The 6 Natural Habits For Effective Weight Loss

The 6 Natural Habits for Effective Weight loss
By Russ Nagamori
IMPORTANT: Consult with your family doctor before attempting any exercise or changing your diet. From here on YOU ARE FULLY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OVERALL HEALTH. This book is meant to be used as a guide and any results experienced or not experienced may be different for each individual depending on (but not limited to) their; age, gender, weight, height, environment, mental and physical background, heredity, etc.
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Table of Contents
A Word From The Author. p.3 Chapter 1 The Right Mental Attitude. p.18 Chapter 2 The Habit of Healthy Eating. p.35 Chapter 3 The Habit of Daily Exercise.. p.54 Chapter 4 The Remaining Three p.65 Chapter 5 A Quick Review.. p.72 Chapter 6 Shred Fat or Build Muscle.... p.76 To Your Success. p.86
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A Word From The Author

The knowledge in this book was made to be short, sweet and somewhat blunt. This is for the reason, mindless of all the information available on health and fitness, that we learn more from doing as opposed to reading. Many people in the health in fitness industry are coming up with thousands of different ways to change diets and exercise and there are just too many to choose from. Still the questions remain: Which program works and which one doesnt? I can tell you right now that the fundamentals of the human body have not changed in the past one hundred years, if not 5000(or more) years, and that there is no need for new and more complex exercises. And the only reason why we need to keep up to date with dieting information is because of Man trying to play God and messing around with genetics and poison. The way of the old fitness and body building, and health are still valid today as they were centuries ago. This book will be kept simple for your benefit. You will uncover a few basics to the human body enough to get from where you are now to where you want to go. This guides main purpose is to help you create a health consciousness and lose weight. The principals described throughout this book will always remain the same. The different use of these principals will be the only thing that changes depending on what kind of body you want. Let me tell you a bit about my background in health. As of writing this book, Im about 55 (short, I know) and my normal weight ranges are kept between 129 lbs. and 132 lbs. Its been more than a decade that I have practised good health. Im on and off with weight lifting and strength training. Sometimes I only do minimum exercising. Is it because Im lazy? No, it is for the fact that I am healthy and comfortable with my body. Is keeping healthy and fit a choice? Of course it is. When I travel, I want to enjoy eating the foods I want to eat and focus on the enjoyment on the travel itself. I think it is absolutely nonsense to count calories when traveling. There is just no need for it. My grandfather had both strength and muscle and was very knowledgeable about the subject. He taught me a good amount
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about overall health and how to build strength and muscle. He was the first one to show me strengthening and muscle building exercises. These exercises did not include dumbbells or any other kind of equipment. In fact, he never had his own dumbbells or went to a gym. He did it naturally. In the time my grandfather was alive, there were two things that he said that have always stuck with me; its always mind over matter and you can do whatever you put your mind to. In the days of being an infant and child, I had asthma. Both parents were heavy smokers and I can only imagine that is why I was born with it. Asthma chained me down and kept me inactive and not to mention sick all of the time. Even a short spurt in running or jogging my lungs felt like they would collapse. Use of an asthma inhaler (puffer) was necessary. Even the smallest amount of physical activity would mean having a hard time. For years even the smallest amount of physical activity hurt, literally. Opportunities such as joining school sports or any other physical activity was not in my book even if I wished them to be. And then one day it would all change. On this one day in my early teen years, I made the decision that, no matter what, I would become fully active. My decision was based on the fact that I was becoming chubby. I didnt want to be chubby and overweight. This decision ultimately changed my overall health after I acted on the decision. The idea was to lose weight and it came with a desire to take any action what so ever on every opportunity, even small, to get into shape mindless of my health issue. I started getting involved with school sports. Started going out with friends to play soccer and football in the summer and hockey in the winter just for fun (was never great at it). I also started to change my eating habits in the best way I could. Within about a year of the effort I had put in, I received word from the doctor that my asthma had disappeared and I felt much better than before physically and mentally. The bottom line is that I pushed to be more active and was more conscious about what I was eating and the way I ate. The end result was a lean body and being able to maintain my weight. After that success I could accept all foods that came my way, and not gain weight.
That was a good number of years ago and I continue the same way to eat what I want, when I want, and keep active. I would like to mention that it is proven that more males than females who have asthma in their childhood are more likely to grow out of it. So maybe it was just a coincidence that I lost the asthma after getting physically active. However, this also means that if you dont have asthma or any other health problem you are one step ahead of many other people who want to get healthy. The little things I did and continue to do will work for you as well. Every human on this planet consists of only two things; a mind of their own in which they can choose their own thoughts and a physical body that must behave and shape itself according to what you command it to do. Anything is possible for you and you can do whatever you put your mind to. Its just that simple.
Disclaimer If you are currently on any prescribed medication, have any health issues or in need of any special medical (mental and/or physical) assistance, please seek the necessary professional and/or medical help that you need. Also you should consult with your physician or family doctor before making any changes in your diet, medication or exercise routines. The results from this book may vary depending on age, sex, and other conditions that may be involved. The purpose of the above paragraph is that a lot of people dont take responsibility for their own health and enjoy blaming other people and circumstances for their own misfortunes. With that said, this is the best time to crush one of the biggest myths out there as to why so many people are unhealthy and overweight.
The fat gene do you have it? Chances are you probably do not have it. But if so, how do you know? One of the most used excuses for being overweight or obese is saying that genetics prevents weight loss. Not true. Genetics definitely plays a role in physical heredity but not when it comes to being fat and unhealthy. What genes may control is how your body processes different foods, or in other words; how it processes the energy and nutrients from the foods. For example,
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one person may be able to eat a loaf of bread and not gain a pound while another person may eat the same loaf of bread and gain weight fast. Another example is: Someone may experience rapid weight gain from eating pork while another may gain some weight but at a slower pace. It still doesnt mean genetics are what makes a person overweight. It just means that the person has to be more conscious about what food they eat, how much they eat, and the reactions that different food has on their body. The previous sentence is simple yet so profound. It is estimated that 1 in 100 overweight people (not the whole world population) may experience a mutated gene (I cant recall an exact reference but it was a doctor who mentioned the estimation on a BBC Documentary). A flaw, if you may, in the genes they were born with. Just like a child born with a mental or physical handicap. It just doesnt happen to the majority of people. Or in other words, its generally a rare case. A difference in genetics could also result in one person being able to bulk up on muscle (through proper dieting and exercise) faster than another person that has the same diet and exercise routine but builds muscle slowly. That difference is not an excuse for the person who wants to build more muscle and finds it a bit difficult. It just means that they will have to give more it effort than the person with the supposed good gene. To go on further, why is it just now, in this time, that fat has become a problem? The answer: Technology. You probably drive a car or take some other way of transportation to work. You also probably have at least one television in your house or apartment. You have also most likely been through a drive through at a fast food restaurant at some point in your life. This is much different than the time when much more physical labor was needed to eat and go to work. As humans we had to work for everything in the past. We needed to hunt, harvest, and build our own houses. Everything required physical labor. Today we have electronics and other technology to do pretty much everything for us. Is that really genetic? And for a gene to change it takes years, and happens gradually over time time being generations. Ive heard many times the phrase, my parents were fat because of genetics so I will be fat for the rest of my life, too. I think we would have to look at
the habits of families like those. Just as genes are passed down in a family so are habits. If an overweight couple have bad eating habits and dont care to exercise, what do you think will happen when they decide to have kids? Kids learn from observing and not from what they are told to do. The do as I say and not as I do is absolute nonsense. So with this same couple, I can guarantee that the kids will follow in their parents footsteps. The kids will be observing their parents habits and doing the exact same thing. Monkeys see and monkeys do. And then, without surprise, the kids become fat. Its no different than smoking. If both parents smoke, the children will probably end up smokers as well. Is that genetics at work? Nope. Its habit at work. Dont think that just because you are born a certain way that you are not capable of getting the health you want. We are not born knowing how to interact with people. We are not born with the knowledge of finance. We will never be born with a career on our plate. Those skills are all learned and applied and made into fixed habits habits that can be changed. Our environment including where we grow up and the people that surround us is where we initially receive information and begin to develop our habits. So before anyone comes up with the, its in the genes, they should go find out if what they think is actually true or just an excuse. Also, when choosing a doctor or any other medical professional, make sure they are physically fit and healthy. A fat doctor does not have the right to tell someone how they can be healthy. An unhealthy dietitian being overweight, unhealthy or both, has no right to tell you how to eat, either. Thats like going to a smoker and asking them how to quit smoking its insane. As you continue to read this book, there will be reference to research and study and specific references like the Mayo Clinic and Government statistics. Even though someone in authority says that something may be good or bad, do your own research and find out the facts for yourself. At the end of the book, I will give the sources I trust when it comes to gathering information about health and fitness.
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The principals
Write now as Im typing this, the number one country for North America and across the globe with overweight people is the United States of America. Mexico as number two and Canada at number 6, according to the Huffington Post. India, the United Kingdom and Australia are not too far behind. Being overweight and obese is not found in just a few select countries but globally. The Huffington Post estimates that 500 million, or one of every ten people, across the globe is overweight or obese. More than 60% of U.S. citizens are said to be overweight with more than 35% being adults. According to CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), weight gain is shown more in people aged 60 and above compared to people aged 18 and under. I believe from observation, which during retirement, less physical activity is present. If a person eats well but neglects proper exercise then they are bound to gain weight. Thats a fact. Mexico counted for over 24% of the population was overweight with more overweight males then females. Statistics Canada (website) shows that Canadas population is over 19% overweight with more males than females and that over 31 % of kids aged five to eleven are overweight. So what does this mean? This means that being overweight has become an epidemic. Its most definitely a problem caused by humans themselves and at the same time it can also be cured by humans. The solution is not surgery, fat loss pills or any other form of over the counter medication. Obesity and being overweight is not a disease its a symptom. Treat the cause and the symptoms vanish. The principles that I will provide you with here revolve around four main elements; thinking, deciding, acting and repeating. Your thoughts followed by your actions will create your results. With that said - your weight is your result and the maintenance of your physical body is your responsibility. There are six principals altogether. Lets call them the The Big 6. The Big 6 are the principals that must all be used and can be used in different ways. In this case we will use them for fat loss but they can also be used for fitness and building muscle. The Big 6 are as follows: 1. The Right Mental Attitude 2. The Habit of Healthy Eating 3. The Habit of Daily Exercise
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4. The Habit of Sleep and Relaxation 5. The Habit of Elimination 6. The habit of Keeping Clean There is one common denominator between all men and women who have perfect health; they are healthy, strong and have good looking bodies. From the obese man who lost weight and now maintains his new health to the body builder who has sculpted his or her body to a specific physique. There is just one thing they all have in common can you guess what it is? Its habit. They have all developed certain habits. When I was a child my grandfather told me about habits. He said that whatever you choose to do and do it over and over again, eventually it becomes habit. He also said that it doesnt matter if the habit is good or bad and that the habit will form mindless. In order to get healthy, you have to change your current habits to change your results. A habit is formed first as a thought. The thought is then subject to be acted upon through making a decision to do so. This is your choice. After thinking and acting in a certain way and repeating that process, you eventually form a habit. Different habits bring different results. Imagine someone who is overweight and unhealthy who desires to have a body of toned muscle. Instead of watching television for two or three hours a day, they can change that habit into one where they lift weights and jog for two to three hours a day. They could also change another habit by eating healthier food with more muscle building protein instead of potato chips and pop all the time. Its a change of habits! Thats all there is to it! Its simple. The one who has a fit body has different habits than those with an overweight body. In changing old habits you must think in a different way and act in a different way. Building muscle and weight loss require different use of the same habits. In order to control what habits you develop you must control your own way of thinking.
This Can Work For You Its up for you to decide if you will make it work or not. That is a decision that only you are responsible for. Right now
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make a decision that from here on, for the rest of your life, that you will be fully responsible for your mental and physical health. Decide that you will do what it takes to become healthy and to have the body of your choice. Before this book can really help you there are pre requisites. You must have a definite aim as to what you want your out come to be. A definite aim is the same as goal or intention. The fact is that if you dont have a goal in mind, you will never know when youve arrived. (In a later chapter we will help you decide what goal suits you best.) Next you must have a desire, that little flame inside that will motivate and help drive you until you have accomplished your goal. Proper action must be taken and met with persistence.
The Bio-Machine The human body works in a more complex way than that of any super computer. Human research and acquired knowledge provided by science has revealed the basics to what the human body is and how it works. If we know what the body is and how the body works and what elements that are needed for it to operate at a healthy state, we can fix any problems when they arise and prevent problems from happening. The human body is actually similar to a vehicle. The motor of a car, truck or airplane needs 3 key elements in order for it to run. Those key elements are air, fuel and spark (electric current). The proper balance of these three key elements is essential to make a motor run and continue to run efficiently. If one of those elements is taken away, the motor will not start, or die if one is taken away while running. If you force more air or fuel through the motor, it will have issues one of which would be bad fuel economy or even a flooded motor (the vehicle will not run if flooded). If the spark plugs (spark) are corroded (or dirty) then issues would also arise and take away from the overall performance of the motor. It may even fail to start. For those not familiar with vehicles, the motor of a vehicle works exactly the same way as if you were to start a camp fire. The human body is somewhat similar. The body needs a proper balance of air, food and water, along with exercise. Take any one of those away and the body will start to break down and eventually die. Take away air and the
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human body wont last a few minutes. Take away food and water and the body will start to transform all fat and muscle into energy for the body to survive leaving the person very ill. Starving the body of water and food means that the body will eat itself so that it can survive. There is only so long that the human body can neglect food and water before it dies. Taking away exercise will also lead to death but ill health will approach the body beforehand. Imagine someone just sitting on the couch that does nothing but breath air, eat food, drink water but never gets up. Its absolutely certain that person will develop both physical and mental health problems and eventually pass away from a heart attack, stroke or some other fatal consequence. Now here is the interesting part. A lot of exercise with only a very small intake of food and water will cause fatigue but burn the fat. Eventually after the fat is burned, the body will start breaking down muscle tissue in order to supply the body with energy to survive. At this point the body will be in starvation mode. Even too much pressure of oxygen (air) into the lungs can cause oxygen toxicity and can have a bad effect on the brain. (We can handle different levels of amount of oxygen to a certain extent but its the pressure that must be balanced and not forced. An example would be a recreational diver.) Take away half the oxygen that you normally take in while moderately exercising and the performance will start to drop because the body is not getting enough oxygen that is required. This will leave a person literally breathless and unable to continue the exercising. And finally, eat too much of any food with little or even moderate exercise and the body will store it in the fat cells. This includes fruits and vegetables and any other healthy food and not just the junk food. By continuing to breathe in fresh air, eating the right amount of healthy food, drinking water and working in a balanced exercise routine you will get your body into the perfect weight and design you want it to be and maintain it through strengthening the new healthier habits you create.
Simple Anatomy Dont worry! This is not one of those boring high school biology class lectures! I will explain a bit about the body in the simplest way so that you can easily understand it.
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All physical parts to the human body are made of billions and trillions of cells. These cells include; bones, muscle tissue, fat cells, skin and the nervous system (spine, brain and nerves), respiratory system (lungs and mouth), digestive system (stomach and intestines), the circulatory system (heart, veins and blood) and reproductive system. Each different kind of cell has a different job. The bones give structure to the body that enables us to stand on two feet. You also have the joints and tendons for mobility. The skin, muscle, fat and nervous system are wrapped around the bones. There are nerves all over our body with the main station being the brain and the bulk of nerves rapped around the spine. The nerves give feedback to the brain and allow the brain and mind to take control of the body. (Mind and brain are different. Mind is activity and the brain is a physical part of our body. Think of the brain as the physical control station and translator that sends and receives messages through the entire body.) Muscles are a source of physical strength and energy. If you had only bones and nerves you could not do anything. You couldnt walk or even move a finger! The muscles in your arm and hand allow you to pick up a cup of coffee or lift weight. The more the muscle is built and strengthened, the more that you are able to lift with that same muscle. A bigger muscle will also store more energy. Fat cells are stored energy. The body will turn to these reserves in times when the body is still operating but there is no energy entering the body. The respiratory system helps take in and distribute oxygen throughout the body. The digestive systems helps break down any food or drink we consume and extracts the nutrients while doing its best to flush out what we dont need (the waste). The circulatory system passes blood cells, nutrients, oxygen, hormones, etc. to and from cells to control body temperature, fight disease, stabilize PH, etc. Think of this system as a bunch of passages (blood veins) that cells (blood and other) travel throughout the body and deliver the goods and services that your body needs, where it needs them, to maintain good physical health. Obviously to understand the whole of what Man currently knows about the human body would take more than a dozen text
books and videos. It was an attempt to just break it down as simple as possible to give you a basic idea of the human body as it is. This symphony of energy we call the body is controlled mainly unconsciously but can also be controlled to behave in a certain way by our Will. All these systems that were beautifully designed are built to function automatically. However, YOU are the one choosing what food you eat, what you drink and what activities you do. You are in control.
Two Different Worlds Muscle is different than fat and both will increase or decrease by different means. Muscle needs full contractions with heavy weight to get stronger and bigger. Muscles also need a mix of sufficient protein, nutrients and rest in order to grow. Think of a black smith who manually forged swords or other weapons in the mid-evil times. As he hammered away at steel and iron with a 3 pound steel hammer for hours, his muscle would receive feedback. If the muscles in his arm could talk, they would say something like this: whoa! I need to grow bigger and stronger so that I can handle the weight of the hammer and hammer longer without getting tired! So what happens? After the muscles are worked, the muscle tissues develop microscopic tares in the tissues of the muscle. The protein is attracted to the tares and fuses itself within the muscle tares. Viola! After rest and a period of time, those muscles in the blacksmiths arm start to grow bit by bit. Eventually they grow big but will only grow to a certain extent. They will only grow in size and proportion to the weight he is handling. If the blacksmith wants bigger muscle then all he has to do is add more weight by upsizing his hammer. Dont forget that he would also need the appropriate diet as well. Then the process repeats itself and the muscle will grow once again. Now if this same blacksmith started knitting sweaters for a living, you can imagine that his arms will lose both mass and strength over time for the fact that muscle would no longer be needed. There is a bit of a myth out there that you have to shock the muscle to make it grow bigger. Its not true. Your body adapts to its environment and through the interactions of your
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environment. Your muscle will adapt to lifting weight as your skin adapts to the sun. The skin will get darker and produce a natural sunscreen after being in the sun for longer periods of time and muscle will gain strength and grow from lifting heavier weight. Fat on the other hand is different very different. We are all born with a certain amount of fat cells and we never lose them. They are with us until death do us part. Some of us are born with more or less of these cells than other people. Fat cells are basically used to store energy. They get bigger and smaller, depending on what we eat, how much we eat and how much energy we use or dont use. When your body extracts the energy (calories) from the food you eat through digestion, it stores the energy you dont burn up in the fat cells. If the energy is not used from the fat cells, the cells grow bigger in size because of the accumulation of energy. Thus we gain weight. If we exercise and burn up all the energy we ate prior to exercising, the body would then turn to fat for its energy source as we continue to exercise. The energy in the fat cells would then be released and distributed to power the body. The result of expending the energy in the fat cells would mean the cells get smaller in size. That equals weight loss. In simple terms, you dont burn fat cells. You burn the energy that the fat cells contain. Now you can imagine that each fat cell really just increases or decreases in size. In order to downsize fat all over the body, cardiovascular exercises are the best. Doing a cardio exercise involves faster than normal movement such as walking/brisk walking, jogging, running and cycling. Jumping jacks and swimming are also examples of cardio exercise. Basically what happens when you do a cardio exercise (or any other exercise for that matter) is your body sends out signals that it needs energy. It will first burn up the energy from the food you ate prior to the exercise. After tapping out of all that energy, your body will start taking energy from the fat storage to burn. The fat will release energy so that your body can distribute and utilize it to keep your body in motion. Cardio exercises will not only help burn the energy in fat but will also eventually tone muscle. Toning muscle simply means shrinking the fat cells and revealing the muscle underneath, in detail. More intense exercises that involve
lifting weight will help build muscle and strength as well as burn more energy. And unlike muscle, the fat will increase or decrease all over the body somewhat equally whereas muscle needs to be built by exercising the individual muscles. Fat and muscle are both completely different cells. A popular myth is that you can turn fat into muscle. That is false. Fat wont turn into muscle and muscle will not turn into fat. Its a common error to think that is what happens if an overweight person just starts lifting weights. Fat does not carry protein and muscle fibers do not include fat. Fat is fat and muscle is muscle. Muscle needs protein and weighted contractions in order to build more muscle. The only way fat may help in the building of muscle is if the body is using the energy from the fat cells to help power your muscles to lift heavy weight.
The System There are only so many scenarios that are possible for good health. If one is to eat a lot of good food mixed with protein and include an intense variety of weight lifting exercises, they will grow muscle. If one is to eat a balanced diet and mix it with enough cardiovascular exercises, they will burn fat and maintain a healthy lifestyle. If someone eats a lot of food and doesnt exercise, they gain weight and become unhealthy. The amount of muscle will depend on gender. The difference between muscle building between women and men is hormones. Men carry high levels of testosterone depending what age he is at and women carry less. It will be easier for men to build bold muscle faster and bigger than the women. Testosterone is connected with the growth hormone in the body. You now carry a key ingredient to losing weight eat a BALANCED diet (not too much that your body doesnt use it) and do cardio exercises! Like I said earlier, if you eat a lot of anything and do nothing to expend the energy, it WILL cause you to develop more unwanted fat. When you think of food, think of energy. Different kinds of food are made up of different amounts of energy. Grains for example carry more energy than green vegetables like iceberg
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lettuce or cabbage. Calories are a MEASUREMENT of energy and NOT energy themselves. We will get into that later, but for now lets just make a point - you are what you eat. Every time you eat or drink you are injecting your body with energy. What your body does with the energy is entirely up to you. Simply said: Taking in more energy than you burn off = fat accumulation Burning off the same amount of energy you take in = no difference in weight Burning off more energy than you consume = weight loss Ah, yes. Its simply said because it is that simple. Get physically active. Humans are the only disoriented beings on this earth. All problems there ever will be are caused by humans. ALL problems in this day and age are caused by humans. You may ask, What about the volcano eruptions and hurricanes that cause disaster?, and my reply is Dont build near the ocean or volcanoes. The reason natural disasters affect us is because we insist on building civilization around them. If a volcano erupts on an island that no one lives on, in the middle of the ocean there is no problem. Now how does that relate to weight loss? Being overweight is the problem and we are the only ones responsible for the solution. I believe undoubtedly that one of the main reasons for people being overweight and failing at any exercise or dieting program is because generally they are not committed and tend to blame something or someone else for their own way of doing things. Maintaining proper health is simple and I will show you how.
Lets get going! This book is not hundreds of pages long and I guarantee you that if you follow this book promptly, YOU WILL SUCCEED. Let me repeat: YOU WILL SUCCEED. You will lose weight. You will be able to enjoy all food you eat. You also have the potential to save money and ultimately enjoy living a healthy lifestyle.
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My goal is to help as many people as possible to lose weight and to live a healthier and happier life. Read this at your own pace. If something catches your mind, read it over again and take a minute to think about what you read. Use this book as a guide to your success in weight loss. You will come across ideas throughout this book to help get you started. Take action on these ideas! They are absolutely critical for getting desired results. When you read over an idea, implement the idea immediately ACT THEN AND THERE! Dont procrastinate. Dont tell yourself you have something else to do. As Nike puts it, Just do it.
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Chapter 1 The Right Mental Attitude

