Diet and Weight Loss

Exercise is an important part of weight loss but it is not by any means the most important part. If you want to lose weight you must take in fewer calories than you burn. This is the simple truth. No tricks, no lies you simply must eat less. There are numerous ways of accomplishing this task. I'm going to give you the way that I have worked out for me. I'm losing weight slowly and surely and am feeling better everyday.

My method for shedding the fat that I gained through years of believing: "I'll eat anything I want. I'll just exercise and burn it off." If that were possible I'd be a thin person right now but I'm not. I worked out diligently everyday and ballooned up to over 300 lbs. I would workout for 1-2 hours daily and still I got fatter and fatter. My workouts did help me overcome many of the horrors of being that heavy. My knees are fine and healthy, my cholesterol is good, my blood sugar is good but I was a tremendously huge person and it was not muscle. It was fat or as the old timers so charmingly called it "table muscle."

Exercise is good but you need to couple it with dietary changes. We hear the words: "sensible diet"over and over again but get conflicting information on what that should be. Low Carb? Low Fat? Glycemic index? Take weird hormone shots? Eat six small meals per day. Juice Fast. It's all so bloody confusing.
Well I happened to think one day: What happens if I just eat less. I'll eat the foods I enjoy just less of them.
So I embarked on that and experienced some weight loss. But the rest remained. So I considered something radical. Rather than counting calories like an obsessive and difficult to be around maniac why not just fast for 24 hours per week. I Googled this idea and came upon several articles that indicated that not only did it help with weight loss but it was also beneficial for restoring insulin sensitivity and it helped to stave off Alzheimer's and other degenerative brain disorders. So I tried it out. I lost a full pant size the first month. It was pretty amazing to say the least. Now I fast every Monday and feel great about it.

There is also a practice called intermittent fasting which has been used by various monastic orders for centuries. Basically you choose not to eat between certain hours. A friend of mine abstains from food between 6 PM and 6 AM everyday. She is losing weight and feeling healthier.

Now we come to a big question: What exactly do you do during a fast like that? Easy you drink nothing but water while you are fasting. I always like the Chinese idea that anything that isn't water is a food. This includes: tea, coffee, flavored waters, fruit juices, drinks of any kind. You only drink clear, pure water. For those of you who say: I don't like the taste of water go find some other diet then because the water is not only essential to this it is good for you.

I'm not saying that this is the ultimate diet. Many people will likely disagree with me on its validity. What I am saying is that it is what works for me.