David Hariton's Survival of the Thinnest

I promised more to say about another genetics-based weight-loss theory, described in a book Survival of the Thinnest. I've been putting it off until I had time to do it right, but I can see that it's not going to happen. So I'll just dash out a few thoughts.

Hariton's basic theory is that the genetics of humans direct them to be thin if they are active, and fat if they are sedentary. This goes beyond mere calories-in, calories-out, much as Seth Roberts's Shangri-La Diet does. Neither of them deny the basic equation, that your energy expenditure must be greater than your consumption in order to lose weight, but they both say that the elephant in the room that most everybody is ignoring is hunger. Your genes are telling you to eat in some circumstances, and to stop eating in others.

Hariton's prescription is 30 minutes of rather vigorous aerobic exercise every day. Every day, for the rest of your life.

I stumbled on this same routine several years ago, and it worked like crazy. I lost just over 30 lbs. in only 60 days, and I was not hungry. I can't imagine why I ever stopped, but I did, and gained half or more of it back. I'm now well below that weight, and still dropping.

My chosen exercise is running. Hariton is a bit antagonistic towards running. He thinks it's too hard on one's body, which can be true. He lists 10 do's and dont's for running, which he doesn't for any other form of exercise. A couple of these are downright laughable. He says not to run competitively, or even make any running friends!

Well, for me, that train has left the station. Running is my chosen exercise. It's what I like to do. I run for fun; I run in road races; I have running friends; I read about running; I think about it; I run and run and run.

On the other hand, I see his point. Running for weight loss and running -- training -- to get faster probably aren't entirely compatible. Runners like to do things like alternate long & short days; easy & hard days, and take days off for recovery. I think there's a good chance that those things undermine weight loss. In my own case, probably the best thing that's going to make me faster is to lose some more weight. Current training theory talks about things like improving your VO2max, lactate threshhold, and running economy. Those things have their place in my future, but for now, I need to lose my big belly.

What does Hariton do? He rides a stationary bike. That's certainly easier on one's joints.

I may, over the winter, experiment with substituting stationary bike or elliptical trainer for running a day or two each week.

Despite his views on running, I think the Hariton book is quite good. I recommend it to anyone who wants to lose weight. I think it works.