How To Lose Weight

Given that 60% of Australian's and American's (statistics are similar in most 'developed' countries) are overweight or obese it is not surprising that weight loss tops the reason that most people have for wanting to change their lifestyle. Problem is that there are so many supposed ways to do it. Most involve changes to a persons diet, often combined with some form of exercise. Unfortunately, these two factors by themselves fall well short of what is required, and you can expect only partial results if they are the only lifestyle facets that you change. In actuality, there are 6 main factors that need to addressed in order to achieve your full health potential (not only appearance, but also wellness, energy, vitality and purpose). I am going to discuss these 6 facets below.

Before I discuss the requirements for full potential in your health, I am going to preface my discussion by saying that I have never had a weight problem. I have slipped into the overweight category on occasion, but that is due to the stupidly simplified Body Mass Index (BMI) scale that the government uses to categorise people. Basically I was more muscular, and therfore heavier, than my height dictated my weight should be. So the logical question is: "How the hell do I know anything about losing weight?".

I discovered the key to losing weight while on a mission to realise my ultimate physique. Though I had always been muscular, I had never really been 'razor sharp' in my appearance (lean and cut). Not even when I was a national level swimmer, logging 40-80 kilometers a week in the pool did I ever have a hard and lean physique (take note all the cardio and aerobics junkies out there - more is not better for weight loss). I didn't understand it, I was training hard, eating well (so I thought), so what was the problem? My realisation came in the form of Paul Chek's Nutrition and Lifestyle Course - and a shoulder reconstruction! Anyone who has had a shoulder reco knows full well that you dont do much after your operation. Like, nothing. So being the development oriented person that I am I decided to throw myself fully into any other health directions that I could. Over the following three months through sleep, metabolic typings, good hydration - and sitting on my arse, I achieved my lowest bodyfat percentage ever.

Follow the following 6 principles and you cannot fail in your weight loss endevour. They appear in the order that they should be addressed, and you will find it much more difficult if you skip any stages.

Stress

When people think of stress they tend to associate it with work, relationships or finance. In reality, the body treats anything that moves it away from optimal function as stress. This obviously includes work and finances etc. but also includes factors such as poor quality food, lack of sleep, injury and negative emotions. As we will be addressing nutrition, sleep and injury directly, we will focus here on negative or damaging emotions. Stress in society is at an all time high. In 1998, 8.2 million prescriptions for antidepressents were distributed in Australia - that's a prescription for 1 out of every 3 people in the country! Many people are suffering the effects of stress. This becomes a weight problem because your body interprets stress as a need to store and conserve energy (read fat). In fact stress and storage are so closely related that the hormones in your body that handle stress are also your fat storage hormones. Let me say that again - you can literally stress yourself fat! Because too much stress will kill you, your body will always prioritise the production of your stress hormones. It will even borrow from your sex hormones to make more stress hormone. Impotence is often due to chronic stress, and not a deficiency in bodily levels of viagra... One of the best forms of stress relief is meditation. Taking time to meditate each day will not only bring fantastic aesthetic changes, but will also make your more productive in other areas of your life. Meditation can be as simple as taking 15 minutes per day to sit and clear your mind of thoughts. If you find clearing your mind difficult, you might want to try Osho active meditations. These are very powerful and free to learn and can be found at www.osho.com.

Stress can make you fat, and can inhibit your sex life. It will also inhibit your efforts in the following lifestyle facets regardless of how much you pursue them. Invest in some stress relief every day.

Drink the right amount and type of water

Everyone knows that we need water, though very few people know how much we need it. Every function that your body performs requires an adequate supply of water - particularly fat loss. If your diet and exercise and sleep were 100% perfect and you were dehydrated then all of your efforts would be in vain. This is not an exaggeration! According to Dr F. Batmanghelidj, author of Your Body's Many Cries For Water, dehydration is usually responsible for much chronic joint pain, hypertension (high blood pressure), abdominal discomfort, fatigue and many chronic diseases. Dehydration will also effect the quality of your sleep.
Only water cures thirst. Coffee, soft drink (soda), tea, juice, and all other liquid beverages will not satisfy your needs for water. In fact, these beverages will cause further water shortages in the body!
Water quality is also important. You should always try to drink chlorine free water. If you drink bottled or filtered water, you should replace the lost minerals by adding a pinch of unprocessed sea salt to each liter of water (note: this is not sodium chloride or table salt. Sea salt can be found at health food stores and is a darker colour than table salt).

