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Do you believe any of the following?

• Exercising over time produces cumulative weight loss based on calories in versus calories out
• Setting realistic weight loss goals is important to keep people motivated
• Losing weight gradually (1-2 lbs per week) creates more sustainable weight loss

If so, you are not alone!

The problem is these commonly held beliefs are actually myths that persist despite refuting evidence.

I would encourage you to read an interesting article “Myths, Presumptions, and Facts about Obesity” from the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, January 31, 2013.

Using more rigorous studies, the article cites evidence of actual observations, not assumptions.

Some excerpts:

• The body actually compensates for sustained calorie inputs or outputs; it’s not calories-in / calories-out for weight loss

For example, whereas the 3500-kcal rule predicts that a person who increases daily energy expenditure by 100 kcal by walking 1 mile (1.6 km) per day will lose more than 50 lb (22.7 kg) over a period of 5 years, the true weight loss is only about 10 lb (4.5 kg)…

• “Realistic” weight loss goals do not help

Indeed, several studies have shown that more ambitious goals are sometimes associated with better weight-loss outcomes…

…

Furthermore, two studies showed that interventions designed to improve weight-loss outcomes by altering unrealistic goals resulted in more realistic weight-loss expectations but did not improve outcomes.

• Losing weight fast is more effective in the long-run than losing weight gradually

Within weight-loss trials, more rapid and greater initial weight loss has been associated with lower body weight at the end of long-term follow-up.

There are even more results in this analysis, including myth busting surrounding the number of calories expended during sexual intercourse!  (I won’t give you the answer here!)

So why do these myths continue?

Net is that we don’t force scientific method and evidence-based rigor into our beliefs.

We are influenced by:

• repeated media exposure to claims
• cognitive dissonance – we don’t like to hear contradictory evidence to ideas that are important to us
• confirmation bias – we only seek data supporting claims we have already accepted as true
• ability to be swayed by persuasive (yet fallacious) arguments

Topics related to weight loss and obesity aren’t the only areas where these factors influence us.

Read the article and be careful what you believe in!

I am actually someone that almost never has a problem sleeping.  As such, I never knew about sleep aids before coming here.  Now, I’m a believer!

Fasting reduces your need to sleep

I’ve heard two different few theories on the why fasting reduces the need to sleep (and numerous more on the mechanisms which I won’t cover here):

• It’s an evolutionary mechanism designed to allow you to hunt when you don’t have food

“From an evolutionary perspective, this makes sense,” [Matt] Thimgan says. “If you’re starving, you want to make sure you’re on the top of your game cognitively, to improve your chances of finding food rather than becoming food for someone else.” – Science Daily

• You need less rest because you’re not digesting, which takes 10% of your energy by itself

In any case, I’ve been experiencing this personally and getting less sleep.

Sleeping less makes your body work harder

The nurse here didn’t like my lack of sleep because of my high blood pressure and asked that I take a natural sleeping aid to keep it down.  In her experience, sleeping less makes the body work harder and results in higher blood pressures.

I checked with the doctor, too.  She confirmed that the natural sleeping aid was not addictive, and also she echoed the recommendation.  She told me that the “old fasting doctors” used to just tell people to go on with less sleep, but this is changing.

I have been using my Garmin watch to measure sleep.  Here are a couple of examples, both on a bad blood pressure day (Monday) without the sleeping aid, and on a good one (Friday) with the sleeping aid:

I have had varied nights following the recommended dosages and deviating from them, and my data does appear to support the assertion that more sleep (particularly “deep sleep” as measured by the Garmin) is associated with better blood pressure readings.

By this, I should be targeting about 3 hours of deep sleep per night while fasting.

Baldirapan to the rescue!

So, what is this sleeping aid?  It’s called Baldiparan, derived from valerian root.  Valerian is a flower, and the remedy has been used since Ancient Greece.  The product is marketed here in Germany by Pfizer. It totally works for me!  My recommended dosage was:

• one pill 1 hour before bed
• one pill immediately before going to bed
• one pill when I wake up prematurely.  This one is actually kind of tough.  Last night, I was too lazy to take the last pill in the middle of the night, tossed and turned, and then ended up waking up to work on the blog post — only to have a high blood pressure reading!

While there are other formulations of Valerian, this one by Pfizer doesn’t appear to be marketed in the US.  The clinic sells it for €16 for 30 pills.  I just bought a bunch at Mũller for under €12 for 30 pills.  I had to stock up because this particular formulation isn’t economical in the US!  (You can get other valerian root supplements, but I don’t know how effective they are!)

It’s a bit infuriating that Pfizer doesn’t market the same product in the US, but it’s clear that they’d rather sell patented drugs than natural products. That’s a topic for a different discussion.

The basic point here is that sleeping does appear to help get through fasting, and there are natural, non-addictive sleeping aids to help the fasting process along. I’m taking some home for future fasts, as well as any other time I can’t sleep. Just passing along the information!

Buchinger Wilhelmi is about more than fasting.  Thirty years ago, they were practicing yoga, meditation, acupuncture, and other “alternative” therapies long before they hit the mainstream in the Western world.  The one I hadn’t heard of is autogenic training.

They have a basic routine that they’d like everyone to follow when waking up:

1. say a “please” or “thank you” (avoiding the word “prayer” to be sensitive to all religions)
2. exercise in some way, preferably per World Health organization exercise recommendations*
3. take a contrast shower, i.e., start with hot water for about 3 minutes, then switch to cold water for a minute and repeat for 5-10 minutes.  This is based on the work of Sebastian Kneipp, a German priest credited for utilizing hydrotherapy in naturopathic medicine.
4. spend 10 minutes performing autogenic training

Items #1 through #3 are pretty well known now.  However, this was the first exposure I had to #4 — autogenic training — which is really a self-hypnosis technique designed to help you relax, regulate body functions, and even clear your mind.  It was developed by a German psychiatrist J.H. Schultz.  Here at Buchinger, there are guided group sessions to introduce guests to the benefits, and I was hypnotized!  However, autogenic training is designed to be done on your own.

The concept is similar to meditation, but rather than clearing your mind, autogenic training is formulaic, with a sequenced progression, and it might be an easier introduction to those who have not practiced meditation.  I have personally thrown this into the mix since coming here!

You can do the autogenic training lying or seated.  It basically works through suggestions that you keep repeating to yourself, imagining a series of sensations until you actually feel them!

The suggestions I go through now are as follows:

• “I am aware of my breathing, but I am not changing it.”
• “As I focus on my breathing, it becomes calm and regular.  I am calm.”
• “My arms and legs are heavy” / “My whole body is heavy”
• “My arms and legs are warm” / “My whole body is warm”
• “My solar plexus (abdomen) is warm”
• “My heartbeat is calm and regular”
• “My forehead is cool and fresh”

Note that traditional autogenic training focuses on breathing after the heartbeat, not at the beginning as I do.  However, I’ve found that my focusing on breathing first helps to “center” me.  Perhaps this is the training I’ve done in meditation that helps center the “monkey brain.”  I prefer it this way.

The concept is to start your day with autogenic training but come back to it if things get stressful during the day, or even when you need to relax before going to go to bed.

The Wikipedia article on autogenic training is actually pretty good if you want a reference.

Try it out and make it part of your daily routine!

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* World Health Organization exercise recommendations

1. Adults aged 18–64 should do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week or do at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity.
2. Aerobic activity should be performed in bouts of at least 10 minutes duration.
3. For additional health benefits, adults should increase their moderate-intensity aerobic physicalactivity to 300 minutes per week, or engage in 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity per week, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity.
4. Muscle-strengthening activities should be done involving major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week.