All areas of health including weight loss will always begin with the proper mind set. This mind set is your mental attitude. Your mental attitude is the way you think about health, food and exercise. It is also the way you think about your overall life in general. This chapter will help open your mind to a new way of thinking that will enable you to burn fat, achieve great health and maintain it, permanently. There is a wide variety of health and fitness programs for dieting and exercising aimed at weight loss, fitness and muscle gain. The question is - do they work? There is not one single exercise or dieting program out there that will work for everyone. Well at least that is what some believe. I believe that the reasons why almost all programs fail to work are: The self-esteem of the individual is low One body type is different than another Everyone has a different metabolic rate (the speed of metabolism) They could have a health issue they dont know about They use the program but leave out one ingredient: the diet guide for the program. Lack of self-control The diet and exercise program was too hyped up and really does not work
It is a fact that there are many other so called reasons or excuses as to why these programs may not work for individuals. However, there is one reason that I believe is the culprit. The biggest reason I think that many diet and exercise programs dont work is that; the individual does not commit themselves 100%. They dont clearly know what they want and they take no responsibility for their actions and results. After trying half-heartedly for a few weeks, they throw up their hands and say it doesnt work! And who do they blame? They blame the creator of the program, the people around them, or even genetics.
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A second reason is this: Some programs start by trying to push the person to take huge leaps at once. If you wanted to climb Mount Everest, you would start by knowing that you want to get to the top of the mountain and then taking one step towards the top. And with persistent effort, that one step leads to another step and then another. Finally, youve arrived at the top. To mould your body and change your health is also very much like working your way up the corporate ladder. Generally speaking, you would start at the bottom and work your way up. This is a New Age we live in where technology rules the earth. Technology helps the human race move forward. It helps industries manufacture and deliver goods and services much faster and in more efficient ways. It helps the consumer book a flight without having to walk or drive to the travel agency. Technology will cut down the time of travel needed to go to work and back. And as you can see, it has also made some people lazy. This laziness factor plays a major role in making people think that they can get something for nothing. Some also think that they should get desired results immediately. An example of this is; wanting to lose 100 pounds in exchange for one month of sit-ups. They expect nature to bend its rules for them. It doesnt work that way and it never will. For one to live healthy, burn fat, or gain weight it takes time, energy and possibly money and there is no other way around it. You have to be willing to give it all you got and more. Someone who purchases a program and has a goal to lose fifty pounds by the end of the month has a high chance of failure. Failure can be a good thing if learned from, but if someone shoots too high and doesnt achieve at least half of what they expected; their self-esteem and possible dream can be hit hard. Im not saying to dream small. Im saying the complete opposite, but start just by taking one step at a time. Focus on one thing at a time. If the end result you want is 200 pounds or more of pure muscle but youre overweight, start by losing the extra weight, first. Get into the habit of thinking and acting in a new way that will take you from overweight to average and then to fit. Its all about habit. Youve already made the decision to lose weight by reading this book. Every human accomplishment starts with an idea followed by a decision to turn that idea into a reality.
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Your mind and what you feed it and have been feeding it developed your self-esteem. Self-esteem is also known as selfimage the way you see yourself. Do you know that your body is entirely controlled by your mind? Every piece of muscle tissue and all of your organs are completely controlled by your mind, consciously and unconsciously. The mind is responsible for every move you make. As you read these words you have been literally telling the muscles in your eye to do so. The point is that you can tell any part of your body to do anything and it will. Feed your mind with the proper information on dieting and exercise and tell your body to follow and it will. You are the driver and your body is the car. There is Health Avenue, Fat Lane, and Fitness Street which road will you choose to drive?
Health and Fitness Is a Choice Let us take a fellow named Jim as a prime example. Jim gets a new job as an accountant for X Corporation. Across the street from the building he works in, is a fast food burger joint. He decides that it is best to go there every day for lunch since its cheap and takes only a minute to walk cross the street. For two years, Jim follows the same daily routine: has breakfast, goes to work, eats a huge high calorie, gut rotting, fast food meal for lunch every day, goes home and eats dinner and finally watches a couple hours of television before going to bed. At the end of those same two years, Jim realizes that his gut is huge. He starts to blame the fast food restaurant for serving him too much food. He continues to blame the restaurant for being so conveniently close to his work. What happened? Is the fast food restaurant or Jim to be blamed? In this case, Jim is absolutely ignorant, making him the one at fault. You can tell by observing his habits that he formed out of choice. First of all, he should realize that his office job requires no hard physical labor. That means he will not burn off what he eats, even with a good metabolism. He is ignorant about the fact that all fast food is usually high in saturated fat and packed full of calories (we will get into calories later on). On top of that he continues to sit on the couch at home and watch television for a couple hours
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every night. So again we notice his lacking in PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. SO, the way I see it is this; he chose what restaurant to eat at. He chose what food he ordered. He chose to be lazy and watch television for hours before going to bed. He neglected exercising and it was by choice. The food didnt do it to him. The convenient location of the restaurant did not make him overweight. Jim is the one responsible for gaining weight because it was his choice to eat there and it was also his choice not to be physically active. In 2002 there was a law suit against the big golden arches. McDonalds was blamed and trailed in court for two teenage girls being very overweight. It was said that they dined there several times a week. It was also said that it was because they were just kids and that McDonalds lured them in with advertisements and toys. Whose fault was it really? Okay, so kids usually lack the ability to make a good decision and they are not to blame. They are just attracted to what makes them feel good like everyone else. School doesnt generally doesnt teach children to decide what is good or bad for them so that leaves one place responsible the home. When I heard about this, a thought occurred to me that their parents never taught them how to think for themselves. These kids were obviously not taught how to use common sense. Their parents never taught them how to keep physically active. Their parents never helped them learn about nutrition and the good and bad foods. And as far as Im concerned their parents probably have the habits of eating bad and not exercising themselves. Other fast food chains have also been sued in court. And to my knowledge, it was a lost case. Now really think about that. Those people did not take responsibility for themselves or their children. They would rather blame others instead of their OWN personal initiative. And to prove that no fast food chain is a problem for being overweight, later in the book I will give a true story about how eating burgers and fries daily does not necessarily mean getting fat.
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The I cant Syndrome
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Your mental attitude is vitally important and will determine the state of your entire health. If your attitude consists of negative self-suggestions then you will be doomed to acquire good health. Negative self-suggestions would be: Im fat I will never lose weight I will never get the body I want exercising is too hard I dont have the time or resources to improve my health other people will make fun of me anyway so whats the point Im big boned being overweight is my fate it takes too long being healthy means I cant eat the food I love
And on and on the list goes. Any of those statements and anything similar only act as excuses. Accept yourself just for this moment. To hell with other people and what they think. Opinions are free, cheap and useless and most cases are rarely backed by facts. Throw away anything negative that comes to mind and from here on, develop an open and more positive mental attitude. Start to change the way you think about yourself. Take a moment and find things about your physical self that you respect. This will take your thinking off of the negative side of things and onto the positive side. Be true to yourself. This is not conceit. You want to start this journey by having a healthy respect for yourself. It was only a couple hundred years ago when most countries were still ruled by kings and queens. Royalty for the most part was usually physically overweight. If you want proof you can take a look at past portraits of them. Back then, being overweight meant that the person was wealthy and ate well. Today we learn the opposite and that being overweight not only causes health issues but financial issues as well. Financial issues such as hospital bills for heart surgeries or liposuction. Financial issues may also come in the form of payments for prescription drugs possibly because of a rise in high blood pressure. Heart attacks, strokes and other health issues caused by bad dieting and no exercise also lead to funerals which
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also cost money. New research finds that its not just the amount of sugar in your body that causes diabetes but also having a lot of excess weight is a major cause. The I cant syndrome should be neglected. There is nothing you cannot do. You can do whatever you put your mind to. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE FOR YOU!
The Top Ten Weight Loss Myths BUSTED! The following is a list of only a handful of the myths out there about health and fitness. It is astonishing how many people make such claims without getting the facts. I want to bust these myths for you to help clear your mind so that you can have a more accurate understanding.
Myth #1: Sweets are good for you Its one thing to eat a whole chocolate cake frosted with sugar filled icing and to enjoy a nice small slice of that same cake. You can eat sweets but just in small portions, but start to lean yourself off of them entirely. If you enjoy sugar with your coffee or tea, you can supplement that with honey a more healthy sugar. Wait did you hear that before, too? Honey and refined sugar are both sugar. The only difference is the idea that honey comes from more of a natural source as opposed to sugar cane (a plant) getting processed through a factory. You can also continue to enjoy chocolate for now. Dark chocolate and unsweetened chocolate are the better choices if you enjoy chocolate. The problem with eating chocolate is that it is still high in sugar and calories no matter the form. If you are looking to lose weight fast, I suggest you eliminate sweets altogether.
Myth #2: Eat fat and you will get fat This is half right and half wrong. There are good fats and bad fats. Bad fats are in forms of processed foods like potato chips, candy, donuts and cakes (where big portions of lard or shortening are used). Other sources of bad fats consist of cheese, coconut oil,
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butter and ice cream. Saturated fats like the fat surrounding a rack of ribs and in some fried foods are bad fats. Good fats (oils) come from nuts, seeds, canola oil, fish (like salmon or tuna), and avocados. To keep it simply, most animal fats are bad for you and the good fats come from select fish and plants. You need to eat good fats for many reasons. One reason being is that your brain is made of fat and you cant survive without it.
Myth #3: Losing weight is hard This is the biggest myth busted. And to prove it to you, by the time you finish this book and at the end of the next 30 days, you will witness the birth of a new you both physically and mentally. Pounding back fifty pound dumbbells require hard work but taking literally a pocket full of minutes a day for light to intermediate physical activity is not. In fact, if you were to just change what you eat then you will lose the weight.
Myth #4: I can eat anything and stay healthy Some fitness and body building experts claim that just because they are fit, they can eat anything they want and nothing bad will happen. This is false. Even if someone is highly active and has an amazing physique, it doesnt mean they are exempt from the consequences of eating unhealthy foods. Eating a lot of saturated fat will cause clogged arteries and a probable heart attack or stroke to anyone. Some bad foods could also have a long term side effect. In the beginning of this book I mentioned that I eat what I want and when I want I never go overboard.
Myth #5: Fat turns into muscle Fat and muscle are two entirely different cells. Fat cells are fat cells and muscle cells are muscle cells. They cannot be transformed into one another. Both cells store energy. You either gain fat or lose fat or gain muscle and lose muscle. Refer to introduction for full explanation.
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Myth #6: Carbs are bad for you This is absolutely wrong! You need to consume carbs to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Carbs (carbohydrates) come in different foods. There are foods with low levels of carbs, a moderate level of carbs and a high level of carbs. Foods with a low level of carbs are kidney beans, orange juice, carrots, apples, oranges, and corn. Foods with a moderate level of carbs are foods like oatmeal, spaghetti and raisins. Foods with a higher level include bread, bagels, energy drinks, and gram wafers. Carbs are also a big source of energy. If you eat lots of carbs but dont exercise you will produce more fat cells in your body. I encourage you to take time to do your own research. You can go online to google.com and type in food carbs. You should see a list of articles, blogs and other resources to fill you in on more information. Be careful when researching information as many sites give false information. The Mayo Clinic is a good place to get information on nutrition.
Myth #7: Cooking oil is bad Canola oil is a healthy alternative to using butter, lard, margarine, vegetable shortening and any other hydrogenated oils. I personally use canola oil for some of my cooking but have recently switched to just using water. You too can also substitute cooking oil for water and boil or steam your food. You can never go wrong with using just water to cook. Some experts claim recently that coconut oil and palm oil is good and that it can help prevent cardiac disease. The reason they believe this is because of an observation they made about the connection of the tropical countries that use coconut and palm oil and the low or no rate of cardiac disease. Not bad of an observation, but in my belief, it needs more evidence.
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Myth #8: Diet means eating small
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To be under weight is as unhealthy as being overweight. Your body requires a variety of foods that will provide sufficient energy and nutrition. Dont go for more than three or four hours (max) without a meal. This will put your body into starvation. This could also trigger different kinds of mental and emotional stress. The key here is that you dont want to over eat. You will know if you over eat because your stomach will feel full after eating. And yes, that is what most people probably do. Avoid eating until you are full. Eat until you are content and snack between meals. When you are on a diet or change a diet, it should not require you to starve yourself.
Myth #9: Protein shakes and high protein foods are a must If you want to bulk up on muscle then yes. If you plan to lose weight, dont take any extra protein than you have to. Your body needs proteins for the building and functioning of the body. If you take in a lot of protein (like extra protein shakes daily) but do only a small amount of exercise, the extra calories that are in protein shakes could lead to weight gain and not loss. Energy that goes into the body and is not used will be stored as fat. On the other hand, if you take in a high protein diet and start a weight lifting program, that same protein will help to build your muscle. Too much protein can also harm the organs if you do lift weights or not. A little hot tip: adding a bit more protein in your meals will help you feel full longer. This is because it is a slower process to break down the protein. More carbohydrates do not necessarily mean you will feel full longer but they do a better job than a high fat meal. Fat (saturated fat included) is absorbed fast and will leave you feeling hungry faster after you eat.
Myth #10: There is a magical diet for weight loss Not true. There is no magic bullet for losing weight, period. If you choose to go on a low fat diet where you only ate vegetables and you planned to sit on the couch all day and every day, you would still increase the size of fat cells in the body. You want to be conscious about what you eat and how you eat it, but I assure you there is no magical diet. Weight loss pills dont work. Let me
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repeat: WEIGHT LOSS PILLS DO NOT WORK keep your money in your pocket!
In the end there are only good foods and bad foods. All good food that goes into your body becomes energy. Any physical exercise you do will exhaust and burn up that energy. The amount of energy you burn will depend on the intensity and duration of the activity. On the other hand, bad foods that go into your body will also supply you with energy. The difference between the good and bad foods is that bad foods can cause bad side effects. (Example: consuming a lot of saturated fats that clog arteries.) Bad foods can also cause a chemical imbalance in the body causing mental malfunction. Bad foods are also foods that have a high calorie count and have very few, if any, other nutrients in them.
Abs: Its Just a Promotion Marketing in health and fitness is mainly done based on self-esteem. Its easiest to notice this in health and fitness advertising. The fact of the matter is that anyone youve seen in a fitness commercial who are ripped with big or lean muscle have achieved it either by years of hard work, the use of steroids, or both. And not only that, but usually these ads promise you a sexy stomach in 30 days. Im sorry to burst the bubble but it wont happen. To get ripped abs you have to build the abdominal muscles and trim the fat around the stomach and it can take a while. Its not impossible but it takes time and effort. Instant fat loss like liposuction is bad for the body and doesnt solve the problem it treats the symptom. Not to mention its costly. A person who gets the fat loss operation can very well add on the pounds again because they never changed the way they think and the way they eat. Another thing to think about is this: have you ever given it thought to what it would look like if a person actually had ripped abs in thirty days but the rest of their body still remained over weight and lacked muscle? Think about it; ripped abs with chunky legs and arms and the loose skin that droops down because it previously expanded to the fat cells that consumed space in the
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How to Get Motivated
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body. Just by imagining it you can see how nuts that would look on anyone! The only thing that most of these ads say is, buy this product and dont guarantee results. You may say, But they have a 60 day guarantee on the ad! The reply to that is: read the fine print. Dont get me wrong - there are a couple programs out there that are legitimate and do work just fine. I know because Ive tested a few programs myself and got results. For the time being, stay away from any program or product that seems just too easy. I can guarantee you that there is no way for getting-fit-quick results without damaging your body. You can definitely get the body you want but in due time and you absolutely must put in the effort. Other kinds of weight loss products to be aware of are in form of gadgets. An example is an electronic belt that shocks your stomach muscles to flex them by force. This involves you buying the belt, putting it on, and sitting around while the belt does the work. It doesnt work. There is one thing you CANNOT do as of right now, and that is: to hire someone or something to exercise for you. You can hire someone to run your business. You can hire someone to do your grocery shopping. You can even hire a personal trainer to help motivate you and show you what exercises to do. But the one thing remains is that you cant hire someone to actually make a decision and follow through on it for you. When you hire someone to run a business for you, they work based on how you want it to work. If you hire someone to go grocery shopping, you can tell them what food to get but they cant eat it for you. If you hire a personal fitness trainer, they cant do the exercises for you. Its YOU that is responsible for the results of your own physical body. Not him or her and not the dog it is YOU. There is one more thing to be aware of. You know those magical weight loss pills and colon cleansing products? The products are pretty well all backed by theory only and no physical evidence. Its a pity they work on the insecurities of people to make sales. Also, these pills and cleansing products will be 99.9% dangerous to your health. Please be careful!
Ah yes! A common issue in the arena of health and fitness is the ability to motivate one self and get the job done. You must be persistent in order to shape your body to the way you want it. It is also required that you have complete self-control. Here are the four steps for motivation and strengthening your discipline: 1. Know exactly what weight you want to be at and develop a motive to get there. The motive will act as the driving force to get you to where you want to go. You can achieve this by having a clear picture in your mind of what you want your body to look like, and figure out the why behind your intention. Why do you want to lose the weight? 2. Have a plan that you will follow with continuous action. (The plan will be provided for you near the end of this book.) 3. Keep a closed mind to any negative comments and opinions from anyone that may discourage you. 4. Associate with another person who will help encourage you to follow through with your plan. (You can also come back to this book and read it over and over again as this book was meant to help guide and encourage you.) You must be 100% committed to achieving your weight loss goal. This means that, no matter what, you will see it through until the end and do what you see necessary to get you there. If it takes you the next three months to do so, then do it! If it will take a year or two then do that. Never stop half way. Go at it with all youve got. If you fail to reach your goal the first time, then give it another shot. In step one I said you need a motive. Your personal motive is the why behind losing weight in the first place. Why do you want to lose weight? Do you want to look better and feel healthier? Do you want to impress someone or do you just want peace of mind from the doctor and others saying that you should lose weight? Is it because you want to look sexy in that dress again? What is it? Just as your body needs fuel to do what you want it to do, so does your mind, and that is exactly what a motive will do for you. You must also have Faith. By Faith I dont mean religion but the belief in you and your abilities. No one can ever believe in you more than you. You absolutely must have faith in yourself and
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your ability to lose weight. This is what will carry you through the times when you may feel like giving up. When people tell you that youre not making any progress or that you are silly doing what you are doing, if you believe in yourself, you will not take judgement or any other form of criticism from anyone. This is a weakness that many people suffer from. They let others control them by accepting the suggestions of other people and not believing in their own capacity to do something great. Dont follow the Joneses because the Joneses are not only broke but fat as well.
Perfect Health Starts With a Decision No matter how big or small the goal, it starts with knowing what you want and making a decision that you will go and get it. A decision made by you. If you just try or see how it works out then you will probably fail. Decide right now that you will lose weight, no matter what it takes. Decide on a specific amount of weight you want to lose. This is critical. To decide how much weight you want to lose, below is a guideline about what weight measurements may be good for a particular height and depending if you are female or male. The weight measurements are as follows:
For The Women Height 4 8 4 9 4 10 4 11 5 0 5 1 5 2 5 3 5 4 Ideal Weight Range* 82.5 lbs. 111.5 lbs. 85.5 lbs. 115.5 lbs. 88.5 lbs. 119.6 lbs. 91.6 lbs. 123.8 lbs. 94.7 lbs. 128 lbs. 97.9 lbs. 132.3 lbs. 101.1 lbs. 136.7 lbs. 104.4 lbs. 141.1 lbs. 107.8 lbs. 145.6 Weight Goal* 97 lbs. 100.5 lbs. 104 lbs. 107.7 lbs. 111.3 lbs. 115.1 lbs. 118.9 lbs. 122.75 lbs.
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126.7 lbs.
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5 5 5 6 5 7 5 8 5 9 5 10 5 11 6 0
lbs. 111.2 lbs. 150.2 lbs. 114.6 lbs. 154.9 lbs. 118.1 lbs. 159.6 lbs. 121.7 lbs. 164.4 lbs. 125.3 lbs. 169.3 lbs. 128.9 lbs. 174.2 lbs. 132.6 lbs. 179.2 lbs. 136.4 lbs. 184.3 lbs.
130.7 lbs. 134.7 lbs. 138.8 lbs. 143 lbs. 147.3 lbs. 151.5 lbs. 155.9 lbs. 160.3 lbs.
For The Men Height 5 0 5 1 5 2 5 3 5 4 5 5 5 6 5 7 5 8 Ideal Weight Range* 94.7 lbs. 128 lbs. 97.9 lbs. 132.3 lbs. 101.1 lbs. 136.7 lbs. 104.4 lbs. 141.1 lbs. 107.8 lbs. 145.6 lbs. 111.2 lbs. 150.2 lbs. 114.6 lbs. 154.9 lbs. 118.1 lbs. 159.6 lbs. 121.7 lbs. 164.4 lbs. Weight Goal* 111.3 lbs. 115.1 lbs. 118.9 lbs. 122.7 lbs. 126.7 lbs. 130.7 lbs. 134.7 lbs. 138.8 lbs.
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143 lbs.
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5 9 5 10 5 11 6 0
125.3 lbs. 169.3 lbs. 128.9 lbs. 174.2 lbs. 132.6 lbs. 179.2 lbs. 136.4 lbs. 184.3 lbs.
147.3 lbs. 151.5 lbs. 155.9 lbs. 160.35 lbs.
*The tables above show the Ideal Healthy Body Weight based on BMI (Body Mass Index) recommendation. *The tables are based on or around the age of thirty five for both female and male. Depending on your actual age, gender, and body type, the Ideal Body Weight may be different than in the tables shown above. *The Weight Goal column is the exact difference between the two numbers given in each Ideal Weight Range column. You can modify the number to suit your needs. For best recommendation, consult with your family doctor or physician to see what weight goal works best for you. Depending on where you are from, you may use kg (kilograms) instead of lbs. (pounds). If this is the case, simply take any number given in lbs. and multiply it by 0.453592. This will give you the number in kg. If you measure height by meters instead of feet and inches then take the height given in the tables above, and multiply the height by 0.3048 to give you the measurement in meters. In reference to the Ideal Weight Range Column, if the current body weight you have is under the lowest number given, that means you could be underweight. If your current body weight is over the highest number in that same column, you may be overweight. I say may be overweight because the numbers can be different for you. Again, I would like to mention that to find your perfect healthy weight goal, go ask your physician or family
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doctor. Healthy weight measurements should also include the type of body you have and how old you are.
Write It Out If you dont have a weigh scale then you can buy one at Wal-Mart or another department store of your choice. You can also ask a neighbor, friend or family member if you can borrow theirs. (If you borrow, remember to return it and eventually get one of your own!) Now go weigh yourself! According to your current weight, what category do you fall under in the Ideal Weight Range Column? If you are underweight then you can discontinue reading and seek other knowledge to help you gain weight. If your weight falls within the range given then you can still follow this book to help increase your strength and overall health. If your weight falls above the highest number in the Ideal Weight Range column then you can choose the number from the Weight Goal* column. Make this your weight target. For example, if you are a woman that has a height of 5 4 and your current weight is over 145.6 lbs. you can record your weight goal as 126.7 lbs. or just 126 lbs. At this point we should calculate how many pounds to lose. Using the same example; if you are a woman that has a height of 5 4 and your current weight is 150 lbs. then take 150(current weight) and subtract 126(your weight target). The answer will be 24. Burning off 6 lbs. a month for four months could be hard for you to do. Even though it is possible, lets be more realistic. By realistic I mean to burn off 2- or 3- lbs. each month over the next 12 or 8 months. Being unrealistic and wanting to lose 100 lbs. in the next month or two, it just wont happen. Nature will not permit you to do so. If Man has a solution for losing that amount of weight in such little time, then it will probably damage you. Write out your goal on a piece of paper and keep it with you at all times. This will serve as an everyday reminder as you reflect on it from day to day. Write your goal down as follows: By (future date) I will weigh (desired weight). I will accomplish this by reading and rereading The 6 Natural Habits for Effective Weight loss and applying the dietary tips and exercise plan
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provided. I will continue to educate myself in health and fitness and believe in myself and my ability to get the results I want. (Your signature here) If the day you are writing your statement is January 1st 2013 and you plan to lose the weight you chose in 3 months, then you can write in April 1st 2013 as the date you want to achieve it by. I will give you an example of what this statement should look like. This will be based on being male with a height of 5 5 weighing 152 pounds with a definite goal of 130 lbs., a time frame of 4 months and the date is March 1 2000: By July 1st I will weigh 130 lbs. I will accomplish this by reading and rereading The 6 Natural Habits for Effective Weight loss and applying the dietary tips and exercise plan provided. I will continue to educate myself in health and fitness and believe in myself and my ability to get the results I want. Jim Doe If you have a goal for losing 50-100 lbs. or more then it will take a while. Dont be discouraged if this is so! Take one day at a time and in no time you will get there. Be realistic when setting the time frame for your goal. I will guarantee that if you follow the diet tips and exercise plan in this book that you will lose much more than a couple pounds a month even if you are 100 lbs. over weight. After you have written and signed your statement, keep it with you at all times and read it a few times daily. It will keep you on track. It will help keep you focused. It will remind you daily of your goal and also remind you to act on the ideas presented in this guide. If you truly want to lose weight and want to lose it bad enough you will probably get there in no time.
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Chapter 2 The Habit of Healthy Eating

