Weight Loss Tailored for Women. Ohan Karatoprak MD
maintenance plan based on individual lifestyle factors, including medical conditions and also how active a person is.
The Body-Profile Type maintenance exercise program provides for a minimum and maximum range of exercise, 5 to 6 days per week, using a combination of resistive and aerobic exercises.
For successful weight maintenance, it is recommended to conduct a Body-Profile Type evaluation every month. If body fat gain is detected, the person should be instructed to immediately start following the Body-Profile Type program used during the fat loss phase.
This weight maintenance strategy keeps the person motivated, and prevents them from reverting back to their previous state of obesity.
Body-Profile Type Nutrition Pyramid
The Body-Profile Type daily food intake pyramid, for promoting fat loss, health and longevity, is as follows.
SAMPLE OF DR. Karatoprak’s SUCCESS STORIES
As director of the weight loss clinic and my medical practice, people come to me when they are extremely overweight or obese and when nothing else they tried on their own worked for them. Here are a few of their stories, including one that is very personal to me, my son’s. Reviewing these case histories can help with your motivation, and to relate to the case study that may be similar to your situation.
Woman: Under-Eating, Over-Exercising
This is story of Rita who was an under-eater and over-exerciser. She was in her 50’s, tall, obese and worked as a teacher. During the initial interview at the weight loss clinic, she revealed she had been dieting continuously for about 2 years, and was now at the point where she was consuming just 700 to 800 calories a day, exercising 60 to 90 minutes a day of strenuous exercise. Remarkably she was not losing any weight.
I explained to Rita that her casual low calorie dieting has ruined her metabolism, and that her progressively low caloric intake lowered the metabolic rate at which her body uses calories. Additionally, severe hormonal imbalances were present that favor fat storage, i.e., storing a higher amount of body fat, and holding on to the body fat.
Based on this evaluation I told her that she needed an eating plan higher in calories than she was eating, to start making her metabolism work again. We also needed to adjust her food intake to get in the proper ratios of nutrients and follow an adequate exercise program. At first, Rita was not interested in what I had to tell her and she left my office. About a month later Rita returned to my office and said she was back to try my program because nothing else was working for her, and she really wanted to lose the excess body fat. I again explained to her that she was not losing weight because she is under-eating, as well as over-exercising, and slowing down her metabolism. I needed to put her on a higher calorie diet in order to stimulate her body to start burning more calories. Plus, she was over-exercising, which was increasing the secretion of a substance in the brain that was slowing down her metabolism, called Neuro Peptide Y. Furthermore, over-exercising increases the cortisol level that can promote body fat storage.
I started Rita on the 1,800 calories per day diet, because this is the lowest amount that the body needs to function, and to avoid sensing starvation; which is why most diets fail. I increased her caloric intake progressively. Her exercise program was changed to just 45 minutes walking 5 times a week, and 30 minutes of resistive exercise 2 to 3 times per week.
It took a short time for Rita’s metabolism to recover, and when it did she started to lose inches and pounds of body fat when the daily caloric intake reached 2,500 calories per day. This was what was appropriate for her body size and activity level. Then she eventually settled in to the 2,800 calories per day weight maintenance diet after losing the body fat.
Man: Over-Eating, Over-Exercising
Steve, who was 33 years old car salesman, came to our weight control center. He was overweight, but close to the obese category. Five days a week after work Steve was going to the gym exercising and lifting weights for one and a half to two hours. He was eating excessively to build the muscle, and consuming protein shakes. At night he was drinking two to three beers with dinner. So when I calculated his food intake, Steve was eating about 5,500 calories per day, and was a classic example of an Over-eater, Over-exerciser.
The first course of action for Steve was to reduce his daily caloric intake to 2,200 calories and reduce his time exercising, and his caloric intake was progressively increased. After several weeks, I determined Steve’s ideal caloric intake was about 3,000 calories per day. I adjusted Steve’s exercise pattern too, starting with cardiovascular for 45 minutes 5 to 6 days per week, with 30 minutes to 45 minutes of resistive exercise 3 times per week. Steve did terrific, and lost the excess fat pounds quickly, it took only three months to reach his goal. At the start of the program Steve had a beer-belly even though he was exercising, which he finally was able to lose using my approach.
Woman: Over-Eating, Under-Exercising
Kelly was 53 years old working as a secretary, a sedentary job. Kelly has a life long struggle with being overweight. But during the last six years since she went in to menopause she gained 40 more pounds. She was frustrated with this and came to the weight control center for help. On her own, Kelly was cutting back the fat intake seeing if this would help her lose weight. So she wasn’t eating fatty foods, she was eating more carbohydrates, and she was drinking 4 to 6 diet sodas daily, and snacking on diet cookies thinking she was cutting down her calories a bit. She was actually eating between 3,000 to 4,000 calories a day, mainly carbohydrates, and was not exercising.
This pattern of behavior made Kelly the classic Over-eater, Under-exerciser. Plus, being in menopause, her hormonal changes caused her to gain even more excess body fat. In Kelly’s case we started by cutting her calories. I started Kelly on an easy exercise program of walking just three times a day for 15 minutes, and also the appropriate resistive exercise. The reason for this program was that Kelly never exercised before, and needed a beginner program to start with, but also a program that would be sufficient enough to stimulate her body to start burning more calories. If she started with too much of exercise, this would have created imbalance with her producing cortisol and Neuro Peptide Y hormones that can cause her to put more fat on. In this way, starting slowly, Kelly was able to stick to her exercise program and experience successful weight loss for the first time in her life.
Kelly’s story is one of the most common I encounter. The good news is that it is the easiest type of obesity / overweightness to treat using my approach.
Man: Under-Eating, Under-Exerciser
John was a 46 year old air conditioner repair man who was really obese when he first came to my office. He was eating only one time a day, dinner, which was a good well balance meal. He was drinking coffee and diet soda all day. He was very frustrated because he was not losing any weight. When he came to me, he had no idea that under-eating by eating just one meal a day (about 1,200 calories) and not exercising could make him keep gaining more weight. He had some major hormone imbalances, including male breast enlargement, which is a common problem in men with high body fat levels; this causes the male hormone testosterone to get converted to the female hormone estrogen, and stimulate development of the dormant breast tissue. John was a classic Under-eater, Under-exerciser.
I put John on 5 small meals per day eating program, eliminating coffee and soda. Exercise was again easy and convenient, just 15 minutes of walking, 3 times a day; also, 3 times a week of resistive training for about 15 minutes, followed by progressively increasing his exercise according to the Body-Profile Type Exercise Approach. He had a slight cardiomyopathy from his obesity, which made him short of breath and easily fatigued. He did tremendously well on the program and finally was able to lose the excess fat weight.
Teenager
Like most parents, my wife and I did our best to teach our son Mark good nutrition and fitness habits. So growing up he was eating healthy in the house. However, Mark was also