Since the mid-1980s, I have evolved a program based on metabolics focusing on either losing or gaining weight, fat loss, muscle mass gain or overall general health and performance.
The main staple of my Metabolic Enhancement Program (MEP) is tracking variables and following them and adjusting them in three different phases.
Phase 1 is acknowledgment of body movement, formally known as exercise and including three exercise a day whether it’s walking the dogs, doing housework, formal cardiovascular, resistance training stretching, etc. It’s building the foundation of muscle memory into being aware and reinforcing it with writing it down in an app like My Fitness Pal. In fact, back in the day we would use a composition book to write down all the workouts and food. We sure have come a long way! This phase also includes a week of cutting calories to 500 or less than your metabolic rate which we measure high and low carbohydrate intake typically 25 to 50g total intake a day.
Once a certain goal is reached by the patient Phase 2 starts, which includes increasing carbohydrate intake and continuing 500 calorie restriction or less using your resting metabolic rate and focusing more on exercise, volume and intensity for performance. Once the patient gets close to their BMI, a normal BMI of 19 and 25, then we focus on true muscle mass, fat loss and aerobic capacity gain. This is where a patient will increase their exercise and really hone in on the aerobic capacity and strength training. The calories are now close to normal metabolic rate or even close to their expenditure and minimal restriction on carbohydrate intake.
Phase 3 is strictly at the point where the patient has maintained both BMI and body fat composition and pure attention to feeling for performance with macro specific related to exercise. This also includes optimizing their nutrition for a sport or event and focusing on assessment of VO2 Max and muscle mass and making a plan to maintain and improve.
I have had thousands of SSMI patients use the MEP approach under my guidance, as a trainer as well as a physician, and intensively for the last 20 years.
If you’re at all interested and want to lose as little as 5 to 10 pounds, to putting on weight and muscle or just want to feel better then give us a call at the office.