Fighting Fat : Exercise Is Called the Key in Keeping Excess Pounds Off

Linnea Federman used to be fat.

She used to weigh 155. Now she weighs 120, an exercise fanatic and an ex-smoker. She didn’t lose by starving, spending thousands of dollars on fad diets or standing on her head after taking a grapefruit pill. She did it with exercise.

And perseverance.

“I got rid of it gradually,” she said, “which I’ve found is the only way.”

Federman is a behavioral scientist and consultant to Fitness Unlimited, a Pacific Beach health club. She counsels a lot of women who come in desperate, frustrated, bitterly unhappy--they’ve tried just about everything.

And everything has failed.

Many have run the gamut of commercial diet centers, which, to Federman’s mind, do more harm than good.

‘Forgotten Component’

“They stink,” she said angrily. “They don’t educate the client. Sure, a person sees some loss, but at the end hasn’t learned anything. Contact most of those people five years or less after they’ve left a program, and they’ll probably have gained all that they lost and more. Commercial programs are nothing but rip-offs.”

Federman sees exercise as “the forgotten component” in the weight-loss equation--and the most essential. Five years ago, she began running and cut out red meat and sugar. She has reduced her percentage of body fat from 29% to a Twiggy-ish 20%. (For women, 25% is normal.) She looks and feels “a thousand times” better.

Now she runs, does aerobics and swims. She also has a sunnier outlook and can’t imagine having seen herself as “a fattie.”

James White is an exercise physiologist at UC San Diego and the author of a book, “Jump for Joy,” on the wonders of mini-trampolines. He also is a champion skier and runner, and an expert on the dangers of second-hand cigarette smoke.

White has a clue to what happens to the Linnea Federmans of the world. He has seen similar cases in his laboratory at UCSD--roughly 1,500 women who volunteered to be test cases.

Need for ‘Smooth Regulation’

Over a five-year period, White discovered that women who lost four to five pounds a month--through exercise and reducing body fat--were able to keep the weight off for good.

“If a (person) wants to lose 20 to 30 pounds a month and does,” he said, “she usually gains back everything, plus a pound or two more. It’s happened in a thousand cases. We’re completely disenchanted with all these crazy diets. They’re really a fraud.

“The big losses are 70% water--almost no body fat at all, and darn it, that’s what you’ve gotta lose. When the body perceives it’s being starved (as it is in fad diets), it secretes hormones. The basal metabolic rate decreases 5% to 25%.

“As a result, fat cells are not released into the bloodstream. Energy is derived by breaking down muscle protein and retaining fat. The body’s trying to defend itself against a certain set point. And the only way to change the point is to trick it, slowly, with smooth regulation.”

White, a lean, wiry, intense man with light hair and dark eyes, disagrees that exercise is forgotten. Commercial programs know it’s there, he said, but they ignore it.

“They don’t discuss it, fearing a person might not buy the method if they somehow get hooked on exercise,” he said. “It’s such a con job.”

White recommends cutting calories by only 300 a day.

“If they try for more, they get hungry and cheat. The point is, don’t starve ‘em.”

Several Types of Exercise

He adds to that a rigid exercise regimen, done every day if possible. Knowing that some people will fudge, he requires six days of exercise a week. It should be exercise the person enjoys, and preferably several different types.

“Say I recommend jogging and the person won’t jog,” he said. “Then where are we? I try to find one a person will do. If they’re indoor-oriented, get ‘em jumping on a rebounder (a mini-trampoline) or bicycling indoors (on a stationary vehicle). Outdoors, have them swim, walk or race-walk--that’s really getting big in San Diego. What they’ve got to remember is, for every mile a person travels--walking, jogging, running--they’re burning off 100 calories per mile.”

Federman says that “exercise is paramount.” When a woman came to her weighing 25 pounds over ideal weight and with a body fat percentage of 32--”a sedentary housewife, porking it away”--she immediately suggested aerobics. She did an analysis of the woman’s fat sources and recommended 1,200 calories a day (hardly starvation). She helped the client to discover what emotions were associated with her overeating and how she was rationalizing her behavior.

The client has since lost 20 pounds and reduced her body fat by 7 percentage points, giving her a leaner look and, Federman said, “a conqueror’s self-image.”

Paul Ward is director of education, research and development for the Health and Tennis Corp. of America, which owns Holiday Health Spas. There are two in San Diego County, in Mission Valley and the South Bay.

