?"

She explained that in a few weeks she had to film a brief nude scene.

The thought of taking her clothes off for the camera was more than she could bear.

"I don't even like to undress in front of a mirror," she confessed. "I want to look better naked."

Her answer resonated with me, as it probably does with you. Think about it. When was the last time you stood in front of the mirror-stark naked-and thought, Hey, I look great?

When was the last time you actually looked forward to putting on a bathing suit or trying on clothes?

When was the last time you felt really good about your body?

And, more important, when was the last time you felt really good in your body?

Perhaps you're thinking, Never! Perhaps you're thinking, Not since I was 19. It doesn't matter. All of that is about to change. In Body Rx, I will show you how to make your body strong, sculpted, and lean. For the first time in years-maybe for the first time in your life-you will like what you see in the mirror. You can have the body you want.

Body Rx teaches you a dramatically new way of thinking about how and what to eat. It introduces you to my 6-Pack Prescription, an innovative approach to nutrition and fitness that has given thousands of people the bodies they've always wanted. I'm not just talking to those of you who want to lose a few pounds or want to do a little bodily tuning up. Body Rx will bring about dramatic transformations for men and women who have been fighting a lifelong losing battle with obesity, discouraged dieters who have spent years counting calories and growing fat, baby boomers seeking to stave off middle-age spread, and even superstar athletes, such as New York Giants cornerback Jason Sehorn and future Hall of Fame pitcher Roger Clemens (both of whom have trained with me)...and yes, even actresses (and actors) shaping up for the occasional nude scene.

Body Rx is cutting-edge science based on my work as a physician and researcher. It introduces you to the recent breakthroughs in the study of metabolism that have finally revealed the secret to having a slim, attractive, healthy body without starving yourself, cutting calories, or using dangerous drugs. The same research has answered questions that perplexed scientists (and dieters!) have had for decades: why those who eat the least often weigh the most; why diets fail 90 percent of the time; why Americans are growing fatter every year; and why maintaining a trim, attractive body has become a major life struggle for most Americans, even our children.

I am a doctor, but not a diet doctor. My areas of speciality are critical care, metabolism, and cardiovascular anesthesiology. Mostly, I think of myself as an inventor. Some years ago I developed a special protein formula that is used in critical-care units of hospitals all over the world to keep severely ill patients from wasting to death. I'm proud of how many lives it has saved. The protein formula I developed to treat patients is also the main ingredient in a sports nutrition product called Met-Rx that I later developed for bodybuilders and other athletes. In the course of creating that formula and in the ten years since then, I researched the principles of metabolism and protein that are the foundation of Body Rx's 6-Pack Prescription.

6-pack is the term that athletes and weight lifters have long used to describe well-defined abdominal muscles. Today men and women of all ages know and use the term to describe one of their primary fitness goals. In fact, in Hollywood a 6-pack is the newest status symbol. But the significance of the 6-pack extends far beyond the cosmetic. A 6-pack is a sign of a strong, healthy body with good muscle tone. It is a sign of a body that is less likely to succumb to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and the many other diseases that run rampant through our aging, overweight population. Believe it or not, a 6-pack is a goal everyone can achieve.

My 6-Pack Prescription is composed of four six-week cycles, each of which has a different eating plan, weight-training program, and optional supplement regimen that work synergistically to produce maximum results. This is not a meal plan or exercise program that you have heard before. On the meal plan, you will be full and satisfied, eating more than you dreamed possible. On the weight-training regimen, your body will be transformed weekly without hours of endless aerobics. As you follow the meal plan, you will see palpable change in your body composition. You will build muscle at the expense of your fat, adding shape and tone to your body. As you follow the workout, even more extraordinary changes will occur. During Cycle 1, "6 Weeks to Strength," you will get stronger. During Cycle 2, "6 Weeks to Sculpt," you will use your improved strength to make more muscle, creating a more sculpted, defined appearance. During Cycle 3, "6 Weeks to Burn Fat," you will put this new muscle to work burning fat and getting leaner. During Cycle 4, "6 Weeks to Maintenance and Endurance," you will follow a maintenance program that will get you started on staying slim and lean for life. By the end of twenty-four weeks, your metabolism will be significantly transformed, and so will your body. You will look better naked! But you will also be stronger, healthier, and happier than you have been in years.

Unlike all the other programs out there, the goal of the 6-Pack Prescription is to transform your body into something you'll be proud of for the rest of your life. While nutrition can take you a long way toward that goal, my exercise prescription will help get you the rest of the way. The 6-Pack Prescription is scientifically designed to build high-quality muscle that burns fat better and faster than anything else. You don't have to work out for hours every day to get this great result. Give me four hours a week and I can transform your body.

Although I do recommend the use of a few nutrition supplements, I want to make it clear that supplements are optional. You can still achieve fantastic results without them. I recommend products only generically so that you can purchase any brands that are most convenient and economical.

I Walk the Walk

I practice what I preach, and it shows. I am in great shape. I am six foot five, weigh 230 pounds, and look great, because I have less than 5 percent body fat. I do have a 6-pack. Not bad for a guy of 50! I don't mean to boast: I'm telling you this for an important reason.