The statement knowledge is power is only a half truth. Accurate knowledge that is acted on is power. This chapter will take a detailed look at how you can change your diet to gain big results in the shortest amount of time. Notice the title of this chapter mentions the word habit. A person who wants to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle must also change their eating habits alongside changing their exercise habits. As you read, think and act on the ideas presented to you. Repetition is the key to learning. Repetition is also the key to forming new habits. This involves taking a new idea and implementing it into your life, daily. Every time you do something new, and do it over again, you start to form a new habit. When that new idea is acted upon repeatedly, the new habit grows stronger than the old and is more difficult to break. Creating a new habit takes discipline and probably will not be made over-night. It takes time. When you start to form a new habit, it will be hard at first. As you strengthen the new habit, it will eventually become a fixed habit. A fixed habit is automatically carried out as an unconscious act. Its like brushing your teeth in the morning before going to work; you just do it without thinking about it.
Pills and gyms and shakes, oh my! The most important advice I can give you right now is to stay away from weight loss pills, magical diet pills, colon cleansing products, gym memberships and protein shakes. Weight loss pills and magical dietary pills dont work. They are dangerous to your health. Your body is made for gradual increase or decrease of muscle and fat. If at any time you do lose weight or gain weight fast in any shape or form, there is something definitely wrong. The only accepting scenario is when we as children get our growth spurts. We feel the stretching and growing pains of the body growing but still we wont grow an extra twelve inches
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overnight. Adults know very well they should not experience any growth spurts in the near future. Colon cleansing appears to be a new fad (once again). You dont need chemicals to keep the digestive track clean. We can eat more foods that are high in fiber for a natural cleansing. We should keep our digestive track clean and we can do that in a healthy way. I will cover this subject of keeping clean in a later chapter. Steroids are also a substance to probably avoid. Steroids usually cause problems, life threatening problems if someone takes too much. Steroids for medical issues may be necessary, and if so, they will be prescribed by your doctor. I have never used steroids to build muscle myself and I will encourage you, as the reader, not to do so either. Gym memberships have an average cost of forty to fifty dollars. It could be that you pay a bit less or a lot more than forty or fifty bucks. If you pay $40 a month for one year, it would cost you $480 for an entire year. The $480 does not include the initial start-up fees and any other fee that the gym could charge. If you currently hold a monthly gym membership cancel it. You dont need a gym to lose weight. The extra expense can be cash saved. First of all, gyms are not exactly sanitary. Ask yourself this: do you really enjoy the idea of sitting in someone elses sweat and other bodily fluids? Thats a pretty gross fact, right? Second is that the $480 dollars could buy you your own weights or even other exercise equipment for the home and you would only make one payment instead of recurring payments every month. In the long run that would save you so piles of money. After all, you want to lose weight and not try and keep up with the Joneses, right? Protein shakes, as I mentioned earlier, could keep you over weight or even add more pounds around your stomach. There are different kinds of protein powders available. The human body does require protein in the diet to be healthy. If the main goal is to lose weight, consider a normal intake of protein that will come from your everyday diet as opposed to slamming back a vast amount of protein thinking it will help you lose the weight.
Ignorance is Bliss
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A while back, a friend of mine wanted to lose weight and gain muscle. It was obvious that he was definitely over weight and
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out of shape. I introduced him to a few Natural exercises that he could do to help him lose weight, gain strength and set himself up for weight lifting. Exercise was a must for him because his job involved no physical labor. It was also mentioned to him that if he lay off the sugar and the bad carbs, he would achieve his goal much faster. Every so often we would go for a walk together and catch up on his progress. He was starting to feel better about himself (mentally) and over time his small gains (physically) were becoming very noticeable. A time later we went met again for coffee. He asked me what exercise program I would recommend to speed up the results. He also questioned me about what protein powder he should buy. I suggested that he avoids taking any additional protein until he lost the weight that he wanted to lose. He ended up purchasing and adding in protein shakes to his diet. He also thought that drinking energy drinks would give him his daily boost to get his exercises done. The results were not surprising. Months passed and it was really obvious that he had lost some weight. He got to a point where he wasnt burning the fat like before, even though he started a more intense exercise routine. He plateaued. This fellow continued to slam back the shakes and the energy drinks, but it was still noticeable that he still had a big amount of fat on his body and never gained much more muscle. The fact is this; if he would have steered away from drinking protein shakes and energy drinks while working towards losing weight while continuing the same exercise routine, he would have burned the fat off his stomach much faster. Energy drinks can help make you fat. Energy drinks are loaded with bad carbs, sugars and are high in calories. The reason why his progress came to a halt is because he was not burning off any extra energy. Needless to say, he did not meet his goal. One thing I noticed is that his attitude about protein shakes and energy drinks was very much like many others. His thinking was what most people think. He had low self-esteem to begin with and at the same time, it was as if he thought he should drink more protein and chemicals (energy drinks) because its the thing to do. Just because athletes and celebrities endorse a product, or
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that you see someone else do something that may look good, doesnt mean its good for you or will help you. Conformity, in most cases, will not bring desired results. The problem of conforming is that the ego gets in the way of making a decision. In this case, my friend chose to do things because other people do them. He did not make a decision based on facts and the choices he made did not give him the results he wanted. Was his choice a wrong choice? His choice was not wrong at all. At the very least, he made a choice. The decision he made just did not get him results that he wanted. Take note that energy drinks are horrible for your overall short and long term health. I hope you already knew that. There is too much sugar in those drinks. Overdosing on energy drinks is not pretty. All of this stuff is stuff that you can avoid spending money on. Not only will it save you money but it will also save your health. Last but not least, unplug your television, video games and DVD player. You can also cancel your cable and satellite services. I have not had cable television for years now because I choose not to have it. Television, movies and video games keeps people lazy and zoned out. Its turned into a norm to have so many electronics in the house. And for the record, television and video games for long periods of time are known to have big side effects in kids. Side effects include being overweight and obese because of laziness. They use their time to sit around instead of being active. Entertainment is nice every so often but its a bad thing when it gets to be all of the time. And just because I mention kids, it doesnt exclude adults. Due to the instant emotional gratification that technology gives people, it shortens a persons attention span. The ability to focus is a must. Spread your focus onto a million different things and behold! NOTHING GETS ACCOMPLISHED. You would be amazed at what you can accomplish WITHOUT a television (and/or cable). When anyone ever tells me they dont have the time for anything, especially for exercising they are lying to themselves. Cancel the cable plan and you just made time.
A recent study has shown that the average household in America watches about 8 hours worth of television a day on average. That is a long time sitting around. Thats a bit much, isnt it? Television also included internet video streaming and the use of smartphones. How much progress do you think someone can make by exercising and reading literature on dieting for 2 hours a day instead of watching television for that same amount? The results would be AMAZING.
Not Too Much and Not Too Little Over eating is not good for the body. When you over eat, your body has to work harder than if you are to eat normally. Eat until you feel content then stop. If you feel an urge to continue eating, find something recreational to do. And if you are hungry after that, at least youve done some exercise and burned up the energy you ate prior. You can also drink a glass or two of water after eating to contentment to help prevent you eating further. Being overweight or obese are only a couple results from over eating. Instead of going to McDonalds and ordering a Big Mac with super-sized fries and a large coke, just get the same Big Mac but with small fries and a small water and dont eat there every day.
The Nutritional Path to Success There are six classes of nutrients. These six classes are carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, minerals, fats and water. When you really break it down, meals usually consist of only three big nutrients; proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. A calorie to most people means fat. Calories are only a measurement used to measure energy. Calories are found in carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Too much of this energy that is not burned up will turn add itself to fat cells. Carbohydrates are a major source of energy for the body. Carbohydrates are in forms of grain products like bread, cereal, rice, noodles, etc. They are also found in fruits and vegetables. For every one gram of carbohydrate are 4 calories. Carbohydrates are
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not all bad. There are good and bad carbs. When good carbs are over consumed, they become bad for us because of the amounts. A past (and still present) fad is a low carb diet. The truth is that we need carbohydrates. Low carb diets are not exactly smart. Change the quality of the carbohydrates and not so much the quantity. You should only change the quantity if you eat more than your body needs. Bad carbs are refined carbohydrates and this is the stuff you want to eliminate. Refined carbohydrates are food products that have been stripped of fiber, germ, bran and practically all nutrients and the other good stuff. And the only thing left behind is the sugar (or starch). An example of a refined and regular carbohydrate would be white rice and wild rice. White rice is stripped of all the good there was in it (refined) and wild rice still has all the good stuff (nonrefined) in it.
The Truth about Carbohydrates Your body uses carbs to give power to the muscles. Carbs also supply your brain with energy to function properly. The glucose is converted from the carbohydrates and is absorbed through your intestines and distributed through the bloodstream. Your body tries to maintain certain levels of glucose. Any oversupply of glucose is stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen. Glycogen is a long chain of glucose. When glucose is needed, the body takes it from these storage units or stimulates you to eat. In order to maintain a balance of a blood-glucose level (blood sugar level), the pancreas creates two hormones: glucagon and insulin. Many of the bodys functions require the use of insulin but the fat cells, muscle cells and liver are primary targets. Insulin will stimulate the liver and muscle cells to store glucose and to make proteins from amino acids. It also stimulates the formation of fat from glycerol and fatty acids. In simple terms; this helps you maintain your blood sugar levels. Eating too many carbohydrates will cause a spike in your blood sugar level. Eating refined carbohydrates (the bad ones) will cause a spike in your blood sugar level. Refined carbohydrates take less effort to digest and are injected in the
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system at a faster rate. After constantly eating too many carbs or eating a lot of refined carbs, insulin resistance comes in. When this happens, any extra sugars are stored as fat and more insulin is required. There are good and bad carbohydrates. Examples of bad carbs are soft drinks, candy, sugar, artificial syrup, pastries, potatoes, and white grains such as white rice and white bread. Good carbs come in the form of whole grain products, fruits, nuts and vegetables. Vitamins are another nutrient in themselves. The body needs vitamins in order to function correctly. Aside from taking a multivitamin pill you can eat vitamin rich foods like everyday fruits and vegetables. A fair warning to those you are taking multivitamin pills: some of the vitamins from multivitamin pills are said to aid the development of cancer. I personally dont take multi vitamins anymore since they made me literally sick and Ive been perfectly healthy by eating healthy food. In the long run, supplements do more harm than good. Its like someone who lacks vitamin D. Instead of a supplemental pill, why not just add more food with vitamin D in the diet? The reason you dont hear of scurvy anymore is because the cure was found. Scurvy was a result of a vitamin C deficiency - meaning that the individual with scurvy was lacking in vitamin C. What was the cure? Citrus fruit with vitamin C in the fruit NOT a multivitamin or vitamin C supplement. The reason why almost all supplements are sold in huge quantities every year is this: they make big profit. Minerals are a nutrient that is essential for the body to grow and develop. They help grow a strong bone formation and help transmit nerve impulses. They also help maintain a healthy heart beat and produce hormones. Good sources of minerals are broccoli, other leafed vegetables and shellfish like oysters, shrimp and clams. Greens are the better choice for minerals since shellfish is high in cholesterol. There are fats and proteins that act as important separate nutrients for the body. There are 9 calories for ever one gram of fat and 4 calories for every one gram of protein. Some foods that have fat are animal fat, nuts, creams and salad dressings. The fat from nuts is healthier than say animal fat, creams and salad dressings. Fat is healthy for you but select a good fat to eat.
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Animal fat is bad fat (saturated). Good fats from animals are from fish like salmon and tuna. Last but not least is water. Water is the foundation to all body fluids. Its the ingredient that makes organs functional and all cell processes possible. Your body is mostly made of water. Water is the essence of life. The fact remains that water is an element that we or any living thing on this planet cant live without.
The Five Food Categories We will now look at the five food categories. Throughout the remainder of this chapter, I will explain the small things you can do to change the way you eat and can accelerate your results, immediately. There will be foods that you must eliminate completely to achieve faster results. I would like to remind you that you have to implement these ideas in order for them to work. Some ideas will consist of changing the quality of the food you eat and cutting back on others. Reading alone will not bring you the results you want - you have to do something different. The five categories will be as follows; fruits and vegetables, grain products, dairy products, meat and fish products, and other products.
Category #1: Fruits and Vegetables Make vegetables your number one priority. Vegetables should be the foundation to your diet from now on. Your body receives many different kinds of vitamins and minerals from eating vegetables. Its always best to get them as fresh as possible. Do everything you can to give your body the most nutritious food available. Vegetables are best consumed raw. Eating them raw will insure that the nutrients it contains will stay rich. Cooking vegetables is obviously okay but avoid overcooking them. All the good in the vegetable will be stripped from the vegetable if overcooked or burnt meaning there is nothing nutritious left behind. An example of over cooking vegetables would be frying, steaming or boiling the vegetable until it is so soft that it easily
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falls apart. The USDA Dietary guidelines for America recommend that you should eat three to five servings of vegetables a day. (This recommendation can vary depending on age and gender of the person). You can have a serving of vegetables with lunch and dinner and snack on vegetables in-between meals. Green vegetables are high in iron as well as calcium. Greens are also low in calories, low in fat, full of fiber and also carry small amounts of protein. Fibres found in vegetables and fruit are important to help clean your intestinal track of waste. The top ten vegetables recommended by Readers Digest are; kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, broccoli, beets, onions, red bell peppers, corn and eggplant. These vegetables are also known for being high-antioxidant foods. Antioxidant foods are foods that will help keep your digestive track healthy and get rid of unnecessary toxic chemicals that sit inside the body. On average we have about 2 pounds of waste that we carry around inside all of the time. That can be cleansed by eating antioxidant and fiber rich foods. Well okay, to be realistic, antioxidants are supposed to prevent aging because of how they deal with free radicals (the things inside your body that ages you.) I dont think there is much research that backs this up so its safe to say that its for profits more than actually helping people. On the other hand, fiber is a forgotten essential nutrient and is necessary in all diets. Vegetables you can cut back on or avoid are; carrots, peas, and sweet corn. I say this only because these vegetables have more calories than the others. If you choose to eat potatoes, the safest bet is to avoid eating those fried (fried potatoes, French fries or potato chips). Boiled or barbequed potatoes in a small quantity is a healthier way to eat potatoes. I personally dont care for potatoes and rarely eat them. The only time I usually eat them is at restaurants in form of fries. If you love French fries, eat them! A small serving of fries occasionally is alright. Lets move on to fruits. To hell with energy drinks! If you want a boost of energy, an apple or two will give you just that! Almost all fruits virtually contain high natural sugar levels. Fruits are high energy foods. Fruits are a great alternative to candy and chocolate bars if you get a sweet tooth. All fruits are good for the human body but we should know which ones are the most practical. The top ten fruits recommended by Readers Digest are: prunes, raisins, blueberries,