‘Fat Loss’ Stressed

Ward agrees with White and Federman, saying so many people “focus on scale weight alone, which is dumb .” He fears it’s the byproduct of too many “sorry” diets or “crash” commercial programs.

“Our focus is not so much on weight loss but on fat loss,” he said, “which is really the key. We can’t say it enough, but people have a hard time making it stick.”

Ward used the example of two women on a scale. Both weigh 125 pounds. One has a body fat measure of 30%, the other 20%. They have, he said, “a totally different look. That’s about 47 pounds of fat on one woman, 30 on the other. It makes a big difference in how one looks.”

When a person starts exercising, Ward said, he may not lose dramatically in the pound department but will lose inches, which is more important.

He recommends several fat-cutting measures. Holiday Spas have “circuit training” courses, for jogging or bike-riding between exercises at various stations. He also likes aerobics and full-scale running but cautions sedentary people who try to lose a lot at once.

Tests Recommended

“Some people get too excited early on,” he said. “They go too long, too fast and maybe get hurt. They wind up with sore legs or quit entirely. That’s why bicycles are good. They take the orthopedic stress off knees, hips and the lower back. Some have to be especially careful of running. It’s a good way to tear down tendons, knees, even feet.”

Ward, White and Federman recommend thorough testing before entering a program. They urge those interested to have electrocardiograms and blood tests, even urinalyses. For the truly obese, Ward recommends physical and psychiatric exams.

“We’re really far more oriented to the average person,” he said, meaning the moderately overweight (up to 30 pounds over ideal weight).

Other centers offer unusual approaches--some esoteric, some even bizarre. Scott Cescolini is manager of ATA Fitness Center, which has five outlets in San Diego County. One of the more unusual programs at his place is TaeKwonDo, a Korean martial art that burns off fat “by the bucketload.” One man weighed 350 pounds when he enrolled. He lost 70 through TaeKwonDo, with side helpings of weight lifting and aerobics.

“And he’s not even on a diet ,” Cescolini said.

He conceded, however, that many who enter health clubs are motivated more by vanity. Many, he said--and men outnumber women three to one--come in mostly to do weight lifting, which is not necessarily a weight-loss method, although it does reduce fat.

Loss of Inches

“A lot of guys leave happy,” he said. “They may not lose pounds, but they do lose fat and inches. That’s what we’re all about.”

Pam Vann, manager of Fitness International in Clairemont, said women outnumber men in her classes, which include aerobics and stretching and a minimum of dietary instruction.

More than anything, Vann said, women tell her they like her center because “it isn’t a pickup place.”

National Public Radio recently profiled a string of Los Angeles health clubs, equating the “predatory, ‘swingles’ atmosphere” with some of that city’s liveliest bars. Vann said she quit working at two such clubs in San Diego, calling the atmosphere “the sleaziest I’ve seen.”

“I won’t name them,” she said, “but they’re two of the biggest chains in San Diego.”

White says the “magic secret” to weight loss is that it’s so simple. It does require less eating, more exercise--burning up more than one takes in. People are, he said, somehow afraid of simple notions, wanting instead a quick fix. Maybe the world is too complex. Simplicity is, he said, sadly out of vogue.

White also believes “no one on earth” should spend thousands--even hundreds--for the pleasure of getting or staying fit.

But there’s definitely a market for the more expensive places. The La Costa Hotel and Spa, featuring tennis, golf and gourmet meals, charges $4,200 for singles and $3,200 for doubles for a two-week program.

Rancho La Puerta, in Tecate, Mexico, attracts Hollywood celebrities and anyone else willing to fork over $779.25 to $1,194.85 a week for exercise, games, movies and 1,000 calories of vegetarian food a day.

“The program runs seven full days, from Saturday to the following Saturday,” a spokeswoman said, not giving a name. “We aren’t permitted to talk about the program on the record.”

She became more evasive when asked about long-term weight loss. What does Rancho La Puerta offer in that regard?

“Sir,” she said finally, “we’re a fitness resort. We don’t specialize in weight reduction. But we’d be glad to book you, through your travel agent.”

Despite the apparent success of health clubs and programs that stress exercise, Linnea Federman maintains that exercise is a “tough ticket”--maybe the toughest in town. “If you eat more and exercise, you could weigh less,” she said, “than someone who eats less and doesn’t. It’s harder to push exercise than weight loss. Those silly programs are so seductive.”

She paused, and sighed.

“I go for a complete change in life style, which it has to be,” she said. “And you know, that’s the really tough sell.”