I don't think one should be in the business of giving people this kind of advice unless he not only "talks the talk" but "walks the walk." Have you noticed how many self-proclaimed diet doctors look unfit? Why anyone would or should take nutritional advice from people who look so bad eludes me. I recently challenged several of the top diet gurus to a televised debate. My only requirement was that everyone wear a bathing suit. Not one of these so-called diet experts was willing to show his or her body in public. What are they hiding? Not their 6-packs! When I tell you that my program works, you don't have to take my word for it: You can see it.

Through the years, I have worked with a number of celebrities and superstar athletes, but I've also helped train lots of regular folks whom I meet at the Met-Rx Gym. I've also consulted with fitness trainers throughout the country on their more difficult cases, but the most rewarding part of my work is seeing how my approach to fitness and nutrition has transformed both the bodies and the lives of thousands of men and women. Feeling in control of your body spills over into other aspects of your life. When you are proud of yourself, you exude the confidence of someone who is on the right track. You know that you can do more and achieve more in every area of your life. In other words, you project charisma-and I've seen it happen time and time again. So that's why I'm proud of my body: It is a constant reminder to me of the thousands of people who have joined me in becoming their best selves.

Despite the scores of popular diet books published in the last couple of decades-or perhaps because of them-Americans have grown fatter and fatter.

In 1980, 30 percent of all American adults were seriously overweight; today, more than half are. A shocking 13 percent of our children and teenagers are severely overweight, despite the natural tendency of children to be lean. And those same fat children are much more likely to grow into fat adults.

For the past twenty years, the universal prescription for obesity has been a weight-loss diet. Each diet has its own gimmick, but the bottom line is the same. When all is said and done, you are attempting to shed pounds by drastically cutting calories. Great. That must work, right?

Wrong. Take a look around you. Half the population is still fat.

Despite all this wonderful advice, half the population is overweight and getting fatter by the minute. Why? All of these diets are based on antiquated notions about food and weight loss! None addresses the underlying cause of obesity, and so the "fat epidemic" rages out of control.

Are You a Fat Storage Machine?

Before you can understand why everyone is getting fatter, you need to know about metabolism. Metabolism is the way your body breaks down and uses the nutrients it derives from food. At one time scientists and physicians generally believed that one metabolic rule applied to everyone: that regardless of who we are and what we eat, our bodies burn whatever calories they need for energy, and store the excess as fat. Thus, those of us who consume too many calories store too much fat, and get fat.

Not exactly.

Today a growing number of scientists and physicians-I am one of them-reject this one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition. We think it tells only half the story.

We have identified another force at work within the body-a critical phenomenon that we call nutrient partitioning-that affects how our bodies handle the food we consume. It's a phenomenon that can either work for us or against us. Let me explain.

There are two different ways that nutrients are handled in the body after they are broken down or metabolized. They can be burned for energy, or they can be stored. If they are stored, they are stored either as fat deposits or lean mass, which is mostly muscle. We humans are born with a metabolic tendency to be either fat burners or fat storers. Fat burners are fortunate. They have a natural tendency to burn body fat and store muscle. They can get away with eating almost anything without suffering the consequences. The rest of us-about two thirds of the population-have a natural tendency to burn muscle and store fat. We are fat storers. Now, this doesn't mean that we're born to be fat-not at all! All it means is that our bodies are predisposed to hoard fat and burn other nutrients for energy.

Why are so many of us fat storers? Because our ancestors were, and had to be. Long ago, when food was scarce and famine was a very real threat, the ability to store fat was an asset. It enabled our ancestors to survive. Indeed, had our ancestors not been fat storers, we might not be here today to complain about it! But of course, times have changed. Now that food is abundant, the tendency to store fat is no longer an evolutionary edge. On the contrary, it can be harmful. Our ancestors stored fat because they had to. We store fat whether we have to or not, and nutrient partitioning is to blame.

Think of nutrient partitioning as a metabolic traffic cop directing nutrient traffic into one of two parking lots. Nutrients that he directs to the lot on the right are parked as muscle or lean body mass. Nutrients that he directs to the lot on the left are parked as fat. (I will provide more information on nutrient partitioning in Chapter 2, "The Metabolic Meltdown.") While the natural fat burners get off easy, the rest of us must be careful to keep our metabolic traffic cop happy. Unfortunately, some of the foods we eat confuse our metabolic traffic cops, interfering with their ability to direct nutrient flow. As a result, too many nutrients are parked at fat. Some of the most common ingredients in the food supply are the worst offenders.

Our modern diet is filled with foods and additives that drive the metabolic traffic cop to shunt too many nutrients into the fat parking lot. Scientists call them negative partitioning agents. To compound the problem, we have reduced our consumption and in some cases eliminated many of the foods that keep the metabolic traffic cop running smoothly-the positive partitioning agents.

The focus of the 6-Pack Prescription Meal Plan is on nutrient partitioning, not calorie counting. I am more concerned about the quality of the food that you eat than the quantity. If your diet is filled with foods that are positive partitioning agents, you can eat to your heart's delight and not get fat. If your diet is filled with foods that are negative partitioning agents, you can starve yourself and still be fat.

