Hooligan No1:
Cutting calories is the best weight/fat loss tactic.
Energy/ calories consumed = energy calories burnt = Weight maintenance.
The calorie is an arbitrary unit, which the body doesn’t recognise. Which makes it rather pointless as a weight loss tactic. Far better to look at the purpose of food and the game situation, when making your dietary substitutions.
Hooligan No2:
All it takes to lose weight is “willpower”
In fact this is probably the one way you are guaranteed to fail.
You see Mr Will Power essentially creates a conflict between you the Manager of the Team, and your Chairman, and we all know who ultimately wins that battle.
If, as manager you try to control the food intake without the Chairman’s agreement by using Mr Power as your agent, you are destined to failure because the subconscious control of the Chairman will ensure he gets his own way.
Hooligan No 3:
A lot of people find it difficult to lose weight because they have a “slow” metabolism.
In reality overweight and obese people actually burn more calories at rest than their leaner counterparts.
The resting metabolic rate or RMR is effectively dependent upon bodyweight. The higher the body weight the higher the RMR.
Of course there are some medical conditions such as Hypothyroidism associated with a slowing of the metabolic rate, but, by and large, rates of resting metabolism differ very little between individuals.
Hooligan No 4:
Muscle “burns” calories a lot quicker than fat.
I have to hold my hands up on this one and admit for a long time I would tell patients to get down the gym and build some muscle because that would increase their RMR – now I still advise them to go down the gym and pump some iron, only for different reasons – to become a faster metabolic player.
Contrary to popular belief, muscle doesn’t actually increase the overall resting metabolic rate to any significant degree. You don’t burn lots of calories by just sitting down admiring your muscles, you’ve actually got to put those muscles through their paces before they start burning more energy and you start seeing some Premiership Health results.
Hooligan No 5:
Low fat foods are the best way to lose weight.
When I was growing up “low fat” foods became all the rage, unfortunately if you examine the ingredient content of most of these foods they simply substitute carbohydrates for fat, with disastrous weight gaining consequences.
Remember: Sugar needs to be given the red card.
Hooligan No 6:
Dietary cholesterol and saturated fat is linked to blood cholesterol and therefore linked to heart disease.
There is no connection between cholesterol in food and cholesterol in blood, in fact the Framingham study, the worlds longest running population study on heart disease, found that the more cholesterol people ate the lower their blood cholesterol.
Hooligan No 7:
“It’s easier said than done” in response to advice for dietary improvements.
Of course it’s easier for the chairman to maintain the status quo, but, in terms of managing your weight controlling hormones, the “game” is always much more enjoyable when your team is playing better and you start seeing some results.