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blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums, oranges, red grapes and cherries. These fruits can also help lower cholesterol and are a high source of fibre. Have you ever heard of the acai berry diet? Its advertised by different companies as a diet supplement to help you lose weight. While its true that it will help you lose weight (by cleaning out the extra waste in your system), the acai berry diet basically provides you your daily intake of antioxidants and fibers in form of a powder or pill. They dry out the berries and grind them to a fine powder. You either mix the powder with water or take a capsule with the powder inside, orally. The down sides to these products are the non-healthy chemicals (preservatives and other) that are added to the mix and it will cost you some big coin on a monthly basis. You can buy fresh fruits and berries at your local grocery store for the same amount of servings and possibly at a less amount. Once again you can save some cash. Fruits you could cut down on or avoid are: concentrated fruit juices, canned fruit, coconuts, and various dried fruit. A hand full of small raisins is okay but the reason to be cautious about dried fruit is that the sugar becomes more concentrated when the moisture is taken out of them. Coconuts are fatty fruits. Coconuts and coconut oils contain a high amount of saturated fat. (It is not 100% proven that coconut products are a healthy choice.) Canned fruits have very sugary syrup inside, extra sugar that you dont need. Canned product can have preservatives in them. Preservatives are poison to the human body. Unfortunately they are found in most department store food. Avoid preservatives if you can. You can buy fresh fruits and grind them up in a blender and make your own fruit juice instead of buying fake fruit juice. The fruit juices you see in the store that say from concentrate, leave them on the shelf. Citric fruits like oranges, pineapple, grapefruit, and lemons help to digest your food. It will especially help digestion if you down your breakfast, lunch or dinner with a citric fruit or beverage. If you eat the fruit or blend them into your favorite homemade fruit beverage (no added sugar and a short blend) the results stay the same. In reality, eating fruit is more beneficial than drinking it in juice form and we should lean off of the juice. The reason is that any fruit juice has concentrated sugar.
The recommendation of servings of both fruits and vegetables combined is 7 to 8 servings a day for females aged 19 to 50 and 8 to 10 servings a day for males aged 19 to 50. High energy foods eaten before bed could possibly keep you up at night. Same goes for vegetables. If you love fruits and vegetables, the rule still applies; eat moderately. Too much of a good thing is overindulgence. Overindulgence in anything is a bad thing. Create a balance in your diet and eat wisely it is highly beneficial.
Category #2: Grain Products Grain products include: wheat, oats, bread, rice (all different kinds of rice), crackers, barley, cereal, all pasta and other kinds of noodles. Some noodles on the other hand are made from canola oil and others made of various oils or starch. Grains have a lot of carbs. Eat too much of them and your body will eventually store the extra energy as fat. Grain products play a big role in creating the different areas of fat in the body that is hard to burn. The reason why they play a big role is that grains are usually eaten as the main course. Like pasta with some grilled chicken or potatoes with steak. Its not just on the side but its practically the main dish for most meals. The vegetables and meat change but the grain product is always there. Be aware of the good and bad grain products. All good grain products are healthy and do not have to be neglected. Good grains are whole wheat or whole grain products. Anything whole grain is better than bleached or enriched. An example is white bread (bleached) or 12 grain (whole grain) bread. Wild rice and brown rice in general are the healthier alternatives to white rice or any other rice, both long grain and short grain. You should avoid using margarine or jam on your bread. Jam is fruit with lots of thick sugary syrup consisting of sugar from both the fruit and added sugar. If you have toast in the morning, you could use peanut butter instead of margarine. In fact, discontinue use of margarine, mayo, butter or lard (its all the same). A less healthy side of grains are white flour, white rice, white bread, cakes, tortilla chips, crackers, wraps and cereals with high levels of sugar. Avoid buying enriched or bleached
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grain products. Tortilla chips and crackers are sometimes fried and have a lot of sodium (salt) in them. You want to be careful on how much salt you eat. Salt will affect your body in many ways. More salt can raise your blood pressure and less salt can lower your blood pressure. The salt that enters in your body will also retain water. This means that the more salt you consume, the more weight you could temporarily gain. On the other hand, the less salt you consume, the less weight you will be at. Salt also helps control the level of cholesterol. You absolutely need some salt as part of your diet.
Category #3: Dairy Products You might have been horrified to hear that, in America, there were toxic chemicals used in milk. The chemicals used in some milk products were growth hormones and glue. Yes I said glue. Its the same glue that is used to keep your furniture together or sticks a label on a beer bottle. Growth hormones are steroids used on the cows so that they can produce more milk. The problem is that those growth hormones are then passed on and enter our bodies when we drink it. What were we told about milk as kids? Drink your milk so that your bones will grow strong! The reason why everyone is told to drink milk is for the calcium. The fact of the matter is if you look on the back of a carton of milk and see how much calcium there is, there is actually that same number of calcium but multiplied in different vegetables. The daily average intake of calcium for people aged 19 to 50 years need about 1000 mg. Depending where you got your milk from, for every 1 cup of milk (whole, 2%, 1%, skim, chocolate) you would receive around 300 mg of calcium. There for you would need to drink 3 cups of milk. As an alternative, you could cook 2 4/5 cups worth of collard greens and have the same amount of calcium. Collard greens are another word for loose leafed vegetables like cabbage and broccoli. Collard greens can be cooked with other loose leaf vegetables like kale, spinach, mustard greens, etc. And thus you can treat your bones with more calcium without drinking any milk what so ever. Other alternatives to milk for calcium are blackstrap molasses, soy beans (cooked), soy milk (with vitamin D and no preservatives), and Chinese cabbage.
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As for ice cream, yogurt, and all other diary deserts, they are usually made with a good measure of sugar and being animal fat, it also has saturated fat. Cheese products are said to be a good source of calcium and good for the teeth, but cheese can also cause constipation because its hard to digest. We were not born drinking from a cow and we dont need it. You can eliminate dairy altogether without being scared.
Category #4: Protein Products For protein products we have meats like beef, pork, and chicken. Fish, beans and nuts are also high in protein. Beef, the red meat, is actually said to be bad for us to eat. Beef is high in cholesterol and saturated fat. Although Beef has iron, vitamin D and good protein, it is also hard on your digestive system. Beef takes longer to digest because it is harder to break down. Avoid beef products if you want it wont hurt. Pork is considered a high energy food. It consists of protein and fat like beef but is easier to digest than beef. For all meats, the fat and protein levels depend on the kind of meat and the cut of meat. For example; the leanest cut with the less amount of fat for pork is pork tenderloin. The fattiest product of pork is ground pork, if you fry it. Chicken is always the best pick for protein since its lean and has a lot less fat than pork or beef. Not to mention it is one the most cost effective animal protein products available. Eggs are also a good source of protein. The trick to cooking meats for weight loss is to never fry them. You can grill them, boil them, bake them or broil them and the fat will melt off the meat. To keep the meat juicy as you cook it, you can take a clean spray bottle, fill it with water and spray the meat every couple of minutes. This works best on barbeques and will sustain the juiciness factor. If you dont have a clean spray bottle, you can stop by your local department or hardware store and pick up a spray bottle for kitchen use or planting. Make sure you clean it out with soap and water before filling it with fresh water. The whole idea here is to keep your meat lean. Cut off any fat on it before cooking it and trimming off any fat left on it once again before eating it. Even though chicken is lean to begin with, take off the skin and just eat the meat. Are you starting to understand what I meant
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by changing the quality of what you already eat? Just by doing small things like this will help you in both the short and long term. Chicken is lean and so is fish. In fact, if you eat the fat from tuna or salmon, the fat has essential oils in it that is great for your body. Fish oils have Omega 3 in them. Omega 3 helps prevent heart disease and is good for your joints. Good sources of higher levels of Omega 3 are flaxseed oil, nuts, and salmon. You can also choose to eat canned fish but there is nothing better than fresh fish. In choosing fresh fish, go for wild salmon, wild tuna, or the wild fish of your choice instead of farmed fish. A tip for knowing how fresh salmon or tuna actually is: the less scent there is the more fresh it is. It will also have less taste if its a fresh fish. The more odour taste can mean the longer its been out of the water. Soy beans, tofu and red beans are other great sources of good high protein foods. Nuts can be used in cooking or for snacking. Nut products are peanuts, almonds, cashews, chestnuts, walnuts, etc. Packaged and flavoured nuts are usually highly salted, filled with sugar and possibly flavored with chemicals or spices. Its best to stick to the plain, no salted nuts. For women aged 19 to 50, its recommended to eat only 2 servings of protein products a day. For men aged 19 to 50 its 3 servings a day. Protein in meals and snacks in-between meals will keep you feeling full for longer.
Category #5: Other Food Products Now we get to the tipping point. Are you ready to uncover this other food category? We have made these an essential part of our everyday living and some of our biggest emotions lead the consumption of these foods. Are you ready? Junk food! Anything filled with refined sugar, any desert, comfort food, select caffeine products, and all things that we know that are not the best for our health but we eat and drink them anyway. Its nice to dive into some chocolate, candy, shortened bakery, and delicious deserts or even have a soft drink and chips now and then. The most important thing we must do is control the quantity of this food we eat, or even just eliminate it entirely. My suggestion is that if you want to lose the gut fast and be healthy, AVOID junk food as it does nothing good for the body anyways.
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Take soft drinks for example. Too much soft drinks lead to ulcers, fatigue, headache, tooth decay, obesity, malnutrition, kidney problems, osteoporosis, and being more prone to wrinkles and aging. Now, does pop really taste that good? Good enough that its destroying your body? If you already do not drink pop, then congratulations! If you do drink pop and plan to lose weight then I suggest you sacrifice the soft drinks. Soft drinks are liquid sugar. Soft drinks are high in calories. What did I mention before? Calories consumed and not burned off will get stored in the fat cells causing an increase in size. You should be getting all the calories you need from your regular daily diet. Are you a coffee drinker? If you are, Im happy to announce that coffee is good. I am a coffee addict and will never give up a good cup of coffee or a nice latte from Starbucks. The cons to coffee are said to be a higher rate of heart attack and stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, and a loss in bone density over time (osteoporosis). The listed cons are yet to be proven that coffee is a factor. Those cons are based on small research, debates and small groups of people used for the study (Meaning its not official). In regards to the average brewed black cup of caffeinated coffee, calories are as low as 2 calories for every 8 ounces. Decaf coffee kept black has no calories. This information may change depending if the coffee is instant and to what a company adds to the coffee. Coffee gets fattening when cream, milk and sugar are added. There is no real substitute for cream in your coffee just as there is no substitute for sugar in your coffee. I wouldnt recommend any use of artificial sweetener. Artificial foods are poison. If you already drink your coffee black then there is nothing to worry about. Before I enjoyed 2 creams and 2 sugars in coffee, but now I drink just black coffee both at home and when out. If youre a latte or macchiato fan, you can trim off the extra sugar and caramel as well as use skim milk instead of whole or 2%. Better yet, you can ask for a soy milk latte. Only the worthy coffee shops carry soy milk (cough* Starbucks cough*). If the drink requires flavored syrup, ask if they have sugar-free syrup or ask that they dont put the syrup in the drink.
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Maybe you are not a coffee drinker and enjoy tea instead. Every once in a while a cup of tea is nice. The way to drink tea is the same as coffee. No sugar, cream or milk needed. Coffee and tea are said to help boost the metabolism in average and overweight people. Since it has already been mentioned it, its a perfect time to inform you on metabolisms, A.K.A. metabolic rate. I highly believe that all metabolisms are roughly the same, but it depends. Some are faster and some are slower. Metabolism rate may change slightly from body to body but one thing remains: by eating right and exercising, you automatically increase your metabolism. Weight loss is simple. Eat a well-balanced diet and add in exercise to INCREASE the speed of your metabolism and burn off your daily calorie intake so that your body resorts to using the extra energy in the fat cells. The person who says they cant lose weight because of their metabolism does not exercise enough. To prove this point, anyone who doesnt normally do cardio exercises intentionally and starts to do them will find themselves hungry and eating more often. Another sign of increased metabolism is going to the bathroom more often after getting into daily exercise routines. This shows that their metabolism increased because their body is hungry for more food and processes the food much faster. Some last words on caffeine; you can save money on coffee by brewing at home. You will be surprised at how much you can save by buying your favorite brand of coffee beans and brewing at home as opposed to going out every day for coffee. (Psst Starbucks sells their brand of coffee in packages and will grind it for you!) Alcohol is also known as empty calories. Beer and coolers are loaded with yeast and sugar. This will definitely keep someone over weight. Some people who drink also enjoy snacks in big amounts while drinking. Alcohol is a drug and takes away the ability to reason. If you have beer, coolers or any other drinking alcohol around the house throw it all in the garbage. You can live without it. Ive heard in the past that a glass of wine a day is okay for your heart and could help prevent breast cancer, but all alcohol is nothing but empty calories and a waste of money. That includes wine. Save your money and brain cells by staying away from alcohol. Choose wisely.
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Water is something we cannot live without. We can drink it every day and it is one hundred and ten percent healthy. If you have clean tap water then there is no need for bottled water. Water can also be used to aid weight loss. Discovery News (online) explained how people who consumed two cups of water prior to eating every meal lost 5 pounds more than people who diet without drinking water before every meal. The reason for this is that the people who drink water before meals ate about 75 calories less or about 13% less of the entire meal. Another interesting observation was that these same overweight people were able to keep off the pounds that they lost. Whoa! WAIT just a second here. This is what I mean by where you get your information from. The above is actually not a bad idea to control eating. But I had found a better alternative while watching a BBC Documentary. In the documentary, they did an experiment to see if water before or after a meal could actually help. The problem was that drinking water before or after a meal would be a temporary fix to meal control. However, they found that water combined with food would help a person stay full for longer. The way they combined the water and food was by making soups where the vegetables were blended together and cooked with the water. So the first method of drinking water before or after is effective. Its just not as effective as the second method from BBC Documentary.
Is Fast Food Allowed? About seven years back, I went on McDonalds binge. I ate McDonalds every day for over 30 days, three times a day. What was the result? To be honest - I lost weight. I was working at a retail store stocking shelves. My level of physical activity never changed in the time I went on the McDiet. For breakfast I ate two sausage and egg McMuffins with 2 hash browns and a coffee. For lunch and dinner I had their signature burger the Big Mac! (Also added fries with that.) Now, it wasnt what I ate but how I ate it and the fact that I was regularly active. The sausage and egg mc muffins had no cheese or butter on them. Every time I ate a big mac, I had either water or a coffee. I would also order without the sauce and
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the cheese and only have the mid-sized fries and not the super-size fries (downsized). The odd time I would order a hamburger (or two or three or four) I would order them with no cheese and no ketchup or mustard. Yes, I was still consuming high calorie food and bread with carbs in it, but the point I want to make to you is that by changing just the quality and quantity of the food, you will have different results. The exclusion of the sauce and cheese meant less saturated fat and less calories with better digestion. The small fries were obviously in less proportion than the super-size fries. Smaller portions mean fewer calories/carbs. When ordering fast food without sauces or any other condiments like ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise, you shave off those extra calories. Usually sauces that go into burgers and salad dressings have mayonnaise in them. Mayonnaise is a spoonful of saturated fat, just like margarine or butter. Catsup tastes great with fries or burgers but catsup is also filled with sugar. Dont get this wrong. The fact of the matter is that McDonalds or other fast food restaurants will not make you fat. Another reality of fast food is that, in the end, its not really good for you period. The reason being; fast food is packed with so many calories and saturated fat. The fat will clog arteries which can trigger a stroke or heart attack. Other long term and unhealthy side effects are also possible. Processed foods are also not good for consumption. Processed foods are always found in all fast food restaurants. Processed food is basically food that is prepared and packaged for convenience or to ease consumption. Sausages are processed food. So are ice cream and all those other packed goods like microwavable meals. The companies that offer low fat diet plans actually do more harm than good. It could be of the chemicals and preservatives that go into the processed meals. Maybe it is also because the person wont get the proper nutrition they need. In many cases, low fat diets with low fat food products wont work. You may even experience weight gain from eating that crap. People who claim that they are immune to saturated fat and clogged arteries are also at risk. It doesnt matter if the person is Mr. Universe or a fitness expert. Eat enough crap and your body will break down die from the abuse. It doesnt matter how well
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you build your body or how lean you are. We as humans are all the same in that respect. If you dine out at a classier restaurant, try to order something other than pasta (unless its available in whole grain). Maybe order a grilled chicken breast with some vegetables on the side with no sauce. Whatever it is, we should eliminate the habit of eating take-out or dining out. The best suggestion I can give is to lean off of fast food and out-of-home food that is the best scenario for the long and short run. Once you get used to changing the quality of the food you eat and noticing your waist line getting smaller, you will start to enjoy it. If you want faster results, then you must eliminate certain foods from your diet. Eating at home gives you the opportunity to cook your own food and take control of what goes in the cooking. If you dont know how to cook then you can learn! Cooking is a habit a habit that can be learned by anyone.
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Chapter 3 The Habit of Daily Exercise