Adequate water is absolutely essential to weight loss. To work out how much water to drink per day, multiply your body weight in kilos times 0.033 liters. So a 70kg person would need 70 x 0.033 = 2.3 liters of chlorine free water every day.

Eat according to your metabolic type

Each of us is an individual. We all look different, have different tastes in food and lovers and enjoy a range of activities. You are unique to this planet. So it stands to reason that the nutrition you require will be unique as well. This is where the majority of diet plans fall down, they expect creatures as diverse as human beings to all adhere to a single method of eating. It is also the reason why each method works for some people and not others. Metabolic Typing is customised nutrition, not one size fits all. It allows every individual on the planet to determine his or her own nutrient requirements, and therefore to determine meals that will balance their energy levels. Metabolic typing will not only assist you to lose weight, but will also assist in balancing your hormonal needs (a major contributor to weight gain) and your moods throughout the day. Metabolic Typing is based on a test which can be found in The Metabolic Typing Diet by William Wolcott and Trish Fahey, or by taking an online test at www.metabolictyping.com. If you are looking for some guidance with the metabolic typing, please email me on info@ryanprigg.com.

You are unique, and have nutritional requirements that reflect this uniqueness. Metabolic typing will allow you to customise your nutrition to achieve fat loss, stabilise your moods and manage your hormonal balance.

Exercise smarter, not more

For weight loss, resistence training is more effective than aerobic training. In fact, too much aerobic training can have the effect of making you gain weight.

Consider these two athletes: a sprinter and a marathon runner. The sprinter is muscular, lean, fresh, sleek and athletic. The marathon runner is worn, older looking than their years, a little bit soft and often emaciated. The sprinter does short sharp sessions that maximise output and leave the rest of the day free for recovery and relaxation. The marathon runner logs hours of training and hundreds of kilometers per week. Starting to get the picture? More is not better, particularly when it comes to weight loss. Short, intense and structured sessions are the best way to ensure you maintain your youth and keep your waistline slim. Select exercises that use the whole body while performing them, rather than isolating a particular muscle group. Do your resistence training first, followed by any aerobic training if required.
Note: While the other suggestions in this article can very often be self managed with little danger, exercise is something that should be we planned and executed. Nothing promotes weight gain like sitting at home with an injury. The best people in the exercise design business are C.H.E.K practitioners because they take into account all the factors I have mentioned, and design a program based on your individual needs. A practitioner in your area can be located at www.chekinstitute.com.

More is not better when it comes to exercise. Well structured, energy promoting, full body resistence sessions will have the greatest weight loss effect. Dont guess with exercise, if you dont know what you are doing, invest in someone who does.

Sleep between 10pm and 6am

Your body runs on a system of routines, one of these being when you should sleep. In 1879 Thomas Edison with a large team of assistants (see: The invention of the lightbulb) made a practical lightbulb allowing us to stay up late and eventually, watch television. For millions of years before this human beings went to sleep when it got dark and got up when it was light. That is how you are designed to function optimally. This effects weight loss in 2 ways. First, you do all of your physical recovery (repair of cells = fat loss) between the hours of 10pm and 2am. The less you sleep during this time the less potential you have for shedding kilos (you can't make up for it either by napping during the day). The second issue is that your body equates lack of sleep with stress - remember point number 1? Stress can make you fat. Your body doesn't care whether the stress is being yelled at by your boss or staying up late to watch Video Hits. To ensure that you can fall asleep at 10pm, try dimming the lights or lighting candles a couple of hours before going to bed, turn off your computer and television and play some relaxing music. Eating according to your metabolic type will also assist in keeping you asleep by ensuring you have the correct ratio of blood sugar in your body while sleeping (for those who wake during the night to pee).

Lack of sleep means increased stress and less recovery. Recovery is your key to fat loss so ensure you get to bed by 10pm and sleep through until 6am. Metabolic Typing will assist in keeping you asleep.

Ryan Prigg