Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

I finally got my hands on a copy of The No Fad Diet from the American Heart Association. It is probably the most realistic diet book you could purchase. It’s based on the trinity of thoughts: Think Smart, Eat Well, and Move More.

The great thing about this philosophy is that you can start anywhere in this cycle and it will affect your decisions about the other facets of health. If you start with Think Smart, you will start to eat healthier and exercise more. If you start with Move More, your head with get in a healthier spot and you’ll want to fuel yourself with better food. If you start with Eat Well, you’ll get the energy to get out there and move more and you’ll feel better. It’s like a cycle that perpetuates itself if you can just jump in there somewhere.

Think Smart

• Do it now: Take The First Opportunity
• Believe You Will Succeed
• Visualize: See Through Your Mind’s Eye
• Talk Back: Retrain Your Brain
• Set Your Goals
• Anticipate: Expect the Unexpected
• Write It Down: Keep a Food Journal
• Be Persistent

Eat Well

“You – not a steak or a carrot or a secret formula – are at the center of weight loss success. It’s time to focus less on the diet and more on you!”

Keep a food diary and analyze what you are eating.

Their Formulas:

Base Calories = Weight in pounds X 10

Activity Calories:
Not Active = Weight in Pounds X 3
Moderate Activity = Weight in Pounds X 5
Very Active = Weight in Pounds X 8

Base + Activity = Total Calories

Older than 50 Years subtract 10%.

No matter what the formula says, do no eat fewer than 1200 calories a day.

They use BMI for weight goals.

Their Food Recommendations:

• Switch and Swap: Substitute lower calorie foods
• The 75% Solution: Eat 3/4 of the food that you eat now
• The Menu Plan: Follow their two week menu plan

Move More

They provide you with a Target Heart Rate Chart to know what to shoot for.

Their Exercise Recommendations:

• Lifestyle Approach: Perform enough small activities during the day.
• Use a Pedometer
• The Walking Program: Walk every day for 10 minutes, working up to 30-60 minutes.
• The Organized Activity Option: Choose a sport

Maintaining Momentum

• Write down goals and progress
• Get a weight loss supporter
• Reward yourself
• Schedule your time
• Deal with crises without food
• Manage expectations: it won’t happen overnight

Over half of the bulk of this book is menus, recipes and appendices. It doesn’t really take a lot of writing to give the basics of what is healthy, so that’s understandable. This is a severe simplification, so I would recommend purchasing the book and getting to know the program better.

The American Heart Association has a more detailed presentation here: Welcome to the No-Fad Diet.