The benefits of habitual daily exercise are tremendous. Regular exercise will help you lose and maintain a healthy weight by increasing your metabolism. It will help you sleep better and can reduce the effects of aging. Thats not a bad deal at all; exercise regularly and live a longer, healthier life. Joints, ligaments and tendons will sustain flexibility through exercise. It will reduce your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes as well as uplift your mental wellbeing. Exercising regularly will also help increase your endurance while relieving you of stress and anxiety. It can also have a positive effect on your sex life. Daily exercise can leave you looking better physically and more energized. There are three main types of exercises. There are flexibility exercises, aerobic exercises and anaerobic exercises. Flexibility exercises include anything that improves the range of movement of your joints or muscles. Stretching and mobility exercises do exactly that and can be your first series of actions before moving on to anaerobic or aerobic exercises. Aerobic exercise is an exercise that is focused on increasing your cardiovascular endurance. These exercises will help you burn fat and improve the overall health of your heart and blood distribution. Examples of aerobic exercises are walking, jogging, running, jump rope, yoga, rowing, cycling, hiking and sports like tennis. The exercises I will provide for you are mainly flexibility exercises and aerobic exercises. We will look into small and simple anaerobic exercises you can do to build your strength at the same time. Anaerobic exercises enhance muscle strength and muscle growth. Weight training, interval and intense interval training are examples of anaerobic exercises. All physical exercise will help improve your overall physical skills as well as help you shrink fat and never be overweight or fat again. The general categories of physical skills are flexibility, cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, strength, stamina, coordination, balance, power, speed, accuracy and agility.
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Daily physical activity will also help boost your immune system. This means that if you get the common cold or flu often, you will notice that will start to fade. Light physical exercise can be practised for a minimum of 30 minutes a day. Its up to you to decide how much exercise is good for you to start off. There more pounds you have, the heavier you are and means it will take more energy out of you when you begin to exercise. The results you want will develop according to your ability to do the exercise, the repetitions of the exercise and the amount of time and effort you put into it. Put in little time and little effort and you can only expect little results. You can stretch before any exercise. If you consider yourself to be really out of shape, stretching could help you avoid potential physical injury. Dont push yourself too hard at the beginning but do as much as you possibly can. You will soon realize that day by day, you are losing more and more weight. Compound interest works not only in finances, but in exercising, too. Look at the long term effects and not just the short term. If you start small, always change the length of your overall routine every week. If the first week you start stretching for 10 minutes and walk for 10 minutes, the second week you can stretch for the same 10 minutes and walk for 15 minutes. The third week could be a 20 minute walk and the fourth week can change to 25 minutes and so on. ALWAYS CHALLENGE YOURSELF. There is nothing that you cant do.
Stretching May Not Be Necessary Now we will cover stretching and anaerobic exercises. Stretching can improve the range of motion of your joints and increase flexibility. It will also get your blood flowing. Stretching is a natural thing that both humans and animals do. Its no different than getting up in the morning and having a big stretch. When the body stretches it contracts the muscles and gets the blood flowing. I honestly think that it is not necessary to stretch for low intensity exercises. Weve been walking since the day we are born. We didnt stop and think that before we learn to walk, to stretch first. We just learned to walk. And we dont need to stretch every time we walk to the bus stop or to the car. If you are doing
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an intense exercise like lifting weights or interval training, then you should definitely stretch beforehand. There is some debate whether or not stretching is good or not good for you. A Canadian review seen in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine magazine had said that stretching could possibly increase risk of injury. On the other hand, the University of Alabama said that there is less risk of injury if you stretch within 15 minutes before exercising. Other researchers have said that stretching could mask muscle pain which can stop you from recognizing an injury while you exercise and to stop immediately. The Mayo Clinic on the other hand claims that holding a stretch for over 30 seconds could cause an injury. The Clinic also advises to avoid stretching before doing any high performance exercise as it may affect your performance. So what do you do? I myself personally stretch both before and after any intense exercise like weight lifting. I have never stretched before a walk. Has there been an injury? Nope. I also know other people who stretch before weight lifting and they are fine. Id like to take a moment and remind you that its your responsibility to consult with your doctor to see what is right for you. Its ultimately your choice to stretch before or after light exercise. The initial purposes to stretching were to improve performance and to reduce injury. The benefits as stated are increased flexibility, improved mobility in joints and helps your blood flow. Whatever you choose to do, you definitely dont want to feel any pain doing it. The old adage no pain no gain is not exactly a safe philosophy. Its okay to feel muscle soreness after exercising but if you feel any pain from stretching or exercising, you should stop and go to the hospital. Pain is there to tell you something is wrong, not to encourage you to keep going. Muscle soreness can mean you are getting somewhere. A simple guideline for stretching is to just warm up the body a few minutes before doing a light exercise. Since we will deal with cardiovascular exercises for the most part, I will provide you with stretching exercises for the legs and lower back. Tip: Hold a stretch for a few seconds then let go and do another. Dont stretch to the point of pain. Stretch only to the
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point where you feel the stretch, hold for a few seconds and then let go. Here are a few simple stretching exercises: 1. Quadriceps Stretch use a chair or countertop if you need help balancing yourself. While standing, lift you left leg behind you. Grab your ankle or the top of your foot with your left arm. While bending your leg at the knee, pull your foot up with your left hand until you can feel the stretch. Hold for a few seconds and release. Repeat using the right leg with the right arm. 2. Hip Stretch - While standing, place your left foot about 2.5- to 3- feet in front of you. Bring your right knee to the ground and balance your body. Lean forward and move your body weight to your front leg. Hold this position for a few seconds and then repeat for the right leg. While doing this, both your front leg should be at a 90 degree angle. 3. Lower Back Stretch - Lay flat on the ground with your feet together. Keep your right leg on the ground and bring up your left knee. Get a hold of your left knee with both hands and bring it as close to your chest a possible. Hold for a few seconds and then switch and repeat with right leg. 4. Calf Stretch - Stand up straight with your feet together and arms at your side. Raise both feet and balance on your toes. Go as high as you can, hold for a few seconds and releas and come back down.
Walking Tall Walking, jogging and running are the best ways to burn fat. It doesnt cost a cent and you can do it anywhere, anytime. Calories are stored and are transformed into energy during exercise. Energy then leaves the body through heat. Cardiovascular exercises are the most efficient way to burn fat. Think of fat as reserved energy that will fuel your body for exercise. Any excess calories you eat will accumulate in the fat cells if they are not used. If you eat more than what your body will use it will store those calories as fat within the body. On the flip side to that; if you burn more calories than you eat (by exercising)
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then your body will start taking the energy in the fat from around your body and use that to power your movement. So which is better? Walking or jogging? The main difference is the level of intensity. If you walked for an hour, the amount of calories/fat you would burn would be less than if you were to jog for an hour. If you walk for 2 hours, it could help you burn off the same amount as jogging for one hour. The best long term solution is walking and brisk walking. Brisk walking is just walking fast. I mostly do a mix of walking and brisk walking to change up the pace a bit. I may start off with brisk walking for 15 minutes and then slow down to normal walking for 15 minutes. On the way home I will do the same. The difference with walking and jogging is that jogging is more intense and will burn energy faster and in less time than walking will. The more intense the exercise then the more energy you will burn. After your stretching exercises, immediately move into walking or brisk walking. You can walk around your neighborhood or walk to the nearest park. Maybe pick a destination like the closest department store or coffee shop to walk to. If you feel really out of shape and the stretching really got to you its okay. Just start by taking a few minutes to walk to the end of your street and back or half a block. Little by little you will increase the distance for walking daily. If you are in an okay condition and not too over weight you can start by walking 30 minutes a day. Even though being overweight has a disadvantage it also comes with an equivalent advantage. This advantage is that if you have more weight to carry, the more energy you need to push yourself. Ultimately this could mean the more energy you can potentially burn off in less time. After you have completed your walk its time for a congratulatory glass of water - and a small snack if youre hungry. Have a goal of walking an hour a day. There are other small exercises you can fit in throughout the day. You can park at the backend of the parking lot the next time you go to the coffee shop, the mall, and the grocery store or clothing store and walk a further distance to get to the entrance. Not only do you get some extra exercise but you reduce the risk that your parked car will get dinged by another car while inside the store. If at any time you come across a choice of elevator or stairs - choose to take the stairs. If you have children you can play a
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game of tag with them. If your work is light or medium labor intensive, you can speed up the pace and burn more energy. If the company you work at is within 30 minutes to an hour from your home start walking to work. You can organize a time with friends or family to play a small sport like tennis or to go skating. Cycling can also help you burn more calories as well as jump rope. (If you choose cycling, make sure you adjust the seat so that when the pedal is in the down position, that your leg is fully extended. If the pedal is not all the way at the bottom and you have your knee bent on the leg thats on that pedal, you wont get the full exercise your legs need the full contractions to exercise properly.) You can do the same house cleaning youve been doing but at a faster pace. (For the men: If you dont help around the house, you can do so. Not to mention the possible brownie points you may get from your wife especially if she doesnt have to ask). Yard work is another great way to lose weight. It needs to be done so why not give it more effort while doing it? If you hire contractors to clean the yard, start doing it yourself. If you live in an area where it snows, snow can get fairly heavy and its a great way to burn calories. Pay attention to detail. Take every opportunity to be more physically active. By exercising and being physically active regularly you will lose weight in no time, but you must make time to do it. If going for a walk seems a bit boring, bring your mp3 player or iPod with you. Play some music that inspires you or pumps you up. Heavy metal works to help motivate me when exercising. What about you? What helps get you going? Also make sure that you carry a bottle of water with you so you dont get dehydrated. Only take a sip and not a gulp because taking a gulp or chugging water while exercising or in-between exercises can make you feel bloated and cause your stomach to cramp up. Last but not least, sex is another great way to exercise. (If you have any beliefs as to why you shouldnt have sex, you can skip to the next section in this chapter.) Sex will work practically all parts of the body. Sex will burn calories. If the relationship you have is lacking a sex life, why not seek advice on how you can recreate it?
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Be creative and keep your sex life active. It doesnt have to be every day. Sex also contributes to your overall health both physically and mentally. Sex should not be taboo. If sex is a sin, then why does almost everyone practise it?
Quality over Mass If youre losing weight or going for muscle growth always remember quality over mass. Its not just about how much weight you lose or how much muscle mass you gain. If you dont have physical strength to go with your results and the healthy state of being, its useless. Physical strength can also help you develop mental strength as well. Turn yourself into and absolute power house so that every time you exercise, you are automatically pumped up to tackle it. The following are some strength exercises you can do anywhere, even while sitting down at home or the office. These natural exercises will help build strength, burn energy and can also build muscle. Strength exercise No.1 Deep breathing. Take a low deep breath using the stomach. When youve reached the limit of the amount your lungs can hold breath out slowly. Repeat over and over again. This will help strengthen your lungs. Strengthening your lungs should be one of your primary concerns and is often neglected by most professionals. Strength exercise No.2 Lay on your stomach on your bed with the edge of the bed in alignment with your neck. Slowly let your head down and lift your head back up. Repeat as many times as possible. In the same position, turn and lie on your back and let your head hang off the edge of the bed. Lift your head up as far as you can to your chest then slowly let your head go back down. Alternate exercise: Fold your hands and leave the thumbs open. Place them on the back of your head. Push the back of your head with your hands and push back with your head as well. This will use the weight of your head to help give strength to your neck. Strength exercise No.3 Place your left hand palm up with your 4 fingers pointing to the right and next to your solar plexus (the middle spot just under the chest). Place the fingers on your right
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hand with the palm facing down on your left hand. Your right middle finger should cover your left ring finger. Now use your left and right fingers to lock. Pull as hard as you can with both arms. Pull until you cant pull anymore then alternate the position of your hands and fingers and repeat. This will help strengthen your arms and a bit of your upper back. Strength exercise No.4 While sitting down or standing up, clasp your hands together palm to palm. Bring the hands towards the solar plexus and push as hard as you can, palm to palm, with both arms. This will help give strength to your arms and chest. Strength exercise No.5 You can stand or sit during this exercise. Place your hands on your hips and bend directly to the right side while keeping your body facing forward. Hold the position as long as possible. Come up to center and bed to the left. Hold this position as along as possible then come back to center and repeat. This will help strengthen the sides of your abdominals. Strength exercise No.6 Stand up straight with your feet about 2 feet apart in distance. Raise both arms to each side with palms facing forward. Twist at the waist and while keeping your back straight, bend over forward and try to bring your right hand as close to the left foot as possible. Your left hand should remain in the same position and will be up in the air. Hold position as long as possible then reverse and bring your arm and upper body up to center. Now this time by twisting at the waist, bring your left hand down and bring it as far to the right foot as possible. Hold position as long as you can and bring yourself back up to center. Repeat as many times as necessary. This will help build strength in the abdominal sides as well as lower back. Strength exercise No.7 Lay down on your back on a flat surface like the floor. Keep your arms and hands close to the sides of your body and put legs and feet together. Raise your legs about 6 inches while keeping them together and raise your head about 3 or 4 inches. Hold your legs and head up for as long as you can then slowly bring them down to the floor. Repeat as much as you can. This will strengthen and develop your stomach muscles with minimal movement.
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Strength exercise No.8 While standing, keep your back straight and legs together. Fold your hands with fingers together and thumbs and palms open. Place them behind your head. Bend over forward at 90 degrees using the hips while keeping your neck and back straight. Pull your upper body back up while slightly arching your back and flexing the muscles in your back. Repeat as many times as possible. This will strengthen your back. Strength exercise No.9 Hold the back of your left thigh closest to the knee with both hands. While balancing on the right leg pull up on your left thigh to a 90 degree angle. Now use the left leg to apply pressure downward and pull upward with your hands with as much force as you can. Hold until you cant hold it anymore then let the leg down. Repeat the same exercise with the right leg. Repeat the overall exercise as much as possible. This will give strength to your thighs as well as arms and some of your chest. Strength exercise No.10 - Standing with your legs about a feet apart, keep your back straight with your hands on your waist, look forward and squat down. In the squatting position, lift your heels of the ground while balancing on your toes. Your bum should almost touch the heels of your feet. Keep holding this squat as long as you can and bring yourself back up to the standing position. Repeat as many times as you can. This will help you develop more strength in your legs. Strength exercise No.11 While standing, keep your feet and legs together. Raise your heels and balance your body on your toes. Hold this position as long as possible then lower your heels back to the ground. Repeat as many times as possible. This will help work your calf muscles and build strength in them. Strength exercise No.12 Go to a flat wall with no windows or any furniture in the way. With your upper back and back of your head leaning on the wall, place both feet in front of you about a foot and a half away from the wall. Separate your feet so that they are about 6 inches apart. By using your legs you want to slowly bend them at the hips and knees and slide your back down and against the wall. The end result should have your legs at a 90 degree angle and your back, neck and head should be flush with the wall while keeping your upper body facing forward. (It will look like you are sitting on an imaginary chair.) Let your arms
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dangle on each side. Hold this position as long as possible then come back up. Repeat one more time and two more if youre in the mood! The amount of leg and foot space before starting this exercise will be different depending on how tall or wide your body is. This is a slightly more intense strengthening exercise for the legs and you will feel the burn almost immediately.
At any time you do any exercise and feel discomfort or strain of any sort - discontinue doing them and get medical help. Dont strain yourself. Another important tip is to always keep your back strait as well as your head and neck when doing any exercise. These simple yet underrated exercises will help you build strength as you lose weight and develop muscle in the process. Women dont have to worry about bulking up but these exercises can help women as well to achieve greater physical strength. Strengthening exercises like these are natural. It is basically using your own weight and strength to build your body. Strengthening exercises will also burn calories and are only as intense as you make them. If you are waiting for the bus, sitting at the doctors office or at a desk at work then you can pass time by doing these exercises. Youve noticed that I started with the exercise of breathing to strengthen your lungs. Your lungs will be an integral part of exercising. You need oxygen for your body to function properly.
Planning For Success In order to succeed in losing weight and maintaining perfect health, you need a plan and you have to follow the plan. If you decide to stretch first and walk or jog after, then do it. A program with light exercises should run every day with no exception. The fact of the matter is that you cant afford not to fit exercise in your schedule mindless of how busy it may be. You can do all of the exercises listed in this book including the strengthening exercises every day. Form the habits of exercising and being active every day. This is what will be different than you and Jane Doe across the street that picked up an exercise program, followed it for a few
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days, did not follow the diet plan and decided to take a day off but didnt follow through after that. Whatever initial plan you create, dont change it. Your body will adapt to your daily diet and exercise plan and it takes time for your body to do so. The big difference between a 70 year old person who can walk and jog compared to a 70 year old that has already begun to lose their mobility skills is exercise. Someone who keeps fit every day will stay in great shape for longer than a person who does not care to keep in shape. The lack of exercise can cause health issues like weak joints later in life. If you dont use it, you lose it. It is as simple as that. If you want to be in great shape and be able to do more in life, even when youre a senior, exercise is a must. Health and fitness is a choice. Health and fitness is a lifestyle.
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Chapter 4 - The Remaining Three

