Health

This is the one weight-loss article you’ll ever need to read

Year after year, Mike Berland found himself putting on weight, going up a pant or shirt size every 12 months, and, at his peak, he tipped the scales at 245 pounds, measuring XXL across the chest and 40 inches around the waist.

The 5-foot-10 pollster and analytics expert, whose clients have included Hillary Clinton and Mike Bloomberg, was flummoxed: Despite being a keen triathlete, running marathons and following what he thought was a healthy diet, he was clearly losing the battle of the bulge.

“I did the New York City Marathon in 2013 and managed to gain 10 pounds,” recalls the 47-year-old CEO of Edelman Berland, shaking his head. “Something was off.”

Exasperated, he resolved to put his professional skills to work on his own body. He asked top nutritionists, doctors and physical trainers to help him, as he tells The Post, “flip the switch” and reverse his downward spiral toward obesity.

The team pooled its knowledge, seeking out the latest studies, poring over Berland’s medical records and analyzing his eating habits and training schedule. They devised a unique integrated diet-and-exercise program that resulted in his remarkable loss of 70 pounds between September 2014 and September 2015.

The plan also gave him renewed energy for the competitive running, cycling and swimming races he loves.

Spurred by his success, Berland formed a “focus group” of other dieters who followed the regimen — all of whom lost similarly impressive amounts of weight. It led to his just-published book — written with former US Olympic triathlon coach Gale Bernhardt — called “Become a Fat-Burning Machine: The 12-Week Diet.” The Post is exclusively excerpting the book — already a best-seller on Amazon — this week.

“Once I’d cracked the code, I wanted to share the secrets,” Berland says.

Berland in 2008, near his peak weight of 245 pounds.Handout

The main finding was the Manhattan-based father of two’s diagnosis, by nutritionist Dr. Laura Lefkowitz, of “metabolic syndrome” — a condition of insulin resistance affecting 35 percent of Americans in which food is stored as fat rather than burned for energy. Berland had been encouraging his system to hoard fat by loading up on carbs like pasta and rice, as well as sugary fruits such as bananas.

Armed with this newfound information, he switched his diet to three balanced, low-carb meals and three snacks daily, and started seeing results. His meals consisted mostly of fat-burning foods like egg whites, leafy vegetables, lean meats, and “good” fats like avocados.

Brian Zak/NY Post
The other essential component was overhauling his exercise strategy for maximum fat-burning, alternating high-intensity interval training with rest days and low-intensity days of strength training. He adopted Bernhardt’s technique of “miracle intervals” — speeding up and slowing down during exercise to trigger a faster metabolism.

“The key is not the time that you’re speeding up or maintaining a high speed, it’s when you are slowing down,” says Berland.

He also followed Bernhardt’s advice to run on an empty stomach. “The best thing you can do is drink a cup of coffee before you work out, because it burns fat more efficiently,” he adds.

As the months went by, Berland was delighted to find that he slept better, had more energy — competing in the tough Ironman World Championships in October — and was able to buy smaller clothes. He now wears a medium-size shirt and 32-inch pants. He reached his goal weight of 177 pounds in the fall of 2015 — but concedes that “anything south of 185 and I’m happy.”

Now, as he shares his diet plan, he hopes more people will hop onboard — just like his mother, Jan Reuss. (Read her story here.)

Through Wednesday, The Post is publishing details of the diet. Today, learn some myths and truths about dieting and exercise. On Tuesday, get Berland’s diet plan, and on Wednesday, his fitness regimen.