As the Body Inflates, the Ego Deflates

When your fat-storage switch is turned on, it's difficult to feel good about your body. Excess body fat is what makes you look (and feel) fat, dumpy, and unattractive. Excess body fat is what makes your waist expand annually and what makes trying on a bathing suit so agonizing.

But diet, exercise, and drugs per se are not the answer. Unless you turn the fat-storage switch off and the fat burning switch on-unless you instruct your metabolic traffic cop to divert nutrients away from the fat parking lot and into the muscle and lean mass parking lot-you can count calories until the cows come home and you can run on the treadmill until you topple over, but you will not get the results you want.

To change how you look on the outside, you need to reverse what's happening on the inside. You need to reprogram your body to burn fat and manufacture muscle and lean mass. Muscle is what makes you look slim, sleek, and well proportioned. Muscle is what makes you feel good about your body. Muscle is what makes you feel good, period! And muscle burns fat! The more muscle you make, the more fat you will burn. (Women: Muscle does not make you look "big." Quite the opposite. Most of my female clients see their size go down as their muscle mass goes up!)

I tell people to throw away their scales. It is no measure of success. Haven't you noticed that even though two people are the same height and weight, one can look flabby while the other looks fabulous? The reason is that one stores fat while the other stores muscle. Since muscle weighs more than fat, it's possible for a lean person to look slimmer than a flabby person who weighs less. How we look and how we feel depends on our ratio of fat to lean mass: our body composition. Ideal body composition is 10 to 15 percent fat for men and 15 to 20 percent fat for women. Bodybuilders and superathletes with "supercut" bodies are likely to have single-digit ratios. The majority of Americans, however, are carrying at least twice as much fat as they should!

And here's the real shocker. Sometimes it shows, and sometimes it doesn't!

It's possible for someone to be thin on the outside and fat on the inside. There are millions of people, primarily women, who fall into this "thin/fat" category. To stay slim, they subsist on very low-calorie diets, at great personal cost. They walk around tired, hungry, and frustrated that they can't eat normal meals. If they depart even slightly from their draconian diets, they blow up like balloons. The reason is nutrient partitioning. Most of the nutrients they consume are parked as fat. The only way they can keep weight off is to consume too few nutrients. The cycle is vicious. Because they don't have enough muscle-in fact, on these low-calorie diets, they're losing muscle-they don't burn fat efficiently. Therefore, they can only maintain their figures by starving themselves. It only gets worse with time. They may look fine on the outside, but inside they are a complete metabolic and physiological mess. Yet, if these same people follow my program and improve their lean-mass-to-fat ratio, they can stop starving themselves, eat real food, and not only look good but feel-and be-well.

On my program you will achieve what dieters have only been able to dream about: You will build muscle and give 100 percent of the bill to fat.

Julie: Tale of a Thin/Fat Woman

Julie is 28, pretty, slim, and a regular at my gym. She used to be the classic thin/fat woman. She could only maintain her figure by not eating. For years she lived on salads, low-fat yogurt, and tiny morsels of chicken or fish. She measured out her life in calories, trying to eat as few as possible. In the mistaken belief that it would keep her thin, she often skipped meals. She was always hungry and perpetually tired, but would spend hours a week on the stair stepper. Her mood would rise or fall, depending on whether her weight was slightly up or down. Her sense of well-being was measured in ounces!

Julie was a "disaffected dieter," typical of young female dieters today. You wouldn't know it by looking at her, but Julie was locked in fat-storage mode. Although she was slender, she had very little muscle. Every time she ate real meals, with normal-size portions, her body billowed, storing nutrients as fat in places she didn't like.

When I first met Julie, she begged for a diet to "help keep me thin." She was shocked when I told her that her predicament was the direct result of her constant dieting! I explained that her problem wasn't that she was eating too much; rather, she was eating too little-especially of the foods that would keep her in fat-burning mode. She was very resistant to the notion of eating more, and it took some convincing to get her to eat enough to feel satisfied. I put her on the 6-Pack Prescription Meal Plan, which had her eating more food in one day than she was accustomed to eating in three. I told her to spend less time on the treadmill and more time in the weight room. Within a month she no longer needed convincing. To her surprise she looked sleeker and better toned. The best part, she conceded, was that now that her metabolism was working with her and not against her, her shape and weight were easy to maintain. Oh, and she's not hungry and tired anymore.

I urge people like Julie to stop counting calories because when it comes to body composition, calories play a secondary role to nutrient partitioning. Your body composition will vary depending on whether you are eating 2,000 calories a day of the right food versus 2,000 calories of the wrong food. By eating the right food, you will be trim and strong and feeling satisfied. By eating the wrong food, you will be fat, flabby and constantly hungry. If you don't believe me, I've got the studies-and the bodies-to prove it.

Julie has never stepped on a scale since and has never been happier. She doesn't need a scale to know that the 6-Pack Prescription is working, and neither will you. You'll know it because in short order your clothes will fit more comfortably. Then you will have to tighten your belt a littler tighter to hold your pants up. Save up! Soon you will find yourself shopping for smaller sizes.