From Fat to fit: How to Reduce your Body Weight

You are overweight for the most simple of reasons -- because you're eating the wrong foods, the wrong types of calories per meal, and you're also eating meals in the wrong patterns each day.


While no one should judge themselves by the number on their weighing scales, it's a fact that we all do. Those who tell you they are happy being overweight are only fooling themselves. Self-consciousness, embarrassment, feeling out of control, these are not the feelings of a happy person. These are the feelings of someone who feels hopeless and helpless when it comes to their weight.

Many make the complaint, “I have big bones.” “I’m naturally a fat person.” “I’m too old for that now”

But the truth is: “you’ll do it if you had to, if your life depends on it”.

To illustrate:

The Chilean mining accident occurred on August 5, 2010, when part of a gold mine collapsed, leaving 33 men trapped deep below ground. Several methods were proposed to rescue them and most were rejected for their impracticability until one workable plan was discovered.
A news report described the rescue plan—"the main focus is a machine that bores straight down to 688m and creates a chimney-type duct that could be used to haul the miners out one by one in a rescue basket.

The New York Times reported that the "miners will have to aid their own escape, how? well, The diameter of the rescue borehole was 66 cm (26 inches), meaning each miner had to have a waistline of no more than 90 cm (35 inches) to escape.

They had to slim down! They had to lose weight to fit into the narrow capsule. It’s a matter of “reduce your bulk and live or stay fat and get left behind and die”.

Well, they did reduce their weight and on October 13, 2010, all 33 miners were successfully brought up to the surface and rescued!

So, you now understand what I meant by “you’ll do it if you had to, if your life depends on it”.     
Many have reduced their weight, changed their looks, and are living happier, healthier lives. See some pictures below:

Exercise for mental and physical well being

What Amount of Exercise Burns 1 Pound of Fat?

To burn sufficient calories to lose one pound of body fat, you might:

• Briskly walk a total of 35 miles;
• Swim moderately fast for 6 hours
• Dance for 12 hours;
• Play about 12.5 hours of golf, carrying your own clubs;
• Jog for about 29 miles.

At the same time, you would need to monitor your eating habits to ensure that you are not increasing your calorie-intake in line with your increased exercise!

Be Patient When Trying to Burn Fat by Exercise

As you can see, it takes time and considerable physical effort to achieve any kind of rapid fat-loss by exercise alone. So if you want to burn off your last pockets of fat by increased fitness training, give yourself enough time and don't jump onto your bathroom scales more often than once a month. Also, be aware that muscle is denser (heavier mass) than fat. So while you may look leaner, your weight may show only a slight reduction.

Exercising Without Stretching Can Increase Bulk

Paradoxically, even though some exercise routines (e.g. abdominal exercises) produce a leaner look; other types of exercise (lower-body training) can make you look bulkier, especially around the thighs. To prevent this, make sure you start and finish your fitness workout with at least 5 minutes of stretching exercises to elongate the muscles worked.

Exercise Doesn't Turn Fat into Muscle

One popular misconception is that you can convert fat into muscle by exercising. Unfortunately, this is not possible. Exercise can burn enough calories to force the body to burn fat, but it cannot turn fat into muscle. However, certain types of exercise (e.g. abdominal exercises) can strengthen muscles in an area of excess fat (e.g. stomach) and give the appearance of a leaner shape.

The key to weight loss is fewer calories and more exercise. A diet high in raw food provides fewer, low-density calories, and higher-fiber, more-filling foods.


Overeating or eating too fast
Healthy people burn more calories. They also eat less because they are more active and feel better about themselves. They don't need food as a security blanket. We overeat far too much of the wrong kinds of food.   Increase the percentage of raw food in diet. Eat natural unprocessed food. Overeating taxes the body, stores fat, creates excessive mucus. Eat slowly and enjoy.  Chew food well to assist digestion. Feed the body, starve the cravings, and don’t feed depression.  

Reducing weight through fasting

How to do proper fasting
Here is a method of doing one day fasts: taking no food and (if your body is strong) no water in a period from the sunrise of one day to the sunrise of the next day.Successful fasting has three stages: preparation, the actual fast, and breaking the fast. Each one of these stages is important.

Preparation

If you are not prepared both mentally and physically you will find it difficult to go one day without food. The mental preparation is simple, but very important. The night before the fast you have to take a firm determination that tomorrow you are going to fast, that you are not going to eat any food. If you fix your mind in advance then you will not start deliberating during the fasting day whether you should continue or not to continue. If you are undecided or waffling you can always find a hundred reasons why you should start eating.Physical preparation is also important. The day before you fast you should eat a normal amount of food and take a good amount of liquids (especially if you are going to be fasting without taking any liquids). If you miss some meals on the day before fasting, then you may start feeling hungry during the fasting period. If you do not take enough liquids, especially during the night before the fast, then you will feel uncomfortable when you are fasting.If you are physically and mentally prepared you will not feel very hungry while you are fasting. Once you decide to fast, your hunger just "shuts off" for the fasting period. This sounds hard to believe, but if you do it a few times you will see that it is true.

The actual fasting day

It is best to do light physical tasks and concentrate more on intellectual and spiritual work during the fasting period. It is not a good idea to spend your time thinking about what you are going to eat tomorrow! If you have prepared yourself properly this shouldn't be a problem and you can use the time that you gain by not eating to do some constructive things that you normally don't get time to do. 

Breaking the Fast

One of the benefits of fasting is that it helps to eliminate toxins from the body. However, you can only get this benefit if you break your fast correctly. On the morning following the fasting day, take two glasses of lemon water. Put the juice of have of a lemon in one glass and add a bit of salt. (The drink should taste both lemony and salty). After some time, you can eat your breakfast. The lemon water will help you to flush your digestive system with a strong bowel movement and many toxins will be eliminated.One day fasts like this can be done twice a month. This kind of fasting will give rest to your digestive organs, help eliminate toxins, build your will power and strength of mind. On top of this, the overall reduction in calories that you get from going two days without food each month, will definitely be one of the elements of a balanced and sustainable weight loss program.


You can do it!
Make today the start of the best day of the rest day of your life!