The final three principals do not require a very lengthy explanation. For that reason, they are all included in this single chapter, together. The remaining three principals are the habits of sleep and relaxation, the habit of elimination and the habit of cleansing.
The Habit of Sleep and Relaxation Sleep is essential for our overall health and wellbeing. Sleep will rejuvenate our immune system and our nervous system. It also helps the repair and growth of our muscles and other cells of the body. During this period of rest, consciousness is absent. Its really important that we get a good night sleep every night. This fact holds true if we exercise daily or not. I believe that we need a minimum of at least seven to eight hours of sleep every day. If one fails to have sufficient sleep every night then both the body and the mind are bound to be affected in a negative way. Over a period of time that a person does not get the sleep he or she needs, they start to accumulate what is sometimes called sleep debt. Sleep debt is also known as sleep deprivation. Sleep debt is the result of lacking sleep for a long period of time and eventually the person becomes more tired than normal on a daily basis. Symptoms from depriving ones own self of sleep show both mentally and physically. Some of the mental symptoms include; irritability, moodiness, inaccurate thinking, confusion, hallucination, memory loss, inability to concentrate, increased tendency to think negatively. Physical symptoms may show themselves as; headaches, hand tremors, muscle aches and pain, developed bags under the eyes, yawning, weight gain, weight loss, increased sensitivity to cold and hot temperatures, increased blood pressure, increased stress. Those are not all the symptoms from not getting enough sleep, but they are plenty. Depriving your mind and body of sleep is also said to aid obesity and death. When you sleep, it is important to be comfortable. If you have to, keep any television or noise maker out of the bedroom as
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it can have an effect on your sleep. Sleep in a quiet room with the lights out. Any distraction can pull your mind away from proper rest. Your metabolism does not stop when you sleep. In fact, it slows down slightly but remains active to process any food in your system. There is an old adage that says all work and no play makes jack a dull boy. Its true. To keep a healthy lifestyle both mentally and physically, you require relaxation. Relaxation is not just about taking time to sit down and relax your mind and body but to do something you enjoy also. Be it a hobby like building model airplanes or reading a book to your liking. Relaxation is much like sleep in the fact that it helps rejuvenate your overall wellbeing. Waking up, eating, going to work and then taking time for exercise should be followed by play and relaxation every day. Its insufficient to give yourself the excuse that you dont have the time. Just like too much work, too much play is also no good. Not too much and not too little, but just enough. This is about finding balance. What do you enjoy doing? Do you enjoy reading and/or writing? Do you enjoy playing a musical instrument? Maybe you have an idea for a part time business you would love to do. Whatever it is, make time for it. Another way to experience relaxation is to sit down in a comfortable chair, where you wont be disturbed, and sit in silence. Some call it meditation and others call it a few minutes of peace. Give your mind a rest and your body will rest, too! Take this time to sit down or lie down and just keep a clear mind. Hold no thought of what you have to do later or the next day or week; just clear your mind away from all the hustle and bustle of the outside world.
The Habit of Elimination The habit of elimination means to eliminate anything along the way that affects your health in a negative manner. You must be able to eliminate any habit that is bad for your overall health. This includes mental habits as well.
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Get into the habit of researching food products and learning about them and what effect they have on your body. Read through health and dieting magazines. Check out online resources about the body anatomy and how different combinations of food and exercise will change the body. If there is a food you are currently eating but not sure what is in it then look online and acquire the facts for that specific food. In the chapter on dieting, I told you that in order to achieve weight loss you could eliminate specific foods altogether and that just by changing your diet, you can change your weight. I said you could. It is your choice if you do it or not. If overloading on sugar is the reason why you gained a lot of weight, then it will be wise to stop eating anything with refined sugar in it. Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results is insanity.- Albert Einstein That is not just a quote but a truth! Eat junk food all the time and be lazy and lo and behold, we get fat. You must be conscious of what you are doing and why you are doing it and you can do that by being aware of what food you eat and if you are keeping physically active or not. The following are the foods you can eliminate completely to get more than satisfactory results in a shorter amount of time: a) Sugar. Your body wont miss it but your mind just might. Does a crispy cream doughnut sound good to you? What about a package of candy every day? Eliminate all pastry such as cakes, cupcakes, danishes, turnovers and anything else baked with fruit syrup or icing on it. Take away from your diet every kind of candy or junk food that you eat daily or every other day. STOP DRINKING SOFT DRINKS COMPLETELY. Your body will be grateful for you doing so. If you have been a pop drinker up until now, you will experience faster weight loss by not drinking pop anymore, period. If a sugar source is natural and concentrated, like honey, then dont continue use of it either. The name of the game is to stay away from sweet sugar. One exception to sugar is fruit. Eat fruit for dessert or a snack but keep it to a minimum. Sugar is sugar but the difference with fruit is that you get nutrients a long with the
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sugar. By eating fruit in small amounts, like an apple a day, it can satisfy a sweet tooth just as a cake can. Too much of anything is bad for you, and that also means fruit. Enjoy food moderately. b) Fat. Eat fat and you will become fat. Let us rephrase that: eat bad fat and become fat. Its really that simple. You need good fat in your diet or your brain will shrivel up and die. Okay maybe that was uncalled for but it is really unhealthy to cut out good fats. Eliminate all sources of saturated fats from animals as well. If you eat chicken, take off the skin. Saturated fat sources are potato chips, baking, red meat, and other fried, baked or pan fried food items. Saturated fats and trans fats also come from hydrogenated oils. Healthy fat is found in fish and nuts. It carries natural oils and fatty acids that are good for you. Eat lean then you become lean! Chicken and fish are much healthier than pork and beef. You may very well feel that a diet consisting of only chicken and wild fish will make you feel a lot lighter and healthier. If you really wanted to, you can eliminate all meat as our bodies can survive on vegetation and water alone. Its up to you. c) Cut out the dairy products. You dont need milk to grow big and strong like the commercials say. Diary is also a big source of bad fat. Eliminate milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream. You can supplement milk with soy milk. Soy milk surprisingly tastes far better than milk and it is also a good source of vitamin D. You can live without dairy products and by eliminating them it will help you immensely in losing weight. Dont listen to all the mumbo jumbo that the media and supposed certified people throw at you. They dont even know the truth half of the time. d) Eliminate a big intake of carbohydrates. I dont know who started saying that carbs make you fat but it is not true. Carbs are a prime source of energy for your body. As I said, if you eat more than you burn off then you will gain weight. It doesnt matter if you are eating healthy food or junk food, or have a great metabolism, you will gain weight just the same. The reason I say to eliminate a big intake of carbs is that carbohydrates are usually the main course in a lot of meals. Some may have toast for breakfast, noodles
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for lunch and rice for dinner. Its not about wiping them out from your diet but more about cutting down the amount of carbs that you eat and replacing bad carbs with the good ones. Instead of two pieces of toast for breakfast you can eat one. Eat whole grain or multigrain instead of eating white (or bleached) bread. e) Get rid of empty calories. This means to stop drinking even occasionally. The truth of the matter is that you do not need alcohol to survive. Your body will be fine without it. Not only will it help you lose weight but will also prevent one from looking and acting like a fool. You and I both know what happens to people who had one too many and carry heavy regrets the following day after drinking. Its a waste of money, waste of time, and people do get fat and stay fat because of it. Empty calories also come in the form of comfort food. I honestly cannot tell you to quit smoking if you are a smoker since I do smoke cigars myself. At the least you can cut down smoking. The more you smoke, the less air capacity will be available in your lungs. Not good for exercising. Another habit you can eliminate is drinking anything other than water. You can live a long time on water alone instead of drinking anything else. If you want change you can surely make yourself a nice fruit drink. Eliminating bad habits and supplementing them with healthier habits will give you a healthier result. Eat lean to be lean. Eat bad fat or eat too much and you will get fat. Its that simple. You may also want to change other habits like being wiser about people you hang out with. Another thing to eliminate is stress. Stress breaks down the bodys immune system. Stress will make the body weak and allow disease to plant itself and grow. It will also kill the motivation to lose weight as well. Stress leads to improper eating and over eating. Many people under stress eat foods that they think, consciously or unconsciously, will help them emotionally. A person under stress may also neglect all food from their diet day to day until the stress goes away. Stress can also aid weight gain. In order to eliminate stress you must absolutely take control over your own thinking. How do you get rid of stress in
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your life? It definitely takes practise and is not something you can do over night but in the end, it is not too difficult to do. Imagine someone who is having a blood boiling argument with a family member when all of a sudden there is a ring of the doorbell. Both people realise that their visitors have arrived for dinner! These two people now go to the door with a snap change of a different attitude, a more pleasing attitude, as they open the door and greet their visitors. How did they do it? They just did it and it is because they wanted to do it. Immediately when the doorbell rang, it registered in their heads that the guests had arrived and they changed their attitude. They used their own self-control to change the situation. In closing this paragraph, if you would permit me, I would like to leave you with this thought; have you ever noticed that any problem that causes stress in a persons life, that person is always there? Take a moment and think about it.
The Habit of Cleansing So maybe this topic is not appropriate at the dinner table but it is important. Your digestive system is as important a part of the body as your brain and heart and all other organs. Its purpose is to extract the good from the foods you eat and inject it into the rest of your body. Just as you brush your teeth, wash your hands, and take a bath, you must also keep your digestive track clean. Failure in keeping the digestive track clean and working properly means that you could very well experience diarrhea, constipation, or a slow digestion process. Those are only a few, and yet minor, symptoms of a digestive track that is not taken care of. You can also become extremely sick by not having a healthy digestive system. I will list five ways to help keep your digestive system healthy:
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1. Daily exercise helps improve digestion. Exercises that work your abdominal muscles help move the contents through your digestive system because of the contractions you would make with your muscles. The rate of metabolism also rises from general exercise. You will notice that your bowels will become more frequent if you exercise compared to not exercising at all.
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2. Eliminating stress will help improve the flow of the digestive system. Stress breaks down the body and can cause inflammation, disease and other symptoms in the digestive system. Stress can also cause stomach ulcers. 3. Eliminating bad fats and red meat will allow your digestive system to act normally. Red meat and bad fatty foods are hard on the digestive track. 4. Take your recommended daily intake of fiber. Eating fiber rich foods will help keep your intestines clean enabling them to function properly. You should also notice that by eating fiber rich foods, you will feel lighter and healthier. By keeping your intestines clean, you will also notice a smaller waistline. Too much fiber will can also result in diarrhea. Sources of fiber are: blackberries, acai berries, blueberries, red onions and apples. Whole grain cereals and breads are also a good source of fiber. You can mix fiber foods with other foods (like blueberries and cereal) or eat them by themselves. Bran cereal is another excellent source of fiber. 5. Chewing your food well before swallowing can help digest the food more easily. When you chew food, the saliva starts breaking down the food that you are chewing. The more you chew before swallowing means the less your digestive system will have to work at the end. Chewing food well will also help your intestines absorb the nutrients better. There you have it. The remaining three habits explained. I would like you to know that these six principals are essential to great health just as much as they are for weight loss. These same principals will also help guide you into a fit body or a more muscular body. These are the common threads you will find in any health and fitness trainer. An important point is that these are all habits and all habits can be acquired by anyone. You must want to adopt them into your own lifestyle before they can be of benefit.
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Chapter 5 - A Quick Review

