Friday, April 11, 2014

Book: ReFuel with Dr. John LaPuma

Back in February, I saw Dr. John LaPuma speak at the Dad 2.0 Summit.  He was talking about men's health and nutrition.  I thought he was a great speaker, and saying some things I hadn't heard before about Low T, about men vs. women dieting, and about the importance of knowing your numbers.

I filed his name away, and wanted to find out more abou this work. This past month, I got the opportunity to talk with him as part of the Modern Dad's podcast (Listen to the episode here:  Modern Dad's Podcast with Dr. John LaPuma, and then follow the links to listen to some of our other great episodes as well)

He was a great guest and chockful of all kinds of information about the fallacies and tribulations of Low T, and about the nutritional part of dieting.

As part of the interview process, I got sent his latest book ReFuel: A 24 Day Eating Plan to Shed Fat, Boost Testosterone, and Pump Up Strength and Stamina.  I've been reading it, and thought I'd let you know about it.

Eric Cartman
Eric Cartman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
First, some background:  Although I don't talk about it much online, I have always struggled with my weight.  As our South Park friend Cartman might say "I'm not fat, I'm big-boned!" I've been up and down, between a low of around 220 and a high of (gulp) 340.  Last May, I realized I needed to do something about it, and decided to diet, using a  modified version of the slow carb plan recommended in the book the 4 Hour Body

 Since May I've done pretty well ( lost nearly 50 lbs) but I have another 60 or 70 to go before my goal-weight of 199, which might not be achievable, as I don't think I've been under 200 since I was 16.

However, over the last 3 months I've plateaued, and I recently had some surgery, so I haven't been exercising-- and well, I'm starting to move in the wrong direction again.  I need to move the needle in the other direction. So this book is coming at the perfect time for me.

Dr. John LaPuma
Dr. LaPuma's basic idea is pretty easy to grasp--Here are the 4 ideas at the heart of his plan.

  • Know your numbers (if you listen to the podcast or buy the book, he'll tell you what numbers are the important ones.)  This is about setting both a baseline, and achievable goals.  One example is that your waist size should be half of your height in inches, but be careful-- your pants size and your waist size are not the same!
  • Set 24 day goals (you can repeat the 24 day cycle ad infinitum.  but having a specific goal that's less than a month keeps you on track.)
  • Eat better food.  He says to avoid anything that you can crush or crumble.  It's a modified low carb diet (2 days a week you are under 50g, the rest of the time you are eating healthy unprocessed foods. He has lots of great and delicious recipes in the book.)
  • Get support.  one of the most important things you can do is to get your spouse or significant other to support you.  It's humbling a little, and it's difficult, but you are going to need that support to reinforce new habits, and to let your bad habits hit the road. If you can't get your wife or partner to support you (or don't want to) there is an online "VIP" community that Dr. LaPuma promotes, but it does cost money to join ($10 a month). It does also include (I think) a quarterly conference call with Dr. LaPuma, so it may be worth it to you.
My plan is to follow this plan during the month of May (I'm traveling a lot during April) and check back in about my progress.

You can find out more about the book at http://www.refuelmen.com or http://www.drjohnlapuma.com

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