OK, I know what you're thinking. It's yet another how-to-lose-weight article. I know, I know. I didn't even want to add this to Qassia. But I did notice a lot of articles about losing weight, and I felt this needed to be in there too. First, let me share my experience. I lived in Guam for a year. People in Guam are HUGE. It's part of the Chamorro culture to be big. People in Guam eat massive portions. Everything is big - even the Tabasco bottles are humongous. Everybody weighs at least 200 pounds. So naturally my wife and I, adapting to the local culture, also grew big. We'd start the day with a massive breakfasts of fried Spam™ and eggs and rice (Guam has the highest per-capita consumption of Spam™) and that's the way it continued all day long. It didn't take us long to become so big that our car sank a foot every time we got in it.
Then, in 2001, we moved to a country where people are of normal size. Suddenly, everytime we went out, we felt like sumo wrestlers wading through schoolchildren in a playground. Clearly, we had to shed those Guamanian pounds, fast.
So I did some research - actually I did a lot of research - and eventually came across a thesis by a champion powerlifter called Fred Hatfield, aka Dr Squat. It made sense to me. I tried it out, and it worked - at least for me. (My wife just continued on ballooning and eventually moved back to Guam. I guess she liked being big.)
Dr Squat's system - and it is a system, not a diet - works because, unlike the methods you've come across, it does not involve any measure of hardship or expense. Dr Squat's system is free and entirely painless.
Underlying Science
First, understand why you get fat. You get fat because humans evolved to store excess energy in the body in order to survive lean times. We're talking about the times before modern agriculture, when the ability to go without food for several weeks made the difference between life and death. Famines were common in those days.
But you see, and this is the crux of the issue, the body doesn't create fat automatically. Your body stores any excess energy as fat only if it perceives that times are hard, and that a famine is coming. In other words, if you go hungry, your body will start fretting that a famine is coming. Consequently, if you've skipped lunch, and are completely famished by the time you have dinner, all the excess energy in your meal will be stored as fat, because the body, having missed lunch, is in a panic about when the next meal is coming along.
But if you never skip meals, then your body will lean back and relax, puff on a cigar, and be totally laid back about storing energy. Your body won't perceive a need to store fat, because if you're always getting plenty to eat, clearly times aren't hard and no famine is coming.
So the only thing you need to do is, make sure your body does not go into famine mode, and then burn off the fat you already have on your body. Exercise is important, but pointless if your body is in famine mode. If your body is in a panic about an upcoming famine, and you exercise, your body will burn off your muscles BEFORE burning off the fat - because fat is more important than muscle for surviving a famine.
Now you understand why there are some people who are skinny even though they are always eating - they are skinny BECAUSE they are always eating. And now you understand why there are some people who exercise like hamsters on meth but never get any thinner.
Application
1. Don't ever, ever skip meals. If you skip even one meal, forget it, your body goes back into famine mode, and you're back to square one. Always carry around something to eat in case you get stuck in a situation where your tummy is about to start growling. You have to pre-empt your tummy and eat BEFORE it starts growling. It doesn't matter what you eat, as long as it is filling and eaten BEFORE the onset of hunger. Let the clock dictate when you eat, not your stomach.
2. Eat 5-6 meals a day. Most people eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But this is not enough - the gaps between meals are too long (perhaps because our ancestors would forage on fruits and berries all day long, much as gorillas do today). So if you go without food between lunch and dinner, your body will revert to famine mode. It doesn't matter if the meals you eat are big or small, but they should be numerous.
That's it! That's all you have to worry about. You don't need to worry about calories, fat, carbohydrates, sugar content, or any of those things. You don't even have to worry about meal size - because if you're eating all the time, and you're not hungry when you eat, your meals will automatically become smaller. In fact, your main concern will be making sure your meals are LARGE enough, not small enogh.
Starting Out
Switching to the Hatfield System takes about a week. Your body will feel awful during this time, especially if you been on one weird diet after another. You might get nauseous, or even suffer from loose bowel movements. You might have a particularly hard time forcing yourself to eat just after waking up. You will probably gain weight during the first week, as your body gradually comes out of famine mode. But once you get used to it, you will feel GREAT. You will feel energetic - the excess energy from your meals becomes just that, energy. You will be able to focus on your work or studies, because those hunger pangs will be history. You will be able to pig out on stuff you love, pizza with double cheese, ice cream, etc.
Difficulties
It may sound easy, but the Hatfield System is not easy to implement unless you are ORGANIZED and VIGILANT. It's easy to be watching a movie, say, and forget about the next meal. You must force yourself to look at the clock all the time - and you must compell yourself to eat even if you're not hungry. If you've been starving yourself as part of some Spartan regimen, you may think eating often is easy. But this is a 24/7 thing and it never ends, so it's easy to slip up.
The system is especially hard to maintain if you have a fulltime job. If you're in a boardroom meeting with a bunch of other executives, you can't just say, "Excuse me," open your briefcase, and start chomping a sandwich, right? So what you need to do is, and this may shock you a little, HIDE FOOD in your pockets and go EAT IN THE TOILET. Well, you want to lose weight or not?
Benefits
In conjunction with moderate exercise, the Hatfield System allowed me to shed all my Guamanian pounds quickly, without any hardship. I was never distracted by my need for food. I felt better and stronger, and of course by becoming one of those people who eat all the time, I was the envy of my overweight acquaintances, who were biting their nails as I polished off one slice of cheesecake after another. If you want to get in shape without starving yourself, don't starve yourself. And remember, it's entirely free.
Good luck! I hope it works for you.