In the book thus far, we have covered the six principals vital for great health and moulding your body to the way you want it. Before moving on, let us give a quick review of the six principals. Following this review will be one more chapter on shrinking fat faster and the foundation of building muscle.
Principal #1 The Right Mental Attitude Having the right mental attitude is the primary principal because it is the cause to your results. Your mental attitude is the way you interact with your body, people and environment. It is your look on life, in other words. Change the way you think about health and fitness and through decisive action, your results will change. I mentioned that your habits control your outcome and in order to change your outcome - you must change your habits. Habits first take the form of thought. After thinking and acting in a certain way and repeating the exact process over and over again will create a habit. The more a new habit is used, the more the habit will grow stronger and will be harder to break. You can create a new habit to replace an old habit that is not working for you. Thus you will get different results than what you have been getting. You must know where you are and where you want to go. Without a worthy goal in mind, you have no direction. In order to get to where you want to go, its also essential for you to have a plan and take it step by step, day by day to get there. There is no such thing as a quick fix that is healthy. There are no shortcuts. There are good foods and bad foods and there is no magic bullet or magic pill you can take to lose weight. You have to take 100% control of your own body and be 100% responsible for what you do to it or for it. Most importantly, did you write out your statement? If you can recall, I mentioned that you should weigh yourself and write out a statement of how much weight you want to lose and to read it daily. Self-control (self-discipline) must be practised to lose
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weight, gain muscle, or get fit. The purpose of that statement is to keep you focused on realising your goal. Nature will not bed its rules for anyone. If we want something it is our own responsibility to go get it.
Principal #2 The Habit of Healthy Eating In chapter two, it was mentioned that you dont need a gym membership. One has to put in both the effort and the time to shape the body to the way they want it. It actually takes a lot less time, naturally, to lose weight than it does to gain muscle. It was also said to keep electronics and anything that promotes laziness away from you. Do you now know the five categories of food and what about the 6 classes of nutrients are? Empty calories will do no good for the body but add on extra weight. Technically there is one thing the body needs energy. Energy comes in different forms for the body and realistically there are 3 key nutrients when you narrow everything down; proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Its also unintelligent to blame fast food for weight gain.
Principal #3 The Habit of Daily Exercise Exercising is crucial when a person wants to lose weight in bigger quantities and fast. There is no other way around it exercise cannot be dismissed. The purpose of exercise is to keep the body in shape. Burning more energy than you take in will burn those extra fat cells. Walking and jogging are the best ways to burn off energy when starting out. Stretching is not necessary but if you chose to stretch before your light daily exercise you can stretch for short amounts of time prior. We didnt stretch before we decide to walk for the first time and there were no repercussions from doing so either. Stretching is not necessary before light exercises. I also gave a handful of strengthening exercises for different parts of the body. Not only can you build strength but you also burn calories at the same time. Light exercises and the strengthening exercises provided can be done every day. Dont fool yourself in taking a day off only to be absent from your next days exercise. Taking a day off one day and then another day
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starts to develop as a bad habit. When you are developing new habits repetition is the key.
Principal #4 The Habit of Sleep and Relaxation Proper sleep is important. Sleep helps repair the body and keep the immune system up and running. Avoid sleep debt. We need at least 7- to 8- hours or more of non-interrupted sleep. Depriving ourselves of sleep will have many negative consequences. Relaxation can be a time of quiet relaxation where you clear your mind of anything that is going on and just sit or lay in complete silence. Relaxation is also doing something that you enjoy. Just like the old adage all work and no play makes jack a dull boy.
Principal #5 The Habit of Elimination Eliminating foods you dont need and are bad for you is a necessity for you to optimize the overall health of your body and to improve your bodys functions. Elimination of bad foods is necessary for you to maintain a healthy body and to help aid you in weight loss. In order to lose weight in a relatively short amount of time, you can eliminate sugar, bad saturated fat, dairy products, and empty calories and lessen the amount of carbohydrates you eat slightly while replacing the bad carbs with good carbs. It is also best to eliminate, as much as possible, the stress in your life by making a decision to do so. The mind affects the body to a high degree and is in fact what runs the body 24 days, 7 days a week. You can also achieve this by choosing the people you hang around with as well as the environment you live in. The ability of eliminating stress means to develop self-control. Self-control is taking control over ones own thoughts and actions. In this case, it is the ability to switch focus from the bad to the positive.
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Principal #6 The Habit of Cleansing
Keeping your digestive system clean at all times will help you attain a healthy body and also help you lose weight. There are five ways to help you do so: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Daily Exercise Eliminating Stress Eliminating saturated fats and red meat Eating more fiber Chewing your food properly
There are more ways to help keep your insides clean but those five I have noticed work the best. You can also visit your doctor and ask him/her about what else you can do to keep a clean digestive system. Another obvious thing to do is to take a bath or shower daily especially when you have an exercise routine going.
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Chapter 6 Shred Fat or Build Muscle

