Lose Weight with Fat2Fit Radio

Today’s post is a shameless plug for a podcast, and a book written by the podcast hosts. They don’t know me, but I have listened to quite a few podcast episodes. I enjoy every one. The podcast is called Fat2Fit Radio, and they have a website and online support group as well.

I found the podcast a while ago when I was looking through iTunes for more health and fitness information. The About page of the Fat2Fit website introduces the hosts, Russ Turley and Jeff Ainslie. Russ is an engineer who decided to tackle his weight gain in part by starting a podcast called The Fat Guy Radio Show (not the one currently on iTunes!). Jeff is a high school physical education and computer teacher, who had his own history of yo-yo and fad diets, until he finally got fit and healthy in 2005.

Jeff heard Russ on the Fat Guy podcast, and offered to help with the podcast, as well as Russ’ weight loss strategy. The first episode of Fat2Fit Radio was recorded in 2007, and they have completed 141 episodes as of this writing. The podcast is on a hiatus due to Jeff’s recovery from an unspecified illness (which apparently affects his ability to record the show), but Russ assures listeners they will be back soon.

The episode format has varied over the years, but the segments are generally as follows:

• How are Russ and Jeff doing? How much weight has Russ lost this week?
• Listener questions
• Web Report, which might be news-related, or a health/fitness topic
• Main Topic
• Recipe of the Week

• Act like the thinner person you want to become, by establishing healthy eating and exercise habits
• Diets are a temporary solution which can damage your metabolism, and don’t prepare you for the rest of your life
• Gradual (or slow) but permanent weight loss is the goal
• Don’t eat below your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); instead, eat 20% above it, to keep your metabolism actively burning calories

One of the most helpful tips I have heard on the show over and over is to eat the number of calories that a person at your goal weight would eat. For example, if my goal weight was 150 lbs, I would use one of the calculators on their website to determine my daily calorie intake, and plan my meals accordingly. In certain cases, obese individuals might want to set a goal somewhere in the middle between where they are now and their ultimate healthy goal weight, so that the number of calories is not too low for their current situation. That warning is displayed on the site’s BMR Calculator.

This approach has influenced their criticism of The Biggest Loser TV show, and extreme fitness programs such as Beachbody’s INSANITY. I might choose to disagree with them there, but I understand why they take that position. Many people have become frustrated with their attempts to lose weight by following extreme diet and/or exercise plans, or they see something on TV which they can never hope to achieve, and simply give up.

Amazon Link

Russ and Jeff wrote a book called Fat2Fit: Getting There and Staying There, released in 2010. It was a compilation of the lessons and topics they had covered on the podcast up to that point. This is plenty of information to help you get started on a weight loss plan, leading to a healthy lifestyle.