James O. Hill - State of Slim: Fix Your Metabolism and Drop 20 Pounds in 8 Weeks on the Colorado Diet

This book is intended as a reference volume only, not as a medical manual. The information given here is designed to help you make informed decisions about your health. It is not intended as a substitute for any treatment that may have been prescribed by your doctor. If you suspect that you have a medical problem, we urge you to seek competent medical help.

The information in this book is meant to supplement, not replace, proper exercise training. All forms of exercise pose some inherent risks. The editors and publisher advise readers to take full responsibility for their safety and know their limits. Before following the exercise recommendations in this book, be sure that your equipment is well maintained, and do not take risks beyond your level of experience, aptitude, training, and fitness. The exercise and dietary programs in this book are not intended as a substitute for any exercise routine or dietary regimen that may have been prescribed by your doctor. As with all exercise and dietary programs, you should get your doctors approval before beginning.

Mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities in this book does not imply endorsement by the author or publisher, nor does mention of specific companies, organizations, or authorities imply that they endorse this book, its author, or the publisher.

Internet addresses and telephone numbers given in this book were accurate at the time it went to press.

2013 by James O. Hill, PhD, and Holly R. Wyatt, MD

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

Book design by Kara Plikaitis

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the publisher

ISBN-13: 9781609614911 hardcover

eISBN-13: 9781609614928

We inspire and enable people to improve their lives and the world around them.

rodalebooks.com

For my wife, Trish, and my sons, Alex and Michael

JOH

For my father, Charles Larry Thompson

HRW

W E WANT TO GIVE special thanks to our colleague Dr. John Peters. John has been our collaborator for many years. He provided insight, advice, and critique on every chapter in this book. We are very happy he has joined our research group at the University of Colorado.

We are so grateful to our patients, our research participants, our fellow Coloradans, and the members of the National Weight Control Registry. We wrote this book to share what we have learned from them. They continue to inspire us to keep learning and to get better at helping people manage their weight.

We have published several research papers describing what we have learned from the National Weight Control Registry. All of this research has been conducted in collaboration with Dr. Rena Wing and her colleagues at Brown University. Rena has been a wonderful friend and colleague for many years and is one of the best researchers in our field.

We have had the opportunity to work and collaborate with many brilliant obesity scientists, and weve learned so much from them. We want to thank the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for funding our research over the past years. Our approach to weight management is science-based, and most of the science of weight regulation was developed with NIH support.

We have received unwavering support from our collaborators and colleagues at the University of Colorado (CU). The CU leadership team, especially Bruce and Marcy Benson, Lilly Marks, Dick Krugman, and Chip Ridgway, have supported and encouraged us to make CU the best place in the world for obesity research. We want to thank our coworkers at the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center who work tirelessly on our research studies and in our wellness clinic. We want to give special thanks to Phillip Anschutz who helped make the Anschutz Health and Wellness Center a reality and a place where people can enroll in state-of-the-art programs for weight management, including the Colorado Diet. He not only believes in wellness, he walks the talk.

A project like this one takes a team and we have a good one. We were fortunate to work with Trisha Calvo at Rodale. She had a vision for this book from the beginning. She is both talented and patient, and the book is much better because of her editing. James Levine, our agent, worked long and hard to make this happen and has provided sound advice to us all along. Christie Aschwanden worked beside us every step of the way. Her skills both in writing and in nutrition helped make the science and the advice more understandable and relevant.

Finally, we are both grateful that we found our way to Colorado and have the opportunity to live the Colorado lifestyle.

From Jim:

Thank you to my wife, Trish, and my sons, Alex and Michael, for your support, encouragement, and understanding of my long hours .

From Holly:

Thank you to my parents. My dad instilled my love for science and taught me how to think critically and to ask questions about everything. He is my role model for working hard and living with integrity. Even after his death, he has continued to guide me and show me the importance of following my purpose. I am so grateful and I know I will see him again one day.

And my mother has always been my biggest supporter. She says that raising her girls was the best job she could ever have. I would not have gotten through medical school without her sacrifice and support. You are the best, Mom, period!

A S WEIGHT-LOSS RESEARCHERS WHOVE published hundreds of scientific papers and helped thousands of people lose weight, weve seen diet trends come and gosome of them more than once! Frankly, diets dont work (thats why there are so many of them). So why, then, are we writing a diet book?

Well, State of Slim isnt really a diet book. Yes, we give you a step-by-step plan for eating and exercising the healthiest way. And yes, youll lose weightquickly and safely. But we think you deserve more.

Typical diet books contain quick-fix plans designed to help you fit into your skinny jeans or look thinner for a one-night class reunion. They lure you with promises of dramatic results (drop 15 pounds in 15 days!). And its true, you can lose weight with any one of these plansbut you probably wont keep it off. Even though youre trying to do all the right things, the pounds inevitably will creep back on, and you wont have a clue how to stop them. Youll probably assume that the weight regain is your fault, feel terrible, and repeat the whole sad process with the next new diet book.

You deserve to know the real deal: Dropping pounds is only part of the picture. You arent overweight simply because you eat too much and therefore must diet to slim down. Lack of movement has played an important role as well. In fact, overeating is just as much a consequence of being overweight as it is a cause (well explain this startling fact later on). Keeping weight off is a different challenge than losing weight and requires a different strategy. Our approach, which we call the Colorado Diet, tackles both aspects. It is a complete and permanent solution to your weight problem.