This chapter is dedicated to accelerating the shrinkage of fat cells and building muscle. Here I will explain, as an introduction and guide, on how to get more of a fit body. In the case of toning and/or muscle building, your diet has to change. Just as the diet has to change for someone wanting to lose weight, it changes for those who want more muscle. Its important for you to know that these methods are natural and dont require anything but your own effort and own body weight. I know how to build muscle but do understand that I never got massive and extremely ripped and will never claim to have done so. I built my muscles to the point where my body was an extra half an inch in diameter in muscle and toned enough to see the individual muscle groups more of a smooth look instead of a ripped look. The reason why I said an introduction to toning and muscle building is that if you want to be the next Miss Fitness or Mr. Universe, you should seek their help (the previous or current Miss Fitness or Mr. Universe). I can help you lose weight and get a more muscular body. I have never had 200 lbs. of pure muscle or been as ripped as Jason Statham. I will NOT show you how to do something that I have not done. Now with that understanding, lets continue.
Toning Your Body Toning your body means to burn as much fat as it takes to reveal the definition of your muscles. It is reducing the percentage of body fat to as little as possible and at the same time, increasing your muscle mass. A good example is Jason Statham. The best way to tone your muscle is through interval training and weight training. If you want to bulk up and shred fat, bulk up first and shred after. Interval training is a burst of intense cardiovascular exercises with intervals of moderate exercises. If you take running for example, you would sprint with all your might for a period of
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time and then switch to walking or jogging for a shorter period of time. There are no breaks in interval training. The exercises are intense and the breaks in between are supplemented with short medium intense exercise. So you could sprint hard for 20 seconds and then switch to walking or jogging for 10 seconds. Follow this for about 10 to 15 minutes minimum on a daily basis. You can also use this method to lose weight fast, however, if you are currently out of shape, I would not recommend you push yourself this hard at the beginning. Take time to get used to average everyday exercises like walking or jogging before attempting this. Your diet plan could consist of just chicken, fish, vegetables and fruits. Dont eliminate carbohydrates completely you can use them for energy. And the more intense your exercise program, the more energy you need in your daily diet. If you dont eat enough carbs, you could possibly break down both the fat and muscle in your body. You dont want that. Drink water to keep your body hydrated and prevent it from overheating. Always keep a bottle of water handy. Pushing yourself too hard and overheating will knock you out - literally. Rest is important. The more intense your exercises, the more rest you require. Your muscles go into repair mode when you sleep and your body refreshes itself, too. People may tell you to do no more one hour a day for five or six days a week and then take one or two days off. Its complete nonsense. Do we have to take a day off walking because we do it every day? No we do not have to take a day off if you manage your training right. If it was necessary then we would have to go one or two days without walking period but our leg muscles are always fine. When you lift heavy weight, then yes, you definitely need to give your muscles a good 48 hour break, at the least. Otherwise you risk overtraining the body and wont gain anything. The example of sprinting and then light jogging or walking in between is only one example. Instead of going out to run and walk, you can also do this at home by running on the spot for 20 seconds then changing to jogging on the spot for 10 seconds and then jumping jacks for 20 seconds then repeat. You can also look into plyometric exercises, mixing them up and doing these exercises at an increased rate. Doing so would give you a variety of interval training exercises instead of just
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walking and running. I urge you to keep it simple instead of making things unattractive and complicated. Changing your cardio exercises all the time because you get bored of it proves nothing and does nothing. Change too much and too often and you may find yourself a quitter.
Building Muscle Building muscle is not as difficult as it looks. Again your diet has to change and your exercises have to change also. Men can build muscle faster and bigger than women, naturally. If a woman lifts heavy weight, its harder for her to bulk up. Instead she will get more toned as opposed to building big muscle. So for the women out there, you wont bulk up. The idea here is to eat more, a lot more, and add more protein to your meals. To build muscle, you have to lift heavy. Your muscle responds to weight. The heavier the weight, the more the muscle will break down and the more it will grow as its repaired. It is vitally important to add more protein in your diet. Protein is the major building block of muscle. You can do so by adding in more high protein foods or buying protein powder and mix into shakes. How much protein and how many calories are needed? Ive heard, through hear-say, that you should take 1gram of protein for every 1lb. of lean body weight. (Lean muscle mass is the weight of the muscle only and not the combination of muscle and fat in the body.) I found that I grew muscle better by taking 1gram of protein for every 1lb. of body weight. For example, at the times my muscles grew, I was eating about 129 grams of protein when I started out. The more muscle and weight I gained then the more protein I added to my diet. If you eat more protein than your body can handle then your body will turn it into waste and dispose of it. When you eat or drink your protein, spread it out throughout the day. You can only digest so much protein in one sitting. Also, the best time to take in protein is within 15 minutes after your work out. All I can say about calories is that you should consume a lot of calories if you lift weights or if your daily job requires really heavy labor. The heavier you lift the more energy you need. A high calorie and high protein diet is needed for building muscle.
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Muscles take around 48 hours to repair themselves. What happens when you lift heavy weight is it creates micro tares in your muscle fibers. The body then attracts protein to the muscle tares and fuses them back together. When the muscle completely heals, the muscle is a bit stronger and a bit bigger. By repeating this process over and over, you get bigger and stronger. Lifting too heavy can strain various parts of the body and could also cause some serious damage. Dont kill yourself and its important to keep your ego out of the way when you exercise. If you try to prove to someone else that youre bigger and better, you might just rip a muscle or break your back. When muscle building or toning your body, you want to know the numbers. This means counting how much protein and calories you eat. Im neutral about steroids - not against steroids but not with them, either. My philosophy is to stay natural. Anyone who takes steroids is more or less on an ego trip, wanting to be bigger and better than the next fellow for whatever reason. Usually an inferiority complex (mostly in men) is the reason. If you want to compete in the Mr. Universe bodybuilding competition then you dont really have a choice but to take steroids. So again, to build muscle you need to eat more, consume more protein sufficient enough for your muscles to repair and grow bigger and stronger and you have to lift heavy. Always raise the amount of weight for your exercises, weekly or biweekly. If you curl 20 pounds, your biceps will adapt themselves to the weight - meaning they will only grow so big. Weight resistance training using your own body weight is great weight system. The more weight you gain, the more weight you automatically push. I dont believe in muscle confusion. Some professionals came up with a theory that you have to confuse your muscles to grow bigger and stronger. I agree to disagree. The reason is this; muscle responds to weight. Muscles cannot be tricked and they do exactly what you want them to do. Muscles are not exactly intelligent where they can think for themselves. Lift more weight to grow more muscle. Muscle responds to weight and grows with heavy weight. There is no scientific evidence that supports the muscle confusion theory.
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Basic Weight Training Exercises That Work I will list upper body, lower body and core exercises. They dont need expensive exercise equipment or weights for that matter. You will be using your own body weight for weight. The only thing you may want to look at getting is a chin up bar. You can get the door jammer style bar, build a simple one, or use a strong tree branch or go to a playground and use the monkey bars. Weight resistance training with your own weight is the best to start out with if you are beginning to lift weight. Think of it as a way to build muscle and get stronger before jumping into dumbbells. The best part about these exercises is that you can do them anywhere, anytime, and these alone can build a good body. The repetitions are most important when working out. To build muscle, do 8-10 reps per set. More than 10 reps for each set are more for building endurance instead of muscle mass. Muscle failure is when no matter how hard you push yourself, you just cant fit in another repetition. You want to get to that point for every exercise. There are eight natural exercises. They are: Close Grip Chin Ups You need a chinning bar for this exercise. Get your hands on the bar with your palms facing towards you. Make sure they about shoulder width apart. Lift yourself up and raise your chin over the bar then let yourself down again. Repeat. Set a goal for 2 sets of 10 reps. Push Ups Get on the ground, belly facing down. Have your hands on the floor about shoulder width apart. Bring your chest down to the ground while keeping your back strait. Push yourself up, extending your arms fully. Repeat. Set a goal of 3 sets of 10 reps. Triceps Bench Dip get a chair, bench or something that will hold your weight and is about 2- to 2.5- feet off the ground. With the bench behind you, place your palms on the edge of the bench as you slide your feet together and forward on the ground in front of you. In starting position, your arms should be extended. Let yourself down by bending at the elbows and push yourself up back to the starting position. Repeat. Set a goal for 3 sets of 10 reps.
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Wide Grip Chins (behind neck) - Grip the chin up bar with palms outward and your hands placed wide apart so that they are just on the other side of the elbow. Pull yourself up and bring the back of your neck up to the bar as close as possible. Come back down and repeat. Start with a goal of 1 set of 10 reps. Sit Ups Lay down on your back with your knees bent at a 45 degree angle and your feet flat on the ground. (Find something like a couch that is heavy enough so that you can hook your feet under it to help stabilize yourself while doing this exercise.) Place your hands on the side of your hips and raise your upper body at the hips. Go as far forward to your knees as you can and come back down. Repeat. Have a goal of 1 set of 50 reps. Leg Raise Lay flat on your back and your hands, palm down, on each side next to your body. With your legs together, bend your knees and bring your legs as close to your chest as possible. Bring your legs back down and repeat. Set a goal of 1 set of 40 reps. Squats Standing up with your feet about a foot apart and toes facing outward, place your hands on your hips. Keep your back and neck strait as you bend at the knee, squat down, and raise your body back up to starting position. Repeat. Set a goal of 1 set of 30 reps. Calf Raise - In a standing position, place your feet together and arms at your side. Use your toes to raise your body as high as you can. Hold for a second and then release and bring your body down. Repeat. Set a goal of 1 set with 30 reps.
If you find the amounts of sets and repetitions easy when you start out, increase them by ten. Once youve reached the goals for each exercise, increase them by ten. For example, if you did 2 sets of 10 reps for an exercise, change it to 3 sets of 10 reps the next time you exercise. Always raise your limit and set that a new goal. Test yourself. See what you are capable of and you will find that you can reach whatever height you aim for. Remember to breathe properly. Breathing properly means inhaling before working the muscle and exhaling while working the muscle. If you are doing a push up, you would breathe in going down and breathe out when pushing up. If you get dizzy
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during or after an exercise, then you are probably breathing incorrectly. You muscles need oxygen and more oxygen is needed when you work your muscles. You can do this exercise routine in 2 ways. You can divide it into upper body one day and core and lower body the next day. On the other hand, you can do all the exercises in one day, at one sitting, then take a day off and then repeat it again the following day. It doesnt really matter if you choose to do it in the morning, afternoon or night. Anytime is fine as long as you do it on a regular schedule.
Get Educated Keep it simple. I do my own research and my body is the test subject. I read books, watch videos and find other sources of information and try different exercises and dieting methods myself. If I get results, then I know it works. If it doesnt work, then it doesnt work. It also helps that I had someone to look up to from since I was a kid for healthy living and building muscle. Some diet and exercise plans will not appeal to everyone. Its about finding what works for you. The last time I grew more muscle was when I was working in the oil field. Years back I decided that what I was making for a yearly income was not good enough. So I applied at different oil companies to work on an oil rig. I heard that was the place to make big coin. I got hired and was sent out to work. The first day was a huge surprise. Yes the money was big, but you also work damn hard for it. It was labor intensive. It wasnt just pushing a small broom around and throwing out the garbage. Nor was it stocking shelves at a local department store. Then I got the idea that since I was pushing, pulling and lifting heavy weight, Ill start the protein shakes again and start eating like an animal. So I did. I went to eating about five meals a day plus seven protein snacks, including a couple protein shakes in between. My bowel movements were normal so I knew that I was not taking too much protein, and I also had the energy to last my body throughout the day. The shifts were 12 hours a day and 3 weeks strait. If they needed extra help for a week longer, Id offer to stay.
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Sometimes it felt like the work shift would never end. But none the less, I got through it. In between hooking up the piping to drill deeper, or to take out the pipe, I would clean the inside and outside of the oil rig to keep busy. It consisted of using a small brushed, long handled scrubbing broom. That was a good work out for the arms and upper chest and you can feel the impact by the end of the day. After work, I would go back to my hotel room with sore stiff muscles, which is the sign you want to feel. If your muscles are not stiff and sore you are not gaining anything. (That must be where the no-pain-no-gain came from.) Every night I would sleep about 7 to 8 hours and then off to work again. After the first four weeks of eating more, taking in more protein and heavy lifting, pushing and pulling, I gained about a quarter inch of muscle. And since the job required the use of practically every muscle in my body, it was easy to grow muscle in somewhat equal proportion. Finally I got a week off. You work hard long hours for weeks and usually get a week or two off, depending how many days in a row you work and what company you worked for. During the week off, I continued basic weight resistance exercises like push ups, chin ups, etc. on my time off and went back to work. Now the reason why I dont believe that someone needs a day off from light exercising is because I was able to do what I was doing for weeks on end. A good nights sleep was a sufficient amount of rest for the heavy lifting. My body obviously grew bigger and faster without taking a rest day. I found that my gains were better than if I had been taking a rest day in between. But there is a bad point. This can possibly lead to long term chronic health issues like back problems and so on. Proper rest when lifting heavy would be this: If you exercise your chest and back one day, work them again two days (48 hours) from the first day. So if you worked your chest and back on Monday then do them again on Wednesday. That way your muscles get 48 hours rest in between. If you are just starting out and find your body really sore, like to the point you cant walk the next day, take two or three days off in between and go at it again.
Be Smart About It
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If you are not sweating you will probably not be getting any results. I say that only for the reason that building muscle and losing weight requires effort. The more effort you put into building a healthy body, the more you generate heat and sweat. Remember, the energy in your body leaves as heat. If you want to compete in a body building or fitness contest then make sure you find someone who will help you train that has been in a competition themselves. It is a good idea to find out who achieved what you want and emulate them. If they dont have time for you, they will probably have a book or program out there that is available. For big time bodybuilding, it is said that there are different body types. Some types can build muscle faster and bigger than another body type. These body types are also said to be genetic. Even though genetics do play a role in physical heredity, it doesnt mean you cant go after what you want. Genetics as a whole is not fully understood and in this day and age, a lot of us actually consist of mixed body types and not just a single type.
Always Go Forward We now come to the closing of this book. Read this book over again. If you have a question in mind or lose track of where you are going, come back to this book and find the appropriate chapter that you think can help aid you at that specific time. You can also contact me as well and I will do my best to provide you with answers. Creating and maintaining a healthy body is really this simple. You must be willing to go the extra mile and do what it takes to get yourself from where you are now to where you want to be. Every wild animal in the animal kingdom must do something in return for their food. If a monkey wants a banana, that monkey has to climb the banana tree. If a lion wants to eat, it has to go hunting for its food. The best part is that ninety nine percent of all animals are always fit. Its rather rare to see an obese animal in the wild, isnt it? Humans work the exact same way with one exception: we no longer have to hunt for our food and its not only the strong (physically fit) that survive anymore. Technology has made the
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human race pretty lazy. For food we go to the store. Less and less labour is required at work now than ever since steam engines, gas engines and computers were invented. That means our bodies get less of a work out each day. Old fashioned hard labor some will call it. Tie up your left arm for one year and lift weights using your other arm for the same year. What is the result? Your left arm will shrivel up and slowly die off and your right arm will adapt itself to the weight by growing stronger and bigger muscle. Whatever you neglect to use, you will lose. And that goes for your mind as well as your muscles, bones and the rest of your physical body. We dont all have to be muscular and ripped but we should all, at the very least, be healthy and fit. Its about being healthy and being able to enjoy life for what it is and can be.
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To Your Success
If you can habitually be healthy and sculpt your body to the way you want it then you can achieve pretty much anything else in life. Health is a practice. Fitness is a practise. Dieting doesnt mean to limit yourself but to change your lifestyle so that it benefits you in a positive way the way you want it. Being healthy and keeping fit teaches you how to get what you want out of life. You can stay at your perfect weight easily once you attain it. Knowledge and experience is the only shortcut that life will allow. Dont look for any miracle pill because you will never find one. Instead, look to life and what it is trying to teach you. Life itself is The Greatest Teacher there ever was. While there is still so much controversy about what you should or should not eat and what exercises are better than others, this book will not fail you. These principals are set in stone and have stood the test of time. Learn about the life of any great bodybuilder or fitness professional and you will find that these principals are present. There are just some things that will never fail these principals. Keep this in mind: burn more energy than you consume. And you can do that by being physically active. The message in this book was actually quite soft. Take for example what I said about sweets, sugar, and fast food; eat less and less and eventually lean off of it entirely. Before we began to hunt and clothe ourselves, what were our habits and what did we eat? Nature will always be much wiser than any genius, scientist, researcher, living or dead and they know that. The most important thing that lays the foundation to your success in weight loss is: know what you want and you must want it bad enough and take persistent action towards what you want. Any fool can blame genetics and this and that for their failure. Never be subdued by the people who tell you its impossible or that you cant do it because they are always wrong. Its not about competition or beating the other person. Weight loss and building the body is for health and wellbeing. The biggest competition you will ever have is yourself. YOU are the biggest component you will ever face in any arena. Always strive to be better and do it for you. Your mental attitude is your most precious asset. Instead of feeling envious or jealous of another
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person who has got what you dont have, become friends with them. Ask them how they got to where they are. Learn from them. Id like to suggest that you continue your education in healthy eating from here on. Get into health and absorb and use the most useful information as much as possible. Be on it every day. Also, its a good thing that once you have developed the habit of following the routine(s) I gave you, keep educating yourself on different exercises that will benefit you in different ways. Good references to get information on health and fitness are; BBC, BBC Documentary, Readers Digest, Bodybuilding.com. People to research are; the old school bodybuilders like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charles Atlas, and Frank Zane. Search Google with caution and always check to see who is writing the articles and blogs, or whatever literature that you come across. The more accurate knowledge you gain and the more you apply that knowledge, it will leave you more successful and wiser every time. When you become fit, find someone who wants what you now have and be their partner. Help them work towards good health as you continue your journey towards yours. Help uplift them when their self-doubt hits them. Always be there when they need a helping hand. The sky is the limit and dont let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do. That is for you to decide. In parting, I wish to remind you that: you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. Kindest Regards, Russ Nagamori www.RussNagamori.com P.s. If you have any questions or want further assistance, please do feel free to contact me any time (more than happy to help ) at contact @ russnagamori.com
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The 6 Natural Habits For Effective Weight Loss

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The 6 Natural Habits For Effective Weight Loss

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The 6 Natural Habits for Effective Weight loss

A Word From The Author

Chapter 1 The Right Mental Attitude

The I cant Syndrome

Myth #8: Diet means eating small

How to Get Motivated

147.3 lbs. 151.5 lbs. 155.9 lbs. 160.35 lbs.

Chapter 2 The Habit of Healthy Eating

Chapter 3 The Habit of Daily Exercise

Chapter 4 - The Remaining Three

Chapter 5 - A Quick Review

Principal #6 The Habit of Cleansing

Chapter 6 Shred Fat or Build Muscle

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